Old Rag Mountain

Today I was lucky enough to get to go on a hike with some friends in beautiful Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We all decided we wanted a break from the city (even though some of us live in the suburbs) and had heard good things about Shenandoah. None of us being regular hikers we naturally decided to try Old Rag Mountain, an 8 mile 2,000 ft elevation gain hike. There are not a lot of pictures of me from the front; apparently I am still not used to the humidity here and after walking for about 7 minutes I looked like I had jumped in a pool.

After about an hour and a half we reached rocky outlooks with a lot of other hikers and congratulated ourselves on making it to the peak so quickly.

It was super foggy which was a little spooky, especially at the top

Sitting on the edge of the world

After lunch we realized we were actually nowhere near the peak and thus began the rock scramble portion of the uphill hike.

This reminded me of something out of Lord of the Rings

Thanks goodness for all the blue trail markers or we would have been totally lost in all the rock formations

Obligatory "holding up rock" picture

Even though I am not really a city girl yet, it was still nice to get away for a day in such a beautiful place. It was definitely a challenge (especially because I am no regular hiker like my parents) but well worth it. The hiking is so different from what I'm used to in California and I loved seeing all the green!

Nationals vs Giants

Today I went to go see the Nationals play the Giants at National Park. I'm not usually a huge baseball fan but since it was my hometown(ish) versus my new home I thought it would be fun to go. It was pouring rain all afternoon so things weren't looking good at first. But in the end the game was just delayed by an hour and didn't get postponed. Unfortunately the Giants lost, but it was still a fun outing, especially since I haven't been to a baseball game in about a decade.

Playing an extremely wet game of cornhole while waiting for the game to start

Off to a drizzly start

It was Ramona's first baseball game, she's German and there was a lot of discussion about having the whole "experience"

Which of course includes a hot dog and garlic fries

There is something extremely satisfying about the way they smooth out the dirt in such perfect formation

The ALS ice bucket challenge

The race of the presidents, Teddy Roosevelt won

National Cathedral

I was viewing a potential apartment the other day and when I looked out the bedroom window I was staring right at the National Cathedral. (The fact that this surprised me probably means I need to work on my navigational skills). So when I was done I decided to go check it out.

The Observation Tower

Sometimes...

...you just wanna hang out

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Last week I was privileged enough to get to visit Howard Hughes Medical Institute to meet with Dr. David Asai, the director of the undergraduate science education program. Dr. Asai was the PhD advisor to one of my favorite professors at UCSB who was kind enough to make the introduction. It is definitely one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. Unfortunately I was too intimidated to pull my camera out but I've dug up some pictures from other sites.

They don't really do it justice, but you get the idea. Brick and ivy on the outside and sleek and modern on the inside, surrounded by beautiful landscaping. I was told deer sometimes walk right up to the windows! They even have a hotel on site to house their researchers when they come for conferences.

It was really lovely getting to speak with Dr. Asai about his work (with dyenin motor proteins) and career path and he gave me some pointers about how I might combine my interests in science and travel. You can learn more about HHMI and the research they fund here

First Day of Work

Today was my first day at my new job and it went pretty well. My coworkers were incredibly friendly and accommodating and I got a bunch of new-hire administrative stuff out of the way. I decided there is no better way to end a first day at a new job (especially after a big move) than Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire"

Exploring Maryland

This weekend I decided to explore some of the trails around Bethesda and  was totally overwhelmed by the greenness of everything. I also saw a deer right next to the trail as I was running and immediately stopped and tried to take a picture without disturbing her or making too much noise. However everybody else just kept on running by like nothing was happening. I decided it must be a pretty regular occurrence around here, something that was confirmed by two more sightings later that day.