Geology Field Trips

October 31, 2006
So yesterday marked the last of this semester's geology field trips, which is a huge bummer, because hey, I rather enjoy pissing off TA's, cheering like a madman over Fast Food, and trying to make semi's honk at us, like we were in the fifth grade again. Love it.
So, anyway, we went to the Echo Cliffs, which, for the uninitiated in Northern Arizona geography, are the cliffs that are on the north/north-west side of highway 89 between Cameron and Page, and most notably seen around the "cluster of dwellings" known as The Gap. These cliffs are comprised of Triassic and Jurassic sediments, sandstones and shales and what have you, that were left by nearshore and braided stream deposits.
..>..>

A little Paleontology humor for all of us

Upon returning from said field trip late yesterday afternoon, I decided that the classroom is not only the worst place to learn about Geology, but the worst place to learn about anything. So, without further ado:

Things I have Learned on Geology Field Trips:

• You will hate going until you drag your hungover ass down to the geology building and see that everyone is, for some reason or another, also very VERY hungover.

  I don't quite know what it is that go through Geology students' minds. "Why tomorrow, I have to be up at 6AM to brave the blistering cold/heat and look at rocks, minerals, or sedimentary structures. I think I'll drink this fifth of Captain Morgan, lose at LEAST 5 games of beer pong, and party and some stranger's house till 4AM. Hell yes, I am smart!" Without fail, this is what happens. And when the class meets the next morning, this is the conversation:

  Student A:"Captain Morgan?"
  Student B:"Yup. Smirnoff?"
  Student A:"Yup."
  Both:"Fuuuck."

  We'll never learn.

• People are forbidden from sleeping in the van. Ever.

  I'm not kidding about this one people. You will get woken up, whether it's the TA that can't drive that decides the rumble strips look excellent, or the sadistic student that tries induce dreams of french fries by hovering one under your nose for ten minutes, then when he/she decides that doesnt work, to shove it UP your nose, you will not sleep. I don't care if you havent slept in nine days, and death is imminent on that trip, you aren't sleeping. On a side note here, the french fry in the nose trick NEVER fails to be gut-busting-ly hilarious. Never fails.

• It will be windy

  Another one of these phenomena that seem to occur only during Geology trips. I don't care where you are, or how the weather was the day before: bring a jacket, cause it WILL be windy.

• The "easily amused" factor of your personality will be increased ten-fold.

  I guess this is induced by the barren landscape and the "holy hell, we're in the middle of freakin' nowhere" triggers, but there will always be something to do (other than what you are supposed to do, naturally) in the middle of nowhere. Whether it's hauling a tire to the top of the tallest butte around, rolling it down said butte, then seeing who can hit is with a rock first, then within five minutes of that, seeing how long a paper airplane can stay afloat from the place where the tire rolled down minutes before; (Answer to the airplane question: Just shy of 30 seconds. ) or racing to the top of sand dunes, then jumping off, just for shits and giggles, being a hellian in the desolate wilderness will always be synonomous with geology trips.

• Geologists can't drive. Period.

  I think I've already got this one covered good enough... but case in point: University of Wyoming's Paul Heller doing 95 MPH on I-80 west, straddling the center lane, while teaching to the terrified students in the van (looking at the students here, by the way) and drawing in a notebook. The insanity.

• No matter how old you are, what year you are in college, getting in a van with 10 other Geology students will automatically demean your maturity level to that of a middle-schooler. And your damn proud of it.

  Let's face it, the following are terms that are commonly thrown around in the course of a geology trip: Cleavage, Orogeny, Schist, "Drop Acid on that Schist", and of course, the famous mineral name: Cummingtonite. Not kidding. If you can say all of those in a normal conversation without giggling once, I salute you. Seriously. And once you go all the way into the dirty void, you will never return until you are no longer surrounded by geology students. Doesn't happen. For instance, talking about musical insturments here: "Yeah, well, he plays the Riverdance... on the skin flute. Oh Yeah." It's inevitable. Just roll with it.

• And, finally, there will always be somebody who get's "holier-than-thou" on your ass and tell to be more mature, shut up, sit down, etc. and it will totally rain on your parade.

  Until you give him the name "Stiffy"

And, that, ladies and gentlemen is why being a geology student totally kicks ass.

And finally, before I go for the day, some other mostly random stuff
Plus 44 OR (+44) is a great band.
Food is expensive
I really want to go snowboarding

Have a wonderful Halloween everyone, and good day.