Home Sweet Home!

Hey guys!
Kathy and I are finally home in Seattle, unaccompanied by any wonderful guides. This has been the highlight of my life so far and I hope to go on so many more adventures. Kath girl I love you so much. It was an honor sharing this experience with you and I would never had imagined going with anyone else but you. You are the best and we had a blast! To everyone supporting me with my first blog, thank you very much! Students, I hope you all learned a lot so you are ready for the challenging unit in plate tectonics next year!
Signing off,
Miss, Leah

Last Stop: Iceland

Salutations young ones-
Reporting from Iceland here (65°42'N, 16°48'W)! Unfortunately this is my last stop on this superb trip. Kath and I joined this awesome tour group here and have been biking, hiking, swimming and learning! The leaders of this group taught us about divergent boundaries. A divergent boundary is when two plates move away from each other. Specifically, the North American and Eurasian plates are moving away from each other and form something called a rift valley. Magma rises up through these cracks. These actions obviously create many volcanoes.A location within Iceland named Krafla has had 29 eruptions, the most recent one occurring in 1984. Earthquakes occur here in Iceland as well, the most recent activity being in 1973 with a gigantic magnitude of 7.1!
It is so sad to part the world of traveling but Kathyyyy and I are heading back home to beloved Seattle.
-Miss. Leah

Beautiful pair of sisters... at least we are having the time of our lives!

 This is an animated photo of how a divergent boundary works. http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/movements.html

New Zealand (19°20'N, 81°22'W)

Well hello there guys!
I'm chillin' in New Zealand with Kath and our new guides Brandi and Chase. My sister and I have been very fortunate to have such amazing guides who can teach us so much. For example, today we learned from Brandi and Chase about transform boundaries. A transform boundary is when two plates are sliding past each other. Examples of what a transform boundary can form are faults and mid-ocean ridges. To be specific, the Australian and Pacific plates slide past each other here in New Zealand, creating the Alpine fault. Although volcanoes do not form at transform boundaries, earthquakes are very common. The most recent quake activity was in July of 2012, resulting in a 6.3 magnitude! Holy moly! There are other plate boundaries here in New Zealand which support volcanic activity. The most recent eruption was in 1996. I am having so much fun on this trip... and this is sadly just past the halfway point :(.
Talk to y'all next time!
-Miss. Leah

This is an animated photo of how transform boundary plates move. http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/tectonics-slide.html

Droppin' In on Saint Vincent

Greetings again students!
Man I really need some sleep... but this whole trip is most definitely worth risking a few hours rest. We have finally arrived in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (13°11'N,  61°15'W) and Kathyyyy and I are looking forward to checking out La Soufrière, this amazing yet active volcano! Unfortunately we had to leave Angie and Gleb behind in Nepal, but we have two incredible guides named Marty and Jill. They have been teaching us so much, especially about the area we are in (duh Leah... makes sense)! Anyways, they taught us that Saint Vincent is within location in which two oceanic plates create a subduction boundary. Once we reached La Soufrière, they informed us that volcanoes like this one are formed at subduction boundaries because the magma rises to the surface when the water clears out into the mantle.The most recent eruption was of April in 1979. Learning about volcanoes was a great segue into earthquakes. The earthquakes that happen at subduction boundaries are called megathrust earthquakes because they can go beyond a 9.0 magnitude. Quite large am I right?? The most recent quake was on August 7th, 2011 at a 5.2 magnitude. Seems little compared to those big whoppers!
I must part for now... can't pass up the opportunity to hike around Saint Vincent!
- Miss. Leah

I love my sister so much... so much fun relaxing on this exotic beach with her!

This is an animated photo of how a subduction boundary works!

http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/tectonics-subduct.html

Headin' To The Himalayas

Hey you kiddos!
Kath and I are takin' our first stop in Nepal to visit the majestic Mount Everest. We are staying in Hotel Himalaya, with two awesome guides named Angie and Gleb! They are the rocks that hold us down, because otherwise, Kathyyyy and I would be lost in two seconds. Right now I am at lunch with Kath, Gleb and Angie. Kath and I are learning from Angie and Gleb how plate tectonics work. Today I learned that the kind of plate tectonics that are affiliated with Mount Everest is called "collision". When two converging plates are carrying continents, the two continents bind and become a large, single continent. This is called a collision boundary. Collision causes the crust at the boundary to be pushed upward into a mountain range. Specifically in the Himalaya mountain range, the collision boundary of India and China push together.There has been earthquake activity in the Himalayas (27°59'N, 86°55'E), the most recent one dating back to June 22, 2008. This earthquake had a 3.7 magnitude but that doesn't compare to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that happened here on October 19, 1991! I sure do hope that we will never encounter this back in Seattle, because after all we are susceptible! But don't worry! 
Keep reading guys... more to come!!
-Miss. Leah

This is an animated photo of two plates colliding to make a mountain range. (www.divediscover.whoi.edu )

First Day!

Hello students,
My colleague Kathyyyy and I are going to be traveling to many different locations. It is bound to be quite a trip. I know you are all thinking that it is probably a little strange that two sisters who teach the same thing at different schools are teaming up on this, but it's something new! Just like this blog! This is a great way for me to remember this journey and I am so excited to share it with you. We will be taking plenty of pictures to visually engage you guys!
Thanks for reading! :)
P.S. Seventh graders... this is a requirement... so thanks for reading the required material! :)

This picture is one of my sister Kathyyyy and I.... in the plane starting our adventure!

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A REAL BLOG OR TRIP... IT IS FOR A SCIENCE PROJECT! WARNING FAKE STORY!