Yesterday we did laundry and washed the two little rugs that are positioned on either side of the bed. They are two-sided, no rubberized backing, and take a long time to dry. When we were living in a house with a dryer, even if they were drying for 2 hours, they would still feel damp. In the laundromat yesterday, Frederick kept feeding the dryer quarters but after almost 90 minutes, they were not completely dry.
One of the items we picked up yesterday from Americas Mailbox, which we had ordered from Amazon, was a folding drying rack. When we got back from the laundromat I took the rack and the two rugs over to the restroom, which was nice a warm from an overhead heater.
By this morning they were both dry. Of course, if the weather was nicer, we could have put up the rack outside, next to our front door, but alas, it is cold, rainy and wet. If we didn't have such nice bathroom facilities so close, we could also put up the rack in the space in front of our recliners while we are sleeping in the bedroom overnight.
Now on to today's visit to one of the three South Dakota geo-sites - Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD, another stellar site along the Fossil Freeway, perhaps the most impressive. We enjoyed this geo-site a lot because, not only did it feature geology, but paleontology as well. This indoor excavation site features the fossils of 61 Columbian and 3 Woolly mammoths. Mammoth Site is housed under the roof of a major research repository where an ancient sinkhole entombed the mammoths, camels, wolves and giant bears 26,000 years ago, leaving an ancient treasure trove of fossil remains.
Limestone deposits beneath the earth's surface dissolved in water from underground springs. The land then collapsed and the resulting sinkhole filled with 95 degree water that lured mammoths to drink or feed on vegetation. Once in the water they could to go up the slippery, steep incline. Death by starvation or drowning was the fate of most animals that came to the sinkhole. As centuries passed the sinkhole gradually filled. Rain, snow and wind deposited soil leaving a hill of buried skeletons. The hill remained undisturbed until 1974 when excavation for a housing project revealed bones and tusks and the town of Hot Springs acquired the site and formed a private, 501c3 organization to manage the research operation.
Hot Springs is about 30 miles south of Blue Bell Campground and we needed to drive through the southern half of Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park to reach Mammoth Site.
One tricky part of the drive involves this maneuver.
The road travels in a corkscrew up and over itself.
The town of Hot Springs appears to be an old, resort town where people came to vacation and enjoy the hot springs.
Falls in the center of town.
Pavilion along the side of the river.
Spa Hotel overlooking the springs.
A three block section of the historic town is now restaurants and shops. The name of this one is Mornin' Sunshine Coffee shop, complete with an electric-blue bison on the roof.
A Mammoth greets us in front of the Museum.
Rock from the various Eras. The Black Hills region is a geologist's dream, where rocks 2.5 billion years old to just thousands of years old tell a complex story of ever-changing landscapes and events.
Entrance to the Mammoth Site Research and Museum building.
From the lobby of the building small groups are taken on a tour of the sinkhole site that is now covered by the building.
Research is ongoing.
The 120-by 150-foot, 65-foot deep, sand- and clay-filled sinkhole is now completely covered.
Size comparison between a Woolly and a Columbian Mammoth.
Pictures of the excavation of the sinkhole.
This may be a picture of the headless "Murray". Murray was originally named Marie Antoinette, the moniker having been changed upon discovery that she was, in fact, a he. All of the remains are male, mostly adolescent males.
These mammal remains are not fossils in the normal sense of having been permineralized, a process whereby mineral matter replaces the original organic components. Instead, they are composed of original bone and therefore quite fragile.
The most intact mammoth's skeletal remains are "Napoleon". Because this is an older mammoth, his bones have fused and cannot be teased apart - therefore, Napoleon Bonaparte - "No-pullin' Bone- apart."
This is our delightful guide Hillary McLean from Denver where she works at the Museum of Natural History and is here for the season.
Hillary is a Star Trek fan and was thrilled to answer Mr. Spock's questions.
Hillary and Spock had much to talk about and Mr. Spock was impressed with Hillary's enthusiasm.
In addition to the excavation site there were some interesting other exhibits like this one showing the relative size of contemporary elephants to prehistoric ones.
We were fascinated to learn about the Giant Short-Faced Bear which was the largest land carnivore in North America during the Ice Age.
Skull of a Giant Short-Faced Bear found in the sinkhole. He apparently became trapped while trying to scavenge a dead or dying mammoth. Finding this complete skull is important because only about twelve have been found in the world
It was a giant - standing 5 ft. 10 in. tall at the shoulder and weighing as much as 1,500 lbs.
Long-legged, this bear was 25 - 30% larger than today's grizzly bear.
Adjacent to the excavation site are Museum exhibits such as this Mammoth bone house from the plains of Ukraine. Some houses are as ancient as 27,500 year ago. Small villages of bone huts are some of the oldest towns ever found.
Frederick is showing Mr. Spock a replica of what Napoleon would have looked like with skin and muscle.
Another size-comparison chart, this one of bears. The Giant Short-Faced Bear appears just before the "bare" human.
A scene depicting the hunting of a Woolly Mammoth, 12,500 years ago.
Skelton of a Woolly Mammoth...
and a Columbian Mammoth. Frederic is there for scale.
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