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Indiana Jones Comes To South Dakota

Thursday, May 15th, 2008 by Alyice

In just a few short days Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be making its way to South Dakota movie theatres and my family couldn’t be more pleased. In fact, this weekend was spent gearing up for the big event by hosting our very own Indy marathon.

My husband is a huge fan of the original series and the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. In fact, every trip to Disneyland—when we lived on the west coast—concluded with a visit to the Indiana Jones Outpost and an Indiana Jones Adventure ride so it was no surprise that my daughter would finally catch the Indy bug.

There’s just one problem with having a marathon with so much adventure, it causes a thirst for adventure that is somewhat unrealistic and that was the case with my 13-year-old daughter. After the Indy marathon ended, she wanted a “real Indiana Jones adventure” of her own and wondered what it would be like to be an archeologist and treasure hunter today.

So while she was at school, my husband set out to give her a little taste of the adventure using our basement and a few props left over from Halloween. First he wrote up a note that read,

Dear Professor,

At long last we’ve found the staff of Ra hidden in the lower levels of the old Raven Loft Mansion located in the heart of New Orleans, USA. But we need your help. Please go the mansion, locate the staff and return it with the Rubies of Macombway.

You will need the staff to help you on your latest treasure hunt. After locating the staff you must locate the talking statue which holds the key to the second treasure. We believe the talking treasure is hidden in a bat cave just outside of New Olreans, near Main Street. Furthermore, we believe the treasure belongs to King Macombway and thanks to notes you’ve found referencing the blood stones we believe they are the long lost Rubies of Macombway.

You have only 2 days to locate the rubies before your arch enemies are on your tail.

Sincerely,

Triple X

Then he planted a few clues around the house to help lead her to the basement where he set up a booby trap. To make the adventure even more real, he required her to use a rope to harness herself down into the basement versus simply walking down the stairs. The lights were also forbidden so she had to use a flashlight. And to make it even more difficult to see, he turned on the fog machine.

Once in the basement she had to locate the Staff of Ra and find her final clue—a clue that would lead her to the Rubies of Macombway. Of course finding that final clue wouldn’t be met without opposition. She’d have to travel through the dense fog to find the secret door. Upon opening the door, she’d had to fight off cobwebs, a talking head and an attacking bat. Then it was back upstairs to locate the rubies and end the adventure.

Did she feel a little ridiculous playing make-believe with her father at the age of thirteen? A little. But being such a good-natured child, she took it all in stride and had fun! In fact, this little adventure had us wondering, “What other adventures await us?”

Until next time…

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The Outdoor Campus

Saturday, May 10th, 2008 by Alyice

On Thursday I had the honor of accompanying my daughter’s 7th grade class on a field trip to the Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I must admit that at first I was a bit nervous about the experience as the entire 7th grade would be attending—all of which fit on a single yellow bus—and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to “connect” with this age group. I was also apprehensive about the field trip itself because I’d been to the Outdoor Campus a few years back (without a group) and found it rather boring. But all my fears were put to rest as I discovered that this was actually a fun and exciting age group and that the Outdoor Campus knew how to entertain, educate, and enlighten young minds.

The day began with a 40 minute bus ride filled with children laughing, talking, and playing games like “20 Questions”, “Hang Man”, “The Question Game”, and “Tic Tac Toe”. I was even asked to play a few games myself and found “The Question Game” to be rather interesting. The object of the game is to continually bounce questions off one another without actually answering the questions because the person that actually answers a question loses the game. It was funny to watch the kids’ facial expressions as they tried “not to answer” a question that they truly believed needed answering—like whether or not they liked a certain boy or girl in the class. And even more interesting to watch them take a simple question and turn it into a complicated question by throwing in a few curves or bells and whistles—all in an attempt to confuse the listener and get him/her to actually give some type of answer.

Upon arriving at our destination the kids quickly took their places in one of the rooms as they anxiously awaited their assignments. There were four groups of 15 with two adults per group. Each group would alternate between activities: fishing, orienteering, nature hike, outdoor cooking, and the infamous Sertoma Butterfly House and each activity would last for 50 minutes with a half hour lunch at 12:15.

Our first activity was orienteering which had a rather lame video presentation in which I actually said aloud, “That was weird” and got all the kids laughing. “Oops, my bad!”

If you don’t know what orienteering is, don’t feel bad. I didn’t know what it was either. In fact, I actually thought it had something to do with oars and the kids thought it had to do with “orientation” as in explaining how the day was to progress. Turns out we were all wrong.

Orienteering began in Scandinavia in the nineteenth century as military training but soon became a sport in 1919 when Ernst Killander, from Sweden, noticed a decline in track and field sporting events and wanted to spice things up.

Orienteering is about the thrill of adventure as you navigate through unfamiliar territory using a map of the course, a compass, and your own two legs. The idea is to find each checkpoint along the course and make it back to headquarters within a specific time frame. Think of it as a scavenger hunt without a huge list of objects or a simplified version of CBS’s “Amazing Race”.

After orienteering our group headed on over to the Sertoma Butterfly House where they were less than enthused. And honestly, I couldn’t blame them. Upon arriving at the Butterfly House we were met with a lady who gave us a list of dos and don’ts but forgot to educate and entertain the kids with the cool facts, like: where do they get the butterflies, what do they feed on, how can you tell a male butterfly from a female butterfly, do butterflies have enemies, why does the butterfly habitat have to be so hot, and how the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly takes place. While our visit was to last 50 minutes, the kids were ready to go after just 15 minutes, complaining about boredom and possible heatstroke.

The Butterfly House was followed up with an interesting nature hike where we learned about the local beaver, spotted a beaver lodge, and discovered how detrimental their damn building can be to cities but how beneficial it can be to natural environments. We also learned how to track, the importance of not sticking one’s hands down a burrow, and how to tell when a burrow is being occupied and when it isn’t.

After lunch we headed on over to the outdoor cooking area where we learned to make quick, homemade ice cream and Mexican Smores. While the kids had a blast making these goodies, I was disappointed to discover that they would only be told about the do’s and don’ts of fire safety and not actually see an actual fire being built.

After filling up on our afternoon goodies we headed over to the fishing area where the kids learned about fishing safety and how to cast a line. They were even given a few casting lessons before heading on over to the stocked lake for a half hour fishing excursion. With five volunteers ready to lend a helping hand the kids were ready to tackle the fish.

And that’s just what one young lady did! Turns out she got “Bob the Bass”—only the largest fish in the lake. As she screamed, “I caught one!” Half the kids ran to her aid as the other half cheered her on. And that’s when we learned a valuable lesson in the “catch and release” philosophy, the sooner you get the fish back in the water, the safer it is for the fish. Of course, I couldn’t get her to hold the fish for a photo, but I did manage to get a nice shot of the fish itself.

Until next time…

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Spring In South Dakota

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 by Alyice

It’s finally spring in South Dakota and I couldn’t be happier. Winters are often a dead time of year as everyone hibernates inside. You rarely see someone walking the streets. You never see kids playing in the school yard or the local park. You don’t hear birds singing from their treetop homes. And the skies look dreary and haunting.

But with spring comes renewed life as one by one the birds flock back to their treetop homes, baby bunnies leave their burrows in search of food, cows return to the pastures, and farmers return the land. And that’s what makes South Dakota so appealing to me.

Living on the west coast made it difficult to tell one season from the next. Our winters looked no different than our summers, springs, or falls. Some days were hotter than others, some days were wetter than others, but all in all they pretty much looked the same: blue skies followed by grey skies followed by a little rain and then sunshine. The streets were always busting with people frantically moving about as they scuttled from one appointment to the next. And except for a few pigeons and sea gulls, wildlife was basically non-existent—unless, of course, you paid an entrance fee.

So for now I am happy to call South Dakota home.

It is here that I can slow down long enough to not only smell the flowers but embrace nature. And it is here that I can get my “city fix”. Just by taking a drive to Sioux Falls or Rapid City I can immerse myself in modern civilization and then return to my small hometown where tractors driving down the street are as common as a bus driving down a metropolis street.

Until next time…

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