Autumn, School and Badlands

Hola!
Just looking at the calendar and I want to eek in another post before we lose September by the wayside :)

SCHOOL. is back in session! Which means something for 4 of the 5 of us here in Massachusetts.

David is into his last semester at BYU (??!? what? yes, he is graduating soon!).

Teresa also started her semester at BYU. Both have different apartments than last year or semester.

David says bye

USC INTRO. Kara started classes at USC (University of Southern California), located right in Los Angeles. Frank and I flew out with her for move-in day. It was a lot of organized chaos, with vans and SUVs pulling up and unloading out onto the curbside or grass.

(And of course her apartment was on the 3rd floor, and there was no elevator in the building, haha! :0 )

roommate Julia and Kara

We met her wonderful roommate Julia, and we also met Julia's family. 7 people there to help her move in! Kara has been to football games and other fun stuff, and is getting used to her very full course load.

Move-in day

Convocation: they had all the
freshmen file in by college, wearing
gowns (no caps)

TUTORING. I have started tutoring again, English Language Learnersmy same 2 elementary schools in Weston, one town over from Wayland. It's a short commute and the kids are excited to be there. Can you believe I have been doing this for 10 years? This begins my 11th school year.

NORTHERN ADVENTURES. Frank and I, still chipping away at our "Visit 50 States Lists," got to visit North and South Dakota at the beginning of the month!

We flew into Bismarck of North Dakota and drove west...there is one main highway across the state, and we drove it. At the western edge we visited "Theodore Roosevelt National Park" and hiked that evening some. This is North Dakota's portion of "badlands." Very unique rock and sand formations!


The next day it rained. A lot. So we started the day inside, at a "Dakota Proud" kind of fair, with local artists and jams and jellies and lots of wares for sale. Friendly people and a nice distraction from the rain.

Then a drive through TRNat'lPark, stepping out periodically to take raindrop-dodging photos of
Prairie Dogs
Bighorn Sheep

Do we look cold? We're cold :0

blocking traffic!
(The bison were VERY concerned about our
convenience and welfare...)

coming out for dinner after the rain

Bison
Deer
Coyotes

We drove south to...South Dakota! South Dakota has

Mt Rushmore
Crazy Horse Monument
Badlands National Park

BIGGEST FACES EVER. We learned some about the history of Mt. Rushmore, and the context of events in our country that were going on during its construction/creation.

George by himself

squinting into the sun

Mt Rushmore is pretty amazing art--I can't imagine how someone could just blast away some rock from the mountain, then start carving and get the proportions correct! Crazy.

Which leads us to Crazy Horse monument, another gargantuan feat! Crazy Horse was an influential Lakota war leader in the Badlands area. He fought to preserve the traditional way of life of the Lakota people.

This area includes an entire complex, run by the family of the original artist who passed away in 1982. They started a college just for Native Americans, and the sculpture continues to be worked upon.

The whole sculpture will be Crazy Horse's head, arm pointing into the distance, torso, and the front half of his horse. It's pretty amazing but 70 years after the artist started, they only have his face done. I don't know if they will ever finish it.


BADLANDS. This is a very unique and beautiful national park! Of course by going in September, we avoided major crowds, and the wicked heat that prevails in July and August.

We had some mist at the beginning of the day, then later the sun came out and it was a completely different view. Great photo ops!

If you are still awake through this whole long summary, hopefully you can see that South Dakota really does have some interesting sights! We went to "check off" the state, but I'm glad we had the excuse to go. National Parks are still on my list of "Great uses of taxpayer money." I'm so glad Theodore Roosevelt's priorities included preserving these great areas of U.S. land when he was president!

Happy October! :)
Kari