Caribbean

Today we will be visiting the Caribbean. Our first place we are going is in Jayuya, Puerto Rico.

Site one: Today we are off to Puerto Rico. We will be going to Cemi Museum. This building was once the site of the short lived Puerto Rican Nationalist movement who claimed independence from the United States on October 30, 1950. The revolutionaries were arrested, but this museum stands in honor of the brief stage in Puerto Rican history. The building that houses the museum is itself in the shape of a cemi. The museum is small, but it is nice. A cemi is a god, spirit or ancestor. It is also the name given to the religious symbol that is the physical representation of a god. This museum has pieces of pottery, some tools and other artifacts from daily Taino life.
          When we first saw the outside we thought it was to small to be anything good, but when we got inside we changed our minds. They recommended we watch their twenty minute video they had which showed us everything they had to offer. Then we started walking around and we saw lots of old documents and lots of pottery. Every pottery sculpture had a learning description by it. We learned a lot of new things about Taino history and how they built things and did daily tasks. It was interesting to learn about these things that we had never known about before.

Site two: We are off to Antigua. We are going to Shirley Heights. Shirley Heights was created as a military post by the British, but today it's known as the best view in Antigua.The military complex is perched high up on the hill overlooking Nelson’s Dockyard.  The overlook is part of the English Harbor historic district, a collection of buildings and historical sites dating back to when the British were supreme. The name Shirley Heights honors the British governor of the Leeward Islands at the same time as the American colonists were breaking ties with the motherland. On the weekends it is one of the most popular visited places.
          We got there and had to wait in a huge line to get up onto the Shirley Heights. There was a fee to go up because you had to have a tour guide to go up. So we paid our fee to the guide and he then took us up there. When we got up there we were amazed at how far you could see. The view was absolutely amazing. We could see all the wildlife, bodies of water, and nature that was around it. The guide explained some of the things we could see and told us what everything was. Our hour was up so we had to go back down. This was an amazing experience and we would definitely do it again. You can't imagine the view until you are actually up there.

North America Sites

We are off to North America! Today we will be going to Death Valley, which is in Death Valley, California.

Site one: Our first stop is Death Valley. It is the hottest, driest, and lowest National Park. In this below sea-level basin, steady drought and record summer temperatures make Death Valley a land of extremes. Yet, each extreme has a striking contrast. Towering peaks are frosted with winter snow. Rare rainstorms bring vast fields of wildflowers. A great variety of things live and grow in death valley.
First, we went for a hike before it got too hot. The Rangers there suggest not hiking after 10am because it gets humid and dehydrates people very quickly. After that, we went to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center where we looked at exhibits and asked rangers a few questions about the park. Then we went to the Borax museum where we saw mineral collections and the history of Death Valley. We had to do indoor activities the rest of the day because it was too warm outside to go do anything outside.





Site two: On a cooler note, we went to Fort Ransom in Fort Ransom, North Dakota. This National Park is in a heavily wooded area near the Sheyenne River Valley. The National Park officially opened in 1979. This park is managed as a natural and scenic area. Before this park was here, there was a farmstead which had many cattle and different variety of crops and other types of harvest. People worked hard to make this land into a National Park.
The first thing we did there was we went hiking down national trails and looked at the nature and wildlife. After that we were warm and sweaty so we went for a swim in the Sheyenne River. Once we got cooled off, we went canoeing. Canoeing is popular on the Sheyenne River during the summer, with canoe and kayak rentals available in the park. We got told snow skiing and snowmobiling were also very popular, but since we were there in the summer, we couldn't do either of those things. We decided we would come back on snowmobiles in the winter to go skiing. It was a very enjoyable trip.