A Trip to South Dakota and Badlands National Park

Tim had always planned to attend this year’s Plains Anthropological Conference in Rapid City, South Dakota, so our goal had been to finish our projects at AGFO before heading out yesterday. We almost made it! We left the RV behind, so we will return next week to finish up a few loose ends. 

The drive to Rapid City was an easy three hours long, and we checked into our hotel and had a light dinner.

Today, we had the day free since Tim had not signed up for any of the tours. So, we decided to drive to Badlands National Park. On past visits, I had focused on the rugged beauty of the park and its geology. For some reason, I had ignored the fact that these geologic deposits contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds. After having met the park’s paleontologist while working at AGFO, I was much more aware of this aspect of the park’s significance.

Tim and I had hoped to meet some of the staff, including the museum curator, but we learned that everyone was participating in the park’s bison roundup. The very helpful ranger at the desk graciously opened the paleontology lab for us, although it had been closed for the season. Tim was particularly interested in seeing how the fossils had been cavity packed. 

The Paleontology Lab at Badlands National Park

We drove along the park road on the way back to Rapid City, and I once again admired the scenery. We even had a few wildlife sightings, including a herd of pronghorn and two bison. We were relieved that the visitors photographing the bison were keeping a respectful distance. Although we have seen bison countless times, it was neat to see them today since we had just watched Ken Burns’ The American Buffalo.

Wild and Rugged Badlands National Park

Wildlife Sightings Are Always Fun

We were hungry when we left the park and stopped at the iconic Wall Drug Store where ice water is still free! The burgers were quite good.

Wall Drug Store

Finally Hitting the Trails at AGFO

Although Tim and I have been at AGFO for more than two months, I have not made the time to hike the two trails here. My excuse is that it was either too hot or too wet, or that I couldn’t afford to take the time away from my project.

On Saturday, I finally made it to the Fossil Hills Trail, which leads to the famous, historic excavation sites or quarries. I confess that I didn’t hike the trail, but caught a ride in the Polaris when Tera Lynn was taking Ranger Amelia to the top for her ranger talk. Although Amelia pointed out evidence of fossils in the exposed hillside, I had trouble seeing them. Obviously, I would never make it as a paleontologist! My favorite part was the views over the surrounding landscape.

The Fossil Hills Trail Begins at the Visitor Center and Leads to the Historic Quarries

Ranger Amelia Tried Her Best to Help Me See Evidence of Fossils

On our way back to the visitor center, Tera Lynn made a detour so I could see the Bone Cabin, which was used as a temporary residence for paleontologists who were working the fossil quarries in the early 1900s. Thanks for the ride!

The Bone Cabin, Views from Fossil Hills, and My Ride

Today, I did hike the Daemonelix Trail, which features fossil exhibits of the spiral corkscrew burrows of the Paleocastor, an ancient land beaver that lived here in the Miocene. Ranger Ember presented her geology tour, and I learned about the various geological layers of the area. It was especially cool to see the “Devil’s Corkscrews.” Even I was able to identify several of these fossilized burrows, apart from the ones preserved in the exhibit cases.

Ranger Ember Helped Me Understand the Geology of the Area

The "Devil's Corkscrews" or Daemonelix

A Change in the Weather

We have had incredibly good weather in Nebraska for the most part since we’ve been here. Bad wind storms have typically happened on weekends while we’ve been at home, and I’ve been able to handle the hot days surprisingly well.

Unfortunately, our luck seems to have run out. The last few days have been very cold and rainy, with sub-freezing nights. It even snowed a little last night, and the forecast is not good.

I finally decided enough is enough, and we checked into a hotel in Scottsbluff this afternoon. The commute is a long one at about 45 minutes each way, but at least we will be warm and not have to worry about our water lines freezing since we are winterizing the RV.  We decided to stay for four nights, and I’m looking forward to being out of the cold.

It's Hard to Believe We Were Dealing with these Temperatures Just a Short Time Ago

A Few Other Projects

Although our main focus was the reorganization of the Archives Room, Tim and I also tackled a few other projects at AGFO.

Tim spent part of his time rehousing fossils in the Museum Storage room. I never knew that Tim could make his own boxes!

Rehousing Fossils

I also tackled the historic photographs backlog project, which Tim and I had worked on when we first visited the park this past January. I am taking copies of all completed inventory sheets with me, and I will type the information into an Excel spreadsheet. This will be my remote winter project.

Reorganizing More Journals, and Books

Tagging and reorganizing the first group of journals took less time than expected, so Tim and I decided to then tackle the jumble of journals in another part of the Archives Room, the real “problem area.” Those journals, and some oversize books, were in a total disarray, and many were just stacked in random piles. (I wish that we had thought to take a “before” photograph of these sections!)

After reorganizing the journals, we were then able to move on to the books, adding paper tags to each one. 

After reorganizing the journals and books, we also inventoried every one of these items and updated the location information in ICMS, the NPS database for museum collections. Finally, we labeled the shelves.

We are quite proud of the way the Archives Room turned out and are a bit amazed with the amount of reorganization we were able to accomplish.

The "New" Archives Room

Everything Should Be Much Easier to Find Now!

Excursions for Our Mediterranean Explorer and Crossing Cruise

Excursions for our Mediterranean Explorer and Crossing cruise opened for booking today. I brought my computer to the AGFO visitor center so I could hop online at exactly 1:00 pm. 

Excursions for Viking ocean cruises fill up quickly, and I was prepared with the choices that Tim and I had selected. Although I was quick, I was nevertheless surprised that I was able to book all of our first choices. As usual, we will be taking a mixture of included and optional excursions, and we have tried to be at least somewhat realistic about how much touring we really want to do. We are trying to heed our own advice from our last cruise! 

Although Tim and I will likely make changes to our selections, these are the excursions that we have booked. We’re still working on arranging private tour(s) in Barcelona.

Our Excursions

Canadian Rail Adventure - Booked

After we return from our Mediterranean Explorer and Crossing cruise on Christmas day, Tim and I have no travel plans scheduled until embarking on our Viking World Voyage in December 2024. How can I possibly go for almost an entire year without a trip?

During our last few weekends at home, we discussed several options, including a European Sojourn river cruise from Amsterdam to Bucharest and a Chilean Fjords and Patagonia Explorer cruise in South America, but nixed those ideas for the time being.

Since I love scenic train rides, I have always wanted to take the Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver to Banff. I noticed a trip on Vacations by Rail that included the Rocky Mountaineer, plus travel on VIA Rail’s Canadian all the way to Toronto. Here’s the description:

Discover the romance of two rail journeys plus the tales of experienced driver-guides in a luxury motorcoach. Meander through the Canadian Rockies aboard the all-daylight Rocky Mountaineer train. Spend a few days exploring Banff and Jasper National Parks, then board VIA Rail's Canadian for a rail adventure across Canada.

A train trip across Canada with time to explore the Canadian Rockies? Sign me up!

Although I had figured we would save this adventure for a much later date, Tim thought this would be the perfect trip for 2024. We settled on dates from mid-September to early-October, and our travel agent booked our trip today.

Not only do we get to travel by train, but we get to stay in four of the fabulous historic hotels constructed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 1800s. Cornelius Van Horne, the president of the railway, had envisioned a string of grand hotels across Canada that would draw visitors to his railway. He remarked, "If we can't export the scenery, we'll import the tourists." Tim and I will be happy to be imported tourists!

Our Canadian Rail Adventure (image courtesy of Vacations by Rail)