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By Scott Williams, June 20, 2009 5:14 pm

Old Stick of Dynamite

Its been busy, busy, busy,…so busy I have had trouble getting to my blogs.  The last week of our Jurassic Journey program ended with a bang…..literally.  Another week of finding new bones and plastering up “old” bones kept everyone moving.  In fact a couple awesome finds include a partially

Rigging the Charge

articulated sauropod tail.  These caudal vertebra are pretty huge, coupled with the other new find; a large sauropod femur (I’m betting its going to be nearly 6 feet) makes me think we might have a near-adult.  Its some kind of diplodocid…..maybe a big Apatosaurus? 

So I said the week ended in a bang…and it did.  Josh and I got a

Mission Accomplished

rare treat on Friday.  We were invited to accompany the BLM to an old Uranium mine south of the Henry Mountains.  Three sticks of forgotten dynamite were found in some mines that have not been worked for over 30 years.  So we got to help the BLM and the St. George Bomb Squad locate

Boom!

the sticks and blow them sky high.  Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world.  Now we gear up for the next week of removing bones, doing tours and having fun……at work. 

Kathleen Scordato Giving a Tour

The quarry tours are going crazy….over 200 people had taken the tour by the end of the week.  Awesome….  We had a pretty diverse crew, Bruce and Jeanette Kelly, Steve Landi, Glen Palmer were all veterans, but we had our fair share of newbies too.  I’m happy to say that Burpee Field Programs continue to be a destination for other museum institutions.  In the past we have had volunteers and staff from Field Museum, American Museum of Natural History, Indianapolis Children’s Museum, Carnegie and now we can add the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita, Kansas who send out their Director of Education.

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By Marian "Mirm" Michaelis, June 20, 2009 5:13 pm

Mirm Near the Quarry

Heidi Strand, Burpee’s Director of Resource Development & Marketing and I are fresh off the plane and have some fun photos to share. For a very quick trip, we met so many people and accomplished a lot. We made it to the Hanksville-Burpee Quarry three times in three days, not bad considering we weren’t there to get dirty.

After meeting with the BLM and some local bussiness owners, we hit the Hanksville attractions and did some shopping. Because the site was rained out in the afternoon, the whole crew headed for Goblin Valley, a near by state park. More incredible geology and scenic views. Scott

Goblin Valley

reminded us all that some scenes from Galaxy Quest were filmed here. If you’ve seen the movie, seeing these blobby rock formations might ring a bell.

Other than eating at every restarant in Hanksville, I made a point to visit the local grocery store, the Information

Mirm at Goblin Valley

Center, that doubles as a weekly clinic, the BLM office, the new fire house and all three motels.

The highlights for me were the shakes at Stan’s Burger Shack, Jed’s Jerky and everything at Blondie’s including; their great service and fun staff, the blueberry pancakes

Blondie's

Jed's Jerky

and don’t forget the turquoise jewelry.

Scott Sporting His Beef-a-Roo Tee and Estwing Cap

On our final day, we made it out to the site on the way to fly out of Grand Junction CO. I got this great shot of Scott in his Beef a Roo tee. He is convinced that Beef a Roo could rename their Olive Burger after him. Personally I would go for the Blue Cheese Burger, “Mirm’s Surprise Burger”. I know, not as descriptive, but catchy.

Ultimately, we all agreed that all of the photos just don’t do justice to the real thing. The suraoundings are so vast and colorful you start to feel “scenery drunk” from taking it all in. It reminded me of my first trip to Alaska, the scope and magesty of it all. I hope you get a chance to experience Utah for yourselves one day.

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By Marian "Mirm" Michaelis, June 20, 2009 5:13 pm

Monday, June 15 Connecting Our Future held the groundbreaking cerimony for the expansions of the Burpee and the Discovery Center

Connecting Our Future is all about the KIDS

Children’s Museum. Construction bids are being awarded to contractors and work is already beging to prepare the two orginizations for a year of change.

Dirt is Fun!

Thanks to all of you for your support of this partnership.