http://skylady.trippy.org Elinor Gates' Ramblings Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:25:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Spring has sprung again and wildflowers are starting to show up in all their splendor. This has motivated me to not only go out looking for new flowers in the area, but also to organize the photos I have. Thus, I’m updating my web guide to Mt. Hamilton ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=41 The morning of Feb 9th, the Lyubov Orlova arrived at Almirante Brown research station. We went ashore (waking up the research crew - oops!) and there weren’t so many penguins here as at other locations. I was in the first group ashore and followed Emily, one of the ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=40 The Tour of California bike race added Mount Hamilton to its tour route this year, thus Wednesday work pretty much stopped at Lick Observatory so we could all watch the top bicyclists in the world ride through the Observatory. I wanted to get some photos of the tour as ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=39 The morning of Feb 8th we arrived at Port Lockroy and Jougla Point. Port Lockroy is a research station and historic site. The main building there is now a museum showing what life at the station was like and also houses a gift shop and post office ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=38 After two days on the Drake Passage and a briefing on how to get in and out of the zodiacs, we are finally at Antarctica at the South Shetland Islands. Our first stop on Feb 6th was Aitcho Island. This island had abundant wildlife and beautiful views, especially from ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=37 The morning of Feb 2nd, Vennie and I caught an early flight down to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. We checked in at the Hotel Albatross and got a quick lunch at the hotel restaurant (a very tasty, if not cheap, meal). It was a ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=36 After neglecting the blog for months and months, I now have something to write about. I traveled to Argentina and Antarctica. Words cannot describe how amazing the trip was, but pictures may help. I took about 2000 pictures and have distilled that down to 120 of my ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=35 Well, last weekend the snow was mostly gone and wildflowers were starting to pop up, with bird’s beak being the first to show with its small purple flowers. Monday I saw a few oak violets, Tuesday miner’s lettuce was starting to come up. Thursday showed the first popcorn flower ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=34 I just returned from an absolutely amazing trip to the Galapagos Islands and Quito, Ecuador. The wildlife on the Islands is both unique and amazingly tame, making it easy to get great photos of many of the creatures. Check out my Ecuador-Galapagos page to see some of my ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=33 Today the weather is sunny and warmer and the birds are flocking to my feeders. In addition to the regular birds, I had a pair of Black-headed Grosbeaks finally arrive. As well as the return of the European Goldfinch. No signs of Pine Siskins today, but I’m sure they ... http://skylady.trippy.org/?p=29