We made it!
The Bad family is in Boulder. Our house is empty, and the truck with our furniture won’t get here until Thursday. That means I won’t have internet at home until Friday, so until then I get to do the yuppie wireless-at-the-local-coffeeshop thing.
First, let me thank everyone for the well wishes on the previous post. I really appreciate it. I’ve entered a weird meta-stage of blogging now where I get emails about the comments on my posts. My mom thinks you are all very cool.
Second, let me say that the drive between California and Colorado is incredibly beautiful. The things we saw! For example, in Nevada, we saw over a dozen dust devils. One we saw from over 15 miles away, and when we got closer we thought we saw a fire next to it. It turns out the "fire" was a second, far larger devil:
The scale of this was amazing; it was at least 100 meters across at the base. Here’s a close-up:
Please excuse the foreground fuzzies; northern Nevada has its fair share of bugs, and at 75 mph a car’s windshield imparts quite a bit of kinetic energy to the typical exoskeleton.
Then we went through Utah, and up into Wyoming:
I can’t imagine why geologists and archaeologists love Wyoming so much.
Then, we saw a good sign:
And then, finally:
Home.
May 28th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Glad you made it safe and sound, Dr. BA! Relax and get some sleep (albeit on the floor…)
JanieBelle and Kate
May 28th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Welcome to Colorado. It is a very beautiful place to call home.
May 28th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Best wishes in your new home! And of course being a new amateur astronomer, I’m curious as to the viewing conditions are where you’re living now.
Z.
May 28th, 2007 at 10:08 am
That’s a nice new home you got there. Stylish and cozy. Hope you’ll like it there!
May 28th, 2007 at 10:09 am
remember my bad friend, life is about the journey not the destination. though it is good to know where your going
May 28th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Woohoo!
Glad it’s all going well!
All the best.
May 28th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Congrats on making the Big Move, Phil! as someone embarking on a similar life-altering adventure, I’m with you, Bro!
May 28th, 2007 at 10:38 am
How is the LP around your new home?
May 28th, 2007 at 10:52 am
so exciting,Thank u for your sharing
i’ll follow your posting next time:)
May 28th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Nice looking house, and it looks like you won’t even have to mow the grass right away.
May 28th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Welcome to Colorado, Phil!
May 28th, 2007 at 11:24 am
BTW,
What route did you take that took you through Wyoming? Very weird. Well, I don’t really need to know, but I’m curious.
Donna
May 28th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Scenic routes are always the best. Congrats on the successful journey! May the Bad family enjoy the Rockies for many, many years.
May 28th, 2007 at 11:35 am
Welcome, “neighbor” (ok, I’m way down by Parker, but we’re psuedo-neighbors on an astronomical scale, right?).
You and your family will love it out here, I bet. Enjoy Boulder Free Zone, but don’t OD on granola and hemp sandals.
May 28th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Good luck in your neck of the woods and stay away from those Rocky Mountain Oysters, they’re not all what they’re cracked up to be.
May 28th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Welcome.
To writerdd, from the bay, you would take I-80 which goes thru Salt Lake City Utah, then Wyoming. Pick up I-25 in Cheyenne.
May 28th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
I love the dust devils. It reminds me that the Opportunity rover had its solar panel cleaned up yet again. Sometimes a trip to Earth can be more rewarding than a trip anywhere else in the Solar System. Good luck Phil.
May 28th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Glad you made it Phil
. I’m originally from Colorado and remember it being quite beautiful. My mom would love for me & hubby to move back there. Too cold for me, though. Northern VA gets cold enough for me….
May 28th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Good to have you with us. Let me know if you want to have a beer sometime, as I live 10 minutes down the road from you. My wife ran in the Boulder-Boulder 10k this morning so I drove by your house today for all I know.
While I’m at it: Definitely check out the Boulder Book Store on Pearl Street. While I assume that they carry the same books as anyone else, they’re displayed in such a way that I tend to find a dozen books I want to read in an hour. It’s all in the presentation. Also, the Med has great Greek appetizers for like 2 bucks each (We usually order 8 or so) weekday afternoons.
May 28th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Glad you made it safe-like and all. Next time I play Colorado, I’ll send you free tickets.
May 28th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
That sign in the second to last pic is redundant
May 28th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Glad to know the move went well! Hope your stuff all arrives safely, though the most important stuff already has.
May 28th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
My family wants a new, smaller house… I know that boulder’s rates are really high (but you probably make more money there too), and I’d like to know what a ballpark estimate for a house like that is. Thanks to anyone who can answer ^.^
May 28th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Glad to see you made it safely, Phil!
Beware! You’re right next to Kansas!
Hope your stuff gets back safely as well. This ought to be an incentive for making transporters.
May 28th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Wow, nice home. Looks like there are some big shady trees in the back yard for Jupiter and Saturn to peek around when they rise. I imagine setting up the telescope will be early in the unpacking.
May 28th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Welcome to Boulder! Of course, you move here just about as I am leaving for an NRC postdoc in DC. Oh well, if you’re ever at JILA on the CU campus, look me up. I’m not one of the astrophysics/LASP people (theoretical chemistry FTW), but my office is near some.
I do feel envious of you, though. You only had to drive from CA to CO to move. I get to do CO to DC. That is a lot of Kansas on the first day. So flat…
May 28th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Welcome to Colorado. Even though I live in Sydney, Australia.
And ‘hello’ to your mum. I think she’s nice too.
May 28th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Congrats on the new digs…looks like a nice spot for sundial there in t he front yard!
May 28th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Enjoy, really throughly, Boulder, Bad Family!
The Boulder 10k race is great.
And the Boulder Dinner Theatre–dinner shows.
Make sure to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park, St Mary’s Glacier,
and Bill Cody’s gravesite west I70 of Denver.
Great area.
Yes, I used to live in Denver.
May 28th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
I just went by that segment of I-80. Actually drove by Boulder to, I waved. Now the photo you should have is that segment to the east of Rock Springs that shows the massive folding deformations of the sediment bed. Now did you get to see the really dark skies along the way?
May 28th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Forget Rock Springs…the thriving metropolis of Wamsutter, Wyoming is where the real action is!
May 28th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Welcome Home.
May 28th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Colorful Colorado?
Gosh, glad to see they have *color* there.
Can fire and the wheel be far behind?
By the way, I had Chloe at CTU enhance the photo of the house and run it through the combined NSA-CIA-EIEIO data base, and I know where it is. Mwah ha haaaa! $50 for the Google map coordinates, folks!
May 28th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Hey mon ami,
Is Dan Durda still in Boulder? I know he’s been there and in AZ. Can’t seem to keep up with that crazy guy!
We’ll miss you in California, but wish you well in Boulder. When I was in Boulder, I thought of it as a little slice of California in Colorado. I’m sure the locals would protest, but it’s intended as a compliment. Anyway, the culture shock shouldn’t be too extreme. Not like you’re moving to Colorado Springs or somesuch.
Bon chance!
May 28th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
The documentary I’ve seen at http://youtube.com/watch?v=6dVBJbe5xMc makes me quite sure space-types do just fine in Boulder.
May 28th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Best of luck to the BAD Family,We all wish you the best. And next time you drive through Utah, stop in,
Ya hear?
May 28th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
The Boulder Book Store is certainly a great place to pick up assorted woo to debunk on the blog. Sunday brunch at the New York Deli, if it’s still there, would be my recommendation as an enjoyable way to shorten your life expectancy.
May 28th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Good to hear you made it without incident. Dust devils are quite a common sight here in Australia where they’re known as Willy-Willys.
May 28th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Enjoy your new home, good to hear that everything went well
May 29th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Looky there, they spelt colour wrong.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Ah.. so that’s your new house. Good.. I’ll which door to knock on in September.
May 29th, 2007 at 1:27 am
Just out of college, my friend and I drove to Colorado Springs from LA for a visit. We went to high school together in LA, she had lived in Colorado Springs while I had lived in Oregon going to college. I had so much fun on that trip I went back shortly after and moved to Steamboat Springs. It was one of the most wonderful places I’ve ever lived.
Steamboat Springs is changed now, and I live in Seattle, and there was a world of travel in between then and now. But I’m envious. Colorado is a great place to live. Boulder is a wonderful college town. Red rocks and powder snow. I predict you will fit in well and enjoy the Continental Divide as much as I did. Rockie Mountain high…most definitely.
May 29th, 2007 at 1:28 am
@Cru: Yeah, twice: in colourfull and in Colourado!!! What will be next? No wait, let me guess: ….. “Welcome to Beautifull Bolder” wha ha ha haahaha.
May 29th, 2007 at 2:42 am
So you write to all your Bad Bloggers before you write to your Bigger Badder Family? Did you get my voice mail on your anniversary? Congrats on finally arriving. How did your Bad Animals do on the drive???
May 29th, 2007 at 5:20 am
Now I have 3 friends to visit in Boulder! Hope your stuff arrives safely and that you apologize to your big sister.
May 29th, 2007 at 5:21 am
Thanx for calling yesterday to let me know that you all got there safely. Moms worry for no apparent reason.
Ed, Thanx for your nice thoughts. And thanx to all of you for your good wishes to the BA Family.
Anniversary card is on its way.
BAMom
May 29th, 2007 at 6:27 am
Congratulations on your move.
I guess this means that you’ll be giving fewer talks in California…sigh…
Oh well…it was fun while it lasted…
May 29th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Wow, your new house looks really nice.
Congratulations on the move, hope you settle down well.
May 29th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I’m sure you crossed Wyoming on I-80. I grew up in Wyoming and hear comments all the time about how they drove I-80 and can’t imagine why people would live there. I-80;’s route was chosen because of the gradual grades; they ignored the locals advice on a different route to avoid winds (US 30 is that route). Just a short trip south or north of I-80 and you would have seen much pretty views.
BTW – Geologists love what most people think of as visually boring!
May 29th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Welcome to Colorado, Phil. You’ll enjoy Boulder.
If you ever get a chance, come on down to Denver. It’s a lot more down to earth than the People’s Republic of Boulder.
May 29th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Glad you made the drive safely, and safely through God’s country (Utah and Wyoming) too. You made it just in time to experience the Colorado afternoon spring thunderstorms. The lightning’s fun to watch.
May 29th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Welcome to Colorado!
Hope you brought your bicycle.
By the way, there’s (obviously) some seriously awesome geology up in Boulder. If you go to Settler’s park, there’s a huge chunk of the Fountain Formation that you can climb around on. If you like that sort of thing. Since I
May 29th, 2007 at 10:10 am
-gah, my comment got cut off.
Okay, to continue -
…love alluvial fan deposits, so I tell everyone about it.
Oh! And there are some seriously wonderful restaurants over by CU. Check out Kow Thai, since they have the best yellow curry ever. And there’s… er, can’t remember the name, except it involves something like Noodle House. Anyway, enormous bowls of pho that you could drown in. And make sure to have a Big Fish at Illegal Pete’s sometime soon!
May 29th, 2007 at 10:36 am
I’m no American, but isn’t 75 mph speeding? Shame on you and on a family website to boot. *tsk*
May 29th, 2007 at 11:06 am
scubaduncs…in the western USA there are a number of roads (mainly the big interstate highways, including I-80) with a 75 MPH speed limit. Rest assured, the Travelling BAs were obeying the laws.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:10 am
75, eh? Nice one. That is a civilized speed limit indeed. We get the odd 110 kph up here, but mostly they’re all 100. Up here being Canada, of course. But the, “eh,” probably already clued you in.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Welcome to this part of the world, BA and crew.
Be sure that your moving list is complete: “find little dinky road leading to dark skies in the mountains” had better be there!
May 29th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
csrster said:
“The Boulder Book Store is certainly a great place to pick up assorted woo to debunk on the blog… ”
Sadly true, though I don’t know that it is any more woo infested than other bookstores (I know that’s not saying much). To their credit, they do seem to do a fairly good job keeping the woo books out of the science section. But perhaps even more to their credit, I easily located a copy of “Bad Astronomy” when I was there last Sunday.
May 29th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
[...] it’s official. The Bad Astronomer is now a [...]
May 29th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Your family should really enjoy their new house. Make sure that you get your den up as soon as possible. Looks like the perfect environment to author a new book in.
Thanks for sharing your travels with us….
May 29th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
[...] it’s official. The Bad Astronomer is now a [...]
May 29th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Kaloriziko!
(Greek wish for something new you get, usually like a new home or store; I never learnt how to say this in English
)
May 29th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Happy Anniversary from us too, Phil and Mrs. BA! I thought about that after reading your post on friday but had already turned the computer off.
Your new house looks nice. An exciting time right now.
Larissa
May 30th, 2007 at 2:48 am
Conrgrats! Moving is always exciting and a challenge. We’re all rooting for you (in the fan way, not like a pig in the muck).
May 30th, 2007 at 4:44 am
Forget Rock Springs…the thriving metropolis of Wamsutter, Wyoming is where the real action is!
Gateway to beautiful downtown Table Rock…..
(One of my favorite places in southwestern Wyoming is Fossil Butte on US30 just west of Kemmerer. Out of the way, but definitely worth a visit or six.)
May 30th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Be sure to stop by Sommers-Bausch Observatory on the CU campus. They used to have open house every Friday night.
One homeowners tip for Boulder: Learn to replace shingles!
The chinooks are fierce.
May 30th, 2007 at 6:01 am
“Conrgrats! Moving is always exciting and a challenge. We’re all rooting for you (in the fan way, not like a pig in the muck).”
And we are not rooting for you in the Australian way either
May 30th, 2007 at 8:00 am
welcome to Colorado – fortunately Boulder isn’t a big change from California!
I’ll keep an eye open for local BA talks – maybe even get the kids interested.
Glad to see all made the trip safely (Having engaged in more than my share of long moves, over teh years, I can appreciate the fun you had!)
May 30th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Welcome to Boulder – with any luck, I’ll be seeing you at some point
I live in Superior right now (which, if you don’t know, is about 6 or 7 miles southeast on US-36 from Boulder), and I will be going to CU next fall. Congrats, and I’ll be on the lookout for any kind of a BA talk
May 30th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
And lets not forget to tell BA about Como Bluff in Albany County (the county that holds Laramie and the mighty Rock River.) The site of the famous/infamous battles of Cope and Marsh. There is a nice little cabin made entirely of fossils and so phenomenally dark skies it is beautiful. And come on guys everyone knows the belle of southern Wyoming is Elk Mountain. All the fresh air you could ever want. (That was the VERY windy mountain you passed in-between Rawlins and Rock Springs BA, where all the wind turbines were)
We WY folks now turn the forum back to its intended use.
May 30th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
The mention of wind turbines in Kyle_Carm’s post at 4:44pm, partly explains my confusion of the mention of “wind” in Rodney Lester’s post at 08:53am.
I was curious as to whether it meant “winds” as in windy weather – quite a problem in some areas, though usually in mountain highways – or “winds” as in windy roads – quite a problem in some areas, though usually in mountain highways.
Or both!
And this is not even a picky problem between the different spellings of common words in different countries.
Oh, I almost forgot, glad you made it safely to your new home, Phil and Family. Hope you settle in soon, well as soon as your Moving Van arrives, and that all your Goodies are unwrapped, and hopefully un-broken!
Ivan.
May 31st, 2007 at 9:19 pm
big deal if he moved , he still gave up the dream job people
would love to have to be a loser typing all day. he’s not n astronomer anymore.. just a sit there typin time waster
May 31st, 2007 at 9:19 pm
big deal if he moved , he still gave up the dream job people
would love to have to be a loser typing all day. he’s not an astronomer anymore.. just a sit there typin time waster
May 31st, 2007 at 9:21 pm
yeah you got a point there,,, dumb looser wastes his degree etc to sit at home. not being an astronomer not exciting enough for you phil?
June 1st, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Welcome to Boulder!
It’s a beautiful place to call home.
June 3rd, 2007 at 8:26 am
Glad the move went well and that nothing got broken. Great pictures and I’m sure that Mrs B.A (and junior) will be more than happy in the new location.
Looks like you will be too, judging by the great picture of the lightening storm by the observatory!
July 16th, 2007 at 10:36 am
[...] any idea. I thought he was in a different state. He recently moved to Colorado. Do you read his blog at all? __________________ Two years ago moved from my town I was looking up past the city [...]