To do in Dickinson ND

Medora Musical

1. Go to dairy barn and have a peanut butter cookie ice cream sandwich
2. Go to Bogeys Diner and have lunch
3. Bid and possibly buy at an auction like the ones held by Mid West Auctions http://www.midwestauctions.com
4. See the Medora Musical
5. Have a drink at the historic Medora Hotel
6. Spend as much time as possible in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Medora Musical 

7. See the Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays 10am
8. Walk around the Patterson lake recreation area
9. Taste crab apples at the NDSU research extension park http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/dickinso/
10. See something with the Sneak Pique Productions team http://sneakpiqueproductions.com
11. Walk around young park
12. Catch a movie at the Carmike 3 theater
13. Dine at Sanfords
14. Coffee at the brew

15. Go to McDonalds early in the morning and observe the retiree breakfest groups

16. Shop Arc Aid

17. Admirer the intricate garden work in the developed neighborhoods

18. Recycle at the city Recycle lots
19. Spend some time at the library
20. Visit the dinosaur museum
21. Chateau De Mores Sate Historic Site, Medora
22. Thursday night Jazz at the Brick House Grill

Painted Canyon Visitor Center Access Trail & Western Upper Paddock Creek Trail

Starting Point : Painted Canyon Visitor Center

Exit towards Painted Canyon Visitor Center. You will see large signs and find yourself in an establish parking lot.

Upper Paddock Creek Trail

The center is a great place to start a hike, they have bathrooms, water fountains, snack machines and if you arrive during business hours the visitor center has an array of things. I stopped by the visitor center my first time in the park to get maps, hike advice and a local wildlife and plan update. The staff was very helpful and the maps they have are better than the ones I found on line.

Wildlife and Plants in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Unit: Bison are a relatively calm animal however it is advised that you give them their space, they are large and can be dangerous. The park is home to rattlesnakes, don't go sticking your bare hand into tall grass patches that's when they have the highest rate of bites. Beyond those two, things are fairly standard.

The access trail starts to the south west of the visitor center. Standing in the parking lot you will see an access road going off the western side, follow this road about 1/5 mile till you see a brown marker on your left side. Near the brown marker you will notice a foot path veer away from the road, this is the trail head.

The brown markers for this trail are about 6 inches across and 4 feet high. They are fairly easy to find.

The trail almost instantly heads into the canyon. Footing can be questionable during the decent due to the soft nature of the soil. There are several areas where the trail has caved in, as the canyon slowly grows. Keep an eye on your footwork and you will be fine.

There are a few places where small creeks cross the trail, I have gone in fairly wet times and been able to easily jump these creeks.

At the base of the Access Trail you come to a sign that point north/ west and south/ east. Both directions will put you on the Upper Paddock Creek Trail.

On this day I went north/west. I was interested in doing a 6 mile hike this day, 2 miles to get into the canyon and went about 1.5 miles west on Upper Paddock Creek Trail.

I saw some great butterfly's and birds.  I sat at a nice outcropping and read a book for about an hour and than returned back the way I came. This hike was very isolated, I did not see any people or mammals from start to finish.

Talkington Trail

Starting Point: East fence gate.

Exit towards "Fryburg" If you are heading west this will be the last exit before the park starts, about 4 miles before the rest area overlook. If you are heading east this will be the firs exit after the park ends, its one after the rest area overlook by about 4 miles.

Head north about 100feet and you will encounter a small parking area and a side road. It looks like a frontage road. Road name is fryburg road.

Take a left heading west, follow this as it curves north and turns into 136th/ government creek road. Go about 1 mile and look for a gate in the fence on the west(left) side. The earth will be built up so that you can pull in and park at this gate.

When I visited the gate was locked but had space for a person to squeeze through. A larger person may have to climb the fence.

Talkington Trail

The start of the trail is quite hard to distinguish since it is all grassland and rarely used. Head west through the grass and look for a brown marker that is about 6inches across and 4 feet tall. As you near the canyon the trail becomes more apparent.

The day that I hiked this trail I encountered two groups of horseback riders, about 6 people per group. 3 day hikers. 1 heard of bison totaling about 20. 1 prairie dog town, as marked on the map, a very vocal and timid community.

I hiked till I reached the scenic drive and than turned back. My advice on this trail is to bring plenty of water and wear closed toe shoes, the park has snakes. Otherwise its fairly straight forward and enjoyable to walk. 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Since moving to Dickinson ND I have been spending almost every weekend hiking in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  I have an array of comments on this experience.

• The park is divided into two separated  areas the North Unit and the South Unit. 
• The South Unit in along side interstate 94 
• The eastern corner of this park is about a 20min drive from Dickinson.
• You can access the park on foot from a variety of entrance points
• To access the park by car you must enter at the Medora Visitor center and pay a $10 fee for a 6 day park access

Systematic Support

National Grasslands, ND

I have begun working for a non profit in a small town and encountered amazing systematic support. When re-locating the Executive Director of the non-profit spoke with the board and had two members offer me space in their house so that I could move to town and than pick a place to live, over having to sign a contract sight un-seen. I am not sure that this type of whole person support exists in other sectors, but it reminds me greatly of the support that I received when working with AmeriCorps. Community members going above and beyond to help you be successful in your development objective in the community.

Former Staff as Volunteers

Welcoming former staff back as volunteers is a great way to keep connected and to access individuals who are skilled as well as have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of your operation. I have recently encountered a learning experience when our summer camp welcomed two former heads of departments back for a three week volunteering experience. 

Summer Camp

These volunteers had been involved in our camp for over 5 summer seasons, each rising to lead their respective departments during their time on staff. They came with the desire to give back to our community, intending to take on a large scale but relatively isolated project and to use their free time to help out in the departments that they had once lead. 

Very little was given to them in way of an induction of their volunteer process and they both eagerly jumped in to their former departments excited to begin to contribute. Their presence and understanding created challenges. In one department the volunteer took it upon himself to complete all of the "fun" jobs, depriving the staff who had been working towards these fun jobs the opportunity to participate in them. 

In the second department the volunteer entered in and took on a leadership role, undermining the authority of the pre-existing leader, causing feelings of degradation among the lower ranked staff, and making programmatic changes that created future challenges within the department.

The volunteers were oblivious to the negative feelings that had transpired and were under the perception that they were accomplished thier objective of giving back to the community they love.

The upper level management (who had welcomed their former employees back to the community) were un-aware of the conflict that was brewing within their departments.

After the negative feelings had begun to brew the two departments approached the upper level management and requested a conversation regarding the volunteers. During this meeting all members of the departmens affected by the volunteers as well as the upper management. A closed door meeting was held where everyone was given the opportunity to express their preception of the situation, propose their ideal situation as well as what they viewed as compromises. 

Following this closed door meeting the executive director met with the volunteers to discuss a plan for moving forward. The volunteers both felt quite badly about how things had transpired. One offered to dedicate his full efforts to the project they had originally come to work on and to no longer work in his old department. The other volunteer requested some time to think about this and to have a meeting with the department she was the former head of.

In summary, two former heads of departments returned to volunteer in the departments they used to run and approached the situation with strong personalities and a mindset that they were there to run the department again.

The take away learning from this is to have a conversation with returning staff members about how their are new competent people in their former positions and that their role is to follow the lead of the staff member, that their role is to be an assistant not a leader. Potentially working with current staff to carve out places for the volunteer to lead activities within the parameters set by the current staff

Computer Exploration Lesson Plan

I have been sorting through the boxes of my childhood and came across this lesson plan I must have made in middle school.... This is the typed version of it, trying to cut down on the amount of "things" and thought this could easily be saved and put digital =). I think at one point I probably had created all the material that is referenced here, but that has been lost in time. In general I just think I was a super cute nerdy child =)

Class Size: 4 or 6
Task Time: 30 Minuets
Break Time: 10 Minuets

Day 1
9:00 Take attendance
9:05 Introduce yourself (write on board, say, wear a name tag)
9:10 Students stand up and say their names
9:20 Color pictures from a coloring book
9:30 Break (go potty, get a drink of water)
9:40 Show Materials and answer questions
10:00 Hand out computer book
10:10 Break (same)
10:20 Do first activity
10:40 Quiet goal setting time, students make ribbons for when they meet their goals
11:00 Read story 1
11:10 Break
11:20 Chalk computer parts(students chose of computers)
11:40 Clean up room
11:50 Parents arrive

Day 2
9:00 Color 2 pictures from the book
9:10 do demonstration by showing computer their disassembling and the parts they have colored compare similarities of the pictures colored NOT THE DIFFERENCES
9:30 Break
9:40 Read about disk drive
10:00 do Journal #1
10:15 Give children hard disk to utilize (look at/ disassemble) in room
10:30 Break
10:40 look at different disk drives in pictures
11:05 Discussion kids ask questions and talk in a group
11:15 play "the way things work" in pairs on the computer section
11:50 end game parents arrive

Day 3
9:00 Game #1 Prep
9:30 Break
9:40 Snack
9:50 continue working on game 1
10:30 Break
10:40 keep working on Game 1
11:30 stop work and clean up
11:50 parents come

Day 4

9:00 finish prep on Game #1
9:45 Break
9:55 go into rooms and do journal #2
10:20 make 2 teams and race the clock assembling the 3d disk drive
10:50 go to computer lab and start assembling disk drive
11:20 Break
11:30 Continue activity from 10:50
11:45 Get ready to go
11:50 parents come

Day 5
9:00 work on disk drive (if finished pay with extra parts)
10:00 Break
10:10 Clean up (store drive in cabinet)
10:20 Paint ( Put on over head picture #1)
11:00 Break
11:10 Hand out mice parts to be assembled (let kids play with them)
11:44 Clean up
11:55 Parents arrive

Day 6
9:00Hand out picture #2 along with Picture #3 and a part book listing part names and uses
9:10 start assembling mince
10:00 Break
10:10 Do Journal #3
10:30 Break
10:40 Keep working on mice
11:40 Clean up
11:50 parents arrive

Day 7
9:00 pass around live mouse than pass around computer mouse
9:20 Journal #4
9:40 work on mice
10:20 Break
10:30 Bring out items and have students create a mouse oout of them (real or computer)
11:30 time in small room
11:50 parents come

Week 2
* during this week kids will be allowed to work more freely be sure to take pictures
* In each little room put all info needed for each part
     Room 1 - Keyboard and attaching mouse
     Room 2 - Laser
     Room 3 - Electric Motor
     4,5,6 - keep as quiet rooms

Day 8
9:00 give out Pict #4 and following to do list
- in room 1 you will find all info to put together a keyboard (parks in box on desk)
- On Art table you will find paper to pain a keyboard
- on the bored is the journal question #5
9:10 tell them they have 3 days and you will call breaks
10:30 snack and Break
10:50 start work
11:30 break
11:40 Clean up
11:50 parents arrive

Day 9
9:00 start working on list
10:30 Break

10:40 start work

11:30 break

11:40 Clean up

11:50 parents arrive

Day 10

(same as day 9)

Student Supply list

1 folder (no pictures)

1 Box of crayons/ colored pencils

1 box of water colors

5 1 subject notebooks

would like

1 box of crackers

juice boxes

2 liters of juice

klenex

paper cups

paper plates