COSMOS {Fieldtrip: Keck Observatory}

This was not our first field trip, but it was definitely my favorite. My cluster and I went to the Keck Observatory on Mt. Hamilton. It took an extremely long time to get there from Davis. We took a short stop in San Jose to get some Starbucks, and then the 3 vans (we couldnt take a bus, because they refused to go on this crazy trip) took off into the mountains on a tiny little road. On this road it probably took about an hour until we reached the observatory from the base of the mountain. The road was very scary, because it was one lane, and it is pretty much exaggerated S's all the way up. {One of the turns was actually called "Oh my!" because in the past when horse carriages would come with the women, they would make the horses go extremely fast around the turns. So, as you probably guessed, all the women would scream "Oh my!"}

 

 This photo above is one that I took when we started on our journey up Mt. Hamilton.

 Erika!!!!

 The third row: Anoop, Cynthia, and Cat.

 Me! ;P

 These cuties!!!

 Piyush and Janiqua {her real name is actually Janice.} Oh yea, and Anoop creeping in the back round! HAHA!

 An abandoned barn!

 Janiqua and I being ourselves... weird and obnoxious.

 We could finally see our destination on the highest mountain top!

We finally arrived, so the real photos began! A panoramic view of this amazing sight!

 We went inside to meet the tour guide, Matt, and then headed outside afterwards for dinner. We ended up eating dinner while freaking out, because in the garden we were in there were gazillions of bees wanting our food and drinks.

All of the cluster 4 girls{Erika, Cat, Janice,Sally, Cynthia, and Sal} minus me! We were walking over to begin the tour of the less than 20 person town.

 One of the many telescopes.{That is the tiny little road that we drove on by the way. You can see it 3 times... that's how windy that road was.}

 More tour pics, and then we finally got to go inside the dome that holds one of their most powerful telescopes.

 They opened the dome for us to see, and it was absolutely amazing.

 The workers led us out on to the outside of the dome, and we were told to hold on to this tiny little railing holding us back from falling a far distance to the ground. They then turned on the telescope, and had it rotate so that us on the outside got to get a 360 degree view of the whole observatory. The views were absolutely jaw dropping. This part was probably my favorite parts of the whole trip.

 I zoomed in a little to show the beauty. I haven't yet edited any of these photos, so they're not really that great.

Cat and Janice!

Erika, Matthew, and Christian!

 Once we got off, and were done with our tour of the town the sun was setting. I got the last few seconds on video, but I don't think I'll upload it due to my shaky hand. Anyway, it was absolutely gorgeous as the colors changed, and the sun dipped below the horizon.

 Meanwhile, once I was done taking photos almost the rest of the group was already in front of the main building talking to our guide, Matt.

 Once the sun had set, we all went inside to use the bathroom{Cynthia and I took a picture, and were so excited that there was a couch in the bathroom}, and then buy stuff at the gift shop. {The weird thing about the gift shop is that a long time ago a plane crashed into the gift shop, and the 2 riders died there. Thinking about it made us a little freaked out.}

After the gift shop, we were sent up steep stares to this telescope. This telescope is where we got to look at Jupiter, multiple galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae. We were also the first people to look at something that i dont remember the name of using this ancient telescope. It was pretty sweet.

The only problem about his telescope was that it was pitch black in there, and this was right below our feet. We were actually in the same room as the body of James Lick. James Lick wanted to be buried under his telescope, and we was allowed to because we was once the richest man in California. He actually owned San Francisco and many other places.

STORY: It was pitch black in this dome room, and there were loud creepy noises coming from everywhere and bouncing off the walls. The floor would move up and down so that the observers would be able to move the telescope easier and it was also more accessible. You had to hop over a railing to get on to the main floor to view inside the telescope. There was also a crack from between the little walkway where we were sitting and where the main floor was. The crack creeped Erika, Sally, and me out really bad, and we seriously felt like some spirit was going to grab our feet and pull us through to our deaths. {I know... we're so childish.} We, also, had to walk on the super pitch black side of the telescope to get back to our seats after we looked through the telescope. Us three freaked out every time, and were literally sprinting and pushing to get around back to our seats. It was hilarious and creepy at the same time. We were done with that pretty quick. At that time, I learned I am afraid of dark places and dead bodies.

I'm done with pictures, but not done telling you guys about my trip so bear with me. After we were done using the telescope, we were just about freezing, so we went into a classroom and got hot cocoa. We sat down for an hour and a half history lesson on James Lick and his observatory. Most of the history that I've told you  was what I learned from this lesson. Some people found it really boring, but I found it extremely fascinating. I think I'm starting to actually like history. Say what? Did I just say I'm starting to like history?

At about 12 o'clock in the morning we went back outside, and got to have a shortish star gazing tour. Our guide had a strong laser that he was able to use to show us around the sky, and point out constellation, galaxies, star clusters, and so much more. After I was absolutely freezing {My jacket was locked in the van the whole time} we finally got to get back in our vans. Some of the kids had to switch vans, so that way we have the kids that get car sick in one van, and everyone else in the others. Alfredo came in to our van, and he sat in the front seat this time, and Erika sat next to me. Right away, we were all starving for food, and luckily we had tons of bags of chips. We all ate our delicious food. After I was done, everyone was chatting quietly {I don't know why, but probably because usually when it is dark you are quiet at COSMOS}, and I told Erika that I was sorry if I fell asleep on her. I don't remember much after that. I only remember random little things like everyone freaking out because they saw a cute fox, or when we stopped at the bottom of the mountain and there were kids' faces staring in the side window.

This is what apparently happened: After telling Erika I was sorry, I got quiet, and within five minutes was already out cold. I apparently fell asleep on Erika like I predicted I would. I was asleep the whole time down the mountain, and once we reached the bottom. We stopped, because the car sick kids' van felt really sick. Apparently one kid lied down on the side of the road for a while. The faces I saw were not actually my imagination. They were the other kids from the other van seeing what we were doing. James, my RA {Erika was the other RA}, opened the van door to talk about plans for our arrival at Davis with Erika. People said that once he left I leaned forward and put my head on her lap until the vans took off again. Once the vans started again I apparently went straight back to my prior position on Erika's shoulder... poor Erika. After a while, Erika fell asleep too, and placed her head on mine. The whole back row fell quiet, and fell asleep on each other, too. Janice and Alfredo were the designated conversationalists to keep our driver, Tall Paul, awake. Once we got to the bridge, everyone woke up a little from the bright lights at the toll booths. I didn't though, and Erika had no recollection of ever saying to Paul that she owed him five bucks. She must have been sleep talking, because she fell right back to sleep right after she said it. Eventually, Alfredo fell asleep, too, and so Janice and Paul had convos about their favorite disney princesses. That made me laugh when she told me about that. Once we got to Davis, Erika had to wake me up. I woke up in the most awkward position... on her chest, but oh well, I was asleep. I apparently stumbled to get all of my stuff, and was walking very crooked. I remember almost walking into a column, and that woke me up a tad bit. We had a meeting in the lounge, which I don't remember anything of what it was about, and then we went to our rooms to sleep.

It was a fabulous night, even though it ended with me being passed out on one of my closest friends. I think that night made all of us grow even closer than we already were. These memories will definitely last me a lifetime. Even the memories of everyone telling me what happened once I fell asleep.

lovelovelove,
Melissa