Today we went to the San Diego Zoo’s main location and received a personal tour on a golf cart (which was really neat).   I was only about two feet from some tigers from Malaysia that were removed because people moved into their habitat, and apparently there is some sort of issue with villagers being attacked.  Anyway, I also got to feed llamas and camels which tickled.  And, no, the camels did not spit on me.

  
After the tour, we went to the polar bear exhibits where one was thrashing around in the water.  I’m concerned about polar bears in the wild because of the ice melting in their habitats with global warming.  So, I took a polar bear pledge online to reduce electricity usage and be energy wise in Delaware, because if you use more electricity, it contributes to global warming.  Around San Diego there seemed to be more of an issue with being “water wise” and all of the faucets turn off automatically.

Feeding the Camel

There were two hippos but they both didn't fit in the shot.

The Wild Animal Park was awesome.  We had a safari right through the habitats where we got to feed leaves to the giraffes.  For each foot tall they are, their tongues are an inch so they can reach leaves in trees.  And the tongues are dark so they don’t get sunburnt.  (We just put on sunblock because it was so sunny.)  We also got to see 2 types of rhinos up close although they were resting because they sleep in.

They also had a pond with food you could buy for the ducks.  But whenever people tried to feed the ducks, large mouths with whiskers would come out of the water to scoop up the pellets.  Usually with animal adaptation we mean how their bodies have changed but here catfish changed their behavior like humans in order to get food.  It must be working because they were each 2 ft long!  I know people don’t come to San Diego to look at catfish but I found them pretty interesting and we watched them for a long time.

I hadn’t flow across the country since I was little and it was neat to see the small green farms in the east followed by the larger drying looking farms and then desert.  Our first day in California we headed to the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park which is actually way up in the hills and was a nice drive on such a warm day (at least compared to Delaware).

Before we even arrived at the park, the landscape was dominated by eucalyptus trees and emu birds from Australia.  We also drove past a bunch of ostrich ranches.  There were a ton of signs for ostrich eggs, ostrich jerky and emu eggs.  But there were no signs for emu jerky.  My dad thought it was because they didn’t jerk up well but the cabby thought it was because them made them into burgers.  I was sorry I brought it up!

First and for most, I would like to apologize to all my friends and followers for not getting back to u sooner. Blame it on my mom and dad. LOL. Remember that dreams do come true but first u need a supportive family or environment with dedication to follow through with your dreams. I would also like to thank: Steve Grossman, Wilson (artist), David delgado, Kobie my friend, Tracy, Ashwin, Marquita Takei,, Shonte, and Brett Kennedy. Remember without u, none of this could be possible and I look forward to working with u in the future.

Yesterday was my first day at JPL. I met many nice people including the scientist on the show from Sports on Mars. My host Stephenie and David were great. I learned about the meaning of the word Athlete. It stands for: All Terrain Hex-Legged Extra -Terrestrial Explorer, Jim M. you owe me three points! This machine is what has gone to the Moon. It was a cool day, everyone was interested in my ideas about My game on Mars.

I am sorry that i did not tell you about all the things we did Wednesday,April  21. So here is what we did.

For the first part of the morning and some of the afternoon we were with Don Siegel. He is very kind and interesting. Did you know that he made a cookbook? It is very cool. First we went to the field at the 9 mile creek. We took some samples in 2 different places. We were trying to find out what and if the creek was being contaminated by salt. Oh, by the way, the nine mile creek is actually nine miles!! Anyway, so we did that and then went to the lab to do some more test with Don and a man named Mario. It was fun… After that we went and got lunch. There lunches are very good at the college, especially the smoothies!!

Finally, after do all those things, we met a lady name Anita. It was fun! We learned things about blood spatter and fingerprints. It was exciting to use the kit for DNA. It was like the kind of kit you see on CSI shows. We also did some activities with DNA and FAKE blood.

SO, as you can seethat being in New YOrk was a lot of fun and also gave us a great learning background on things we never thought we would be able to see, feel, or be in the same room with in ouife time. I am urging kids to enter this contest every year depending on the school grade range. Thank you!!

I am at the airport waiting to board. We are going back to Vero Beach, FL. I’m always happy to go home but i wish that i could spend some more time at Syracuse University! We have had such a great experience in New York, meeting different scientists and investigators. So.. i have to go because we are boarding but i will write back in a little.

Just got back with the results. First did field work was FUN!!!!! Ordering lunch sounds good. I want to stay here it is so nice.

I am so tired and feel like some coffeee, even though i dont like coffee. My eyes are about to close. I think eating the breakfast helped wake me up a little bit. So, let me fill you in a little bit about what we are doing today. We are going to do some field work and go to the lab. When we get back i will fill you in, so keep checking!! I am ecstatic to work in the field and especially in the lab!

Just got back from breakfast with Jim M. So tired but got to go to the university in alittle bit. That will problebly wake me up. In my room.