Reading Diary of a Citizen Scientist I am constantly struck at simply how vast the landscape of the United States is. I know it may sound elementary, but it is hard for me, from New Jersey, to really ever imagine a rainfall that would lead people to begin evacuating a town, as Russell explains. Having never been out west, the stories from people who have gone there from my area are practically all the same: you have to go there, its so grand, its so different.

I think we are lucky to live in the United States because of its size and different topography, landscapes, and composition from sea to sea. There is so much to see and experience that you could probably feel like you indeed were in a different country depending on how far away from home you were. I am an East Coast creature; I’ve been to every state on the Atlantic coastline and I spend most of my time in Massachusetts and New Jersey, so I have yet to have that epiphany moment where I feel as if I have left the boundaries of our nation, but I cannot wait for that day. This is why I am enjoying reading Citizen Scientist, not so much for the description of tiger beetles, but because of the description of places that are out there, in our country, waiting to be visited, studied, and enjoyed. I could never imagine having an irrigation ditch near my house, but as the author explains, that is simply commonplace where she is from. What a vast country we live in.