Fourth of July Celebrations, and other happenings

4 July 2013; The Black Hills and Environs --

The day dawned early, with warm sunshine pouring in my window as I awoke at 0530 MDT, eager for the adventures of this day -- whatever they may be. First, before my breakfast of microwaved steel-cut oats and a cup of fresh-brewed black coffee, I took a short (half hour) walk up and down the bike/hiking trail that borders Spearfish Creek here in the city. 

The birds (Robins, mostly) that were out for their early morning worm entertained me with their wary walk and hop as they stayed on the sidewalk in front of me. Soon they decided a more determined method of evasion was in order as they flew into the welcoming branches of trail-side bushes or trees. Not being my "old self", when I could maintain about 2 miles per hour hiking uphill with a 30-pound backpack, I estimate that I covered at least one mile in my 30-minute walk.

After returning to my cabin, taking a shower and sitting down to eat my breakfast, I was attracted by the sound of thunder. Thunder, at 0700 in the morning?! That is characteristic of the thunderstorm activity over the ocean, but on land? What is going on here? Grumpy went outside to investigate; the clouds were zipping by from the Northwest, suggesting winds aloft at 5-8 thousand feet to be 40-60 miles per hour. I then surmised that the rapid movement of humid air (from where? -- had to be of Caribbean origin) rising against the North end of the Black Hills massif was what was causing the thunderstorm activity. Anyway, the damp coolness that accompanied this storm would be a welcome relief from the otherwise promised heat of this day.

And so, with my "water weapon of choice" covertly tucked under my arm, I proceeded off down the Interstate toward the fore-destined battle field; will I win this day, or lose again like in past years?

Well, I sort of won; I found out that the Famous Backyard BBQ had been cancelled, at least for this year, so no little Grandson and/or Granddaughter would be soaking me today. On the other hand, I definitely lost; the climax to my visit to SD on the 4th of July had been this backyard BBQ and the anticipated fun of exchanging water with these (and other) little kids -- and ultimately being gotten wet by their combined efforts.

So, my agenda for the day had to be drastically revised. First I called Emil & Irene, our old friends from McLaughlin; Woops! they don't live in Black Hawk any more! They are both in an assisted living home in South Rapid. So I stopped in to visit with them for an hour or so, until their lunch break was announced. We got caught up on the goings-on in both our families and Grumpy promised to come again next year to continue our visits.

Having the wrong telephone number for cousin Ethel, Grumpy decided to drive up to the retirement home which was nearby. I obtained Ethel's correct telephone number from the receptionist and told the receptionist to not bother Ethel as it was close to her lunch time; I would call later to see if she would like to go out to a light dinner with me. Despite my request to not bother Ethel, she was called and came to the lobby where we had a short visit before confirming a tentative dinner date for later that day.

Fossil of very early Bison ancestor

Modern Bison; same scale as ancient

With the whole afternoon to do something until the dinner date time came, Grumpy chose to spend it in the SDSM&T Museum of Geology & Paleontology.

Grumpy very much wishes that the youngest Grandson could have been here; the semi-precious gem displays, the mineral specimens and the fossil skeletons were things that Grumpy is sure he would have enjoyed. there was also a comprehensive display showing the evolution of the Bison, in which both Nancy Nurse and Hammerhead would have been interested.

Ethel and I met at about 1730 and went to a nearby Perkins restaurant where we each had tomato basil soup and a salad or sandwich. During our subsequent visit, we told about our respective families and Grumpy got to brag about his Grandchildren, Great Grandchildren and pending Great Great Grandchild.

After returning Ethel to her residence, Grumpy motored back up to Spearfish where he would sleep very soundly tonight to the trickling tune of the nearby creek.

The Great Prairie Safari -- Day Five

5 May 2013; Mammoths, Caves and Wild Animals --

We awakened, this fifth day of the Great Prairie Safari from our stay at a Motel 6 – we unanimously agreed that our nights sleeping on the ground were more comfortable! In retrospect, Grumpy would seek more diligently for a campsite rather than choose a Motel 6.

Our first visit of the day was to the “Mammoth Site”. This is a natural deposit of both Columbian and Wooly Mammoths, as well as numerous other mammalian and reptilian skeletons. The reason for this rich find is that these animals were lured by the presence of warm water to drink. The Limestone edges of this pool of water were undercut by the dissolving action of the hot water, however, and did not support the weight of the huge animals. Carnivores were attracted to the opportunity of a “free lunch”, and were similarly entrapped in the pool with impossible-to-climb-out shores.

Also in Hot Springs is “Evan’s Plunge”, an historic resort site, appealing to the hoi poloi in the “olden days”, but affordable to the “rabble” now.  Grumpy wanted the boys to enjoy the luxury of a swim in this large, naturally-refilled 16 times a day pool – the mere fact that they hadn’t had a shower or bath since we left Fort Bale had absolutely nothing to do with Grumpy’s eagerness.

Many years ago, on a winter recruiting trip, Grumpy purchased a disposable paper swim trunks so he could take advantage of an indoor swimming pool at a motel where he was staying. When he tried to convince the Swede of this possibility, she was inexplicably incredulous! [Too much "Wood Alcohol"?] Nevertheless, Grumpy inquired of the Evans Plunge manager if they had “disposable” swim suits; they did not. Hence Grumpy’s disappointment that the opportunity for a swim was not afforded the Queen of the Prairie Safari.

After a one-hour playtime in Evan’s Plunge, the adventurous quartet continued with the finale of this day’s busy agenda: A guided tour in Wind Cave. We would be the last tour group to enter the cave this day. A major feature of Wind Cave is its extensive "boxwork" formations. These are formed when Calcite mineral  is deposited in minute cracks in the limestone that is the main rock in "cave country". During later cycles carbonated water dissolves the limestone, leaving the Calcite membranes.

Grumpy had already determined that this night we would camp in “The Haystack”. However, he did not anticipate the multitude of wild animals they would encounter on the road to the Haystack. We were able  to capture these up-close photos because of the cooperation of these animals -- no human beings were endangered during the taking of these photos.

We came upon a large herd of Buffalo, grazing in a nearby valley. The Queen was sufficiently impressed to get out of the car and, stretching her height-challenged stature to look over the fence, took this photo.

You'll have to ask the Swede for the f-Stop, timing and range she used to capture the photo on the left. Grumpy was driving and couldn't watch what she was doing.

The animal in this last photo seemed to be Her Majesty's favorite, as she bubbled and emoted all over the place each time she saw a bunch of these little varmints, the nemeses of the prairie cowboy. Grumpy will never reveal to her that he used to use them for target practice -- might endanger his Lemon Meringue Pie resource.

Keep watching -- more to come tomorrow!

The Great Prairie Safari -- Day Four

4 May 2013; On the Prairie -- oops, In Hot Springs SD --

Well, we intended to be camped on the prairie this night. But circumstances [and intelligence "gathered in the field"] changed our plans. Here we are ensconced again in the "lap of luxury" -- a Motel 6 this time.

Leaving Casper WY early this morning, we entered Nebraska nominally along the North Platter river valley to the little village of Crawford NE. Here we turned North toward "Toadstool Campground" and the Oglalla National Grasslands where Grumpy planned to experience a memory from his childhood: the smell of prairie wildflowers in the Spring.

After 30 or 40 miles of rough, dusty road we arrived at Toadstool, surprised to find 3 or 4 other cars there

[we had expected we would be the only ones!]. A guided nature trail invited our investigation. [The boys preceded this walk by an exploratory scouting trip.]

After a delicious lunch, prepared Swedish-style [umpteen choices of meat, cheese, raw veggies and fruit! "Now what'll you have?"], we set out on a nature-guided tour of this "Geological Park".

The topography of the guided trail was along and up over some of the various layers of sedimentary deposits that were made over eons of geological time. This particular site had a very shallow, wide and slow moving river that progressively laid down thin layers of clay and, at times, lime-rich sandy/gravelly layers.

These thin, clay layers provide an interesting contrast as they slowly erode away from rain and wind, exposing several layers in one view.

The lime-rich layers eventually solidified into a kind of bad concrete -- too much water or not enough lime. It is this quasi-concrete that comprise the erosion-resistant strata, on the top surface of which may be found impressions made by prehistoric animals. One such example is shown in this photo; these are supposedly the multiple tracks of a herd of migrating rhinoceroses.

The two boys, being boys, persisted in posing in various odd perches. Their bodies, however, provide a good contrast to highlight the ability of the different layers to either resist erosion, or to embrace it.

Here is a place where water flowing over the upper, resistive layers has seemed to "melt" away the soft layers of clay which were underneath.

The Swede, remembering why we came on this trip, captured this photo of the prairie creeping Flox. The aroma of this tiny flower is one of the many smells of the Spring flowers that Grumpy has pined for. [Thanks, Swede!]

At this point, I am going to use another post to intersperse a totally different subject that occurred on this, the fourth day. Don't go too far away!

The Great Prairie Safari -- Day Two

2 May 2013; Super 8 Motel in Ogden UT --

Getting up at 0500, Grumpy discovered two facts that he had forgotten in his old age: First, the sun doesn't come up as early in the far-western section of Mountain Daylight time zone as it does in the mid-section of the Pacific Daylight time zone; second, the days in the lower latitudes after the Vernal Equinox are not as long as the days in the higher latitudes. It was as dark as it can get with only the stars and a last-quarter moon.

Besides, it was cold out of the down sleeping bag and out of the fairly warm tent, with the two GGson's emitting their mega BTU's of metabolism. The brilliance of the stars, dotting the sky right down to the horizon, were Grumpy's reward for persevering out of the "sack" on this cold morning.

So, to preserve his pride (and to try to get warm), Grumpy decided to walk laps around the camping circle. Each lap being about 3/8 of a mile, and by accumulating five laps in about 40 minutes, Grumpy guessed that he had walked at least two miles and perhaps as much as three. Anyway, as he was completing lap four, he noted that Her Royal Highness's tent was open -- Her Highness had apparently decided to forego her "Beauty Rest" for the lively company of the Grumpy One.

After a cup of hot coffee and a quick, cold breakfast our little party departed Farewell Bend and proceeded down the freeway to cross the Snake River into Idaho. This would be the first of six crossings of the Snake that we would experience this day.

A geological wonder, Malad Gorge was our next major destination (after crossing the Snake two more times). We stopped here and took many photos of this unusual geological formation. Malad Gorge was carved out by the action of Malad River as well as an ancient flow of the Snake River when its contents also included the overflow from the Great Bonneville Lake. Bonneville is today represented by three remnants, one of which is the Great Salt Lake. Malad River was named by some French trappers who got sick after eating some beaver that they caught in this river. They called it "Raux de Malade" -- literally, River of Malady. [Grumpy never knew this until this visit! See, this was an educational trip for the Great Grandfather as well as for his two Great Grandsons!]

Needing to top off the fuel tank, we exited the freeway into the little town of Burley Idaho [we had found that this "Aerodynamically Loaded" Subaru Outback was consuming gasoline at the rate of about 20 miles per gallon -- and the tank capacity is only about thirteen! Too bad Grumpy's Honda couldn't have accommodated everything that we had -- including the kitchen sink??]. Going into and exiting Burley gave us  Snake river crossings number four and five -- we were again on the same side as when we first crossed into Idaho out of Oregon; we would have to cross it one more time to go South toward Salt Lake City.

Almost at the Utah line, we came to a Rest Stop which is at the site of another geological piece of evidence that the Great Bonneville Lake overflowed along this area into what is now the Snake River basin. The evidence that we could see was the extensive sand and gravel surface as we walked through the forest of Juniper trees that covered this site.

Finally descending into the Great Salt Lake basin, Grumpy pointed out the series of horizontal "benches" which were formed by the wave action when Lake Bonneville filled this entire 20,000 square mile basin. The reader is referred to Google Earth for more evidence of the progressively lower waterlines as the lake shrank  during periods when precipitation and runoff into the lake were insufficient to maintain its level for a few years or possibly decades. Eventually, however, evaporation reduced it to present-day Great Salt Lake. [The salt content of Great Salt Lake is such that it is impossible for a human to submerge himself in this very dense liquid.]

Not finding a convenient (or inconvenient) campground, it was decided to live in luxury this night, so Grumpy found a Super 8 in which he and Great Grandma had previously stayed several times.

Tomorrow: Devil's Slide and Wyoming!

The Great Prairie Safari -- Day One

1 May 2013; Farewell Bend State Park, OR --

This first day found the mixture of young and old, left-handed and right-handed, German and Swedish
embarking on what promised to be a never-ending contest of wills and determination.

We departed Fort Bale promptly at 0500, (as edicted by the Great Grumpy) -- (plus about four hours as over-ruled by the Lemon Pie Baker). Our first scheduled sight was old highway 30 along the cliffs of the Mighty Columbia. Grumpy had forgotten (one of many, many things that will be revealed in this and future BLOG entries.)

We turned off on the invitation of a sign which directed us to “Old Historic Highway 30”. Grumpy took the bait and we drove half a dozen miles (including several miles past sings announcing, “Road Closed Ahead”), finally arriving at a truly blocked highway, with a flagging crew announcing the reason for the blockage: The road ahead was undergoing extensive repairs and would be closed until 25 May.

Backtracking to the freeway, we continued on our way for a few more miles when another sign announced “Scenic, Historic Old Highway 30”. Well, this was the one that Grumpy had intended for us to take in the first place. After winding up a 5% grade to the top, we found “Rowena  Crest View Point”, the exact spot on which Grumpy had taken Great Grandma’s photo just a couple of years ago.

Great Grandson II (GGsonII) inquired about the road down below. Grumpy assured him that “we will soon see”. And we did, as we progressed on East on this truly scenic, historic section of “Historic Old Highway 30” in Oregon.

Good-natured teasing (about left-handedness vs right-handedness, Swedishness vs Germanisch, and Shortness vs Tall-Enoughness, etc) continued unabatedly as we neared our day’s objective: Farewell Bend State Park, where we hoped to camp for the night. Sure enough, camping was allowed. And what luxurious campsites! Running water at the site! and electricity, if only the Swede had thought to bring the electric coffee maker.

With the “Woman Tent” properly adorned with a pink and black sign announcing “Queen, AKA H.R.H.”, it was time to bring out the sign for the Man tent, which stated: “MAN TENT, God’s original design; Then HE said, ‘It is good!’ “. There followed a lively discussion concerning God’s subsequent forming of Woman [“ … because He said He could do better!”

Grumpy got his second "come-uppance" the next morning when he saw the new sign on Woman Tent: "Do Not Disturb; Beauty Sleep in Progress"

In the interest of informing these two Great Grandson’s of a bit of trivia as to why God called her “Wo-Man”, Grumpy was upstaged by GGson I with this little gem that had Great Grumpy doubled over in laughter:

     When God formed Woman from Man’s rib, He took one look and said, “Wo-oo!! Man!!”

Unbelievably, GGson I went swimming in the icy cold Snake River in the cool evening (the Sun was very low in the western sky).

Keep tuned for tomorrow’s adventure!

Summer 2008--Day 19, The Malheur Gorge and Wildlife Reserve

[Burns OR--Wednesday, 10 July 2008]--We left Ontario OR later than unusual (8:00 o'clock a.m.). Driving up the Malheur River we admired the rugged canyon walls -- mindful of a miniature Columbia River gorge upstream of Portland OR.

The varied geology, which appeared in many places, puzzled Grumpy who was once a student of Geology. There was the obvious lava layers and one cliff of a jumble of rocks seemingly cemented together by some heat and pressure, but not enough to create amorphous rock. And then there was a distinctive white outcropping that did not support vegetation of any kind. Finally, we came upon an outcropping next to the highway. Grumpy "screeched to a stop" to get some photos. In one place, the white material seemed to be running down the slope -- obviously a very soft material. Grumpy crumbled some between his fingers and tasted it on his tongue. Hmm-m! Tastes just like Poi! Grumpy's "professional" opinion is that it is a very fine, white clay. Kaolin? I don't think so -- still... ? Someone who knows how to fire clay might like to try some of this!

Arriving at Burns OR, our motel for the night, Grumpy and the Grand Mother decided (well Grumpy decided and Grand Mother spoiled him by agreeing to it!) to go on the 42-mile loop tour of the Malheur Wildlife Reserve. We saw very few birds and no other animals. The most birds we saw were vultures and a few ducks. However, after we left the reserve, we spotted a curlew flying fast at an altitude of about 50-75 feet. Since it was flying an intercept course to ours, we got a fairly good closeup look at its distinctive long, curved beak and sleek body and wings. Regrettably, no photo though.

The buildings at the reserve headquarters were interesting: native sandstone walls and multi-colored clay tile roofs. The museum had hundreds of taxidermied birds, samples of their eggs and some archaeological specimens from the American Indians that lived in the area in prehistoric times. A duck toy (or maybe a decoy?!), handmade using tulle reeds and other natural-colored materials was pictured; it was about 2000 years old!

The most disgusting thing that we found after coming back to our motel in Burns was this "Dusty Rocket". The Grand Mother insisted that we get her washed before we could have supper!