Today is our last day of having the group from Red Cloud around. It has been so wonderful to have them here, see the kids in action, and meet their teacher. It's been another magical experience. Started the morning with an early tour of the nearby Minuteman Missle site, an entity of the NPS, with the group from Calhoun School. Headed back to the park to meet up with the Red Cloud group. We all caravan-ed down to Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, stopping at the Wounded Knee massacre site to see the place where this happened and hear some information from Russ and his students. It was a very important experience for the NYC kids and I am so glad they had the opportunity to learn this history.

At Red Cloud, we had some lunch, then sat in a circle and talked about our experiences this week. We went around and everyone said what was meaningful for them or what parts stood out. The consensus was that this week was something very special. The kids have already exchanged emails and friended each other on facebook. Lots of good talks about potential future opportunities, then a tour of the chapel and heritage center with it's art collection.

Really going to miss the presence of these individuals.

After Red Cloud, we drove west on Hwy 18 and north on Hwy 41 to Cuny Table Road. Took that east, up and across vast Cuny Table so the kids could get near and see into some of the south unit. Drove past the south unit visitor's center and then north on Hwy 27 (Big Foot Trail) to Scenic, which is always on the border of being a ghost town. The students loved it so much, they got out and explored on foot with cameras. We continued east on 44 into Interior, where we stopped at the Wagon Wheel for dinner and dancing to the jukebox. It was fantastic.

Motivational artwork on
the capsule's blast door.

Deputy Commander's seat.

Along the way to Wounded Knee massacre site.

The mass grave.

The lovely "ghost"? town of Scenic, SD.

Spent last night in the exhibits area of the visitor's center, with the lights on all night. Turns out they are broken and on the maintenance fix list. Woke up this morning, first to the sounds of a phone alarm at 5am, then drifted back off for a couple hours only to be awoken by Gary and Francesco's antics and giggling. One thing led to another, and pretty soon Gary was doing a fair impression of Irish step dancing. Next he was doing this while wearing his sleeping bag over his head. Several students awoke to the sight of their teacher looming over them, jigging in a sleeping bag. We had some time to be silly, then started packing up so we could be out of the visitor's center before it opens to the public. Ran back to the quad for quick showers, then down to the maintenance sheds for a staff breakfast in which we were invited to partake. The superintendent and deputy superintendent were cooking: bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes, oj, coffee. It was a feast. Next we loaded up supplies for the day and headed out to the bison corrals with Ed and Ranger Alison for a tour. Alison ran us through the round-up process, and showed how the corral set-up works. Russ added some information on bison and differences in how you handle them compared to cattle. Apparently they can jump their own height from standing. So, an average bull bison standing at 6' can jump, standing, and get his hooves 6' off the group. Right. Bison are definitely not to be messed with.

Next we drove out into forest service land to look for invertebrate fossils in the pierre shale and fox hills formations. It was chilly up above, but down in the draw it was warm and nice. Found a few small things, but nothing too impressive. Must find a better spot next year. Spent most of the three hours we were out there with Alison, some with Russ too. Really enjoyed it. We then drove up to Wall for a stop and rest at Dairy Queen. While there, Gary and a student noticed the bison sculpture across the road, and ran out to take photos. A man stopped his truck to talk to them, and let them know that the sculptor lives just on the other side of the DQ and has a yard full of sculpture. So of course we had to go check it out. Gary knocked on the door, met the man's wife, and she brought him out to meet us. He talked about his work and process, and let some of us take photographs. It was neat.

Dinner was bison burgers. I had 15 pounds of ground bison in my fridge still, and I mixed in seasonings and ingredients for the burgers. Had help in forming the patties from a student and Hailey, another teacher. She was really interested to try making burgers since she has never worked with ground meat. Hearing her talk about food and cooking, I would love to go watch her in action. She said most of what she makes is Korean, but she has some American aspects she's blended in over the years. I kind of lost count, but I think I made about 50 large bison burgers, making them almost 1/3 pound each. We had bacon and cheese for them as well, and a couple very nice kids went through the working of slowly grilling them, eight at a time. I had two, myself. One student said she had 3 1/2 burgers! Then came the ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and Francesco picked up as we left. Plenty of lively conversation, then a late bedtime. Great day.