Geologic Work in the Southwest United States

I spent the first three and a half months of 2002 in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. Much of that time was spent in or around Flagstaff, Arizona, or at Northern Arizona University. This was the second half of my year long leave from Black Hawk College. The first part of my leave included a three week excursion to Chile in South America. Despite what some people have said about my time off, this trip was not an extended vacation! I was actually working on a number of projects while out west. My three main projects were: 1) Observation of the faculty (teaching techniques and methods) and classes (content and organization) in the Geology Department at Northern Arizona University with the aim of comparison to the courses taught at BHC; 2) Enhancement of my slide and digital picture collection for use in lectures, presentations and web pages; and 3) Collection of new rock samples for the college's Earth Science lab, including display and demonstration samples, and developing new lab sets of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock samples for student use.

Here's how those three months break down by the numbers as far as what was accomplished:

17	National Parks and Monuments visited
	Bryce NP, UT; Capitol Reef NP, UT; Capulin Volcano NM, NM; Carlsbad Caverns NP, NM; Cedar Breaks NM, UT; Death Valley NP, CA; Grand Canyon NP, AZ; Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, UT; Guadalupe Mountains NP, TX; Natural Bridges NM, UT; Petrified Forest NP, AZ; Sunset Crater NM, AZ; Walnut Canyon NM, AZ; White Sands NM, NM; Wupatki NM, AZ; Yosemite NP, CA; Zion NP, UT
26	State Parks or areas of geologic significance visited
	Averett Gorge, UT; Barnhardt Canyon, AZ; Cerbat Mountains, AZ; Coal Mine Canyon, AZ; Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, UT; Crazy Basin, AZ; Enchanted Rock State Park, TX; Fairview Peak Fault Scarp, NV; Glen Canyon Dam, AZ; Grand Falls, AZ; Granite Dells, Prescott Valley, AZ; Hoover Dam, AZ-NV; Kelso Dunes, CA; Lowell Observatory, AZ; Meteor Crater, AZ; Monument Valley, AZ; Oak Creek Canyon, AZ; O'Neill Crater, AZ; Sierra Nevada Range, CA; Shiprock, NM; Snow Canyon State Park, UT; Strawberry Crater, AZ; Tonto Creek, AZ; Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, AZ; Valley of the Gods, UT; Very Large Array Radio Telescope, NM
110	Hours of classroom observation
635	Kilograms (1,400 lbs) of rock collected
663	Rock samples collected
916	Slides taken
3070	Digital images taken
26,474	Kilometers (16,450 miles) traveled by road in United States

The map of the southwest United States shows the areas that were visited and the routes driven.