Fort Robinson

Michael has been talking about Fort Robinson since the beginning of the summer. There’s tubing, kayaking, general merriment…what more could you ask for? Well, I brought Dakota out there to Nebraska for some exercise. Next time I can participate in the fun of the water and maybe some horseback riding. Good thing there’s next year…

We walked a pretty standard trail. Well, it was more of a gravel path if anything. It was about 3 miles one way, so we’d have to turn around at the end and walk 6 miles in total. Not too bad. At first Dakota was a bit nervous. New surroundings might freak him out a bit, but I bet if there were people there he’d be fine. Dog loves people. Eventually, he calmed down and began taking the lead. Not pulling me, mind you, just being the first to explore.

There were two rest stops along the way. Dakota was panting pretty heavily so we stopped at both. I may be in better shape than the dog. After the rest, we continued down the path. It was relatively boring. Our only wildlife viewing was deer and a gopher. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

Practicing sit and stay!

Once we were done, I just wanted to get back to the car. It was an extremely hot day and I was kind of over walking. Seemed like Dakota was too. However, every time we passed a rest stop he walked toward it. No coaxing, no leading, he just walked in that direction with determination. He knew what happened at those rest stops: we rest. Clearly that was his only motivation. I just thought that was hilarious. He even jogged to the car. Guess he was over walking too. For a dog that doesn’t get out much, I figured this would be exciting. But, I was wrong. Apparently he’s just as lazy as I am.

I’m seeing a cave

Not that I’ve been running out of places to visit here, but I’ve been having trouble deciding on what to visit next. It’s very tempting to just stay in and save on gas, but how do you make memories doing that? And that’s also a quick way to become an unsocial hermit. In order to avoid that from happening, I ventured off to Jewel Cave. It’s the second largest cave in…the United States? Don’t quote me on that, but it’s definitely the second largest cave somewhere.

The trip should have taken a little over two hours, but that slowly turned into three. I have to drive through Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park in order to get to the cave and due to all the fires in the area I had to make a detour. The positive was that I got to see the inside of Custer State Park. Life goal: to stay there…not forever, but go camping or something. Who’s with me? SD road trip in the future??  I’ll let it sink in…

My GPS is usually pretty reliable. Sometimes Richard (the man’s voice) takes a long time acquiring satellite signal or he doesn’t actually find the destination, but I love him anyway. In this case, he was 20 minutes short of the caves. I knew I was on the right road, but didn’t want to drive too far into uncharted territory. To cool off and gain my bearings, I got some ice cream. Two scoops of rocky road in a waffle cone = heaven. Once I regained composure and determination, I continued down the road to the correct location.

Unfortunately, as the website warned, all the tours were booked. Anticlimactic, no? I put on a brave face and left. I’ll make it here another weekend. There are 3 left so I’m not too pressed for time.

It was pretty disappointing not seeing a cave when that’s what I’d had my heart set on. As I drove toward Rapid City, I came across Sitting Bull Caverns, a sign I’d seen multiple times on the drive in and heard multiple ads on the radio. If I couldn’t see one cave, by golly I was going to see another!

This cavern was a crystal cavern. So there were very few and very small stalactites and the cavern was mostly made up of dogteeth crystals. Honestly, trip well  worth it. The temperature underground was in the 40s, a pleasant change from 90-100 degrees. My only concern was the stairs. They were more of a ladder and had open steps. For those of you familiar with the transparent staircase at Roosevelt Field Mall, that staircase is one of my fears. I hate walking either up or down. They’ll be slow and deliberate steps to avoid slipping and falling through the unconnected stairs. My method was the same here. Slow and deliberate with the imminent fear of slipping through or sliding down the staircase. But, as you can see, I survived! Hallelujah!

Crystals! 

Hot, Hot, Hot

This past week was a bit different. OSPRA was selling a bunch of animals and needed to round the bison up into a holding pasture to harvest them. In turn, Monday and Tuesday were free days. Monday was spent at home, trying to stay cool. On Tuesday I went to OLC to archive the data I’ve collected and then did some more work at home.

Wednesday was the first day of the harvest. As I was driving into the pasture with my little Ford Focus, a majority of the herd passed me, heading for water. Well, that was unexpected considering they were supposed to be behind a fence. I didn’t drive my Focus on unpaved, bumpy roads for nothing! He went through a lot to get out here and we were going to reward that! I observed the remaining bison in the pasture until one of the young bulls returned to find his mom. Still shaken from my last encounter with an adult bull, I hurried to my car and called it a day. However, all the escaped bison had returned to where I had to leave, so I stayed to watch a few more. But let me tell you, it was hot.

Thursday was even hotter. Michael and I tried to beat the heat by coming out at 7am. Yeah…so much for that. We went out at 6am on Friday to really try and beat the heat. If I recall correctly, it started getting uncomfortably warm between 8am and 9am. Yuck. I’m sure it will be just as hot this week. The only positive is with the heavy amount of sweating, I’ll probably drop 15 lbs in water weight.

3 more weeks!!

Adventure in the Badlands

Sorry it’s taken so long to update my blog. I’ve been busy reading books, observing bison, sleeping and rewatching LOST. A lot of rewatching LOST. I forgot how unbelievably awesome the show was.

So last weekend I had really wanted to take Dakota to the Badlands. Saturday was the hotter day, making Sunday a better option. Better, but not great, by any means. It was still 109 degrees. Brutal. The drive there seemed to take forever. It was the longest he’d been in a car and was getting a bit antsy. I had to continuously remind him that in a few weeks he will be in the car for up to 4 hours at a time without breaks. No response. It’s like he doesn’t understand me! Oh well, nothing a little benedryl can’t fix.

Since I’d never driven to the north end of the Badlands, I wasn’t sure where to go. There was a sign that pointed to the Badlands, but the road was dirt and gravel and undeniably sketchy. One of those roads you see in inbred movies (sorry if that’s not PC…not sure how else to describe them). Well, it wasn’t dark out…yet, so it seemed safe. Fortunately it was indeed an entrance to the park. There were a bunch of viewpoints along the road to the visitors center and if I had planned to spend the incredibly hot day there I would have photographed them all.

But my goal was to do some hiking, get Dakota some much needed exercise…get myself some much needed exercise. On the way, I noticed a noticed a New York plate in front of me. First New York plate I’ve seen since I left the tristate area. It felt great to see a fellow New Yorker. However, when we both stopped at a trail area, I was too shy to ask them where they were from (as in which part of NY) and they didn’t seem too interested in chatting anyone up (ahh, sweet New York!).

Dakota and I walked around a very small wooden platform that looped around. There were fossils in cases and visitors are encouraged to explore the area (at your own risk – watch out for rattlesnakes) to increase the likelihood of finding a fossil. It’s a pretty cool idea. I didn’t stray very far off the beaten path and Dakota seemed fine with that. We stayed for a fossil talk that was very enlightening…apparently much of South Dakota was covered in ocean…who knew? So the park comes across alligator skulls and other wetland dwelling animals.

Before we left to find the visitor’s center, I spotted a trail right across the street. I wasn’t sure which trail we were headed on, but I wrote my name down on the ‘in case you go missing’ sheet and started walking. The trail was very well marked with red poles at visible distances apart. I was totally ready to conquer at least 30 minutes of walking across a scorching hot desert, but Dakota was a bit more resistant. About 7 minutes in, he laid down and started crying. Not sure if the desert brought back repressed memories of his puppyhood, but he was definitely not a fan. Naturally, I babied him and we walked back. Pushing through his cries could have been an option, if I was an avid practicer of tough love. Let’s just say if it’s something my kids don’t want to do, and I don’t want to do it either, I’m not going to force them.

After our short-lived hike through rugged terrain we headed home. Maybe starting Dakota off in a desert was too much. Perhaps a sidewalk or wooded area would be more his style. He’ll do much better in the rattlesnake-less suburbs of Long Island. The scariest thing we have are crazy possums.

Next time we go on a hike, hopefully he’ll be willing to make it more than 10 minutes.

Massacre

On Saturday, I finally made it to Reptile Gardens. A reptile zoo, of sorts, displaying the deadliest reptiles on Earth. They’ve got an enclosure with at least 40 crocodilians in it (alligators, crocodiles and caiman), the world’s most venomous snakes and most dangerous lizards. Seriously, if you want a reason to be scared of all these animals just walk around and read the warning labels in their descriptions.

It’s nice to know there are no rattlesnakes on Long Island. In South Dakota, you have to worry about prairie rattlesnakes. I’ve only come across one here and it didn’t rattle until Michael walked past it, and he was walking behind me. In other words, I passed it first. In Oklahoma, there was a rattlesnake lounging underneath our hammock a few yards from our house. We took this opportunity to have a photo shoot with the rattler as our model. How often does that happen?

The most entertaining part of the day (or few hours I was there) was the gator wrestling show. Television has greatly dramatized alligator wrestling (Steve Irwin…) and is not shy about publicly killing them (Swamp People…), but this program was educational (not that Steve Irwin’s wasn’t) and offered the audience tools on recognizing the difference between animals along with other fun facts. The best part was that the show was funny. Pretty sure most animal shows or demonstrations are dry and fact-filled and the trainer speaks in a children-friendly voice which drives me nuts. This may be a career choice for me, but I refuse to speak in that rehearsed manner. The gator wrestler performing the demonstration spoke very fluently and conversationally.

Chicken leg time

Coincidentally, the second show that day consisted of the same script, but his delivery didn’t falter or sound rehearsed. If I hadn’t seen the first show I never would have known they were the same. If I end up doing educational shows one day, I’d really like to emulate his stage presence and delivery. At least I have a goal, right?

The rest of the day was filled with PetSmart, Target and Walmart. Very exciting.

I wrote the last paragraph the night it happened. That should explain the narration in present tense. It was just too crazy of an event not to immediately record. Seriously, strangest thing ever. 

I became a mass murderer tonight. I was quietly surfing the web when I heard a faint buzzing sound. Flies have been known to invade my personal space, but nothing out of the ordinary. There was just one or two so I ignored it. A few minutes later, the buzzing grew louder. Suddenly, there are at least seven flies zooming around my room! I was utterly skeeved out. The only logical thought I had was to kill them. Kill them all! For the record, I hadn’t snapped yet. Grabbing my murder weapon (the sandal that killed the spider and wasp), I began wildly swinging in the air. It truly felt as if the flies were purposefully flying in my direction. I was under attack and went on the offensive. Any resting fly was immediately a target. If one landed on the curtain…BAM! It’d drop motionless to the floor. Once all the flies stupid enough to land on the curtain were killed, that left the ones landing on the ceiling. Little did they know I’ve got ups. There are fly guts on the ceiling to prove it. The mass amount of flies appeared out of nowhere. It’s like they…oh what’s that word for things that just appear…spontaneously generated from an unknown source. I took a dish washing break, in case that was the origin of replication, but when I went into the living area (suppose it could be called that…) there were at least 10 more flies! Now I’d snapped. By this point, Dakota wanted nothing to do with me. He was hiding in one of the unoccupied rooms in a corner because he knew I’d gone crazy. I was literally on a rampage for 30 minutes before I called a shower break (speaking of breaks, just got another one). After jumping up and down for 30 minutes, a shower was definitely necessary. When I returned to my room, so did the flies. One by one I crushed them with my sandal. At least fifteen flies fell tonight. They were no match for my cunning and quick flick of the wrist. I’ll probably be punished for that cockiness tomorrow when a new batch take over. If that happens, I’ll have to invest in a fly swatter.

The source may be in the room next door. Fly carcasses are littered on the floor underneath the window. Not sure how that room became infested, but I do know it’s disgusting. 

Paranoid

Thanks to that close encounter yesterday with the bull, I was irrationally jumpy today. Perhaps irrational isn’t the right word, because I think it’s a perfectly rational fear to be afraid of a bison attack. They may slightly resemble cows, but trust me, they are not cows. Michael and I separated in the morning, just half a soccer field in distance, but far enough for me to feel alone. I hadn’t spotted him immediately so I wasn’t sure how far away he was. That escalated my paranoia. The pasture was unusually quiet and the faintest sound of the bison grazing reached my ears as if they were a few feet away. After every grunt or deep breath, I whipped around to see if anything was coming. At one point, the grunts were so loud and so frequent that I grabbed the tree behind me and pictured climbing it. Wouldn’t be the first time. The only positive about suffering from this distraction of self-preservation was that I was much more alert than normal. I didn’t fall asleep once during my observations. For those that knew me in high school, and let’s face it, college too, they know that I have a strong tendency to fall asleep in class. But it doesn’t stop there. I’ve nodded off in movie theaters, at work, while driving. Michael thinks I have low iron, that I’m anemic. Maybe… All I know, is that this affliction has been occurring for years now. I’ve always been so tired that mono seemed normal. Of course I”m always tired, I’m a college student, since when do we get the full recommended hours? Turns out mono can make that worse. Who knew?

Our day ended earlier than usual so Michael could meet with Ron. Then Michael showed me some of the Badlands. If I had known we were going to walk around, I would have brought my camera. Next time. I wanted to bring Dakota out there, but rattlesnakes are a big threat, oh, and simply walking around. The ground is littered with rocks and dirt, kind of like gravel, and very difficult to maneuver. I politely told Michael I will not be returning alone, even if I’m with the dog. So he proposed we go out again and he’ll even take me to better spots. Cool!

Tonight I watched Pretty Woman for the first time with Jenn. I completely understand why it’s considered a classic. Jenn was joking that the ending was sad. As gullible as I am, I believed everything she said to be true. Halfway through I was nervous to finish, especially if they weren’t going to end up together (spoiler alert: they do!). Birthday present? …just throwing that out there. I’ll add it to my long list of romantic comedies…the good ones.

#southdakotasummer

Sneak Attack

This week has been pretty standard regarding observations. Today I stayed with Ron, Cami and Rebecca (his OLC students) and we hopped around a bit trying to keep up with the herd. It was another hot day so we desperately avoided open areas, taking shelter under whatever shade was available. Around midday, the herd settled down at the bottom of  a hill. We posted up on the hill under the few trees in sight. The afternoon had been relatively uneventful and easy.

Until…

While I was watching the herd through the spotting scope, I heard heavy breathing. Unsure of its source, I looked to Cami and Rebecca first. We may have been tired, but not exhausted, and nowhere near huffing and puffing. I mean, all we’d been doing was sitting down. So far, our eyes were the only body part exerting energy. So, I casually turned around. My heart heaved itself into my throat. My pulse was beating so fast it was as if I had just ran a timed mile. Behind us, standing about 10 yards away was an enormous bull. He was coming to join the rut, which is their mating season, and found a few humans in his path. Ron was a few feet away at a different tree so I called his name as calmly but sharply as I could, to convey some sort of urgency, and instructed him to turn around slowly. The bull was still near our tree and Rebecca and Cami were planning an escape route. If I had been alone, my butt would have been up the tree the second the bull and I made eye contact. The bull didn’t seem to be too interested in us and continued to walk toward the herd. Ron smoothly pulled out his camera and began snapping extreme close-ups. Once he left, my pulse eventually returned to normal. A few weeks ago, a man was gored by a bison at Yellowstone. I’d prefer to finish out the summer gored-free.

That was the closest I ever want to be to a full grown male bison…during mating season…when their testosterone is running rampant.

Heat Stroke, Party of 1

Holy hot outside! The past two days have been really draining. My endocrine system is working in overdrive trying to keep me hydrated. So far so good, let you know when I collapse. Yesterday wasn’t so bad. By the afternoon we found a large herd to watch and stayed there for a few hours. It was tough just sitting under the sun, baking in our field clothes. Today, I purposefully wore my hiking pants that unzip at the thigh to morph into shorts. For the most part they got the job done. Just hadn’t expected the bottom half to be so difficult to remove while wearing hiking boots…so they stayed wrapped around my ankles.

Each day my water supply has grown. It’s become necessary because of the increasing hikes we’re taking. Michael had to track the bison today…which is best done on foot…and we definitely hiked over a mile. Most walking I’ve done in a while. Essentially the exercise is a good thing, I’m just super out of shape and allergic to the heat. I’ve got a doctor’s note.

Back at my house, a new family moved in to one of the apartments. They have a 5-year-old son with a wild imagination. What was he saying today… Oh, he showed me an Archie comics comic book and told me he made it. I vocalized my disbelief but he stood firm. He said he made it out of a garden. When asked what vegetables he used, he said all of them. His stories don’t stop there. Apparently he has a big dog that has to stay inside for two reasons.
1. it eats other dogs…poor, Dakota.
2. it can jump over houses…because it has wings.
His dog also only eats trash and drinks coke. I told him soda isn’t healthy for dogs so he corrected his prior statement and said he now only feeds it water. I’m a little suspicious as to whether he truly owns a dog or if his dog is some sort of mythical creature. Either way, I’m sure I’ll get some really interesting stories from him next time we chat.

Third Wheel

Initially, today was supposed to be a free day to work on some data analysis. By the time I got started, Michael called and said he was free to go in the field. We thought we’d be losing all week so collecting some data today was imperative. Michael’s been throwing the idea around of bringing Dakota out with us. Today seemed like the perfect test run.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I’d had this small desire to bring him in the field like Steve Irwin would do with his dog, Sui. That dog was insane. It’d be in the boat with Steve as he was wrestling a crocodile. Just another day in the life of Sui the dog.

My tribute to Steve Irwin and his dog Sui

Dakota may have been about as well-behaved as Sui, but he certainly wasn’t as brave. Poor guy is terrified of gun shots. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be? And of course some nut is on a killing spree pulling his trigger about 30 times. Better have been zombies he was shooting. Michael and I were trying to watch a small herd while Dakota was trying to get away. He needed some kind of happy place. Turns out his happy place is hidden underneath the truck…which was too far away for me to observe the bison and make sure he was okay. I attached his leash to the lever that leans the seat back and then shut the door. As long as we were in sight, Dakota seemed content. Once the bison moved, and we followed, he grew antsy and unsettled. I even tried to bring him back over but he was clearly uncomfortable being out in the open. I reattached him to the car and returned to my spot. The whole time I was watching his leash (since that’s what was in view) waiting for it to go limp. Somehow that dog was going to escape but I couldn’t figure out how. When the bison moved on, we were ready to as well. Michael was the first back to the car and he calls to me “Your dog got off the leash”. Shut up. Sure enough, he managed to tear the leash in half and he was just standing behind the car. Thankfully, he had the right mind to stay near us and gloat. Serves me right for buying the cheapest leash at Walmart. He really is a Houdini.

Since Dakota restrained his hunting instincts and showed no signs of aggression toward the bison, Michael said he could come out again, but he’d do better with a chain leash. That’s fair. This dog can’t stay in the house every day with rarely any exercise. The fresh air and subtle obedience training will do him good. Plus, I think Michael really likes him. Can ya blame him? How can you say no to a dog with a weird genetic tuft on his eye? That screams “love me”! (He’s actually pretty lucky, I googled “dermoid on eye” and some of the results are way less pleasant than Dakota’s face…in case anyone was curious).

#southdakotasummer

Seeing the Presidents

Mount Rushmore has definitely been the highlight of my now four day weekend.

Due to my lack of transportation and fellow researchers, Friday was a day off. I’d planned to go to Mt. Rushmore on Saturday, but if Saturday  turned into a field day then obviously that would be a bust. One of the things I loved about Mt. Rushmore was the amount of families that were there. It’s one of the most family-friendly attractions I’ve been to. There weren’t just American families either. Of the many historical sites in America for a foreign tourist to see, Mt. Rushmore is probably near the top of the list. Getting there is probably a bit of a hassle though. It’s not like you fly in to JFK and find yourself minutes away from New York City. In my opinion, that’s dedication to truly seeing America.

The mountain is the first thing you see from the entrance. I’ve never felt more American than when I was staring at the sculpted heads of our Founding Fathers. A wave a pride rushed over me, filling me with patriotism. It had to happen at some point this week since the 4th of July didn’t really cut it. The entrance to the main viewpoint is a walkway lined with the pillars representing all 50 states. A pang of nostalgia hit me at New York (the only state I paid attention to…woops).

In addition to just staring at the mountain, people can walk the Presidential trail. It’s just a loop around the mountain with different angles for photo ops and a few facts about the faces we’re taking pictures of. As I walked along the trail, every artsy angle of the mountain was being occupied. All the good picture taking spots at the rails, a few feet away from the rails, standing on rocks off the trail, were filled with people unsatisfied with the first five pictures they took so they needed to take ten more. Not that my patience wasn’t infinite on that lovely Friday, but my motivation to wait out the photographic geniuses was nonexistent. I accepted my mediocre photographs and moved on. Toward the end of the trail there are two options to finish it: the easier way or the more strenuous way. Psh, despite being out of shape I’ll man up and take the strenuous way. How strenuous can it actually be? To tell you the truth, not much. Turns out the only difference between the trails is the amount of stairs. The harder trail was just a never ending descent to the bottom. Once you make it down the stairs you are led to the sculptor’s studio. Eh, it was alright. The real strenuous part of that trail came on the way back up. All those stairs down served a purpose and they were matched with stairs going up. Most of the way up I followed an elderly couple. They set a good pace. And as I mentioned before, I was in no hurry.

It was about lunch time when I reached the top and the stairs conveniently bring you back to the food and the gift shop. My biggest surprise at the food court was most certainly the discovery of my favorite energy drink Liquid Ice (free plug)! I only bought one to save for later but my hope is that it’ll be sold somewhere a bit closer. Can’t wait until New York starts commercially distributing these babies. No competition to Red Bull or Monster – tastes way better. Trust me. Okay, I’m done being their unofficial spokesperson.

I apologize for the drink’s relatively nauseating website. The drink itself doesn’t make you feel dizzy. It makes you feel energized! Seriously, I’m done. 

Of all the gift shops I’ve been to, this was easily the most crowded. Kind of deterred me from going in. Kind of. I got the typical magnet and some other small mementos and headed out. Thanks for two hours well-spent Mount Rushmore!