Hello, my name is Lulu Pumayalli and I am interning at the Coastal Marine Institute Laboratory (CMIL) in San Diego, California. I spent this week in Illinois and Wisconsin with my mom’s side of the family. For the 4th of July weekend, I was in Tower Lakes which is an hour away from Chicago. I spent most of my time there on the lake swimming or listening to live music with my family and friends. On the 4th we got to see a parade in the small town my grandparents live in and I got to hang out with my dad who I haven’t seen in a long time.
My dad, sister, and I on our way to a 4th of July party.
On Monday, my whole family drove to Door County, Wisconsin which is on a peninsula between Green Bay and Michigan and where I spent the rest of my week. Most of my time in Door County was spent in a small town, smaller than Telluride, called Sister Bay where my aunt and her family live. On the first day we got there, my cousins and I wasted no time and jumped on my uncle’s boat for a quick ride on Lake Michigan. (See picture 1) I am the oldest cousin on my mom’s side of the family so it is always so much fun spending time with my 6 younger cousins that range from the ages 4-8, we are 9 grandchildren including my siblings and I so it’s always a party whenever we get together. (See picture 2) After getting off of the boat, my cousins and I looked at the dead fish on the shore. My cousins were super intrigued and were asking me lots of questions about the fish because they knew about my internship. I was able to answer some of their questions but not all, like the species name of the fish we saw because I’m not quite there yet. (See picture 3)
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On Tuesday, all of the grandchildren jumped in Lake Michigan for a swim and then hopped into a hot tub to warm up. While we were swimming in the lake, I borrowed some goggles and tried to see what is in Lake Michigan and the water was practically green because it was filled with floating seaweed. I saw some small fish but nothing compared to the amount of fish we find in Fiesta Island in San Diego. Due to the rain all day Wednesday, my family decided to go to a local art-making studio. All my little cousins made mosaics, and my sister and I painted ceramics. My sister painted an octopus coin bank and I painted a gnome mug. This was a perfect rainy day project.
On Thursday, my family went on the boat again and went to explore the bay and some of its islands. We stopped at an island called Horseshoe Island and swam for a bit. On this island, there was so much seaweed and it was different from the species I am studying at the lab in San Diego. This seaweed was super tall and looked like tall ivy with tons of leaves. All of the places we saw on that boat ride were super pretty and super green.
Friday was my last full day in Door County so my immediate family and I went fishing with a close friend of ours. We spent all day searching for fish on the lake and after 4 destinations we finally caught some fish. Sadly, we only caught one kind of fish called the Round Goby or Neogobius melanostomus, but that’s better than nothing. It was really cool being on the boat either way with my family.
By the time you are reading this, I have most likely gone to the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies baseball game with Didi and their aunt and uncle. It was an incredible week with my family and seeing how science is all over and in everything we do. I’m really looking forward to sharing what I do next week, which is my last week interning at CMIL.
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