Thursday, June 13, 2013

Birthday Vacation Day 2: More Fossils! And Childrens!

Magnus helped take down the tent in the morning and liked to help sweeping things. When we needed him to help a little less, we pulled out some cars for him to play with. He was excited to see his toys.

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We went to the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. Dana hiked up closer to the view and Ruth and Magnus stayed down in the shade: it was hot!

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The Visitors Center had some really nice fossil displays. They had lots of mammal fossils and plant debris (Rosanne, the horsetail fossil is for you). Magnus thought we took too long looking at all the displays. He wanted us to “look around”.

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These are spheres of poop rolled by dung beetles that were fossilized.

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We went on another hike today called Blue Basin. You walk along next to a wash and you can see the green sediment that runs off the cliffs. A lot of fossils have been found in these rocks. Apparently there are many you can see on the trail, if you know how to spot them.

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This is cathedral rock. It is technically park of the park, but it is entirely surrounded by private land, so all you can do is photograph it. But it’s very photogenic.

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Our final hike was on a trail called “Flood of Fire.” It’s a short hike to a spot with some visible lava formations. Magnus fell down on the way and got a big booboo. But he was still excited to make it to the end to see the “Star Wars City.” (Dana called it that to himself, and Magnus latched on to the phrase.)

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Eventually we made it up north to Umatilla, OR to visit with Will, Courtney, Whitney, and Rachel. Magnus wasn’t sure about them at first, but warmed right up.

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We had a picnic dinner in the park; Will cooked us burgers like a pro!

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Before heading back to “Uncle house,” we stopped at the fish ladder to see some fish. Magnus and Whitney had fun jumping up and down and laughing. And they thought seeing the fish was fun too.

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