In my backyard this week.

 Lots of fun things happening around the quad this summer.  "Friends" showing up around dusk and early in the morning.  We have lots of bluebirds hanging out and this deer comes down behind the apartment in the evenings. With this kind of a backyard you can expect the unexpected.  Last nights sunset was one of the best of the season.  When your living room glows with orange light, you grab the camera because it is bound to be a tremendous sunset.  Today the wind has picked up and storms have been all around but no rain here at the visitors center area.  Enjoy the photos.
You can catch photos from the park which include following the preparation from start to finish of fossils in the paleo lab on the park's Flickr page.  Click on the following links to check it out Badlands Park homepage  or Badlands Flickr page

Wow, the season is coming to a close already, where has the time gone!  One of the common threads you find with rangers is that they want to give to people, time, energy, information, service...blood.  Today was the park's blood drive and, yes, for the first time in my life I gave blood.  Not a bad experience but made much better by those who were there as support.  Thanks to those whose jokes made those minutes pass quickly, to the staff at the drive and to the others who came out to give.  You all rock!

July 13 The South Unit

View from Sheep Mountain

From Red Shirt overlook.  Miles and miles making you wonder about the pioneers and those who crossed here-
Were they nuts?  

 The South unit of the park is spectacular as well as the north.  Today I was in the company of a wonderful young woman, Natalie, who is our Junior Ranger Ambassador for the park this year.  She accompanied me on a trip to the South Unit which is on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. We traveled through our wilderness area, spotting bison and lots of prairie dogs.  We stopped up on top of Sheep Mountain the highest point in the park and took in the view.  Then off down along the bottom of the unit, collected a few samples of chalcedony ( a quartz). 

No fear! Natalie is fantastic at soaking in new things and her
enthusiasm is contagious.

Our final vista was at Red Shirt Overlook.  Amazing miles and miles of the terrain that earned the area the name of Badlands.

Wish my camera could do justice to the colors of the sky.  This was the sunset this evening.  Our reward
for a long day of professional development.  

   We returned home via Rapid City where we stopped for a very late lunch and a quick stop to get gas and then back to the home base.  OHHHH, one last stop for icecream at the local gas station.  We were rewarded with a full sun in the sunset.  A great day!  Thanks Natalie for joining me and experiencing your park and for your eagerness to learn about and share the park with others.  It is so wonderful to work with talented people that have a passion.

July 7 A Day of Adventures

Sunsets in the Badlands are amazing. I continue to marvel at the sky and colors as the clouds explode in oranges, pinks, purples and reds.  It is never the same and tonight the sky every where was lit up with color. Every cloud in the sky was painted in splendor.  WOW!

Three different nights but all
beautiful.

Home sweet home.  

No, it is not done with the red button.
Lots of procedures in an actual fire.

The blast door was painted, note the guarantee
that your next would be free. 

The capsule is suspended on shocks 30 feet underground,
amazing.

Parts of Dances With Wolves was filmed in the area.  

Our guide actually worked on the missiles when he was
in the service. He had wonderful
stories to tell and details about the site.

Today was my day off. I traveled out and about doing the "visitor" thing.  I attended a tour of the Minute Man missile control station, went to the 1880's town, the petrified gardens, the pioneer sod house and the National Grasslands visitors center.  Then Ranger Larry and I barbecued some corn on the cob and ribs in the cool of the evening out on the "quad".  The temperature stayed under 80 today, a pleasant change from the over 100's we have been having.  We had a shower or two but all in all the breeze was gentle and I actually had to change out of shorts and into my jeans and a ligth jacket by sundown.  Busy day, but terrific!

This begins my third season at Badlands National Park and it has been a very busy start.  Several familiar faces,some new faces and everyone is excited about a new season.  I had a very good trip out, no major traffic and smooth going all the way.

"Ranger Cindy, where you been?"  Actually this little guy is probably from this years little ones.  He was about half the size of the adults.

Thursday night the skies opened up in true prairie fashion with a spectacular lightning and thunderstorm.  All the rangers ooohed and aaahed as flash after flash lite up the sky, some bolts were cloud to ground and others unraveled themselves across the sky for miles and miles. 

"Who's back?"

. 

Did not get pictures of the 15 or so bighorn sheep that were walking on the side of the formation as I drove through the park or the herd of pronghorn with their 10 or so new additions but there is lots of season to go! So you can tell it is already a great start to the season.  I am glad to be back and working alongside those who love what they do and sharing their enthusiasm with those who come through as visitors

First day of the trip out to the park.  Traffic was light and the weather was very nice.  A few thunderstorms near Dayton but they cooled things off.  Teased my daughter with a phone photo of Skyline chili.  She is a fan and where else would you eat in Ohio!  It was delicious, spaghetti with chili and cheese what more could you ask for? About 12 hours on the road with stops and such.  This is the longest day, tomorrow will be shorter and then just a hop and a skip to the park on Tuesday.  My friend Mary will be serving as a TRT again if you want to follow her link.  She will start a bit later since right now she is in the Galapagos! Adventure at every corner! 

All packed up and ready to head out to the Badlands for summer of 2012! YAHOO!
More teachers at my school have been asking about the TRT program this year.  They are really excited and curious about spending that much time away from home and the adventures of driving out.  So here we go again, get ready I have a feeling this is going to be a super summer, as usual.
I couldn't begin the summer without a huge Thank You to my school district they have been great about working with the park service and making things happen on this end.  My principal is fantastic as is all the staff at my school. Shout out DECC Newport News-you rock!  The children were amazed this year during our career fair.  I broke out the fossil kit and my slide show, they just couldn't believe they got to touch things and that I had a life outside of the school building.  Very cool!  Keep up with me over the summer.  Coming soon a post about Badlands adventure in Washington DC this past year.  Hurray for National Fossil Day!