Moominmama's Adventures

In which Moominmama explores eastern Montana, where dinosaurs once roamed... Montana is larger than life. Entering from the east, the sweep of the landscape is immense. It is easy to imagine dinosaurs striding across the yellow grass and sagebrush. Occasionally, Moominmama saw herds of dark cattle in the distance,  gathered together like black olives in dish -- for all those dinosaur cocktail parties! This is clearly dinosaur territory, with fossils still being discovered in the sedimentary rock. But the landscape then would not have featured dry grass and sagebrush (which smells wonderful, lemony!) as it does now.  This area was part of the Western Interior Seaway that divided North America, providing a shallow body of water connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Arctic Sea during the middle to late Cretaceous period. Water levels rose and fell, but in the process, some of the largest dinosaurs to walk the earth left evidence of their existence. The fossils found in Montana i...

In which Moominmama learns about the Lakota and their testy first meeting with Lewis & Clark... This week, Moominmama paid a visit to the spot above where the Bad River meets the Missouri River. To the right, on an island now part of the town of Fort Pierre, Lewis & Clark had their first meeting with the Lakota in the fall of 1804.  Everyone walked away in one piece, but that didn't mean they were happy. William Clark named the next island he came to: Bad Humoured Island and described the Lakota in his journal as "the vilest miscreants of the savage race."  By all accounts, the Great Plains nomads living west of the Missouri River, had seen few white people at that time. But the Lakota had a reputation as a powerful tribe, and Lewis & Clark were directed to make contact to let them know their lands were now under the purview of United States and President Thomas Jefferson. Since no one spoke the other's language, it's unclear what got communicated. The...

In which Moominmama visits the Badlands and learns how diverse a desert can be.... Moominmama has traded "Beware of Alligators" signs for "Beware of Rattlesnakes" here in South Dakota. I expected the state to be mostly flat, but it's flat in the way a newly made bed is after kids jump on it -- rumpled. That is until you come to the Badlands with their strange striped peaks and crumbly rock. Moominmama arrived in South Dakota several hours east of the Badlands but got up early Wednesday morning to make the trek, leaving the Moominhouse behind at the campground and loading the car for an overnight. The drive included a change to Mountain Time, so I arrived before 7 a.m. and got to enjoy my first forays in the National Park with only handful of other early risers.  The Notch trail had me climbing a wood-and-cable ladder to gain some altitude for the view. But my favorite trail was the Door trail which took me out onto this strange dusty landscape that could have be...

Wherein Moominmama has her prejudices upended learning about the Mdewakanton band in Minnesota... The Dakota people see life in circles: the rotation of days and seasons; the cycles of planting, hunting and fishing; life and death. All is interconnected. So it's no surprise that this Dakota cultural center on native land near Lake Prior, Minnesota is designed in a circular shape, in fact overlapping circles. Much of the building is reserved for the Shakopee Mdewakanton (pronounced Mid-eh-WAH-ka-ton) Sioux Community, but a museum display and gift shop are open to the public. The Mdwakanton are one of seven bands (Seven Council Fires) of the Dakota/Lakota/Nakota Nation.  The Dakota/Lakota/Nakota terms differentiate between dialects of a people spread across the west and upper midwest. They were called the Sioux by French fur traders whom they first encountered in the 1600s. The history of the Minnesota Dakota mirrors much of what happened to native peoples throughout the U.S. They ha...

In which Moominmama  explores the pleasures and indigenous history of Iowa and  makes new friends...  Moominmama has long admired Amish quilts, many of which rival the best of modern art in her view.  I'm fascinated by t he simple patterns and colors contrasted against the often ornate hand-stitching that hold the layers together. But I've only ever seen these quilts in photos. So I jumped at the chance to visit the Kalona Historical Society museum and its Amish quilt display just south of Iowa City. I landed in Iowa City largely by chance, because it was the halfway point on my route to Minnesota -- and a campsite was available. But I'm awfully glad I stopped here. This community is  full of bike trails and cozy restaurants and opportunities to hike or get out on the water. Iowa City even has a jazz station! At the quilt museum, I discovered I could tour the Kalona Historical Village where they had an installation detailing some of the indigenous history of the...

  Wherein Moominmama celebrates Juneteenth in St. Louis and tries to figure out "Where it All Began" for the Lewis & Clark expedition... St. Louis is home to the National Blues Museum, and the street corner outside the museum was awash in sound yesterday -- a concert in honor of Juneteenth. What better way to spend this new national holiday than to revel in the blues? St. Louis is one of several major cities associated with the growth and development of the blues. The song, "St. Louis Blues" by W.C. Handy from 1914 is the most recorded blues tune in history, according to the museum. The blues grew out of African traditions, and the banjo in particular is believed to be an adaptation of a lute found among the Mande people of West Africa. The blues surfaced in the work songs of enslaved people and in their early churches, where singing made use of call and response. But the blues grew to be a major -- if not THE major -- influence on all the music that followed in...

Wherein Moominmama explores some pre-history as well as some personal history near the Ohio River.... The prospect of a "fossil discovery hike" tempted Moominmama to drive south from Bloomington to the Falls of the Ohio across from Louisville, KY. It turns out that the limestone riverbed is a treasure trove of fossils from the early and mid-Devonian period about 390 million years ago. Back then, the area was a tropical sea, before the earth's tectonic plates shifted the land much farther from the equator.   Volunteer guide Stan Dunn led a group of us down the steps onto the flat rocks that run up to the river. We were in luck because the water level there was low enough to reveal some of the older fossils. These include corals, crinoids (or sea lilies) and the predecessors of sponges. They are early animals, even if they look like plants. But they are remarkably abundant and easy to see. No one is allowed to take the fossils, but Stan did have handful of individual specim...