November 21: Exploring the UNC campus . . .
Read MoreGreeley is very similar to Athens, (and Columbia, Missouri for that matter), in terms of city population and the fact that there is a large college campus in the downtown area. The University of Georgia (UGA) in downtown Athens and the University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou) are both HUGE, with each having more than 32,000 students. Enrollment at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is roughly 1/3 of that figure. So while the overall college town theme is the same, UNC is scaled back in all respects, which is one reason why Heather likes it here so much. Everything moves at a much less intense pace.
I had no problems finding a parking space in one of the primary campus lots on my way back from my picture taking adventure. Maybe the upcoming holiday had a lot to do with that. But UNC's Thanksgiving break wouldn't start until Wednesday, meaning school was in session when I arrived. Even so, I had no problems parking in the lot next to where I needed to be.The stadium's capacity is listed as just over 8,500 people. I had to smile as someone who has experienced what life is like in Athens when 93,000 Georgia Bulldogs football fans converge on Sanford Stadium. But that's the beauty of this place. It's not a crowded mess, nor is it a traffic nightmare. While I'm sure things can get hectic at times, the scale is much less than what I'm used to.
Dr. Stephen Mackessy studies venomous snakes and snake venom composition and happened to be in his lab when I was there. I know absolutely nothing about snakes or snake research. But it sounds like the science of snake venom would require being able to extract the venom from the snake before you could go any further. Being able to do this in some manner other than getting bit by the snake would probably be step one in this process. That very activity happened to be on the agenda today. While I was excited to see something like this, I don't think the research subjects shared my enthusiasm.