North Dakota AHOY!

Ugh - we've been awful at blogging. Sorry! We've been working very hard, and I finally got a moment to write something up, so I figured I'd answer the question that is on so many minds...

Why did we come here to North Dakota, anyway? I mean, besides the obvious draw of the great history of Theodore Roosevelt’s pre-presidency adventures here.

That wasn't much of a draw for us non-historians, although we have been happily surprised at how much fun it is to learn and teach about TR.

There were, of course, many things that did draw us here. The scenery is gorgeous:

And, as I was informed by a colleague who tried to sell us on the area, there are bison.

There are bison everywhere, as it happens. We have lots in the park - so many that they will have to do a round up this fall to pull some out of the herd. There are bison on the road…

….and around the visitor center…

…and in the campgrounds…

….and on the trails…

Notice that the bison in the picture above is scratching his belly on a trail post. They do that a lot, which makes it challenging to mark the trails, because they tend to rub signage off:

Jeff is drawn by the birds, and I’m drawn by the geology:

Our park has a particularly fun area  - the petrified forest:

The area used to be covered in Everglades-like sloughs and cypress swamps, but would get occasionally covered in ash (most notably from eruptions of the Yellowstone caldera), which left us with lots of petrified trees and fossils. Not too many hours south is a totally different geologic wonder, the Black Hills, where I got to play with huge amounts of mica for the first time in my life.

Hey, man, whatever floats your boat.

We do get out some on our weekends. We’re close enough to the Black Hills, Bismarck and Knife River Indian Villages, Devils Tower, and quite a few pretty awesome state parks in Montana:

But, of course, we are working our tushies off.

Jeff in particular is working on getting public awareness of the impacts of fracking (hydraulic fracturing, a technique for oil drilling) on the park.

But we do plenty of playing, too. We’re in a very close communal living situation - it’s hard to find non-government housing in the area because of the oil boom and its huge pressure on local communities - so we have quite a few parties. Nicaraguan style tortilla making comes to North Dakota!

We’re already about in the middle of the season here, which is wild - we’re just getting comfortable with our programs! But we found out that we will be returning to the Everglades for another winter of environmental education, so we may have more time for blogging (and sewing, and playing music, and beading, and photography, and fishing, and kayaking, and hiking, and…) this time since we won’t be starting from scratch on our jobs. We will likely have a two-bedroom apartment there again, so if anyone is looking for an Everglades vacation this winter, give us a buzz!

An Ode to Grandma Kate

My dear grandmother passed away on Monday. I was fortunate to be able to say goodbye - to be there for the last few days, and even the last moment, of her life. At 97, her passing was not unexpected, and a recent doctor's visit confirmed two weeks before that it was time for the family to gather. She was celebrated at the end, and passed peacefully, surrounded by her children plus my mom and me. It was a good end to a life well lived.

Her place was always so cozy!

I will miss her. I'll miss her flowers in her garden. I'll miss her smile. I'll miss her updates on getting older, and her example of gracious living. I'll miss her unwavering acceptance of all the crazy things we did, and her unique ability to make every visit feel like a celebration of the moment. Her life has taught me a lot.

She taught me to plant flowers - something she loved to do.

Thank you, Grandma. Rest well. I love you.

Waving goodbye on the porch.

Living for EVER

(Note: this one is by Jeff, but posted by Kate)

EVER is the park service code for our workplace, the Everglades National Park. The job is great--we work with kids in overnight camps and day programs.  For some of the kids, our program is their only exposure to nature and wilderness in their entire lives.  When the kids are inspired, we feel like we are truly part of making a difference in their lives.  Our new park is starting to feel like our new  home, at least for the winter.

Sometimes, we bike to work on some of the flattest roads in the world.

The Everglades is known for its rich and strange animal life.  Of course, we have tons of photos of alligators and other critters, but with such animal richness, sometimes you are lucky to see strange bedfellows tolerating each other.

Threatened and Endangered species abound, such as the American crocodile,

the Wood stork, with its unusual foraging adaptations,

The purple gallinule often sports its colors along the trails,

Some of the most photographic fun is watching the photographers.  Often, the morning trails are filled with cameras worth more than the car we drive there:

Because our job follows the school calender, we get two weeks off around Christmas and New years.  We decided to go to Dry Tortugas and Key west.  Dry Tortugas is a national park around a civil war era fort, Fort Jefferson:

One of the largest brick structures in the world, it is fascinating to explore inside:

As the last of the keys in Florida, and only accessible by boat or plane, it is surrounded by moats and ocean:

the water is turquoise:

Kate celebrates the sunset with a trumpeting conch:

Kate's note: It didn't actually trumpet. Just thought I'd point that out.

We kayak to a nesting colony of magnificent frigatebirds, a soaring pelagic bird rarely seen in groups or on the ground.

The highlight of Dry Tortugas for us, however, is the snorkeling.  It's all accessible from the shores around the fort:

Some of the reef grows on the fort's moat walls:

There are schools of fish,

the largest hermit crab we've ever seen,

coral heads teeming with life,

And, since it was Christmas, we stopped to admire the so-called Christmas tree worms:

Key West is the gateway to Dry Tortugas, so we couldn't resist staying there for a few days around Christmas.  Tropical Santa was resting in his hammock:

and the streets were decked with lights:

We spent Christmas night at a show with our favorite jazz band, Deborah and Patrick:

We also visited nearby Key Biscayne, a small island just south of Miami.  It has a historic lighthouse,

miles of pristine, sandy beaches:

A fascinating beach park that includes fossilized mangrove reef with mangroves growing on their ancient brethren's fossils, notice Miami in the background:

We have had visitors!  Our friend, Fawn, came to visit for a week and we did many fun things, including kayaking and fishing in Florida Bay:

Mom and her friend since grade school, Cindy, came to visit for mom's birthday.  We went to Key Biscayne again, where Mom and Cindy enjoyed a spectacular sunset.  

There have been amazing sunrises and sunsets here.  Let's end with a few of them.  Here's one from our office after work:

On a bike trip down the main road:

near our housing area:

As seen from our back porch on a foggy morning:

We do a sunrise activity with the kids at camp.  Normally, we are not allowed to share photos of our kids and of us with them for privacy reasons.  But during our sunrise activity, their silhouettes are not identifiable.   A couple of our twenty-some fifth-graders watching sunrise.

 Recently, the cool mornings have created a steamy lake:

As seen from the highway back on the keys:

from Dry Tortugas: