Fear of a Female Planet

Lots of catching up to do. Had a very busy, momentous, and successful trip back East. Saw my old Bridesmaid, Deborah, who I haven't seen in years, saw my dad, saw my brother, saw my old college roommate and his family, was very busy at the History of Science Society meeting with my Graduate and Early Career Caucus responsibilities (and a lot of successful networking with senior scholars - several of whom complimented my mentorship work), saw some Boston friends, and saw my brother's step-sisters' families (we have a confusing family!).

Deborah picked me up at the airport in Burlington and we had a slumber party that night before she drove me down to my dad's the next day:


Me and Dad:


I love New England stone walls:


As the resident Gemini I organize a UW reunion at HSS every year:


After which I headed off to the Graduate and Early Career Caucus opening night mixer at the Harpoon brewery. Here are the GECC officers giving ourselves a pat on the back:


Most humorously was having someone give me their number for the first time in my life. I was reserving a large table at the brewery for our group when someone at an adjacent table started chatting with me. I literally turned around for 1 minute to order my drink and when I turned around he pointed to my phone on the table and said "I put my number in there for you." Flattering - and he was pretty cute - but obvs. I'm taken :)

Coincidentally, we were scheduled to drive back East during and through the path of Hurricane Irene, with some quick visits along the way... with other meteorologists.


We left at 3PM last Saturday, drove through the night, hitting the worst weather between Syracuse and Albany, where we stopped to visit our first meteorologist at SUNY-Albany around 9AM. They like to find the tallest building to observe things from...



We left around noon, and drove through the Berkshires, where weather went from Hurricane to calm by the mile and we saw dozens of utility vehicles out. After a quick visit with my old college roommate, his wife, and new daughter we got to Boston around 6PM on Sunday. We grabbed dinner with Steve and stayed with Dan, a meteorology grad student at MIT.

The next morning was beautiful - not a cloud in the sky. We headed up to Portsmouth for dinner with my friend Katie and her boyfriend Eric. Neither of us had been there before and it was lovely.



I had checked that morning with my dad and we could get to his house in Vermont. We arrived around 10PM and went straight to bed. The next morning the first thing my dad says to me is that he's going to the hospital. He caught a nasty cold when my sister, niece, and grand-niece were there a few days earlier and it developed into an infection. In the light of day the road to his house looked like this:





Luckily a neighbor had flattened it out some with his backhoe. Vermonters.



We drove back from the hospital via Bethel, passing the Camp Brook road, which leads to Brookfield, a town that is being airlifted supplies since it is now cut off:



Back at my dad's we grilled some brats, played some horseshoes and backgammon, and chased the chickens around:





We left on Wednesday to hike Mount Mansfield...

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Next up: The Trail Goes Where?