We
extend a hearty FSSPCC welcome to visitors Lev, Katie and Andrea!
Saturday
April 23rd was
park clean-up day. Thank you to those that
showed up – your help is much appreciated!
Sunday
May 15
Upper Fort Tour was wonderful! The
weather cooperated and about 10 members from the club were allowed access
behind the gate where it is not open to the general public. Watch for the Picasa album and take a
look. If you have any other Upper Fort
images, please add them to the Picasa album.
Show-n-Tell
– John
Plut shared a 1945 photograph of his wife, mom, and grandma at Minnehaha Falls
before the bridge at the top of the falls was built. John C shared some fun(ny) photos of animals
on photographers.
Dan
and Mary Dreher were the April presenters and shared great stories and photos from
South Dakota Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt NP, Yellowstone NP, and Glacier
NP. Coming from Minnesota, the South
Dakota grasslands start just after Chamberlain where you might start to see
animals such as antelope. Then the
Badlands begin which is where you see the interesting land formations. You can leave the Twin Cities around morning
rush hour and arrive at the Badlands in time for an evening sunset. The big draw for Dan and Mary, though, are
the “critters” such as big horn sheep.
The 40 mile loop at exit 131 goes through the park and if you stay in
Wall, it is only 9 miles to the park entrance.
(And the Murdo car museum is also worth a stop.) If you go in November you can expect to see
the second rut of the big horns. (The
first rut is a month earlier, but it draws more crowds.) You can walk right up to groups of sheep and
if you get close enough, you can see growth rings in their horns. Mary captured some beautiful shots of the
sheep and the sunsets. The Badlands are
home to a variety of other animals such as short-eared owls which can be seen
along the road at sundown, or sometimes on a fence post. There are porcupines along the road, prairie
dogs, burrowing owl, elk, coyote, Pronghorn antelope, and even white-tailed
deer! Dan and Mary suggest talking to
the local rangers for good places to see wildlife. Mary shared a very cool image of a jumping
coyote that must have been amazing to see in action. In North Dakota there is Theodore Roosevelt
NP where Dan and Mary wanted to see the herd of wild horses and planned their
trip to coincide with winter snows. Dan
says that if you go, beware it is 220 miles between the north and south parks on
a long lonely road! Note: There was much more that Dan and Mary shared but
I had to leave the meeting early and missed the stories about Yellowstone and
Glacier. L But many thanks to them both for sharing
their experiences, knowledge, and photography.
Deb
Johnson was
the May presenter and shared her adventures to New Zealand. Deb’s nephew and wife moved to New Zealand in
2009 and Deb was lucky enough to visit.
She showed beautiful landscape photos of Christchurch, including a
lovely scene with white and blue flowers with the hills in the background. There was amazing diversity in the photos –
sheep, botanical gardens with massive trees, unique flowers, car door art, and
even a pink person hugging a tree! We
saw an old church and the snow-capped peaks of Aorai/Mount Cook (the tallest
peak in NZ). Deb visited the Tasman Glacier,
by Terminal Lake which had just calved a huge chunk of ice. Queenstown offered photos of parasailing,
more flowers, gondola rides, bungee jumping, and narrow canyon tours. Milford Sound had Kea parrots, edible ferns, mountains
in the mist, and amazing waterfalls including one where the wind is so strong
it blows the water back up to the top of the falls! On Stewart Island Deb found a massive
Hydrangea with pink, red, purple, pink, and burgundy blooms – all on one
bush. In Dunedin there were Molaki Penguins,
sheep, beaches, seals, and the “Hoiho” or yellowed-eyed penguin which is the
rarest in the world. There were pictures
of some strange round alien-looking beach boulders, called Moeraki Boulders. Also black swans, baby fur seals, blue-eyed
penguins – and so much more including Baldwin Street in Dunedin which is the
steepest street in the world at a 38.5% grade.
Thank you, Deb, for sharing your trip and photographs of this incredible
land.
John
Plut is
the June presenter.
Challenge topic for May was “Spring Babies” – many cute
little ones, which led to an informative discussion on where people were
finding babies this time of year. The
June challenge is “Building Art”.
UPCOMING
EVENTS / DUE DATES
July
meeting moved to the 9th – Moved from the first Saturday because of the July 4th holiday
weekend.
July
16-17 –
History Center in Rochester is looking for photo booth volunteers to photograph
people dressed up in period costumes.
Volunteers get their mileage reimbursed. Contact John Anderson at the club email for details.
September
7-12 Train Trip to Glacier National Park – Planning meetings continue.
Please contact John Plut at the club email if you are interested in
going or have any questions.
2016 Executive Committee
-Geri
Fenton – President
-Endel
Kallas – Vice President
-Judy
Collopy – Treasurer
-Rose
Shea – Twin Cities Area Council of Camera Clubs
(TCACCC) Representative
-Patti
Deters – Secretary
-John
Plut – Event Planner
-Deb
Johnson – Webmaster
-János McGhie – IT Guru / Help
Desk
