14 Aug Hail and Dinosaurs

It was an incredible weekend visiting back home but now time to get back to the office. Our supervisors were finally back too! Tegan and Ben were out the office doing some traveling —one of the many perks of being a federal employee (the benefits are really good).  We started off our Monday with our weekly team meeting (Ben, Tegan, Julia, Cory and I –we got a really big team) and then our division meeting which includes our Office Chief and three others. Cory and I talked with Ben about the possibility of extending our internships and seeing how we could work that out. I think we can both agree that we really enjoy the work we do and our team is incredible but we are also thinking long-term. Cory wants to go to Law school and I’d like to move back to a larger metropolitan area and explore the options within design, marketing, public relations, and education. I have multiple passions and that’s my biggest battle. I’m sure it’ll all work out for the better but it’s great to know that our supervisors find us a good fit —enough to extend this offer. Out of the office one evening, Cory and I experienced firsthand hail the size of golf balls. Los Angeles, California and Washington, D.C. sure don’t get hail like this, or at all for that matter. We walked out at night to move our cars (as recommended so they wouldn’t get damaged), and we just paused in awe to realize how big the hail was; they were literally ice cubes. Ice cubes that I could use for my morning iced coffee. That weekend, we took advantage of what Colorado has to offer and visited Dinosaur Ridge, a Natural National Landmark located in Jefferson County  —just ten minutes from our regional office.  Dinosaur Ridge is world famous for its Jurassic fossils. Walking on the Dino Ridge Trail, we learned about the history of this area how Colorado was once part of the Western Interior Seaway which stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. Colorado was once completely underwater (like what!)  and the fossils found here are from the remains of that seaway. We saw real dinosaur tracks, bones, and fossil remains. It was really neat! And definitely worth the hike up and down that mountain. There are two entrances to Dinosaur Ridge and the walk between is beautifully scenic adjacent to Highway 470.   We ended our day with some great finds at a thrift store and at the Harry Potter Midnight Release Party at the Downtown Barnes & Noble. I’ve been a big fan of the movies and Cory reserved his copy of the new book so it made for some good childhood fun. The book was acquired, and he finished reading it one night. Turns out they’re making a Harry Potter Go game now piggybacking from Pokemon Go —we shall see where this goes. I have many outreach events going on next week that I’m super pumped about. Our LHIP National Conference will be in our office in just about two weeks and, given that I’m extending my internship, I have two of my good friends from Maryland coming to visit in three weeks. Let’s go! More adventures! From Colorado, Isabel