August 5th 2018 marks the day that Team Echinacea returned to Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge. However, only a few members (Stuart, Gretel, Kristen, Michael, Mia, Zeke and I) embarked on this journey to collect seed set data. We left the Roost around 6:00 AM. Much of the car ride is a blur to me (1. Because I was in and out of consciousness and 2. Because I’m writing this at 8:00 PM, a solid 15 hours later). However, I do remember Zeke and Kristen discussing the definition/criteria for a city. They came to a conclusion that a city must have four (or more) structures that are greater than four stories. I also remember Zeke’s unique bird classifying system, which included the categories of; big bird, little-big bird, big-medium bird, medium bird, small-medium bird, big-small bird and small bird.
Mia was able to find an orchid that didn’t have a flag marking it by tapping into the Force.
Once we arrived at the site, I thought about Star Wars alot (for some odd reason). I imagined that Stuart and Gretel were our Jedi Masters, while the rest of us were padawans accompanying them on a mission. The seven of us were able to work efficiently to collect the seed set data from the orchids in a just a few hours (that’s the power of harmonic convergence for ya). As a Team Echinacea tradition, we got F’real milkshakes after a job well done. Instead of heading straight to Alexandria, we went to a site called Agassiz Dunes. It was nice to go out and see a new site, even if it was was covered with poison ivy.
“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.” – Anikan Skywalker
After visiting Agassiz Dunes, we headed back to Alexandria where we meet up with the remaining members of the Roost. After a great meal at Qudoba, we returned home and reminisced about our actioned packed weekend!
Leave a Reply