Boulder — MoBE Conference

I'm in Boulder Colorado for back-to-back scientific conferences. This week, it is the Sloan Foundation sponsored "Microbiology of the Built Environment" (4th annual edition). In addition to the great scientific exchange, we have been treated to excellent meals, including Thursday night at the Flagstaff House, perched above Boulder.

View north from grounds of the Flagstaff House Restaurant

Happy hour on the patio before dinner.

Paul Ziemann (CU Boulder), Allen Goldstein (UC Berkeley)

This year's conference has 128 attendees; assigned dinner seating

Morning view of mountains above CU Boulder from my hotel window

Kiel — Day 18

We spent most of Wednesday on trains traveling from Dresden to Kiel. Thursday's outing was one of Alexis's favorite local hikes, through the Schleswig-Holstein countryside, only a 15 minute train ride from the city. The days are especially long now, dawn before 5 AM and dusk after 10 PM. And summer weather has settled in, warm, a bit breezy, not humid, and clear-blue skies. Allergies were a bit troubling for the hike (and the allergy medicine made me drowsy). The scenery was lovely in a much more subtle manner than we've experienced on this trip. Most striking was the sprinkling of wildflowers.

Dresden's morning light — Day 17