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Colombia and Mexico

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:53:20 GMT

We spent a week in Colombia and Mexico for the Camp Counselor USA job fairs. We went to recruit staff for this summer at Hantesa. It was our first CC-USA trip, and the agency's first time hosting fairs in Colombia and Mexico. So on the last day of February, we dropped off Benton and Henry with Grammy and Poppa Winfrey and hopped a plane to Bogota. We arrived at the Bogota airport at about 9:00 pm, and emerged from the customs check to a huge crowd of people on the sidewalk outside. It was warm and humid and hundreds of people were waiting for their loved ones to exit the airport. We soon found our group and caught a bus to the hotel, for our first night spent outside the US.

In the morning, we had this view from the balcony of our hotel room. We spent an hour walking around the neighborhood, then returned for a sumptuous breakfast, which, like most of our meals in Bogota, included 2 or 3 fruits we had never seen before. Sarah usually tried one or two--I tried them all! (with no ill effects.) By mid-morning, the job fair had begun, and we had dozens of eager applicants to interview. We were one of only 5 camps brave enough to be "guinea pigs" for this trial run, so we were able to be pretty selective. Most of the kids were in college and spoke very good English. Nearly all had experience with kids, and many were in Boy or Girl Scouts, or had other camping experience. We soon filled most of our available slots with the candidates that most impressed us.

It was during the job fair that we realized that we'd be very well taken care of in Bogota. Our hosts plied us with snacks and drinks through out the fair. That night, we were taken to Sassoon's, in the T-Zone, a trendy area of Bogota with a wide array of restaurants. This particular one was frequented by the city's elite, but the menu costs only ran to $20 a plate at the most. I ordered the one entree I couldn't translate, and it turned out to be a Fred Flinstone-sized platter of pork ribs, glazed in tamarind sauce. Like everything else we ate on our trip, it was delicious.

Day 2 in Bogota was our free day, and our hosts took us out to the country at our request. A mid-day stop was the Alpina dairy store, where we sampled several sweets, including the local specialty: Arequipe. It's a rich, milk-based caramel, and we bought two jars to take home. Then it was on to the village of Zipaquira, home to the world-famous Catedral de Sal.

The Salt Cathedral is built inside a huge salt mine, and contains hundreds of carvings--angels, the stations of the cross, a nativity scene, all out of salt. The cathedral itself is huge, with about a 70-foot ceiling. Pope John Paul II visited there several years ago, bringing a huge crowd to the small village. We took the full tour of the cathedral, climbing up and down stairs through several levels of the cathedral.

Outside the cathedral, Sarah found a gorgeous shawl in a light green color (it matches the bridesmaid dresses from our wedding) for 3800 pesos. ($19US) She was so happy with her purchase, she wore it to our restaurant that night, an enormous steakhouse called Audre's Carne de Res. The restaurant stretched 3 blocks, with 300+ waiters on duty. We were serenaded by costumed actors, were given Colombian flags during the playing of the national anthem, and Sarah got a "Honores de la Casa" sash. Oh, and there was food, too. The menus were on rotating scrolls mounted inside of boxes--they went on for a few hundred feet, I think. The food was terrific, and the atmosphere was even better. Sort of a South American Lambert's, with music and dancing thrown in.

Our last morning in Bogota allowed for some more sightseeing, and we traveled to Montserrate, on the eastern edge of the city. We rode a funicular train up the mountain, to a church and former convent, with beautiful flower gardens and a panoramic view of the city. We saw long-tailed hummingbirds in the flowers and tried to catch our breaths at the 10,000' altitude.

After descending on the train, we did a little bit of shopping around the city. We visited a shop selling replicas of the pre-Colombian artifacts on display in the city's gold museum, along with a couple of big stores full of local handicrafts. We spent only a few dollars but filled up our bags, and then it was off to the airport, 3 hours before our flight time:
1:00 - arrive at airport, queue up with mob at Mexicana airlines counter.
1:40 - reach front of line, realize that we have to pay our airport taxes in cash (luckily they take US$)
2:00 - Sarah gets bumped to the front of the line because they recognize that she's 3 months pregnant
2:10 - tickets in hand, we have greasy hamburgers at the airport restaurant.
2:45 - long hike across the airport to the international terminal (no moving walkways here)
3:30 - pass through security, endure pat-down, arrive at our departure gate
4:00 - begin boarding the plane
4:05 through 7:45 - enjoy leisurely, comfortable flight, including several drinks and a decent meal.
7:45 - touch down in Mexico City
8:00 - deplane onto the tarmac, and then into the airport, where we reach the immigration desk. Around two thousand travelers are ahead of us in line.
10:00 - we finally get close enough to the front of the line to see the immigrations officials. It appears that they are changing shifts, because several leave the room, then a few more filter in to take their spots.
10:10 - passports stamped, we head to baggage claim.
10:20 - At baggage claim, we discover that international baggage arrivals from South America go to a different area. We retrace our steps, go up a flight of stairs, down a long hallway, back down an escalator and through another security checkpoint.
10:30 - We pass through customs and discover a very happy sight--friendly faces waiting to greet us as we leave the airport! They are Carlos and Tita, Sarah's "aunt and uncle." Carlos was unofficially adopted by Sarah's Noni nearly 40 years ago, and the families have been close friends ever since. Carlos even attended school at the University of Missouri at Rolla. We were so touched by their warm welcome, and even more touched that they had stood around for more than 2 hours after our plane had arrived! We were in Mexico.

The view above is from one block away from our hotel. We were in downtown Mexico for two days, near the Constitution Plaza, where the Presidential Palace and National Cathedral are located. The Cathedral is in the back left of the photo; at the center is a traveling art exhibit "Ashes and Snow," which people were waiting in line three hours to see. We took a walk around the cathedral and also saw the Diego Rivera murals in the palace. They reminded me a lot of the Thomas Hart Benton murals in the Missouri State Capitol.

Above, an entrance to the cathedral; Below, view from the courtyard of the Presidential Palace

The job fair in Mexico City was very short, due to a lack of applicants. I'm not sure why, but the CCUSA programs in Mexico were much less well-organized than the one in Colombia. So with extra time in the afternoon, we were treated to a tour of the Anthropology Museum. I wish I hadn't been quite so tired, or I would have tried to see more of the museum. As it was, we saw thousands of Aztec, Mayan, Olmec, Toltec, and other native Mexican artifacts, dating from 3,000 years ago to the present day. A few standout items were examples of early writing, a quetzal-feather headdress, and a circular stone Aztec calendar. Many items were solid gold or jade, including the huge jade column standing in the middle of the museum.

The next morning we traveled by van to Puebla, a city about 40 miles southeast of Mexico City. It took a long time to get out of Mexico City, but once we were in the country, the views were great. We drove up through pine-covered hills and past the smoking cone of Popocatepl. We headed to the campus of UDLA--the University des las Americas, for our Puebla job fair. Here we were able to fill our last two staff openings with a couple of good candidates and the trip was officially successful. In the evening, we visited the huge pyramid of Cholula (which has a small church on top of it). Our hike to the top was timed to coincide with the sun setting behind the volcano, known locally as "Gregorio."

The next day was Thursday, and we were giving the morning to ourselves. We took the adventurous step of hiring a taxi to take us out to the Ecological Park at the edge of town, and made arrangements for the driver to return for us in time for lunch. The park had a popular jogging and cycling track, but also had good habitat for birds. We saw several warbler species that will be passing through Iowa in May, and we also saw a few local birds. Our favorite was a White-Throated Magpie Jay, something like a huge, glamorous Blue Jay with an eight-inch tail! The park also featured a domed aviary, and we paid our fifty pesos for the tour. Inside were flocks of parrots, whistling-ducks, forest falcons, and harsh-voiced guinea fowl. The coolest birds were a few toucans!

After returning to the hotel, we had a couple of hours of shopping around the city's many markets. We bought a few sweets to take home for the boys, and couldn't resist sampling from a corner ice cream shop. The ice cream shop had at least fifty varieties of homemade popsicles in their coolers--everything from strawberry to kiwi to tamarind. I had a delicious cone of Mango ice cream, and Sarah had a popsicle with juicy chunks of fresh strawberries.

Then it was back in the van for the ride back to Mexico City. This time the ride was a bit more eventful--our driver was pulled over for speeding, and then later when we were in the city, we saw about a dozen police trucks drive by, each with about twenty armed riot cops in the back. We never did find out what that was all about, but even our hosts regarded it as unusual activity for Mexico City.

At our hotel near the airport, we made arrangements to meet up with Carlos and Tita again. They took us out to eat at a great steak restaurant, and we had a wonderful evening hearing about their experiences in America and especially their stories about Sarah's family.

By Friday morning we were ready to head home and give our boys a big hug. We went to the airport around 11:00, and didn't have to spend much time waiting in line for a change. By early afternoon we were in Houston, but then had our flight delayed so that we got into Kansas City an hour late. Soon we were tucking Benton and Henry into bed and getting ready to go back to Iowa and life at camp.

It was a really amazing trip, and we definitely plan to return to Latin America again sometime soon. By the end of the week, our Spanish was much improved, and we felt pretty comfortable exploring on our own. We had lots of great food and good company, and saw some unforgettable sights.

Colombia and Mexico Trip: Birding Diary

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:40:46 GMT

We traveled to Bogota, Colombia, Mexico City, and Puebla, Mexico, the first week of March, on a trip hosted by Camp Counselors USA. We recruited staff for summer camp and also did a lot of sightseeing, including a little birding time. Our trip list totaled 43 species, a pretty short list, but we spent most of our time in the cities and never had as much time as we would have liked for birding.

We started out on the first morning, March 1st, at our hotel in Bogota. It was an upscale urban neighborhood, with lots of landscaping, so we were quickly able to find a few birds. Great Thrushes were everywhere, as were Eared Doves and Rufous-Collard Sparrows. We also found two Lesser Goldfinches on a thistle plant. At the end of the road, near the foothills, we found a Stripe-Headed Brush Finch scratching around in the shade. Then it was time to go to work recruiting staff.

The next morning we walked around the Parque Museo de Chico (Children's Museum) and found a Band-Winged Nightjar perched on a lamp-post. It's always cool to see a nightjar in the daytime, doubly so when it's a lifer. That afternoon, we traveled out to the country with our group to tour the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira. On the way, we saw Cattle Egrets, Turkey Vultures, a Tropical Kingbird and 3 White-Tailed Kites. Outside the Cathedral, we also found 2 White-Tailed Hawks soaring over the hills.

On March 3, our last morning in Bogota, we found a Black Flowerpiercer perched on a wire near our hotel. We also took the train up to Montserrate, site of the most beautiful flower gardens we saw. Patrolling the blossoms were several Black-Tailed Trainbearers, our favorite bird from our Colombia list. We also had a brief glimpse of a Gray-Throated Warbler. Then it was on to a couple of hours of shopping before catching our plane to Mexico City.

In Mexico City, our hotel was in a much more urban area, and our morning bird walk produced only Rock Pigeons and House Sparrows. We had to wait until our afternoon tour of the Anthropology Museum to see Inca Doves, Rufous-Backed Robins, and Great-Tailed Grackles.

On our second day in Mexico, March 5, we visited Cholula, home to an ancient Aztec pyramid. On the drive there, we spotted a Cassin's Kingbird and a Vermilion Flycatcher. We went to a job fair at the local University, which had a campus nice enough to attract Orchard Orioles, House Finches, and a Barn Swallow. Later, hiking up the pyramid, we found a Canyon Towhee and a pair of Curve-Billed Thrashers.

On our last full day in Mexico, we were finally able to escape for a few hours of good birding. We went to the Parque Ecologico in Puebla, and found a wide variety of birds. Migrants included Wilson's Warblers and Yellow-Rumped Warblers, which were in the same area as Hutton's Vireos, a Berylline Hummingbird and several Blue-Throated Hummingbirds. At a small pond near the aviary (the big dome in the photo above), we found Masked Ducks, Common Moorhens, a Little Blue Heron, and Black-Crowned Night Herons. Just outside the aviary, Monk Parakeets were nesting, and we saw our favorite bird of the Mexico trip, a White-Throated Magpie Jay. The local aviary had a wide variety of tropical birds on display, including toucans, whistling-ducks, forest falcons, macaws, and parrots.
Our final tally of 43 species was a bit shorter than we hoped, but the trip certainly whet our appetite for tropical birding. We'll definitely be back again! And as luck would have it, we saw just enough new species to end the trip with a world life list of exactly 500!

Fun in the snow!

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:54:55 GMT

It's wintertime in Iowa for another six weeks or so, regardless of what the groundhog says. We've been enjoying plenty of snow, and only a little bit of ice. In January, we had a week of chilly (single digit) weather, but otherwise it's been a mild winter. Benton and Henry tried skiing for the first time, and they've been building stuff with snow, too.

Yep, we used buckets to build our snow fort--it only took a few minutes that way. We also built a snow tunnel, which was fun before it collapsed!

For indoor fun, we've been using the cheesemaking kit that we got for Christmas. It makes amazing mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. Combined with homemade noodles, we've had some mouthwatering lasagna. It's really fun and a lot easier than we thought it would be to make our own cheese. We're already thinking about buying a hard cheese kit for next winter.

We've had fun watching our bird feeders all winter, too. Benton is learning about citizen science by participating in Project Feederwatch. A few of the unusual birds we've had include a Northern Goshawk, a partial-albino Cardinal, and this Eastern Screech-Owl that decided our feeder was a good place to perch.

So don't stay inside playing possum, get out and have fun before winter's over!

Merry Christmas!

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 02:46:51 GMT

Dear Friends and Family,

2007 is winding down and it’s time to send out our annual electronic Christmas letter. We hope you’ve all had a wonderful year. This version is full of photos to go with the story. Enjoy!

It was our first full year living in Iowa at Camp Hantesa. We started the year, appropriately, with a New Year’s party at camp. Imagine staying up all night with dozens of young campers, many of whom are staying up all night for their first time! It was noisy, to say the least. Later in January, we were visited by Harley’s Aunt Catherine and Uncle Tim and cousins Karl and Anna, who live in Iowa Falls. They welcomed us to the state and showed us around Ames. Sarah’s brother Bobby also visited with his wife Beth and son Christopher. We enjoyed showing off our new home .

Harley and the boys joined an Audubon field trip to see Northern Saw-Whet Owls near Waterloo, Iowa. They tromped through the snow to find a fist-sized owl perched inconspicuously in a cedar tree. Although we have heard these owls calling in Wisconsin and Idaho, this was our first time seeing one in daylight.

In February, we returned home from a Super Bowl party at Harley’s parents’ home in Sibley, Missouri, just before the first big snowstorm hit. Later in the month we had a blizzard, dumping 8 inches of snow, followed by ice that knocked out our power for three days. The boys had a blast camping out in front of the fireplace, and we made do by cooking on our propane stove. Thankfully, our water kept running, so things were never dire.

Harley also gave a presentation for the Great Backyard Bird Count, his first paid speaking engagement as a “bird expert.” Benton joined the local homeschooling group’s chess club, and got to play against some other kids, instead of just his Dad, who never goes easy on him in chess games.

Sarah started to get busy at camp, with Hantesa hosting “Dad/Youth” overnights during the weekends in the late winter. Benton got to go as a camper, and spent the night with Dad in one of the lodges. One of the other Dads asked Benton if it was his first camping trip. Benton said “No,” a bit incredulously. “I’ve been camping a lot, but this isn’t camping.”

Spring came to Iowa in March, with the snowmelt flooding the road near our house. For three weeks, camp was full of kids on spring break. We hosted, in turn, kids from Boone, Ames, and Des Moines. Our first wildflower, Spring Beauty, appeared on March 22. Gray Treefrogs started singing down by the river on the following evening.

In early April, with three busy weeks of camp behind her, Sarah took a few well-earned days off. We met up with Harley’s brother David and spent a few days camping and hiking in southern Illinois. We found a couple of new favorite spots: a boulder playground known as “Garden of the Gods,” and a moss-covered slip-n-slide called “The Little Grand Canyon.” From there we headed to Saint Louis for an Easter get-together.

Before heading back to Iowa, we stopped in Columbia to visit Harley’s grandfather in the hospital. The boys delivered homemade get-well cards to their great-grandfather, and we visited with Grandpa Buckman and other visiting family members. Grandpa Buckman had been in and out of hospitals for more than a year, with kidney failure and complications arising from resulting infections. So it was with mixed feelings that we received news of his death a few days after our visit. He will be missed at every family gathering, but we were relieved that his suffering had ended.

The spring sports season made for a busy April and May, with plenty of excitement for Benton and Henry. The boys both played soccer for the first time, and I don’t think it will be the last. I think the most memorable game was Henry’s last one of the season, when he scored 6 goals in a 4-3 game! Somehow we found time to harvest a few dozen wild morel mushrooms from the camp property. They were quickly consumed, with butter, flour, and smacking lips.

Benton played T-Ball for the second year and continues to impress with his base-running speed. The video below shows him motoring around the bases en route to a grand slam. It was a blast to watch his team, the Lugnuts, play at the big Little League park in Boone.

Harley spent lots of time birding in May, taking walks from our house to Ledges State Park next door almost every morning. He was rewarded with several new birds for his life list, including Kentucky Warbler, Mourning Warbler, and Cape May Warbler. Yes, Ledges is known for its warblers! He also traveled to the Council Bluffs area for the spring Iowa Ornithologists’ Union meeting where he made many new birding friends.

By late May, everything else took second stage to the beginning of summer camp. Dozens of camp counselors arrived, transforming our sleepy neighborhood into a bustling, busy place. Many of the staff came from Iowa, but we also had counselors from South Africa, England, Russia, Kazahkstan, New Zealand, Australia, and a volunteer from Germany. For Harley and Sarah, it was fun to re-experience their camp staff days from a few years ago. For Benton and Henry, it was a brand-new adventure. They had literally hundreds of playmates for the summer. Most of the campers and all of the staff knew their names, and they soaked up all the attention happily.

In June, we experienced another family loss when Sarah suffered a miscarriage. We had been thrilled to share the news of a baby, expected to arrive in November, and it came as a terrible shock to lose that gift. We deeply thank many of you who helped support us through that tough experience. It was comforting to know that we weren’t the first parents to lose a child. We planted two seedling apple trees in our yard as a memorial, and nurturing that new life went a long way in healing our hearts.

We managed to get away from camp for a weekend in late June, and made it down to the Meramec River in Missouri for the annual Derhake float trip. It’s a decades-long tradition that we always hate to miss (although we’ll probably have to miss it in 2008.) Lying on an inner tube in the warm sun, traveling at the speed of nature, holding a snoozing kid in your lap—what could be more relaxing?

Benton celebrated his 6^th birthday with a special week at camp. For the first time, he got to stay in a cabin with a counselor and other campers, without Mom or Dad! Meanwhile, Dad had the new experience of driving the camp bus, after he got his Iowa CDL. Both Sarah and Harley are proud to report passing their CDL exams on the first try. Henry’s midsummer days passed with marathon blackberry picking sessions. Ranging up to a mile from home, he and Harley collected gallons of wild blackberries, a few of which are still in our freezer. It’s a wonder Henry’s mouth and fingers aren’t still stained purple!

More family members came up to Hantesa in July, with Harley’s Mom serving as the guest instructor for Creative Arts week, his brother coming as a camper, and four of Sarah’s nieces and nephews coming up as campers as well. Then in August, the whole Derhake crew came up for a canoe trip down the Des Moines river and a weekend stay at camp. The canoe trip was a bit too windy to be much fun, but the time spent playing games, swimming in the pool, and sitting around the campfire was enjoyed by all.

As summer camp came to a close in August, Sarah’s boss Shannon announced that she’d be leaving for Kansas City, leaving a job opening. The Campfire USA council decided that Sarah could fill the camp director position, and she was quickly promoted. We had been expecting some time to rest and relax after the busy summer, but her new responsibilities haven’t let up yet, and she continues to work long hours to improve the camp. Luckily for us, she has a 200-yard commute, and the boys are always welcome at the camp office!

Benton and Harley also had news at the end of summer. Harley received a request to become the new editor of the Iowa Ornithologists’ Union newsletter, which he accepted. And Benton joined the local Campfire Club along with the Tiger Cubs. The start of his scouting career was an especially exciting and long-awaited moment for his Eagle Scout father. We also bought a membership to Living History Farms in Des Moines and enjoyed several homeschool field trips there throughout the fall. The boys enjoyed joining in on an 1870s ballgame, as pictured below.

Fall brought migrating birds back through Ledges State Park, with Harley adding Canada Warbler to his life list in September. On one hike, Benton and Henry spotted several volleyball-sized mushrooms while Dad was scanning the treetops for warblers. The fungi turned out to be edible Giant Puffballs, and we had fun sampling and sharing this new culinary experience. They’re not quite as tasty as morels, but have a subtler flavor.

We went to Kansas City in late September, and enjoyed a trip to the ballpark to see the Royals defeat the White Sox. Even though Harley’s beloved Royals finished in last place again, he’s still optimistic about next year.

For the third straight year, Harley traveled to Florida to do bird surveys for the Army Corps of Engineers. This time, it meant splitting up the family for two weeks, while Sarah was busy leading Mom/Youth overnights along with many other camp director duties. Being a supermom, she somehow found time to bake a cake for Henry’s 4^th birthday. Sarah and the boys also traveled to Kansas City for the wedding of the previous camp director, known to the boys as Miss Shannon. Her family now remembers Benton and Henry as the two flashy dancers at her wedding reception. The boys must have gotten that talent from their mother!

We were reunited in mid-October at Harley’s cushy field house, on the gulf coast in Freeport, Florida, and we all got to spend a little time at the beach. There we were introduced to the phenomenon known as “red tide.” (cough, cough) More enjoyable was a trip to a deep freshwater spring, where we waded in and watched an underwater CSI team in training. Cool, unexpected, and totally unplanned.

Back in Iowa, the boys enjoyed trick-or-treating in a neighborhood in Boone, where half the houses seemed to have kids that knew Sarah and the boys from summer camp. Our house started getting a flood of telephone calls from presidential campaigns, with the Iowa caucuses coming up. It was also back-to-school time for Benton after the Florida trip, and he has been enjoying studying space, animals, pirates, ancient Egypt, and reading everything we put in front of him. Another highlight of the fall school session was a trip to Des Moines for a performance of the Nutcracker. We’ve also been getting regular swimming time at the local YMCA’s pool session for homeschoolers. Benton is proud of his ability to swim a hundred yards or so by himself, and even swim underwater (something his daddy still has trouble doing!)

After traveling to Missouri for Thanksgiving gatherings in Linneus and St. Louis, Harley surprised Sarah with a getaway trip to Texas. We spent a few days soaking up the sun and hiking around Big Bend National Park. (Henry is soaking up a hot spring in the photo above.) We all got to do a bit of birding and wildlife watching there, and a few weeks later followed up by participating in three local Christmas Bird Counts.

Our Christmas travels have taken us to Sibley, MO, St. Louis, and back home again. Now we’re preparing for the start of winter resident camp, with campers arriving tomorrow morning. We had a white Christmas, with big meals, lots of presents, and best of all, time with family and friends.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Love,

Harley, Sarah, Benton and Henry Winfrey

Our Texas Getaway

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:59:33 GMT

We escaped winter for a few days by sneaking off to Big Bend National Park after Thanksgiving. It was still a little chilly there--highs in the 60s, lows in the 30s, but that's a lot warmer than it's been in Iowa lately. Plus we just love spending time in the desert and in the mountains and it gave the boys a chance to run around outdoors without having to bundle up.

There were a lot fewer birds around than our last visit to Big Bend, which was in May of '05. We did see a Vermilion Flycatcher, Black-Throated Sparrows, Rock Wrens, Loggerhead Shrikes, Mexican Jays, Band-Tailed Pigeons, Mexican Mallards, Say's Phoebes, Red-Naped Sapsuckers, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, and Ladder-Backed Woodpeckers, to name a few. But that's a pretty short bird list for Big Bend. We did get to see some other cool wildlife, including a couple of Javelinas that Henry accidentally chased away from our campsite. And out on the road one afternoon, we saw several tarantulas!

Big Bend is a huge park, and we definitely haven't seen all of it yet. Some of the mountain areas require a great deal of hiking to get to. We hiked up one of the mountain trails about 2 miles or so before the boys started to get tired, so then we stopped for lunch, then hiked back down to the trailhead.

We also visited the Rio Grande Hot Springs area down by the border. It was very satisfying to soak my feet in 105-degree water after the freezing temperatures at night. Mexico was just a few yards away, across the river.

The boys found more cool stuff along the hot springs trail: lots of fossils! Since the area used to be a shallow sea, there are tons of little fossilized seashells in the rocks. Benton and Henry had a blast being paleontologists for the day.

Well, now we're back at home, with 3 inches of snow and 1/2 an inch of ice on the ground. Weather like this really makes you appreciate places like Big Bend. Until next time...

Happy Trails!

Summer at Camp Hantesa

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 19:39:25 GMT

Summer 2007 has gone by in a flash, and this is the first chance I have had to take a breath and update this website! Sorry for the delay, but we've been pretty busy...

In the photo above, you see some of the great staff we had this year. Sarah is standing in the middle with the blue shirt and red scarf. As some of you already know, the camp director, Shannon, moved to Kansas City at the end of August, so Sarah has now taken over as the new camp director.

Here are a few highlights of the past summer's fun:

Songs in the dining hall are one of my favorite parts of camp. The staff led the campers in lots of entertaining songs, at Clayton Lodge, which serves as the camp dining hall. Occasionally, someone gets to celebrate a birthday there, too:

Benton and Henry are wondering how their dad got so old...

At the previous camps Sarah and I had worked at, we had experience nothing like Hantesa's party nights. Staff and campers dressed up in crazy costumes, and spent the night playing silly games and dancing.

There were a few hobbits, and there were lots and lots of pirates!

Arrrgh!

A great perk of living at camp all summer was having easy access to the pool. Henry and Benton got in lots of swim time, with Benton learning to float and to swim 50 yards or so. He's also working on his surface diving.

There was lots of time for good camp activities like outdoor cooking, archery, nature study, and orienteering, too!

Those are the Australian and New Zealand flags flanking Old Glory. We had staff from those countries as well as Russia, Kazahkstan, Germany, South Africa, and England. We all really enjoyed making new friends and just spending time with kids all summer long. Come visit us at Camp Hantesa sometime soon!

Soccer Season

Thu, 03 May 2007 18:56:23 GMT

It's soccer season in Iowa. Both Benton and Henry are playing soccer this year and they're having a great time! Henry plays in a preschool league, with 3- and 4-year olds. Benton's league has 5-6 year olds and is a lot more competitive.

Here are two videos from their last 2 games. I hope this works, this is my first time trying to upload videos. The first shows Henry's last game, the second shows Benton chasing after the ball in one of his games. Just click on the green triangle below to start each video.

They're having a great spring! T-Ball season will be starting soon, and then summer camp won't be far behind!

The Great Blizzard of Aught Seven

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:58:13 GMT

We have had quite the winter here in central Iowa. The last weekend of February, we got about 8 inches of snow. Then, last weekend, we got an ice storm, followed by six more inches of snow and blizzard winds, up to 50 mph!

During the first storm, we lost our electricity, and were without power and heat for 36 hours. It wasn't much of a hardship, though, because we have a fireplace in our house, plenty of wood, and a propane stove to cook on. We just camped out in front of the fireplace and the boys thought it was a party.

The winter weather has brought an unusual visitor to our bird feeders: a Spotted Towhee. This species of oversized sparrow rarely spends the winter in central Iowa, and our Towhee has stuck around for a few weeks, allowing several area bird-watchers to come out to our house and see him. It's been a great way to meet our new neighbors!

We're definitely looking forward to spring, which should come by next week--the temperature's supposed to warm up to the 50s! I know the boys are eager to get outdoors and explore the camp and the state park next door some more. Right now, there's not much to do but take long naps!

A Tour of Our New Home

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 01:50:45 GMT

Welcome to your virtual tour of Camp Hantesa! Let us show you around our new home:

You enter through the main gates, pass the maintenance barn and Ranger Rick’s house, and you pass the parking lot. Here is where the camp keeps their fleet of buses—Sarah will be getting her CDL license soon, so she can help with picking up kids from Ames and Des Moines this summer!

Go around the corner, and you have a nice view of the center of camp. From right to left, you have Clayton Lodge, which is the dining hall, the program director’s house in the distance, the pool, and the camp director’s house.

Behind you is the Variety Club building, which is mainly used as a retreat center for groups. It has a big room with a fireplace, a full kitchen, and several bunk rooms.

Let’s continue on to our house! The left-hand door leads into the digital photography studio used by the campers. Everything to the right of that is the program director’s house—we have two bedrooms, a beautiful family room with big windows and a fireplace, and a kitchen with tons of counter space.

Next door is the pool—and it’s a big one! Benton and Henry are very excited about the weather warming up so that they can go swimming.

Now we’ll go on to the east side of camp, which is the older side. Most of the buildings are painted green, and most of them are used for cabins where resident campers stay in the summertime. There’s also a nature lodge, a library, and a craft lodge at this end of camp.

Here is Nelson Lodge, the original building at Camp Hantesa (pronounced Hannah-shaw). It was built in 1919!

At the top of the river bluff behind all the green buildings, you have Magic Hill, the place for chapel services and group gatherings.

Then you can head back across the suspension bridge to the pool!

A few more of our favorite spots around camp:

Rocho’s Lodge is an old farmstead where campers get to experience living history programs and do campcraft activities.

Nearby are the covered wagons (missing their covers for now), where some of the older campers get to stay in the summer.

And finally, the Crystal Palace, another cabin for campers—it sits atop a hill and has windows all around. And not pictured here are the equestrian center, the ropes course, the astronomy deck, lots of trails, the adjacent Ledges State Park, and great views of the Des Moines River valley.

That’s our new home. Come and visit soon!

Our Grebe Summer in California

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:02:28 GMT

This is an adult Western Grebe, probably trying to scare us away from its nest. We spent three months in California, and I worked for the University of California at Davis, studying Western and Clark's Grebes on a large lake in northern California. I spent lots of time in a boat and in a kayak, and got really up-close with the birds and their nests.

A Clark's Grebe, getting ready to leave its nest. The nests are woven from tule grass and cemented together with muck from the lake bottom. They usually lay 3-4 eggs, but some nests have twice that number, from grebes dropping their eggs in there for someone else to raise. Usually 2 to 4 chicks hatch, and they are soon seen riding on their parents' backs out in the open water. They'll be "packers" for a few weeks, and then stay close to their parents for a month or two after that.

A slimy little freshly hatched baby grebe. As you can imagine, it didn't smell too great out there in the marsh! It was still a great place to be, though. Along with the grebes, there were cormorants, pelicans, Black-Crowned Night Herons, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, American Bitterns, Yellow-Headed Blackbirds, Marsh Wrens, and my favorites, the Least Bitterns. I've spent years looking in every marsh I find myself in for Least Bitterns. I finally saw some in California--and got within a few feet of them in the kayak!

This was my view on my morning commute, across Clear Lake.

And here's my office, a 14-foot Klamath with at 25 hp Mercury outboard. The bimini shade was an essential piece of equipment, as we were sometimes out on the lake at mid-day in July when the temperatures hit 110-120 degrees Fahrenheit!

On days off, we sometimes used the boat for recreational purposes, a nice perk to the job. Benton and Henry loved being out on the water. We also got to take the boat across the lake to town a couple of times. It's a real novelty to tie your boat up at the dock and walk into town instead of parking your car.

More fun on the lake! Benton got to try kayaking for the first time. Turns out he's a natural at it!

One of the best things about living at Clear Lake State Park all summer was the Junior Ranger program. It's supposed to be for 7-12 year olds, but Ranger Elaine only had to spend a few minutes with Benton (age 4) to decide that he could handle the material. By the end of the summer, he was leading bird walks and teaching other kids about owl pellets!

We also had a couple of great campground hosts, Don and Judy. They took great care of us, and became Benton and Henry's 37th set of adoptive grandparents. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of my coworker, Carly. She spent the summer camping at Clear Lake as well, and was a lot of fun to work with. It was great having someone still excited about grebes when we were doing our last few behavioral surveys in late August.

Benton turned 5 in July; we put his t-ball uniform number on his cake. Sarah baked it in a dutch oven, over an open fire, of course! The best surprise on Benton's birthday was Grandpa Derhake's visit. He got to take the boys fishing and spend a couple of days relaxing.

Not a grebe nest! We also monitored a few of the Osprey nests around the lake. This one was especially photogenic.

That's Mount Konocti in the background. We had a great summer at Clear Lake. I'll have another update soon, with photos from our sight-seeing on my days off in California.