Visiting Mt. Rushmore…With Creatures

Posted on April 22, 2013 by alyssa

Our visit to Mt. Rushmore started off like pretty much like anyone else’s. We flashed our Annual National Park Pass at the ranger, parked the car, and trekked through the hallway of flags towards the giant heads carved into rock.

Following the path past the information office and the cafe, the Grand View Terrace was the first viewing spot.

Since we were visiting the monument in early April, the crowds were amazingly slim. It really peaceful visiting the popular tourist attraction without screaming kids and over-55 crowd tour buses blocking the view.

Plenty of tourists have visited Mt. Rushmore, so what makes my visit blog-worthy? Creatures. That’s what…creatures.

My boyfriend and I never travel just the two of us. Ask any of our weirded-out friends, and they’ll confirm. I’ve been an obsessive gnome collector for the past ten years. In response to my gnome obsession, he has developed an equally unhealthy obsession with monkeys.

Three gnomes and four monkeys accompanied us to South Dakota.

With that being said, gnomes made of ceramic and monkeys made of stuffing follow us wherever we go. It doesn’t matter if we’re coming to your birthday party at a bar or a month-long work-cation, creatures will be in tow. And you’d better find it amusing.

Why, you ask? Because it’s a hell of a lot more fun, that’s why.

Creatures provide us with someone else to talk to after being in the car with each other for fourteen hours. After missing showers while camping for a week, the last thing I want to have is my picture taken. However, gnomes and monkeys are always photogenic. While we aren’t responsible enough yet for dogs or kids, creatures provide the fun parts while skipping over the bad.

There is one, and only one, trail that goes around Mt. Rushmore, called the Presidents’ Trail. Clever.

It’s an incredibly easy walking trail that’s well less than a mile and that pretty much anyone can do. There’s park benches along the trail and different views of the heads around every turn.

I must say, I was surprised that there weren’t more informational plaques along the trail. There was one for each president, which offered “fun facts” like education level and major accomplishments..but only one each.

While sparse, the plaques were easy to read and not dreadfully stiff. The ADD crowd thanks you, Park District. There were a couple plaques about the construction of the monument towards the end of the trail.

On our way out, we satisfied our consumer tendencies and popped in the gift shop. Fortunately, it was the only sales location on the premises, so the monument was only moderately commercialized. The gift shop was huge and carried all the usual fare.

My boyfriend convinced me to start collecting patches from national parks, and to eventually sew a travel satchel to stitch them onto. I’m quite the novice when it comes to sewing, but I’d love to put my machine to good use for projects like this. I also picked up a souvenir charm for my ongoing travel collection necklace, a cheesy souvenir bandanna for upcoming bad hair days, and a shot glass for his growing (but dreadfully underused) collection.

At the end of the day, he got some amazing shots of the four heads, which are way better than any stock photography I’ve ever seen. We even went back to the monument after hours to snap some night shots.

Awesome, but under-publicized fact: You can get into Mt. Rushmore from about 5pm and 9pm for free. The ranger station closes at 5, but the gate is left open to drive through. The park lights up the monument at sunset, which was around 7:30pm when we were there.They shut all the lights off about an hour later and expect you to head ’em up, move ’em out by 9ish.

The Mt. Rushmore at night photography collection will be coming soon, however, my all-time favorite pictures are the ones with our creatures. Millions of people has pictures of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Jefferson’s heads carved into the side of a mountain. However, no one in the world has pictures of Ginger, Sheldon, and Peso soaking up the view in various poses.

Working in Weird Places

Posted on April 17, 2013 by alyssa

I shutter to think about the number of days, hours, and years I’ve spent sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen. While my current work situation enables me to work from pretty much wherever I please (Internet-depending, of course), my bank account still depends on my eyes to be fixed on the screen and my fingers to type. The difference, however, is that I’ve ditched the desk.

I hate desks. Sure, there’s plenty of ergonomic fancy designs that would probably remedy my persistently stiff neck, the idea of a desk reminds me of the conformity, rigidity, and structure I’m running away from.

Happy Holiday Campground Arcade Room, Rapid City, SD

While traveling through the Black Hills of South Dakota, we stayed at an awesome campground with a lame name: Happy Holiday RV Resort in Rapid City, South Dakota. During this phase of our westward journey, the weather was inconsistent, yet tolerable.

Some days reached 60-degrees and campground-wide Wi-Fi made outdoor picnic table working possible. On rainy and cooler days, the campground’s arcade park was our refuge. Although most of the power outlets were broken and the couches reeked of stale smoke, the arcade room was warm, quiet, and just random enough to be creative in.

Happy Holiday campsite with monkey assistant

Working in the outdoors has always been a dream of mine, even if it still is on a stupid computer. Even when temperatures dipped into the 20’s and the wind gusts got crazy, I found myself incredibly willing to make it work. Pull on some more layers, plop on a hat, and duck under a pavilion to keep your laptop from getting destroyed by the downpour.

Once our westward journey reached Montana, the weather took a drastic turn for the worse. When initially planning this trip, I wondered why everything around Yellowstone National Park was closed in April. After seventeen days of dealing with this weather, I guess I finally understand why.

Happy Holiday pavilion in the rain

On one particularly unbearable day, we ventured into Bozeman, Montana to check out the city. After spending only a short amount in Bozeman, I quickly added it to my “I could maybe possibly see myself living here for awhile someday” list.

The Bozeman Public Library proved to be a great place to get some work done on a snowy Montana day. The Wi-Fi worked great, there was plenty of room to spread out, and the facility was nice and new.

Bozeman Public Library with a pink monkey

Libraries are always preferable to coffee shops and restaurants with Wi-Fi for working because they eliminate that nagging obligation/temptation to buy something. When you’re traveling on a budget for a month, every unnecessary latte adds up. However, the libraries in some tiny towns have totally inconvenient hours.

For example, the library in Gardiner, Montana is only open on Tuesdays from 10am-5pm and 6-8pm and then Thursdays from 6-8pm. How do you promote literacy with only two weekdays of book access?

Tumbleweed Cafe, The Only Place with Internet in Gardiner, MT

Regardless, sometimes you just have to suck it up and pay for a couple of food items to get work done. The Tumbleweed Bookstore and Cafe was essentially the only place in all of Gardiner that had free Wi-Fi. Fortunately, coffee and tea only cost $1 there and Montana has no sales tax. That’s a small price to pay to get some freelance paychecks to roll in.

I hate myself as I’m writing this, but McDonald’s also has really reliable free Wi-Fi. I couldn’t resist buying a grilled chicken wrap and M&M McFlurry while working in the Livingston, Montana McDonald’s for over six hours on yet another snowy day. The staff never hassled us to leave either because they had fallen in love with my stuffed pink monkey. Thanks, Ginger.

Before setting out on this road trip, we tried to do our research about places to find Wi-Fi on the road. However, the results are sketchy and daily itineraries change. For backup, we invested in a Verizon 4G Jetpack, although the fees get ridiculous if we exceed the data usage plan.

I feel the need to create an “Encyclopedia of Road Trip Wi-Fi” with a list of places recommended for working on the road. Laundromats often have Wi-Fi also, such as Gardiner Laundry next to Yellowstone Gifts & Sweets. If you’re on the road for awhile, you probably have laundry to do anyway. If you don’t, fake it and fuss with a machine every once in awhile.

Gardiner Laundry, Closest Washing Station to Yellowstone

If you’re simply on vacation, avoid the unplug your devices, enjoy nature, and avoid these Wi-Fi spots at all costs. However, if your ability to eat and find shelter depends upon the Internet, keep knocking things off your to-do list so you can extend the road trip as long as possible. That’s what I’m doing!

Save Primates and Forest Plants – Stop Bushmeat Hunting

Posted on March 25, 2013 by alyssa

“Bushmeat hunting” is the hunting of meat from wild animals for human food, and it’s transforming the rain forests throughout Africa. When humans kill gorillas and other primates for food, they can no longer disperse fruit and nut seeds essential to the ecosystem. We must support the efforts of the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force to preserve both primates and forest plants.

Although hunting for bushmeat from endangered primates is illegal, they are frequently used for food in Africa. Protein-rich foods are scarce and there are few taboos about eating primates in African cultures. Newly-built roads allow hunters to sell primate carcasses to city markets, which yield good profits.

According to Sweedish ecologist, Ola Olsson, “The seedling communities of the forest floors are really different in a hunted forest compared to a well-protected forest. In the long run, that’s going to make the hunted forest look quite different from what they do today.” Olsson and his colleagues surveyed plants and animals in the Nigerian Rain Forest and found that the forests of over-hunted areas were lacking seedlings, such as bush mangoes, that rely on primates to spread their seeds.

Other animals, and even humans, depend upon these fruits for nutrition and economic sale. Another ecologist, Joanna Lambert, added that, “Without primates and other large-bodied mammals, forests are not regenerating in the way they’ve evolved to do over millions of years.”

Sign my petition to support the efforts of the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force and stop bushmeat hunting in Africa. With their help, we can increase fines and law enforcement for hunting and selling these meats and improve local access to other types of protein-rich foods.

Demand Federal Funding to Stop Wildlife Smuggling

Posted on March 19, 2013 by alyssa

It is the job of the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to stop smugglers from illegally transporting animals across international borders. However, the budget-cutting sequester has eliminated hiring initiatives and training programs for border inspectors in the department. We must demand adequate funding from the federal government to train agents and protect our endangered species.

Top law enforcement officer Edward Grace says he’s seen women smuggling monkeys under the guise of pregnancy, men with burlap sacks full of pythons shoved down their pants, and children with pockets full of endangered sea turtles. “Every hour, every day, there’s a wildlife product being smuggled into the United States,” Grace said in a Washington Post interview.

Budget cuts have forced the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to cancel training for twenty-four new border protection agents, and 14 vacancies for wildlife inspectors at major ports of entry will not be filled. Despite the growing number of endangered and threatened species, the Department has not been allowed to expand since 1978. Since that time, animal poaching has become much more prevalent and the list of protected species has grown exponentially.

Unfortunately, the United States is a popular stop on the illegal trade market. Smugglers often get by with false labeling and secret luggage compartments. “We can’t quantify how much is getting by us,” Officer Grace said. “But do we know stuff is getting by us? Yes. The hiring freeze will result in fewer investigations, making it easier for wildlife-smuggling rings to operate in the U.S.”

Sign my petition to urge the President Obama and Congress to provide adequate federal funding to stop wildlife smugglers from illegally transporting endangered species.

Praise International Committee for Protecting African Manatees

Posted on March 12, 2013 by alyssa

Even though the African manatee is the most endangered of all manatee species, they continue to fall prey to poaching along the Atlantic Coast of Africa. Their estimated population is under 10,000 worldwide, and experts suspect that there will be at least a 30% reduction in population during the next sixty years. The mammals’ habitat is being threatened because of dam construction and hunting for their meat and oil. CITES should be commended for its efforts to save these manatees from extinction.

Last fall, the nations of Benin, Senegal, and Sierra Leone submitted a joint proposal to ban the trade of African manatees and all of their products. This proposal is up for consideration at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, which is taking place in Bangkok, Thailand from March 3-14, 2013.

CITES is an international agreement between the governments of many nations working to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Since it’s formation in the 1960′s, CITIES has protected over 30,000 species, including everything from live specimens to dried herbs to fur coats. There are 177 countries represented in CITES.

The Humane Society’s Mark Simmonds stated in a March 7, 2013 press release, ‘Trade is a growing threat to this species, which is also facing a range of other growing human pressures, including habitat loss resulting from climate change. A ban on international trade is an important part of protecting this species and ensuring its long-term survival.”

Sign my petition to praise CITES parties for their interim decision to protect the African Manatees and to encourage them to uphold the decision for the remainder of the meetings.

Photo credit: Thomas Bucher via Fotopedia

Support Offshore Wind Energy Efforts to Save Endangered Turtles

Posted on February 25, 2013 by alyssa

While drastic climate changes along our Atlantic coast are enabling residents to enjoy longer summer vacations, recent weather phenomenons are threatening the endangered loggerhead sea turtles who call this region home.

Rising Atlantic temperatures are causing fewer eggs of the turtles to produce males. Rising temperatures bias the sex ratio of turtles towards females because temperatures during incubation determines the sex of the egg. The loggerhead turtle species are already producing an approximated 90% female species due to temperature increases.

If this trend continues, entire populations of turtles along the southern coast will be entirely female. Even with very slight temperature increases of a couple degrees, no males turtle will be born in this region at all.

It’s no secret that the fossil fuel industry is funding initiatives to prevent the growth of clean injury. However, to ensure that loggerhead turtles and other species in the region are preserved, we must ensure that offshore wind plays a major role in the energy future along the Atlantic coast.

Sign the below petition to encourage the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to speed up efforts to develop offshore wind energy, ensuring the survival of some of our most treasured species.

*Please sign the petition on Force Change.

Stop Costa Rica From Destroying Howler Monkey Habitats

Posted on February 21, 2013 by alyssa

The tourism industry is booming in Costa Rica, which is great for the economy but devastating for howler monkeys native to the region. Construction of new all-inclusive resorts and gated-community condominiums requires bulldozing of rare rain forest leaves, fruit, and flowers that these monkeys depend upon for food.

Unlike most other monkeys, howlers stay in a central location with their community of 12-15 individuals rather than moving long distances throughout the jungle. This makes the endangered species very susceptible to habitat destruction. Howlers are arboreal creatures that spend their entire lives in treetops. If their treetops are replaced with high rises and power lines, the will have no chance of survival.

Howler monkeys have no other option but to relocate to unsafe city streets and cocoa plantations when their forests are destroyed. This also creates a long term ecological effect because howlers play a key role in the regeneration of plant life. The monkeys disperse seeds in their dung, which is an important resource for beetles that recycle these nutrients back into the soil.

Additional rain forest destruction in this region is senseless and unnecessary. As with many tourist areas, restaurants, bars, and hotels come and go as businesses are mismanaged and infrastructure collapses. Countless vacant buildings and empty lots currently line the streets of the most popular cities and coastal towns. New businesses could easily utilize these unused and wasted spaces, which have already undergone natural destruction, to rebuild upon and pursue new businesses.

You can read more about the howler monkeys and their habitat here. We need to urge the Costa Rican government to utilize existing vacant and unused spaces to simultaneously improve the tourism industry while also avoiding the destruction of new land at the expense of the howler monkeys.

*Please sign the petition on Force Change.

Alyssa v. Nature

Where the nature outside collides with the nature inside

Category Archives: Creatures