The last day - Baker Croyle

 Today we began with a late start at 10:30, but some of us heard 10:45 so we didn't really start until then. Our first activity consisted of discussing aspects of the trip, and then writing them down on the whiteboard. The categories were; what went well, what we expected to do (and did we meet our expectations), and what could be improved/things to note for next time. Some of the notes were that; the food and accommodations were much better than expected, the schedule worked very well, and next year, we should try to find a place to wash clothes (so some of us don't only have two smelly jackets for the entire trip). We then took a lunch break from 11:30 to 12:30 and followed that up by uploading all of our photos to a Google Drive. Dr. Salem then quizzed us with a Kahoot, and I realized that I had not retained as much information as I should have. We then brainstormed for our presentation/exhibition that is taking place next Friday morning (you should go!!!) and wrapped up our day!

here are some photos of today

Dr. Salem and Eli with a very similar pose (try to guess who's who)

Declan, Chase, and Leo not goofing off.

Ellie and Kien looking at our group photos.

Lily focusing on her presentation

day one so sorry oh my lort

 3/19/2024

We started off with an overview of what we’d had planned for the day with Dr. Salem then made our way to the HMNS to go look at the dinosaur/ permian exhibits in the museum. The walk took about 20 minutes, it was kinda chilly but I mean i suppooosee we survived. Once we got to the museum, we waited and all sighed in nostalgic unison, exclaiming how fun it was to come to the museum when we were younger. After some waiting, we got our tickets and looked around the Dinosaur exhibit. Lily and I had some wonderful conversations surrounding our shared fascination with spinal skeletons, and examined each skeleton's spine. After about an hour, a faculty member of the museum gave us some tips about digging and showed us around his office, displaying some 3d printed items, one being for the celebration of the scientific confirmation that dinosaurs do in fact exist. After this brief show and tell, we spent ten minutes in the gift shop, then took a wonderful walk back to school and had lunch. After lunch was presentation time! Today it was Leo, Declan, Chase, Gala, Lily, and Kien. we played kahoots, we learned about fossils, we learned about plants, prehistoric animals, I mean we’re basically pros at this point. 

Diplocaulus

Some coo skeleton

He almost ate us (jk idiot its bones cant believe you fell for that)

The women being extremely chismosa

Day 10: Final drive back - Kien

 No trip wouldn't be complete without the ride back (literally), so as our last morning came and went, we were excited for the most fun part of the trip: the seven-hour ride back! The late start faded into our last breakfast at the diner and before we knew it we were already in the car riding back to Houston. Our exhilarating ride was enhanced by our car’s creative choice of music, making familiar the songs: Bang by AJR, Rewrite the Stars by Zach Efron and Zendaya, and last but not least, A Place In My Head by Linkin Park. Our satisfaction with the trip and drive to pee gave us the determination to see out the home stretch of our journey. New memories were gained on this ride back; good ones such as shared group interests in songs, and bad ones such as Metallica waking some of our car members up from pleasant naps. However after much bonding and my new hatred for Metallica, our journey landed us back at the school where our endeavor first started, summing up the trip in a glorious ending. 

Hitchhiker trying to get a ride from Chase

A picture of a duck

He's reading Harry Potter (or the bible)

Bird and corn

Baker and all the apple jam he's eaten

Baker chowing down

Declan and his friend

The Last Supper

Day 8: The last dig!!

    Today started at 8:00, which was a nice break from the early 6:30 wake up. We went to our favorite breakfast spot in town, the Rock Inn Cafe, and used that time to plan out our day. The weather was expected to be rainy towards the end of the day with wind of 45 mph. We arrived at the dig site and immediately got to work, hastily digging with the looming thought we would get rained out. To our surprise the sun was out and the sky was blue as ever. We spent the morning clearing out our big finds and wrapping them in tin foil to get cataloged. We took a luxurious lunch break, where we ate our usual sandwiches, gatorade/water, a fruit, and a chip. We got back to the dig site and spent an hour collecting and cleaning our fossils before leaving to go back to the motel. At the motel we worked on a card for Chris, Holly, and Mikinzi to give to them at dinner. After completing the card we had free time to shower, play cards, chat, and get ready for dinner. For dinner we went to the Mexican restaurant down the street with Chris, Holly, and Carl, a board member for the Whiteside museum. Dr. Salem and Ms.Trimble hosted the annual Paleo Trip Awards, where we were given mentions for special things we did during the trip. We finished dinner and walked back to the motel, tired and ready for bed. I am oh so excited for tomorrow!!!

Gala with the HUGE dimetrodon tooth she found

Official Zoolander Award Winner 2024

Ellie with an EPIC fossil

Group of students collecting fossils

Lily in front of Lily Hill… #LilyHill

Last time at the dig site

Eli and Kien with their cool fossil

Day 9: The Final Day in Seymour! (Declan O'T)

 The day started by eating breakfast at 8:00 at the Rock Inn Caffe, after breakfast we took the 2-and-a-half-hour drive to Cap Rock Canyon. where we ate lunch at a lake and saw many bison after lunch we went to a prairie dog town where we looked at the view and the prairie dogs. we then hiked up a smallish mountain that had a scenic overlook which was really cool. After which we hiked down from the mountain and looked at some gypsum (which is a type of rock). then we left to get dinner at a BBQ restaurant and then finished off the day by pulling over to the side of the road to look at the stars.

one of the prairie dogs

on top of the smallish mountain

bison

bison 

gypsum

Day 7: Blown Away! (Chase Welsh)

Day 7: Blown Away! (Chase W)

        Today our day started at 6:30 as usual however, our daily breakfast at the Rock Inn Café was delayed an hour later than our usual time from 7:00am to 8:00am, we played cards to pass the time. After we finished breakfast we went to the dig site with an hour delay. We were surprised by a corgi puppy named Cooper at the dig site, which had further delayed our digging again. As 3 hours went by the wind began to pick up, until the fourth hour came we were all unable to stand up without falling from the wind, so we had to close the digging day early at 12:00pm. Then we had lunch and free time back at the hotel for about 2 hours. After the two hours, we went to the Whiteside museum, some of us spent time cleaning and repairing some of the bones we found, while others held the live corn snake and bearded dragon staying there. We came back to the hotel, and waiting for dinner we played cards to pass the time yet again. As our food options were limited we chose gas station pizza for dinner, and to end the day we all sat in a circle talked, and ate food. 

Aya holding Cooper

Ellie plastering fossil

Kien and Eli digging there pelvis

everyone at work

us all focused in work

The dig site with us in it

The sorted fossils in the lab

Lily repairing her fossil

Baker observing his fossils

Gala and Chase cleaning their fossil

Dr. Salem admiring the sorted fossils

Aya holding the corn snake

they are observing the air compressor

Lily staring at the camera while working on her fossil

observing fossils up close

bearded dragon

working on various things in the lab

working on repairing fossil

Day 6: Discoveries at the Dig Site! (Aya N)

It was a cold morning in Seymour today as we had breakfast together at the Rock Inn Café. Once we finished breakfast, we went to the Whiteside Museum of Natural History to meet up with Chris, Holly, and Mackenzie before heading to the dig site to continue our work from yesterday! We went straight to work instead of picking up bone fragments from the surface like yesterday, and quickly people began to find fossils! The greatest find of today was the jaw of an undescribed species of Dimetrodon. There are only four specimens of it in the world, at least until Gala and Chase found that lower jaw and made it five specimens! They named it Chala. After lunch, we dug for another few hours before heading back to the motel. We ended the day with dinner at the motel restaurant and a fun game of poker.

Ellie & Dr. Salem at the dig site

Baker & Dr. Salem digging

Kien, Declan, & Leo

Kien & Eli

Crowded quarry

Eating lunch at the cars

Gala and Chase with their special Dimetrodon jaw!

Ms. Trimble has a knife!!!