My Next Adventure Awaits!

Today marks the beginning of my last two weeks in Madison, WI.




Laura and I at my graduation in December

Yep, 14 more days to enjoy this wonderful city, and then I'm off to my next adventure! Since the last time I posted, I have graduated with a B.S. in Zoology, earned my Open Water SCUBA certification, and been selected for a 6month internship at the Pigeon Key Marine Science Center on the island of Pigeon Key, FL. If you received my family's Christmas letter you're probably surprised by this news, given that my portion of the letter was more or less a desperate plea for a job :) However, not two days after Joan had licked and stamped the last envelope, I received a call from Florida! Let's just say visions of palm trees--not sugar plums--were dancing in my head this Christmas season.


Myself and my SCUBA buddy Andrea

When I was in middle school, we had the opportunity to go with our classmates on optional overnight field trips to places "up north". Typically we traveled to places with nature-y or American Indian names like Audubon in 5th grade and Widjiwagan in 8th. While there, we got to do all sorts of outdoorsy winter activities like following animal paw prints, learning about predator/prey relationships, and at Widji, doing the "dip sauna dip" since there were no showers. Oh, and did I mention that most of these field trips took place in the middle of winter? So all of our hiking around took place on snowshoes, and the "dip" process involved jumping into a hole cut into the ice of a lake?


An aerial view of Pigeon Key--thanks GoogleImage search!

So while I spent my formative school years playing in the wintery northwoods of MN, students in FL drive south for their overnight field trip adventures (we also get Boy Scout troops and summer camp kids on the island). They come to study at the Pigeon Key Marine Science Center to follow tropical fish, learn about biological relationships in tropical marine ecosystems, and go tidepooling for invertebrates. And it doesn't matter what season they come to the island, it's always somewhere between 80-90 degrees! So while they get to do all this learning they'll be snorkeling, fishing off the end of a dock, and walking around the 5-acre island of Pigeon Key.

I am thrilled to say, that for the 2013 educational season (Feb-Aug), I'll be right there with them filling every role from teacher to lifeguard, to chef and washerwoman.

But, before I go I have a few things I want to knock off my Madison Bucket List:

1. Take a guided tour of the capitol building
2. Get my picture taken in Abe's lap
3. Explore the Chazen Art Museum, the WI Veterans Museum, and the WI State Historical Museum
4. Go to Monday's on a Monday
5. Walk all the way out to the tip of Picnic Point
6. Try a Plazaburger
7. Enjoy one last Fishbowl on Bacon Night with my friends
8. Own something from the Sconnie Store
9. Get kissed on the 50yd line of Camp Randall
10. Do the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics WI (shameless fundraising plug right here)