Catching up on summer still! Didn't want to lose how much fun we had even though it's now October!?!?! where has the time gone?!
We had a fun week in Montana from June 25-July 1, 2011. We started in Missoula @ the University of Montana (go Grizzlies!) where John was participating as a mentor in the
Adventures of the Mind gathering (250 high school students attend from all over the US).
and SPL and I were able to hear it live as our flight arrived just in time! We got to
they held on the University football field (very cool). We also got to meet Herschel Walker!Â
and speaking Mandarin with some of the high school students.
As part of the Adventure, we got to visit a large copper mine that is in Butte (home of the Berkeley Pit). We
and walked around the exposed earth (gave us pause, though, thinking how we can continue to ravage the land in search of raw materials). The
was incredible as were the
.Â
with room for another 40 or so adults. It was huge!
After our visit to Butte, we traveled to Bozeman to visit the Museum of the Rockies and go on a dinosaur dig with
Dr. Jack Horner, the paleontologist who discovered that dinosaurs were social animals, and who is a leading proponent of birds being direct decendents of dinosaurs, and was the expert for the Jurassic Park movies. We got
as he gave us a tour of the museum. What an incredible opportunity!Â
(love that their pose is the same in this photo!). Dr. Jack taught us about
: it used to be thought that they were 2 different species. Work that Jack and his colleagues have done have shown now that
We got to
of the museum too and
and getting to see the
first hand under the
 He also got to see
from a bunch of smaller pieces. And a
that was intact. And all the while, we were traveling with some of the
technologists, and creative people ever assembled (including 4 Nobel Laureates). Incredible!
Finally, we got to travel out to the
a place where many psauropods bones have been found. It was very difficult to identify the bones as they are mostly fragmented and
 SPL got lucky and another Adventurer shared his find with SPL so he got to
treasure. He also
with author
:-).
The trip culminated in a dinner at a lovely house up in the hills -- beautiful views! SPL befriended
and as a result, we got our first preview of "leave me alone, mom & dad I'm too cool for you right now" attitude. The young people were really cool, kind, and fun to hang out with so all in, it was a good experience for SPL. Thankfully he returned to his 6 year old lovely self upon departing the house. One of the young ladies that
g with (she was 12 so closer to his age and interest level) is the daughter of
2009 Nobel Laureate Carol Greider who discovered telomerase (biology nerd me was psyched!).
: Sheldon Glashow (1979), Murray Gell-Mann, Richard Taylor, and
It was definitely a trip of a lifetime! Next installment will be our adventure @ Glacier National Park.