Here We Go Again!

Welcome to Teton Twenty-Ten! We are very excited to get the team together...registration forms and deposits are due November 20. To submit a registration form electronically, click on the "Student/parent resources" link on the right side of this page and follow the directions given there.



To see pictures from last year's trip, click on this link: http://s656.photobucket.com/albums/uu282/juliebarrett/Grand%20Teton%20Summer%20Journey%202009



Questions? Email David (dbuth@grcs.org) or Julie (jbarrett@grcs.org)

With only a day and a half left at the Science School, we have settled into the routine of early mornings, full days, and unique experiences.

This morning we filled up on French toast and packed a lunch before heading to the Conservation Research Center to participate in migration corridor restoration. This involved removing fencing - including posts and barbed wire - that have made it difficult for local populations to make it to their seasonal homes. These include elk, moose, pronghorn, and mule deer as well as birds like the trumpeter swan: these can become entangled in the fencing and die of starvation or exposure.

Everyone worked hard and we were very productive, earning a stop at the local Dairy Queen for Brownie Batter Blizzards and banana splits.

Next we visited the National Museum of Wildlife Art, where we viewed works of art by Carl Rungius, Andy Warhol, Gutzon Borglum (who created the Mt. Rushmore sculpture), Theodore Geisel's (Dr. Seuss) original drawings for "The Lorax", award-winning student paintings for the Federal Junior Duck Stamp program, and more.

Through a spotting scope we watched bald eagles on the National Elk Refuge. On the way back to the Science School, we saw baby pronghorn and baby bison in the sage flats.

This evening we are headed to the Oxbow Bend to spend time viewing wildlife, drawing in our sketchbooks, and painting in our journals.

Tomorrow, the Rockefeller Center, Phelps Lake, and closing ceremonies.

Going to the Rodeo!

We have settled in to the routine here at Teton Science Schools, enjoying full days of programming, beautiful weather, and frequent sightings of charismatic megafauna.

Some highlights:

• Monday night at the Murie Museum viewing specimens collected by Olaus Murie - an amazing collection
• Tuesday canoeing and hiking around String Lake at the base of the Teton Range; yellow-bellied marmots!
• Cow and calf moose sighting at Cottonwood Creek, GTNP
• Bull moose sighting at Snake River in Moose, WY (GTNP)
• Tuesday evening astronomy program with Sam; we viewed objects including the Ring Nebula, Pluto, Saturn, Cigar Galaxy, and Hercules Globular Cluster
• Wednesday morning black bear sighting at Signal Mountain
• Hiking around Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls; we used dichotomous keys to identify mule's ears, meadow salsify, sticky geranium, and thimbleberry. We also saw primroses, balsamroot, columbine, elephant head, mountain lupine and many more wildflowers.
• In a few minutes we will enjoy bison burgers for dinner and then head into Jackson for the rodeo.

We're There!!!

After four full days of travel, we arrived at Teton Science School last night at around 10 p.m.

Some highlights from the trip so far:
~good conversations and fun games in the car
~playing a game of baseball at the Field of Dreams
~seeing two grizzlies in Yellowstone
~swimming in Moose Falls
~witnessing Old Faithful erupt
~watching bison cross the road in front of our cars
~participating in bird banding this morning
~beautiful views

Thanks for your continued prayers for safety, growth, fun, and healthy challenge.
We are having a great time and we can't wait to tell you more of our adventures!

Noticing details

What do you notice? is going to be a frequent question during our time in new landscapes this summer. Even those of you who have been there before - indeed, even those of us who lived there before - should notice things we have never noticed before.

Here's a challenge: I just edited one of the links on this blog because I had written it in with a typographical error which I - embarassingly - hadn't noticed until just now. It's a national monument; I've been there several times; I still wrote its name wrong. Which one is it? What was the change? Does the name of this monument take on a different meaning now?

Why I Am Proud of Summer Program Students

• You like each other. And you act like it.
• You are putting in the necessary effort to be prepared.
• You eagerly try new things, even scary things.
• You are excited to get to know new people in new ways.
• You are very observant and very patient.
• You draw and paint and write beautifully.
• You are excited to develop fresh eyes for landscape and living things.
• You are responsible and respectful.
• You understand when it's time to take care of business.
• You understand when it's time to play.

• "I have three rules for leaders in the outdoors: You have to know where the people you're leading are coming from, you have to know what you want to do with them, and you have to love them." -Paul Petzoldt, mountaineer, founder of the National Outdoor Leadership School.

The second one is easiest. The first one is coming along well. The third, and most important, is happening. I am looking forward to spending a couple weeks on the road with you, and in the mountains, forests, meadows, streams. And I am certain that, at the end of two weeks, I will wish that we had two more. You are a group of exceptional people, and you are an exceptional group. Thanks.

It's almost here

Our last pre-trip meeting is just a week away (Thursday the 18th, at RCS, starting at 4:00 p.m. sharp). At that meeting, you will receive your art kit, resource notebook, community task groups, field groups, cook groups, and tent groups. You will get receipts to put in all of your financial support thank you notes. You will have all of your stuff checked against our packing list to make sure you have what you need. We will have our first group slackline session. We will learn about event maps, collaborative journals, memoirs, and species accounts. A professional artist will be coming to teach us pen and ink and watercolor technique. We will be singing some of our signature songs. We will be grilling on the same grill that will travel with us through eight states. We will be setting up, taking down, setting up again, and taking down again the tents that will be home all across the country. Bring $6 for dinner. Be excited. 'Cause it's about to go down.