Trip to Berkeley, CA

This post is by Megan, who from hereon will be using first person, because, unlike her mother, she finds it too confusing to write about herself in the third person. (But if you see an occasional parenthetical comment in italics, you can know that it is from the Dad).

So. I'm here to tell you about my trip to Berkeley, California, home of the National Novel Writing Month headquarters. The reason I went actually had nothing to do with NaNoWriMo, but I couldn't possibly go all the way to Berkeley without visiting the Office of Letters and Light. More on that later.

The real reason I went was to attend The Tenth International Conference on Neuroesthetics with my dad. No, it doesn't sound much like something I'd be interesting in, but this year's theme was on the importance of being playful, and Dad thought I'd enjoy it. He was right! Berkeley is several hundred miles away from Yuma, so we were driving for most of the day. On the way, I saw some giant concrete dinosaurs, lots and lots and lots and lots of cows, lots and lots and lots and lots of wind turbines, a very large amount of agriculture, and a car painted like a shark.

Other than that, the drive wasn't too eventful, except for the part where I fell asleep, Dad got lost, and we had to call Mom to get directions. (I wasn't LOST. . . I just was a little unsure about where to go next. . .)

Once we got there, things started to get even more interesting. Rather than stay in a hotel, we opted for a cottage in the middle of a garden.

It was lent to us for the weekend by a nice lady named Karma, who is a semi-professional opera singer, actress, massage therapist, and minimalist. The cottage was like something from a fairy tale, with wood paneling, a skylight, gargoyles, herbs, Asian trinkets, and a very nice little piano that Karma encouraged us to play on. (We found this cottage on AirBnB.com--Karma rents it out whenever she is going someplace for the weekend. It was less expensive than staying in a motel--and way more fun--plus it was within walking distance to campus!)

Right outside the cottage was one of the coolest treehouses ever. 

For dinner that night, we ate at a Chinese vegetarian restaurant. Afterwards we walked down the street, looking at all the other cool shops and reading the menus at other restaurants to plot out our meals for the next day. Did I mention that the trip, including food, was paid for by the college? (We split meals since I thought we would be turning in receipts and I did not want two meals on the receipt--it turns out I had a per diem and we could have fit in one more restaurant visit--noted for next time!)

One of the other things about Berkeley was that it was green. I hadn't realized just how much I missed the dark, vibrant green of places that aren't suffering from a constant onslaught of sunshine and blue skies. Berkeley is definitely a place with character--I can totally see why it's the location of the NaNoWriMo headquarters. (The main reason to take Megan was indeed to give her a break from Yuma--you wouldn't think constant blue skies would get old, but clouds and green are soothing!)

After the conference the next day, which I'm not going to go into much detail over (it was terribly interesting, but I'm afraid that my notes consist largely of swirly doodles and random words from a few of the talks--if you want details, go to my dad), we went here:

And there:

And to the Office of Letters and Light!

Since it was Saturday evening, I didn't knock on the door, though I saw people moving about through the curtains. (Had I known she saw people moving about I would have insisted we knock!) I was able to meet the infamous Chris Baty doll (plus llama) in person.

I wrote a note to the OLL staff and stuck it under the door. I have no clue if they ever got it, but it was fun being all sneaky and mysterious.

Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures of any of the food we ate. As I mentioned earlier, the cost of food was covered by the college, so Dad and I ate out at several absolutely fantastic restaurants. We ate many things, including but not limited to strawberry gelato, French croissants and pastries, pad Thai, Alfredo noodles, and the most heavenly crepe I've ever had, filled with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries in chocolate sauce with whipped and ice cream on top. The conference had refreshments of its own, as well--pastries, cookies, breads, cheese squares, even noodles at one point. (Megan has already figured out what academic conferences are really about! But we did enjoy the great speakers as well, including Beau Lotto--seen here at TED!)

Overall, the trip was amazing. I certainly hope it's not the last time I visit Berkeley! I'd love to spend more time there and explore the area. I wouldn't mind being an intern at the Office of Letters and Light someday!
(I hope we can go back too!).

Pinta Sands

The Arizona Game and Fish Department invited Kevin to go to Pinta Sands to look for the elusive Flat-tailed Horned Lizard (April was invited too, but was unavailable). So, Kevin is finally getting around to writing about this trip, which will allow April to publish her other posts (she likes to go in chronological order). 

On the map below I indicated the known range of the FTHL in light green. They probably occur in a wider area within the Gran Desierto of Sonora, Mexico, but I did not fill in the giant area of sand dunes since we really don't have records. The lizards may be there, but they may be absent from most of that area. I put red at Pinta Sands, which is a little extension of possible FTHL habitat that reaches back into the U.S. In spite of repeated efforts over the years, no FTHL have ever been located there, even though there are records not too far south in Mexico. 

This is what the habitat looked like. It looked quite similar to the FTHL habitat near Yuma, but also different. It looked like it received more rainfall, which resulted in quite a bit more vegetation (doesn't it look lush?), and a lot more kangaroo rats. There were also a lot more harvester ants, the chief food of FTHLs.

This is NOT a FTHL. It is a Sonoran Horned Lizard. It's interesting, but it's not the species of interest. We found quite a few of these guys, in spite of the wind making tracking difficult. 

It was Lin Piest (on the left), a USFWS biologist on the right, and her two field assistants. I'm so bad with names--I should have written this blog post sooner! Names aside, it was fun to meet new biologists and spend some time together.

Also not a FTHL. Sometimes tracks of Fringe-toed Lizards can look a lot like horned lizard tracks, particularly if the lizard is feeling lazy and walking slowly. 

We camped overnight, which was basically miserable. Because we were right on the Mexican border in an area that has been used heavily for smuggling, the refuge personnel insisted we camp at a Border Patrol outpost ("Camp Grip"). All night long their noisy generators were running to power their air-conditioned building where they slept. Meanwhile we were outside in the heat and the wind. They also had a tall antenna with a light that flashed all night. Plus I had brought just a cot. I had planned on bringing a sheet to wet down to keep me cool, but I forgot it. The main problem though was the wind--for the time I was trying to sleep I was pretty much huddled next to a vehicle trying to keep from getting sand-blasted.

The next morning we awoke and searched again! Here are two more Sonoran Horned Lizards. The one next to the rock was a particularly challenging track to have followed--I spent more than 30 minutes searching for the lizard. I was hopeful it was a FTHL, but you really cannot tell which type of horned lizard you will find based on the tracks. I was just glad to finally find it hiding at the base of the rock. 

Here is what the U.S./Mexican border looks like in this part of the country. Closer to Yuma they have erected a giant metal fence that is very difficult to climb over. In this section it is just a vehicle barrier. There is a highway close to the border in Mexico, so getting to this fence is no trouble, but you would have a LONG walk across the desert from this point. Border Patrol drags tires behind their vehicles along this and other roads then comes back later looking for tracks. This is the exact same technique April and I used when studying black bear tracks for April's thesis at BYU. 

A hawk nest in a Saguaro with a cute baby looking out!

We actually camped a second night, and this time it was fine since we were far from Camp Grip. This was allowed since we had an armed law enforcement person who joined us for the night. Gun or not, he was terrified of scorpions and did not appreciate me having fun finding them near his cot. I should point out that while the night was fine, waiting through the heat of the day for the evening to come was quite miserable. We had a little shade structure and just laid on our cots being miserable for several long hours (the lizards, being smarter than us, were all underground). We did get up the energy to play Bananagrams for part of the time, which was my first introduction to that fun game (which we subsequently bought for our family). Has anyone tried their other games (Appletters, Pairs in Pears, Zip It, or Fruitonimoes)??

I found a Shovel-Nosed Snake, lacking the bright orange bands that we see on this species around Yuma. The regional color variation is interesting. On the drive back I also found a gopher snake, but forgot to take a picture (I think Lin took a picture of me holding it).

This is definitely not a FTHL! I have had bad Chuckwalla karma since I was a wee little lad. While others would see them, I never would. Finally, FINALLY I saw one, and of course I HAD to catch it! This was the highlight of the trip for me!

Did we ever find a FTHL? No, we did not. Tracking conditions were not ideal, but if they are there we probably would have found at least one. Perhaps the Sonoran Horned Lizards keep them out of the area somehow. But, maybe they really are there and we just need to look again. . . maybe I can talk April into going there next year, as she has caught more FTHLs than any other person on the planet. And maybe that Chuckwalla will be in the same place and I can catch it again!

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled blog postings . . .

May Face Painting

Megan continues to refine her face painting skills.

May Desert Trips

  Now is the time to play in the Sonoran desert, before it gets unbearably hot.

April gets to continue radio-tracking FTHL and see giant bombs on occasion.

Our family took the scouts out (again!) for a night trip. Here they are posing by the Mexican border fence with a very nice glossy snake that had been crawling across the road. And although the bulldog picture might be considered graffiti, it's rather artistic in our opinion.

The following night, we took the Horrocks family out so Jacob could complete one of his Cub Scout requirements. We were lucky enough to track a flattail in the dark. Dallin is proudly showing it off.

Porter and Jacob with the horned lizard

Then it was SCORPION CATCHING TIME!!!

And we caught a shovel-nosed snake too! 

All in all, we had a successful evening.

Random Photo Spot

We discovered a rabbit graveyard out on the Goldwater Range (we cheated and followed a group of turkey vultures). Apparently the military traps rabbits in orchards on leased land (that surrounds their bunkers and such) and dumps the bodies out in the desert. Anyone needing a good model for a comparative vertebrate anatomy class can contact us and we could probably get you a nearly complete rabbit skeleton.

One More Desert Outing

We forgot to mention that we've been collecting sidewinders for a locomotion study at Georgia Tech. Our friend Joe came out with some engineers to film sidewinders in the wild and pick up the ones they are taking back. We failed to take photos of him and his group in the desert, but we got one of Ian and his friend, Hyrum, with the shovel-nosed snakes we caught that night!

...and another small sidewinder!