Oh My Goodness! How exciting to see my students and kids here! I am having an amazing time learning about the world, like: the British Isles has the most diverse rocks by age in the world! Today I saw 300,000,000,000 (300 billion!) year old rocks! A kind of Gneiss found on the Island of Lewis where Sra. Morrison Lantz was born! I was at the site of the Stones of Callanish and was talking to one of the guides, when I mentioned the Morrison Family he says, “Oh yeah, the Morrisons, they are right over the mountain over there!” And pointed at the hills! So tell Mrs. Morrison when you see her!
The People of Isle of Lewis collect something called peat instead of using wood for heat. They take a kind of shovel and cut out the top layer of “soil” which is not really soil because the ground is so cold and wet the that decomposers have a hard time getting to work, so the organic matter sits and compresses over the years forming a material called peat which makes up the bogs! It is a great fossil fuel as it is made from dead organisms.
And you know how we learn that sedimentary rock has fossils? I got to see one billion year old sandstone in Iona that does not have fossils!!!! It was formed before there were creatures larger than bacteria on Earth! Isn’t that amazing? I found that piece of information fascinating! Even better yet, I found this out from a geologist who is one of the experts on board! And he is from Southern California too!
Oliver, I have not seen puffins, but there are MANY people on the lookout. I promise I’ll try to take pictures if I see any and yes Jenna, I saw the porpoises from the ship. I wedged myself between the bridge (where the captain steers the ship) and a railing and took as many shots of the the dolphins as they popped out of the water surfing the wake we left behind…
I just got back from Inverewe Gardens located near the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. I got to see and photograph the Wollemi Pine. This pine, only seen in fossils was thought to be extinct since the Jurassic period and discovered in 1994 near Sydney, Australia in the Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains. They are actually not pine trees, but from the same family as the Monkey Puzzle tree (I think it is the Monkey Puzzle Tree… Your job is to look it up! :)
Caitlin I love reading your comments and Matthew, yes I am learning a lot. John I love you too! Thank You for writing to me! I love hearing about what is going on in San Clemente and home, so, kids and students, keep writing to me and telling me what you are learning! And say thank you to Mr. Stratford for doing an amazing job!
Oh, one more thing. One of the main ways we get on an off the islands is by going on a zodiac. There is a door on the side of the ship, near the level of the water and the zodiacs pull up right next to this “doorway”. You reach over, take the hand of two very able naturalists or amazing boat handlers and on or off you go! Sometimes a wave comes up and the zodiac is above the level of the doorway or 6 feet below. So you have to wait until the swell is just right and then… GO!!!!
The ship is full of staircases and hallways. I am lost half the time, so I just give myself 5 extra minutes to go wherever I need to go and then usually ask someone once I have no chance of finding my way in time. I DO know how to get to the restaurant where the food is delicious and lunch AND dinner have desserts! When the waves a big, they set up ropes for people to hold onto when they are walking around. Once in a while a big wave comes and you can hear all the glasses clinking together on the tables as they slide to one side.
See you soon!
The People of Isle of Lewis collect something called peat instead of using wood for heat. They take a kind of shovel and cut out the top layer of “soil” which is not really soil because the ground is so cold and wet the that decomposers have a hard time getting to work, so the organic matter sits and compresses over the years forming a material called peat which makes up the bogs! It is a great fossil fuel as it is made from dead organisms.
And you know how we learn that sedimentary rock has fossils? I got to see one billion year old sandstone in Iona that does not have fossils!!!! It was formed before there were creatures larger than bacteria on Earth! Isn’t that amazing? I found that piece of information fascinating! Even better yet, I found this out from a geologist who is one of the experts on board! And he is from Southern California too!
Oliver, I have not seen puffins, but there are MANY people on the lookout. I promise I’ll try to take pictures if I see any and yes Jenna, I saw the porpoises from the ship. I wedged myself between the bridge (where the captain steers the ship) and a railing and took as many shots of the the dolphins as they popped out of the water surfing the wake we left behind…
I just got back from Inverewe Gardens located near the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. I got to see and photograph the Wollemi Pine. This pine, only seen in fossils was thought to be extinct since the Jurassic period and discovered in 1994 near Sydney, Australia in the Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains. They are actually not pine trees, but from the same family as the Monkey Puzzle tree (I think it is the Monkey Puzzle Tree… Your job is to look it up! :)
Caitlin I love reading your comments and Matthew, yes I am learning a lot. John I love you too! Thank You for writing to me! I love hearing about what is going on in San Clemente and home, so, kids and students, keep writing to me and telling me what you are learning! And say thank you to Mr. Stratford for doing an amazing job!
Oh, one more thing. One of the main ways we get on an off the islands is by going on a zodiac. There is a door on the side of the ship, near the level of the water and the zodiacs pull up right next to this “doorway”. You reach over, take the hand of two very able naturalists or amazing boat handlers and on or off you go! Sometimes a wave comes up and the zodiac is above the level of the doorway or 6 feet below. So you have to wait until the swell is just right and then… GO!!!!
The ship is full of staircases and hallways. I am lost half the time, so I just give myself 5 extra minutes to go wherever I need to go and then usually ask someone once I have no chance of finding my way in time. I DO know how to get to the restaurant where the food is delicious and lunch AND dinner have desserts! When the waves a big, they set up ropes for people to hold onto when they are walking around. Once in a while a big wave comes and you can hear all the glasses clinking together on the tables as they slide to one side.
See you soon!