9 August 2016

Work or pleasure? Taking a geoscientist on vacation

Posted by Jessica Ball

I’m getting ready to take my first long vacation-with-friends in quite a while, and I’m very happy to be following the trend of geologists going to Iceland. Suffice to say that there will be scads of photos when I’m there, when I get back, and probably for a few months afterwards. (Can you tell I’m excited?)

A geologist on vacation (volcano for scale)

A geoscientist on vacation (volcano for scale) at Lassen Volcanic National Park in July. Hiking, volcanoes, snowball fights, and beautiful campsites – what more could you want?

One thing that I get asked sometimes is whether I ‘turn off’ my science brain when I go on vacation. The answer varies; to some extent, I’m always looking at my surroundings with a geoscientist’s eye – if you spend years training yourself to see things that way at work, it’s hard not to let it carry over into everyday life. And often I go on vacations with the goal of seeing some cool geology. In the past few years, that’s included volcanoes, canyons, mountain ranges, caves, more volcanoes, a few lava domes, and a lake or two.  And because I enjoy those places, even trips that I take for work purposes have an element of vacation to them.

Geologists wandering the ruins of Herculaneum, Italy on a 2009 field trip

My fellow UB grad students wandering the ruins of Herculaneum, Italy on a 2009 field trip. The volcanic eruption that buried the city also preserved it, leaving a treasure trove of history surrounded by evidence of geological devastation.

Occasionally I have to rein my science side in a bit so I can enjoy things. But when I’m traveling somewhere, I feel like it adds to my experience, a bit like having a really nerdy Google Maps layer. I can get so much more out of a landscape when I have the mental toolbox that lets me think, I know why this mountain is here, or Those rocks are folded because of this, or What’s going on under this geyser, or It’s amazing that I’m standing on something that was molten rock a few years ago. Forget augmented reality through your phone; I’ve got that all the time, and it’s awesome.

Doing a very touristy Maid-of-the-Mist ride at Niagara Falls, NY back in 2013. (This technically wasn't a vacation, since it was just a day trip on a weekend, but there were rocks, okay?)

Admiring Silurian dolostone and shales from the Maid-of-the-Mist boat at Niagara Falls, NY back in 2013. (This technically wasn’t a vacation, since it was just a day trip on a weekend, but it was a super-touristy activity.)

Of course, not everyone cares as much as I do about geology, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve trained myself (I hope) to figure out when my nerdiness is becoming overwhelming or boring; no one wants to hear a lecture when they’re on vacation, after all. I happen to be going to Iceland with three other geoscientists, so I anticipate this won’t be a huge issue, but we all know the value of switching out of science mode and enjoying the sights, or a yummy meal, or just being silly.

There were actually plenty of opportunities to talk geology on the Napa Wine Train ride I took last month - vineyards are very conscious of the terroir and happy to tell you about it!

There were plenty of opportunities to talk geology on the Napa Wine Train ride I took last month – vineyards are very conscious of the terroir and happy to tell you about it!

But being a geoscientist is all about telling stories – stories about the Earth, about how and why bits of it formed, or are changing, or haven’t changed. I love that I can go on vacation and figure out the story of a place even if I haven’t been there before, just from what I notice through that mental scientist’s lens. I think it makes the experience that much richer.

A quiet moment on a field trip to the Bancroft mining district in Ontario, back in 2012

A quiet moment at a glacial lake on a field trip to the Bancroft mining district in Ontario, back in 2012

See you all at the end of August, when I’ll have some new geologic stories to tell about my trip to Iceland!