Post by herchenx on May 27, 2013 23:47:28 GMT -5
Well this Memorial Day weekend we headed to Nebraska for the annual branding (at my cousin's ranch) and had hoped to make it up to look for some Fairburn agates.
Leaving Colorado (just on the interstate headed north)
The back way into Scottslbuff
Scottsbluff National Monument
Large supercell at Sunset
Sunset at the ranch
We were up early the next morning for the branding. All the area ranchers came with trucks and trailers with horses, most with the rest of the family in tow. A group mounted up and headed out to gather in the cows and calves.
My son and my cousin's daughter getting ready to watch the action. She would grab one of the kids hands and just follow them around, they don't see family very often up there so other kids around is a big deal.
That's my cousing out in front.
Heading out
My oldest ready to help however she can
And my youngest. he sprained his ankle badly last week (we thought he broke it when he didn't walk for a day) - he gimped around all weekend but had a blast, didn't let the hurt ankle keep him from enjoying himself.
There were a couple calves whose mothers had either abandoned them, died, or were having other problems. This one was not taking a bottle and my daughter and son tried to console it a little.
These next few my son took once all the calves and cows were in the pen. There is a lot of work to chase as many of the adults out as possible while keeping all the calves in the work pen.
This is the only shot of me from the whole trip. My better side.
This is my cousin's dad - also my cousin - trying to bottle feed the calf from earlier
After the branding we worked all day helping with the regular chores, then I took my oldest out to teach her to drive. Her first day of summer vacation she drove the F250 a dozen miles around the ranch. She did great and had a lot of fun. She's 13 so this was a big deal.
We found a sick calf out at the end of the pasture, and she got out and walked along with it. If she left it would lay down so she walked a few hundred yards.
I was so tired at the end of the day I could barely think but I went to bed eager to get up the next day and look for Fairburns.
The weather was cool and muggy when we got up Sunday.
After gassing up the truck in town we stopped by Carhenge. Yep it's a real place in Alliance Nebraska
We drove up through Chadron and then cut over toward Fort Robinson. We passed Trunk Butte on the way, by this time we had actually gotten into some fog.
I didn't get any photos of Fort Robinson, but it was a restored Army fort from the 1800's. The only photo I did get was of the family in the Natural History Museum
ironically this was also the only building (that was open) we didn't explore because you had to pay additioanal money to walk around the room that you can see completely from the entrance. Many of the buildings were padlocked, but some were open and the whole place was nice to walk around. If you were in the area and wanted a place to stay I think they have a nice campground.
There are bluffs all around the fort, but because of the fog we couldn't see them. We ate some lunch in the car and then headed up into the Oglala National Grasslands.
We stopped at the first rock outcroppings we saw once we entered the grasslands and just headed West.
All the "dirt" in this photo, past the foreground, is covered with agates and jasper.
I walked about a half mile, over toward the hill in the distance and the rocks thinned out, but what was there was very pretty.
My 2 youngest kids never made it more than 50 feet, their bags were full and they wanted to get back in the car with mom (she was reading)
I was OK with that, because the probability of encountering rattlesnakes out here is fairly high.
Unfortunately, my 2 older kids both got tired of being out there, and with the option of going back to the truck with mom they headed back.
I followed them because I didn't want to strand the whole family out there so I could hunt. I did manage to find some really nice material. The best was an 8-10# chunk of pet wood, which is larger than most I find anywhere, let alone in NEBRASKA! On the right is a ~12# chunk of jasper that has pretty yellow and red. I found a lot of small broken pieces of this out there but only kept a little. There is a 25# per day limit in the grasslands for any rock collected so with the 2 larger pieces I wanted to keep it reasonable.
Some cool plumey jasper. These nodules are all over out there.
Some pretty green rock. Only one I found. Many of the rocks out there had been very smoothed over the years. Much smoother than river rock, almost ready for a polish.
This is a little piece of botryoidal agate with an orange sheen on the surface. There is a clear - to pink - to red - to brown - agate all over this particular area. I brought a little back to try to tumble, but it is very fractured and frail so I may just keep it as specimens.
We headed a couple miles north and ran into another spot with exposed earth and rock outcroppings. We stopped there and I just looked around a little. I need to get back there ASAP. This is all rock.
I would loved to have spent more time there, but with the family there (not hounding), the heat, and already having hit my limit I had to stop for the day.
Here is the view on the drive back out
We passed an old abandoned church/schoolhouse out there on the way back to the ranch. The scenery out there is really incredible. This area west of Chadron and into the grasslands is very different and beautiful as well.
We got back to the ranch and the kids played with the cousins a little more. This is my cousin and his son on the ATV, my daughter on the back and most of the rest of the family before we turned in.
and another great sunset.
Today we got up and helped prep for the annual family reunion. Once the prep was done, my son got some lessons in driving the ATV from my cousin
he had a great time of course. During the meal, my daughter played guitar for everyone to enjoy, and they did.
Later in the day my son got to the point where he could drive the ATV by himself. He'll love telling that story in the fall.
Before we headed out, the wind was picking up so I got my big kite out and my daughter flew it a little. The little boys were pretty fascinated.
There was really bad weather when we left this evening. Tornado chasers were heading toward the area we left and apparently 3 had already touched down. We managed to avoid most of it and just caught a little rain.
We had an incredible weekend, I am bone-tired but we all really enjoyed all the activity.
It was good to see the mountains as we neared Colorado on the way home.
And the welcome home sign
Thanks for reading!
Leaving Colorado (just on the interstate headed north)
The back way into Scottslbuff
Scottsbluff National Monument
Large supercell at Sunset
Sunset at the ranch
We were up early the next morning for the branding. All the area ranchers came with trucks and trailers with horses, most with the rest of the family in tow. A group mounted up and headed out to gather in the cows and calves.
My son and my cousin's daughter getting ready to watch the action. She would grab one of the kids hands and just follow them around, they don't see family very often up there so other kids around is a big deal.
That's my cousing out in front.
Heading out
My oldest ready to help however she can
And my youngest. he sprained his ankle badly last week (we thought he broke it when he didn't walk for a day) - he gimped around all weekend but had a blast, didn't let the hurt ankle keep him from enjoying himself.
There were a couple calves whose mothers had either abandoned them, died, or were having other problems. This one was not taking a bottle and my daughter and son tried to console it a little.
These next few my son took once all the calves and cows were in the pen. There is a lot of work to chase as many of the adults out as possible while keeping all the calves in the work pen.
This is the only shot of me from the whole trip. My better side.
This is my cousin's dad - also my cousin - trying to bottle feed the calf from earlier
After the branding we worked all day helping with the regular chores, then I took my oldest out to teach her to drive. Her first day of summer vacation she drove the F250 a dozen miles around the ranch. She did great and had a lot of fun. She's 13 so this was a big deal.
We found a sick calf out at the end of the pasture, and she got out and walked along with it. If she left it would lay down so she walked a few hundred yards.
I was so tired at the end of the day I could barely think but I went to bed eager to get up the next day and look for Fairburns.
The weather was cool and muggy when we got up Sunday.
After gassing up the truck in town we stopped by Carhenge. Yep it's a real place in Alliance Nebraska
We drove up through Chadron and then cut over toward Fort Robinson. We passed Trunk Butte on the way, by this time we had actually gotten into some fog.
I didn't get any photos of Fort Robinson, but it was a restored Army fort from the 1800's. The only photo I did get was of the family in the Natural History Museum
ironically this was also the only building (that was open) we didn't explore because you had to pay additioanal money to walk around the room that you can see completely from the entrance. Many of the buildings were padlocked, but some were open and the whole place was nice to walk around. If you were in the area and wanted a place to stay I think they have a nice campground.
There are bluffs all around the fort, but because of the fog we couldn't see them. We ate some lunch in the car and then headed up into the Oglala National Grasslands.
We stopped at the first rock outcroppings we saw once we entered the grasslands and just headed West.
All the "dirt" in this photo, past the foreground, is covered with agates and jasper.
I walked about a half mile, over toward the hill in the distance and the rocks thinned out, but what was there was very pretty.
My 2 youngest kids never made it more than 50 feet, their bags were full and they wanted to get back in the car with mom (she was reading)
I was OK with that, because the probability of encountering rattlesnakes out here is fairly high.
Unfortunately, my 2 older kids both got tired of being out there, and with the option of going back to the truck with mom they headed back.
I followed them because I didn't want to strand the whole family out there so I could hunt. I did manage to find some really nice material. The best was an 8-10# chunk of pet wood, which is larger than most I find anywhere, let alone in NEBRASKA! On the right is a ~12# chunk of jasper that has pretty yellow and red. I found a lot of small broken pieces of this out there but only kept a little. There is a 25# per day limit in the grasslands for any rock collected so with the 2 larger pieces I wanted to keep it reasonable.
Some cool plumey jasper. These nodules are all over out there.
Some pretty green rock. Only one I found. Many of the rocks out there had been very smoothed over the years. Much smoother than river rock, almost ready for a polish.
This is a little piece of botryoidal agate with an orange sheen on the surface. There is a clear - to pink - to red - to brown - agate all over this particular area. I brought a little back to try to tumble, but it is very fractured and frail so I may just keep it as specimens.
We headed a couple miles north and ran into another spot with exposed earth and rock outcroppings. We stopped there and I just looked around a little. I need to get back there ASAP. This is all rock.
I would loved to have spent more time there, but with the family there (not hounding), the heat, and already having hit my limit I had to stop for the day.
Here is the view on the drive back out
We passed an old abandoned church/schoolhouse out there on the way back to the ranch. The scenery out there is really incredible. This area west of Chadron and into the grasslands is very different and beautiful as well.
We got back to the ranch and the kids played with the cousins a little more. This is my cousin and his son on the ATV, my daughter on the back and most of the rest of the family before we turned in.
and another great sunset.
Today we got up and helped prep for the annual family reunion. Once the prep was done, my son got some lessons in driving the ATV from my cousin
he had a great time of course. During the meal, my daughter played guitar for everyone to enjoy, and they did.
Later in the day my son got to the point where he could drive the ATV by himself. He'll love telling that story in the fall.
Before we headed out, the wind was picking up so I got my big kite out and my daughter flew it a little. The little boys were pretty fascinated.
There was really bad weather when we left this evening. Tornado chasers were heading toward the area we left and apparently 3 had already touched down. We managed to avoid most of it and just caught a little rain.
We had an incredible weekend, I am bone-tired but we all really enjoyed all the activity.
It was good to see the mountains as we neared Colorado on the way home.
And the welcome home sign
Thanks for reading!