Emi's Journal

Something about camping… I always get up early. I don't really know why, it just happens. Also since AZ doesn't do DST (awesome) it got bright earlier.
But anyway, most of the morning was spent just hanging out. We didn't have anything scheduled until late morning, so we got to relax at the campsite for a bit. Did some scorpion hunting (and found some! ), tried looking for some other stuff (no success in finding snakes or lizards, but we did identify a gila woodpecker). I read for a bit… It was a pretty nice morning.

Later on we headed off to the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum. There was a guy there that gave us a great talk on the Sea of Cortez. Then we had lunch and headed off to explore the museum.
It's hard for me to write about the museum…. I'll do a lot better job documenting it in my scrapbook once I get the pictures up, so watch out for that.
It was amazing though. I got to see a gila monster, which was one of the two animals I decided I needed to see on the trip. The other being a roadrunner, which I also saw at the museum. Also there were a few really cool mountain lions that came right up to the viewing window, some pretty awesome bears, and so much more! The hummingbird aviary was awesome. The desert loop was really cool. The rocks and minerals were cool. I really liked the cave thing too. And the cacti… There was so much, and words just don't say enough!
It was also nice to see actual WILDlife. There were a few lizards around that were pretty cool, and of course birds.
After wandering around for a while I hit the gift shop, bought an expensive but awesome shirt, and then headed back to where we agreed to meet up and head out. After waiting for quite some time for the rest of the group to get there (such things happen when you travel in groups), we finally headed out.

While quite a few people elected to go into town to shop, I chose to hang out at camp. I spent most of the time reading… Some time hanging out and talking with people. They made fun of my scrawny little tent… Apparently it's small. I knew that, but everyone says it's really really small, which I wasn't entirely aware of. I call it my 1.5 person tent…..
But anyway, we hung out at camp. When the group came back from shopping (once again, done in groups it takes a large amount of time) we made dinner. Burritos, yum! I helped by cutting up some onions… Which took a bit of guidance and quite a bit of caution. I did so with no blood shed, so that was good.
After cutting the onions there was still quite a bit of time before everything was done, so I joined a group of people who had climbed up onto the vans. We had some pretty cool star gazing conditions! We hung out up there until dinner was ready. Food was too good to refuse, so that got us down.
After dinner the camp coordinator guy came and invited us to a star party. He actually told us about it the night before, so a few of us were ready to go. He had a really cool telescope set up, and showed us lots of really cool stuff. The Orion Nebula, the moon, and my favorite… Saturn! I got a picture of the moon through the telescope (it'll be in my scrapbook), but unfortunately not of Saturn. I tried, but couldn't hold the camera still long enough for it to gather enough light.
After that I headed to bed. Read for a bit, then crashed.
 

(Posted to LJ 04/02/2007
Pulled from LJ
Imported to WP 07/09/2009)

So so sorry to all you dial-up users…. This is going to take forever to load for you. I really apologize… But I got some great pictures, so it's worth it!

Let's start off with the red panda! I got a lot of pictures, trying the whole time to get a GOOD picture… But I failed, so I ended up with quite a few decent pictures. This being one of them.

Elephant! Man, those things STINK! But… They're cute!

The lions were beautiful…. I got several pictures, but this was the best.

This is my FAVORITE picture I got!!!! When the tiger was RIGHT next to the glass I got this picture. Adjusted it in iPhoto to improve the quality (you can still tell it was taken through glass, but it's A LOT better), and now it's my desktop image!

I would love to include more than these two pictures of the tigers, but I'll spare you…. This is another of my pretty good tiger pics.

Well, the real gorillas weren't very photogenic (hiding under blankets, back turned, or eating poop… Ick), but there are always statues… And when statues attack always makes for a good photo!

This bird just made me laugh…. I'm not sure what it is, but it's "hair" is awesome.

Have I ever mentioned that penguins are awesome? Well, they are. I have so many penguin pics, but I'll limit myself to one emperor pic and one "other" pic.

And here is the "other" pic…. I love those penguins with funny hair… Crested penguins? Something like that.

I know, we have sea lions in Oregon… And it's quite possible they'll be a part of my career… So they're not that special…. But they are cute!

I love this picture… It turned out really well. I'm quite proud of it, actually. Obviously it's a polar bear.

Kento should know this one…. CAPYBARA!!!! All my capybara pics turned out a bit blurry, so I just picked the cutest one….. Awww!!!

GO BEAVS!

This, THIS is the shoebill!!!! And.. Me in the reflection. I adjusted this one so it's not AS bad, but you can still see my reflection…. Oh well. It's still the shoebill!

Pygmy hippo!!!! It was so cute…. And small.

Okapi! Funny critter, the okapi… I like it. :p

This is my buddy, the 76 year old Galapagos tortoise! Don't ask why I'm calling it my buddy…. He was cute though. :p Sorry Kento, not big enough for a lawn chair.
 

OK. I'm SO sorry if that took forever+5 to load! I just love those critters…. That was a GREAT zoo. I have many more pictures than this, but I'm sparing you.
 

(Pulled from Emi's Blogger Blog "Emi's Japan Blog"
Imported to WP 07/09/2009)

1/20/2006 8:16 PM-
What a tiring but great day.

First I had to get up at 8:00. So I got up and got ready to be away from Kimitsu for 5 days. I had done most of my getting ready the night before, so mostly I was good to go. Then I had a quick breakfast, and Tomoko drove my grandma and me to Kimitsu station. We waited in the cold for a few minutes until our shinkansen (bullet train) came. Then we rode to Tokyo station. We switched to another train, and came to Kanda. Then we met my dad and Kanda (what I've always known my dad's aunt as). We walked back to the station and took a train (and bus) to the cemetery where my grandpa and aunt's graves are. We cleaned up the area and whatnot, then my dad and I were free to do whatever for the afternoon.

We decided to go to Ueno zoo, where I came to the conclusion that that's the coolest zoo ever. We started by looking at some birds, then we found the lions, who were up and roaring. Beautiful beautiful creatures…. Then we happened across the most amazing and awesome thing I've seen…. Two tigers awake and prowling around! They were AWAKE!!!! And running/pacing around! One came right up to the window by the pond and started getting a drink! I got some great pictures…. They were awesome!
We watched the penguins and sea lions get fed, which was fun. Saw the polar bears, who were also awake and prowling. Then we took the monorail to the other side of the zoo.
The first thing I saw over there (besides more penguins…)…. A BEAVER!!!!!! That totally made my day. It was so cute!!!!!! I got a couple GREAT pictures. I couldn't see it that well from where I stood, because it was in a little cave, but the pictures turned out great.
After taking some pics of the beaver, telling it I'm a beaver too, and saying go beavs a few times, I set off to help my dad find the main reason we were there…. A lovely creature so ugly that it's cute… A creature so lazy it only blinks about every 6 hours…. A creature known in English as the shoebill. We found it, and got a couple pictures….. Then… IT MOVED! Keep in mind it only blinks about every 6 hours… Well, it blinked, then moved its head, then moved its head again! As soon as we got there! Pretty awesome.
We wandered for a bit more, looking at more random animals. Saw a pretty cool Galapagos tortoise that was 76 years old, an Aye Aye (couldn't see it's finger though… :/), a deer mouse (those things are CREEPY!), a couple capybara, and lots of other pretty cool stuff. But eventually we wore out, and it was time to go.
We took the train back to Kanda, and walked to Kanda's house (this whole Kanda thing seems very confusing typed out… :p). I got tired and took a nap, then we went to eat sushi…. After that, we bought some cheesecake, and came back to the house. Ate the cheesecake, and now here I am.

I'll include some of my awesome zoo pics later. I love my tiger pictures!!!!!
 

(Pulled from Emi's Blogger Blog "Emi's Japan Blog"
Imported to WP 07/09/2009)