That Georgia Biologist

What's happening: One year ago I had the incredible opportunity to spend a week with my aunt, uncle, and cousins out in northern California playing tourist. I started writing this blog soon after the trip ended, and as I enjoyed myself so much, I have decided to write about my trip experiences in blog form. In this last post, I'd like to share about my last full day in California. After the three intense day trips to San Francisco, it was nice to stay a bit more local. My uncle and I walked around the grounds of the California State Capital, then finished up at the incomparable California State Railroad Museum. On my last visit to California several years ago, my uncle took me to tour the inside of the Capital, but we did not have much time at all to explore the grounds. This time we skipped the inside but spent a fun hour exploring the grounds. (Oh yes, and right before this, my uncle treated me out to a DELICIOUS breakfast place!!!!). It was very nice; beautifully kep...

Hey everyone! Several weekends ago I had the chance to visit the Historic Adventist Village over in Battle Creek with some of my pastor friends. For those of you who don't know, Adventism basically started in Battle Creek back in the mid-1850's, and the Village is a really nice collection of original buildings the Adventist pioneers lived and worked in back in the day. It's one thing to know the stories; it's another thing entirely to have a concrete visual on what their homes and churches looked like, to imagine these stories happening in the very pews and rooms you are sitting in! My parents first took me back in 2013, but it was a lot of fun to go again. In 2013 I had filmed a guided tour of the Village , so this time I focused on taking photos (as well as thoroughly filming a guided tour of the nearby Oak Hill Cemetery, coming to a YouTube channel near you late 2019!). I took pictures in three main locations: the David Hewitt log cabin, the James and Ellen Whi...

It's been a wild month for me! Lots of exciting things happening at school, plus I just got back from a long weekend trip to visit my grandparents near Detroit. Before I share about that, however, I should really finish up my Florida series! Two more posts to go! This one is on our visit to the McLarty Treasure Museum in Sebastian, Florida. It was a small though nice state run museum on the local history of treasure collection and shipwrecks. This area has had a lot of both (especially with the Spanish in the 1700's), and it was fun to both see the artifacts and hear the stories. Following are some of the pictures I took. I highly recommend visiting if you ever find yourself down there!!  I really liked this ship model!! Trade routes. Outside there was a really nice boardwalk to the beach, and a cool pirate flag to boot!! That's it for this time, folks! One more Florida 2018 blog post to go! :D -Austin

One of my favorite places that I visited while in Florida was the National Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce. My grandfather and great-uncle were very kind to take me. Evidently, the SEAL predecessors (WWII) were first trained in Fort Pierce, so that's why the museum is located where it is. It was a really good though intense experience (complete with sound effects!). I definitely came away from it with an increased understanding of the niche that these special soldiers fill in our military, and a deep appreciation for their service. The museum progression was chronologically backwards; we first encountered the SEAL's role in recovery from 9/11, attacks on ISIS, and capture of Osama bin Laden. We got to see some guns and equipment that the SEALs have used - boats, a helicopter, and truck. There are some really nice videos and panels telling about various aspects of SEAL history. It was very well portrayed and enlightening. The final section - my favorite - was on WWII and th...