Nikkia, Kevin, Chris, Nikesha, Lynn, Joanna, Gabe, Andrea, Ben, Jess, Dan, Jan, Tom, Ron, and Irina all boarded the bus at Goddard and made our way to Ocean city on Saturday morning, leaving at 10 a.m. On the way, Ron graciously provided us with a movie to watch on the bus, as well as giving us our stipend for the weekend. We arrived at our Hotel in Ocean City at about 3:00 p.m. stopping for lunch along the way. For most of us the beach was our first destination, some content with soaking up some warm afternoon sun after a long week at Goddard, but some more adventurous rented surfboards . Some went for an extensive walk to the boardwalk. Our two groups went to dinner at different locations after we failed to meet up. Some went to a restaurant called The Shark, where some interns suffered from "sticker-shock", but I think everyone found a meal that suited their tastes and wallets. The other group ate at a crab house towards the boardwalk. On Sunday one group rented jet-ski's, while others went surfing again. Two first-time surfer's braved the waves on their own, quite unsuccessfully. Our teambuilding and networking meeting went well on Sunday afternoon. We held it by the pool on the roof of our hotel, which turned into quite an interesting place to hold a meeting. Anyone not acquainted with the group yet certainly became acquainted during the meeting. Afterwards, and after a long trek to find food, we went to dinner as a group to Sumo-Subs, a fine dining establishment.

Night led into early morning, and our trip to Wallops Flight Facility. Our first visit was to the wave research tank. Our group was given a thorough demonstration of the ability of the tank to produce waves under various circumstances, as well as how they dynamically measure various aspects of wave function. Our second stop on the tour was with a current SIP intern working on algae research, learning that not all that NASA does is in space. Next we took the bus to Wallops Island to meet with people, including fellow intern Gabe Ladd, working with balloons, blimps and small superlight aircraft used to carry various weather measurement equipment, most of the aircraft were radio-controlled. Various types of unmanned aircraft, and balloon/blimps were shown to us. Our third stop of the tour was a slide presentation by a pilot at wallops, and some of the various research missions that he flew, some including intense missions over our neighboring country of Greenland. The fourth stop was to the hangar, where three F-16 fighter jets used for research were stored. These jets looked to be fully loaded, however the warheads of the missiles had been refitted with various types of sensors. We were allowed near to the jets to examine them closely, they are quite impressive. Also in the hangar were several "blank" missiles used to test warship defense capabilities off of the coast, a new endeavor taken up by Wallops Flight Facility. At this point the tour ended and we returned to Goddard fully satisfied with the generous weekend that SIP organizers, Irena, Ron and Adrienne provided.