Amy Sue's Travelogue: Mystery Tour Day 2

 Mystery Tour Day 2 report. Sunrise in Minot. Sunset in Bismarck. North Dakota is hands down my number one favorite state in the USA. Always has been. After today the trophy definitely stays put.

In between Minot and Bismarck we toured the American Freedom Coal Mine and Gasification Plant near Beulah, then had a picnic lunch at Lake Sakakawea State Park, then a tour of The National Fisheries, then a stop at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, after which we toured the Mandan Fort, then supper at Olive Garden in Bismarck, ending with a craft session at the Board and Brush where each person stenciled a project onto a board. Whew! It’s now 10:07pm and I’m finally in my jammie’s ready to get my thoughts on paper.

Two takeaways for day two.

Number one. Open minded people are problem-solving people. The coal gasification plant is a case in point. There was a day when coal was a truly dirty energy source. “Coal kills people,” shouted the environmentalists. “Without coal people die,” the coal industry shouted back. “No energy, no food, no heat.”

North Dakota listened. Both sides were true. Instead of continuing the either/or debate, North Dakota took a both/and approach and found a way. Coal gasification. A clean, responsible answer to what was once a deadly, intractable problem. I came away from the tour thinking if coal can be made clean through open minded problem solving, there’s no end to the problems that could be solved with an application of the same wisdom.

Number two. They have eel pout in North Dakota. Hardly seems possible outside of Walker, MN.

Another fantastic day. Thank you PTS Tours! Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Beach Experience of Living Hope

Image
Yesterday was Wednesday in Saipan, which means Lu Min was here. She is the Buchers' housekeeper who comes once a week to help tidy things up. Lu Min doesn't like people "under her feet" so we typically take our day off on Wednesday. At least, that has been the pattern for the past three Wednesdays. Yesterday's adventure was a hike through the jungle to see The Old Man by the Sea. See him? It's the rock formation in the center of the photo. Getting here we parked on a road and then headed into the jungle on foot. A shy mile later we emerged onto this hidden beach guarded by the old man's head. (That clump of hair in the center front is a decomposed palm tree stump. Yes, I wondered about it too.) Anyhow, the jungle path was a narrow footpath with sharp descents that required holding onto ropes people had left tied to trees. Slipping, sliding, repelling, we made it through the jungle overgrowth to a mangrove forest that mediated between the jungle and sa...
Read more

For Every Thing There is a Season

Image
I have thought all week about what I might like to write in what will likely be my final post of the summer from the Saipan location. I thought about telling you about the last couple of days we spent with the newly appointed Micronesia District Superintendent who visited our church to start the process of becoming acquainted with the churches he will be overseeing. He is from South Korea, a place unlike Saipan yet somewhat similar to Davenport climate-wise, but unlike both in mannerisms and customs. Sharing our various stories with him as a church the past couple of days is something I will remember for the rest of my life. Monday night we all ate together as a church, and around the table five different heart languages were represented as we conversed in our only common language, English. We ate grilled brats and hotdogs, spaghetti and mac-n-cheese bites with forks and spoons --- and cupcakes for dessert. The next night three of us went with him to a Korean restaurant wher...
Read more

Constellations and Other Body Movements

Image
Many clear nights I can see the Southern Cross out my window as I lay in my bed. My iPhone didn't capture it well enough to post here, so I borrowed a picture of the Southern Cross from the internet. This one is courtesy of Astro Photography of Australia.  It's the four stars with the pinkish one at the top. The Southern Cross is a new constellation to me not visible from North America. In Minnesota we have constellations such as the Big and Little Dippers, with Polaris the North Star being the set-point or "pole star" in the sky. The southern pole star is called Sigma Octantis, a star too dim for navigation, so the nearby Southern Cross is used in its place. Like in the northern hemisphere where the stars in the sky appear to revolve around Polaris, the southern hemisphere stars appear to revolve around the Southern Cross. Excuse me for a minute while I go put on some flip flops. A wasp wants to be my friend. I snipped it off my mouse and now I can't see w...
Read more