Dinosaur Fossil Hunting in the Badlands of Montana

The only legal way to hunt for dinosaur fossils in the US is to hunt on private land.

We visited a fabulous ranch outside of Glendive in eastern Montana last week. We saw right away that Glendive is the right place for a dinosaur fossil hunt.

We started with a short tour of what others have found on the ranch.

How about this dinosaur femur?

The ranch owner found this ostrich-like ancient creature.

Our guide instructed us on how to hunt for dinosaur fossils.

Then we were off in the ranch wagons for a hour-long ride to a distant part of the ranch.

The Badlands are rough country. 

The winds were whipping up to 40 mph. 

The temperatures rose up into the 90s F.

It was fun to meet our fellow fossil hunters and see what they found.

One of our fellow hunters, Breckin, has been fossil hunting several times.

He made a short video for us about how to get bone out of the rock.

We got pretty good at finding fossils (left to right): 

dinosaur bone (under screwdriver), plant impression, dinosaur tooth.

My husband has been wanting to come here for years.

He was little-kid-excited when he unearthed a dinosaur bone bigger than his hand.

Our guide helped him glue it and wrap it for the trip home.

What an adventure!

For more info:

Baisch's Montana Dinosaur Digs

dailydinosaurdigs.com

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Back from Montana with Four Books Read, a Few Sapphires Found, and Fifteen Pounds of Dinosaur Bones

 

I surprised myself by reading four books while we were gone to Montana. 

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance will always be the book I say is my favorite book because it was life changing when I first read it in 1976. Mark Richardson takes to the road on a cycle, following the path of Robert Pirsig in his now-classic philosophical book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle, in Zen and Now. Montana 1948 is the story of one family's struggles after learning a family member has committed a crime. A River Runs Through It is the semi-autobiographical story of Norman Maclean and his relationship to his brother, Paul.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 

by Mark Richardson

Montana 1948 by Larry Watson

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean

Another Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Everyday by Clemency Burton Hill (Nonfiction)

Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel (Nonfiction)

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (Chapter-a-Day)

Falling Up: Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein

My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Last week I posted here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: What Shall I Bring You from Montana? Dinosaur Fossils? Or Sapphires?

Bookish Wishes

Bibliophile: Avid Readers in France

A sincere thank you to all of you kind people who sent me a book from my Bookish Wishes list! Very unexpected.

Paris in July is coming soon. I will be co-hosting Paris in July this year with the wonderful Tamara from Thyme for Tea.

The aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through reading, watching, listening, observing, cooking and eating all things French!

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of this experience – just blog about anything French and you can join in! Some ideas might include;

• reading a French themed book – fiction or non-fiction,
  
• watching a French movie,
  
• listening to French music,
  
• cooking French food,
  
• experiencing French, art, architecture and travel
• tasting French wine, or testing French cocktails
• celebrating le quatorze juillet or Bastille Day

Whatever it is that you love about France---share it with us all! And pass the word...

Tamara's signup post is here.

My husband and I had a fantastic time in Montana. We hunted for sapphires. We hunted for dinosaur fossils. We visited three independent bookstores. We saw nine new-to-us bird species and two new-to-us butterfly species. A good trip!

Good Thing #1

We found three sapphires.

Good Thing #2

We mailed home fifteen pounds of

dinosaur bones and teeth

and other fossils.

Good Thing #3

The Western Tanager was my favorite new-to-me bird 

we discovered in Montana.

I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. It's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

• What was your week like?
• Read any good books? Tell us about them.
• What other bookish things did you do? 
• What else is going on in your life?

Other places where you may like to link up over the weekend are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. 

Bibliophile: Avid Readers in France

I am a bibliophile. You probably are, too. 

A quarter of people in France consider themselves bibliophiles. More than 20% of the French people read 20 or more books a year.

It's obvious, even to a casual visitor.

You see people reading on the subway.

You see people reading in parks.

The bouquinistes along the Seine are classic.

There are bookstores everywhere.

Artists make paintings of readers, like this painting I saw at Monet's home in Giverny.

I even saw a Little Free Library when we were out in the French countryside.

And what was the occupation of the owner of our apartment we stayed in during our time in Paris? He was a writer. Of course.

Bibliophile. Bibliophilist. Erudite person. Bookworm. Booklover. Avid reader. 

Call them whatever you want, but they are everywhere in France.

My people.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered, or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative! It was first created by Kathy over at Bermuda Onion and is now hosted at Elza Reads.