Becoming Outdoorsy!

Today, Caroline, Ashlyn, and I went to the Fort Worth Zoo! I go each year as a Frog Camp leader, but this time felt extra special after my experience in this class. I had a better appreciation for the beauty of nature and in this case, lots of animals! We saw elephants, giraffes, alligators, gorillas, lions, flamingos, kangaroos, tortoises, and hippos.  One of the coolest parts of the day to me was being close up to a lizard. As we were standing on the elephant observation deck, I looked down, and there was a lizard on the rail right in front of me. It was bright green and kept puffing out a little pink part below its chin—I have never seen anything like it. It was a rather beautiful intersection of impressive, large animals in the habitats with simple, small animals in the natural world.  Another cool experience was seeing the alligator that lives at the zoo. I thought no alligator could top the one we caught and measured at the nature center, but I was wrong. This one was ma...

Yesterday was our last day volunteering at the Fort Worth Nature Center. I cannot believe how fast our time there went! It was fulfilling looking back on the impact we have made—especially hearing from Dr. Wood that we truly have made such a difference for their organization. We have put in many hours cutting privet, aided in catching and measuring an alligator, and generated a good amount of social media content.  This week, we chose to hike the Cross Timbers trail. It was nothing like the others we have been on, and I loved it! I appreciated the wider, more open path and the diverse scenery. Along the trail we spotted many butterflies, a couple turtles, and a red cardinal. Part of the adventure was along a beautiful stream and the other part left us surrounded by vast wooded areas.  I took the responsibility of gathering video content (horizontally) for our trail guide. I also took pictures of different flora that I plan to identify using AI. I have never edited a video like...

We got to enjoy the beautiful weather and experience a hike on the Oak Motte trail out at the Fort Worth Nature Center yesterday. My favorite part was seeing the blue bonnets in full bloom. When I came to Texas for college I always heard people comment on how stunning these flowers were, but I had yet to experience them for myself. They are so unique! My group chose to go over to the lookout deck for yesterday's hike. We were unsuccessful in our mission to spot the bison, but we did see all the prairie dogs that were moved to the area. They had the cages set up over pre-dug holes like the Nature Center experts had told us about at the beginning of the semester. We set out on the Oak Motte trail and enjoyed the lush greenery—I feel like it popped up all of a sudden while we were gone over spring break! It really is looking beautiful out at the Nature Center.  On our first hike a few weeks ago, Dr. Williams quoted someone saying, "Of all the walks you take in life, make sure a f...

Yesterday, I went canoeing for the first time, and I woke up this morning surprised by how sore my shoulders were! We started around 10AM when it was still slightly chilly. We put on life jackets and successfully made it into the canoe without tipping. I took the front and Caroline brought up the rear; she was great at steering—I was impressed! Anytime I began to get nervous that we were drifting one way or the other, Caroline always seemed to be on it, ready to steer us in the right direction.  It was hard work to begin with as we headed into the wind. It was extra difficult right before we turned back when the wind was extremely strong on the open water. I could tell a significant difference as we returned with the wind at our backs. Once the sun came out about halfway through, it was the perfect Saturday activity to be outside and enjoy some nature.  Speaking of nature, there were many animal sightings! Most notably, we saw two alligators. One was just barely poking its hea...

     I am super excited to write this blog post because I am heading home from a week in Peru! My week was filled with experiences unimaginable and the most stunning nature pictures to go along with it.       One of my strongest impressions from Peru is that there is so much beautiful vegetation for a city the size of Lima. There were vines of flowers on every roof and window, and lush green along each highway. And fun fact: Lima is the only capital city in the Americas on the coast (excluding the islands).      Then, we ventured out (by boat) to four islands surrounding La Punta where we had the chance to jump in and swim with the sea lions. I do not believe I have ever been in the Pacific Ocean: it was frigid but refreshing in the most life-giving way!     The highlight of the trip was our two days in Cusco. We woke up at 5am in the morning then travelled 5 hours by bus then train then bus to reach the entrance of Machu Picch...

This past Thursday we embarked on an incredible experience: Alligator Catching! This was my favorite experience at the nature center so far, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on it. One of the most shocking aspects of this excursion was what a process it was to catch the alligator, reel it in, bring it to shore, secure its jaws, take all the measurements, and release it back exactly where they found it. It was quite the day! There are still some questions I was left with—the biggest one being: what is the purpose of collecting all the measurements? It seemed like an overly extensive process just to figure out the weight of one of many gators. Additionally, I would like to know how many they catch and measure each year? What is their food source and what other species reside in the pond? How do they count exactly how many are in that murky pond? Overall, it was fascinating watching the rangers of the Fort Worth Nature Center manage these animals. They were up to the challenge of ...