Today I will continue posting photos from my South Dakota trip. On the second day, we met a cousin of a friend who took us out to the rock covered desert around 40 minutes southwest of Kadoka, SD.
Our location was in the badlands, but dozens of miles outside of the national park.
We met Carol at the target site, which was several miles off the highway.
These cute pink blooms were everywhere.
Rocks covered the ground.
It was a hot day.
Today I will post more photos from my South Dakota trip. On our first day of rock hunting, we drove seven miles south of our campsite to the White River. We turned off the highway and drove a short distance toward the river. We saw a guy and asked him if we could rock hunt. He was leasing the property and gave us permission. The river level is lower than anyone can remember. We were able to walk along what would normally be under water. The entire dry section of the river bed was strewn with rocks. Sharon's dog, Clark, loved it. This was Clark's first trip. The first thing he did was head for the muddy puddles. Yes, the white dog was no longer white. However, his fur naturally sheds the dirt and he did great!
We parked on what was the original river bank, followed the cow trails down the slope and through the willows, and carefully maneuvered to the rocky area.
I am not sure what creature made this den, but the hole was at least a foot in diameter! Maybe a fox?
Willows......
Sharon and Clark....
Across the road from where we parked......
Sharon found a cool beaver cutting.
She also found a Fairburn agate. I was not so lucky.
We both found petrified wood. In a future post I will show more photos of the rocks we found.
First, I want to thank everyone who visited the Gitche Gumee Museum this summer. There were so many people. No one has ever seem tourism such as what we had this summer. All the campgrounds were full. All the motels and affordable rental houses were full. They kept coming and resorted to illegally camp wherever they could park their RV or pitch their tent. The other difference in this summer's tourism was the significant increase in rude, abusive, and threatening behavior. I did not expect to be subjected to this behavior as an owner of a rock shop and small museum. The source of these behaviors was my requirement to comply with CDC guidelines for face coverings and hand sanitizing.
Toward the end of the season one of my college friends, who read some of my Facebook posts, offered me $50 for each mask-refuter I refused entry. Many people came into the close-spaces Gitche Gumee because they got wind of the fact that I strictly enforced mask and hand sanitizing requirements.
In part because of this summer, but also because of where I am at on my life's path, I have made a major life changing decision. That decision is officially announced on line at the end of this post.
But first, I would like to thank for the prodding from my son, Jonathan, who urged me to make time to compile this post. Today I will share photos I took on my trip to South Dakota. I was also prodded in the timing of this trip by my friend, Sharon. who also needed to go rock hunting and exploring in South Dakota. The weather forecast was perfect for early October, so I left the day after the museum closed for the season. Sorry to those who may read this who were disappointed I was not around for a private appointment, but I just had to get away.
After leaving Grand Marais early on October 1st, I had several errands and appointments in Marquette. Then I drove a few hours and stayed in Ironwood. I woke up the next morning to snow on the ground. There was just a dusting, but I felt like maybe the winter-like weather was kicking me west to get beyond the cold-weather trough descending on the Great Lakes Region.
I drove to Brainerd, MN and met up with my friends, Sharon and Tom. We visited with social distancing the best we could. Then, with my mask on, I spent time with Sharon's mom, Helen, who is 105 years old and totally of sound mind. She is beyond incredible. Sorry I did not get a photo.
We left the next morning. This was my view, following Sharon and Tom in my Suburban/RV.
We stopped at a cool rest area on the banks of the Missouri River. I think it was in Chamberlin, SD. This is one of the coolest statutes I have ever seen. At this time with our political divides, we can use more dignity.
This is Clark. He is the coolest dog. It was great to share the adventure with Clark. It was his first ever adventure. He was a terrific traveling dog.
Lewis and Clark passed this spot.
Also, at the same rest area...
Then we continued west toward Kapoka, SD. More photos tomorrow.....
Major Announcement #1
After 22 years of dedicated service working the Gitche Gumee Museum seven days a week for the summer season, it is time for a compromise. For every hour the museum is open, there is another hour or two of other tasks required to make everything happen. I can no longer work this pace.
Here is the compromise. I have decided I want to spend more time writing books. That is what I do best. That is what I most enjoy doing. As much as I would like to work as a writer full time, I will continue limited hours. For 2021 and most likely all future years, the hours will be:
June, July, August -- Thursday, Friday, Saturday -- 2:00-5:00 pm
I will consider scheduling private appointments, but there will be high defined minimums to convince the Agate Lady to leave her writer's lair.
Major Announcement #2
After being in existence for 70 years (although closed for nearly 20 of those years), the museum has entertained people for a long time. The founder, Axel Niemi, and myself had different styles and delivery modes, but we were both passionate about educating people.
Now, it is time for a change. The Gitche Gumee Museum will be open for just one more year. It will close the end of August in 2021. In the mean time, I will be re-doing an outbuilding on my property located two miles from downtown Grand Marais. The Agatelady Rock Shop will open for business on June 1, 2022. The good news is the selling space in the new rock shop will be bigger than the current museum gift shop space. It is also one contiguous area. Thus, by putting selling shelves on wheels, I will be able to open up the center space of the rock shop and have lectures, rock parties, and other special events.
I will be selling the current Gitche Gumee Museum building. I will also be selling most (but not all) of the antiques. None of the rocks in the current museum are for sale. Interest has already been shown by multiple people in purchasing the GGM building. However, it is early and I have not really started the selling process yet. So if you, too, have an interest in purchasing this commercial property, please send an email to Karen@agatelady.com. Who ever buys this space and sets up a gift shop or other business, benefits from the Gitche Gumee Museum's dedicated clientele and word-of-mouth referrals to this physical location. More details will be announced when they become available.
Last night the night photography class went to Fayette State Park. Again, we had permission to be in the park after closing. Here are a few of the untouched images just as they came out of the borrowed camera. Now that I know what is required out of the camera to take night images, I will certainly be acquiring one.
This first photo shows the planets Saturn and Jupiter between two of the Fayette preserved buildings.
The rest of the images below use a technique called light painting. With the lens of the camera fully open and a long exposure, you use a headlamp or other light to illuminate the subject matter. Just as I took the following image, someone behind me turned on their headlamp casting my shadow along with that of my tripod.
I next tried the red light option on my headlamp. In person you could hardly see the red at all, but the camera did.
Click on the image below to enlarge it. The Milky Way does show through the top of the old general store that now has no ceiling/roof.
Click on the image below to see the light painting with a red light.
Light painting with a white light.
The clouds dissipated and I was able to get a better photo of the Milky Way.
Last night was the first of a three-night class held at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. Shawn Malone received permission to teach the class in the refuge. She is one of the top experts in the world on taking photos of northern lights and other night sky images. I still have to learn the post-production image processing methods, but it was great to learn how to take these images. None of my cameras have enough range for night sky photography, so Shawn loaned me one of her cameras. The northern lights did not come out and it was cold with temperatures in the low 30s, but it was fantastic! Click on the images below to see the detail.
