a little bit of science followed by a lot of fun!

AGU!

Winter break kicked off with a science conference (American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting) in San Francisco. Despite the fact that there were very few opportunities to explore the city beyond the shopping district/convention center area, the conference was a success (mainly due to the awesome array of fellow OSU students who also attended) and it was good to be reminded how much I don't want to live in a big city again.

one afternoon i got away for ice cream at the ghirardelli chocolate factory!

view from the hotel

another view from our hotel

 

i probably walked this street every day on they way to the conference

 alison postering about volcanoes

 smarty pants

poster session on the last day

 

Following the conference and a whirlwind of traveling, I ended up in Steamboat, Colorado to do some skiing! This was my first time in the Rockies and it's guaranteed not to be my last. The mountains out there are so vast...very different from here in Oregon. And as if being in Colorado couldn't get any sweeter, I finally learned to ski! Yahoo!
 

snowy view on the way from denver to steamboat

another awesome view out of the car window 

snow covered foothills of the rockies

 heading to the mountains...

 ...in a snow storm

 skiing!

finally a (somewhat) break in the clouds from mid mountain

riding up the gondola

 me at the top!

 emily, casey, and paul about to start the day off

 our skis dangling on the lift...you can't tell here, but we're super high up!

 casey and me

my favorite view!

me finally getting to casey at the bottom (courtesy of casey's smartypants phone)