Day 1 arrivals

It all started off at the Dallas Airport. I met Hannah first. I knew that this trip was going to be amazing from the beginning. We started boarding the plane to Ontario California. We thought that we were going to be sitting together but turns out that we did not. I walked to the lavatory (I call it the bathroom) and at that moment saw Robert in his weakest moment. His mouth wide open completely vulnerable. Monica was quiet at first, and then we all realized she laughs really loud! The plane ride flew by, and before we knew it we were getting off of the plane in Ontario California. Honestly, my view of California was totally ruined! I thought that there would be a huge movie set and low riders. Instead it was the most interesting place I had ever seen. We got to our massive vehicles and headed to the Riverside Metropolitan Museum. There we met James Bryant the natural history curator of the museum. He explained how these beautiful mountains got here. It is pretty amazing how such a luscious ecosystem can survive on so little water. And you wouldn't know it but Riverside has one of the freshest aquifers in the area. We then got to meet all of James little critters. Ranging from huge snakes to non-native fish and frogs. He had to explain to us that this area is full of animals and reptiles we would not want to run into. So basically he told us to not pet the big cats they call mounatin lions or play with the rattle snakes. Once he was finished talking about all the great things about the mountains which would be our home for two weeks we headed to dinner. All of us were starving. At least for me I had not eaten since breakfast. I ordered a huge burger and ate every bite. We all appriciated the wonderful food. Now, finally we were off to the James Reserve. My ears started popping and I realized that we were getting close. We kept pushing up the mountain listening to satellite radio. I was texting and all of the sudden lost service and realized that I was not going to be able to reach civilization for the next two weeks. It was not such a big dissapointment. After all of the jetlag and different encounters of the 2cnd we arrived at the James Reserve. It is a large cabin with different experiments going on everywhere you look. We all greated each other once again with different approaches. We put away all of our belongings upstairs and gathered back together for an "official meeting". We all listened to the voice of instruction that we would be hearing for the next two weeks, Rusty Russell. With all of our equipment now organized we retired to our beds. I fell asleep listening to Coldplay, and that's when I realized this is going to be the most amazing two weeks of my life!

(By Hannah and Hannah)