The More You Know

Well, hello.

Yeah, I still exist. I've even got a couple posts in the works because while I've been not writing, I've been cooking food for small children or on the road.

It's been a weird summer.

I have also been watching a whole bunch of documentaries (because my hobbies are nerdful fun!) and I'm going to send you to two of them.

I admit -- it's because I get a huge kick out of watching things about places I recognize, and these both involve the Hills.

The first is a documentary currently on Netflix about the discovery and conflict over Sue the T. Rex. It's called Dinosaur 13 and ... okay, so if you haven't heard of Sue, maybe it won't interest you the way it did me. If you have any particular curiosity about the trials and tribulations of big paleontological discoveries, I recommend it. Or if you like dinosaurs.

The second is for my space nerd friends. Space Men is a PBS special, part of the American Experience series, and it's all about high altitude balloons and the contributions that those expeditions gave to the early space race.

What does this have to do with South Dakota? Well, the Explorer projects in the 1930s took off from a spot now known as the Stratobowl, which happens to lie just a couple miles from the camp. It's a fairly popular hiking spot with a fairly detailed history in stone tablets (I'm not joking) -- but what I didn't realize was that there was still film out there of the flights themselves.

That is so. Incredibly. Cool.

Okay. Back to work. I have desert photos to sort...


And bridge photos.

Everybody needs a hobby...

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