Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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Roanoker
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Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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I don’t know the couple on the rock, but they provide a nice focal point.
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Which do you prefer? A purple flower or a yellow butterfly? Maybe both. The colors are on opposite sides of the color wheel.
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Like ballerina dresses.
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These take center stage.
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If a caterpillar could turn into a plant...
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Ever see a smiling rock?
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The couple has left, and we can see more of the riverbank.
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Here is a shot of the bridge I stood on while taking a few pictures posted last time.
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They think they were actually planted there.
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At first, I thought these were petals from yellow flowers. But a closer look reveals that they are butterflies.
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Not headliners, with no color and a fuzzy appearance.
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Almost dreamlike.
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Re: Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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The front petals are a bit overexposed, but the center doodad is relatively acceptable.
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Photographers are supposed to avoid sun artifacts, but I’m not really a photographer, and I like them.
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I think I was told that this is quartzite. It looks like a big, rock cliff to me.
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This cliff is standoffish. Literally. Oh, this was a portrait-oriented image, in the center. I added enlarged portions of itself to each side and softened the hard edges.
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I took several shots of this lavender flower thing because it was pretty.
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It would be easy to get washed away.
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As I said...
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Now that’s enough.
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More of those vertical cliffs, supporting nothing.
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It looks like the river it actually is.
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These cliffs are really in the water.
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These flowers are like bright stars. Kind of 3D-ish.
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Re: Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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This is the last day of the trip, 8/13/15. We visited Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park in Nebraska. My son understood what we saw way more than I did.

We’ll start with a sign.
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You’d think that said it all. But here’s another.
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It was a hot day. I spent a lot of time in this air-conditioned building.
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Some kind of fossil. I know. I should have paid attention to the sign.
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Maybe this used to be a deer
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Not sure what this thing is. I don’t think there are any live ones around.
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Looks more like a stick figure than a fossil.
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The sign says it is a baby rhino.
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Same here, but this one seems to have it all together.
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This one could take a big bite.
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These things do live a long time. Now it is a fossil.
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Chorus line. Where are the petticoats?
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Re: Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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We’re still in the Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park. Bite me.
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A little something for everybody.
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My son’s room. (Not really.)
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What about my nose?
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Looks like a big building over there.
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It’s a rhino barn. Really?
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Must be an explanation. I didn’t read the signs.
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I thought the grass was interesting.
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If you say so.
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The black-dot things stand out among the gentle, beautiful grass.
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I’ll grab any flower I can find. With my camera.
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Now we’re inside the rhino barn, where excavating was going on. We were allowed to observe.
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Re: Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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The area is marked off for workers to look for fossils.
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Discovery spot.
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Explanation of the terrain.
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Found a flower!
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Not sure what they are looking at. I didn’t read the sign.
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Oh. Maybe I did.
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Explanation of recent discoveries.
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The ash bed looks better with a red barn thrown in.
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The building sits on top of the ash bed.
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If you say so.
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Grass can be pretty.
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Another sign trying to explain what is going on.
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Re: Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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Not exactly a flower garden. It is an ash bed.
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Perhaps an explanation is in order.
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This simple “barn” covers an area where digs are conducted.
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For those who wish to sit on the outside of the building.
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Surrounding area. Rather nondescript, but I like grass.
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Path of sorts. Spilling out of the frame.
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Protected dig area.
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Marked findings. I guess.
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More information for those who want to know.
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This one didn’t get a chance to live very long.
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I cut away the unnecessary surroundings. Added a blend in the background and a shadow.
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Same specimen with a similar treatment.
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Re: Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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Several people viewing the protected dig site. I know two of them.
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Notice the two people who are actually excavating.
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The finds are impressive. They get marked and identified.
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These didn’t like the way their party ended.
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No names. Just numbers.
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I suppose a person could learn a lot if he just read the signs. I didn’t.
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Like a garden you might see in a dream, after a full meal.
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I get the hint that this fossil used to be a horse.
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This one never made it out of the womb.
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Never to awaken again.
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Occasionally, the photographer gives her camera to her son. You’d think he could find a better subject.
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There were many identifying posters like these.
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Re: Minnesota 2015 Part 7

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Another Hubbard Rhino Barn sign. But this one has a nice background picture.
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I assume these fossils were marked where they were found.
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My son had my camera and caught me looking at the marked finds. I don’t remember anything.
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This looks more like a picture Salvador Dali would take. As an aside, I like that little flower. It displays chutzpah.
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Accompanying countryside.
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Nothing fancy. But they were there, and the color is nice.
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The flowers are real. I cut around them and put an enlarged, filtered section of grass behind them.
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Thistles hold court.
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I brightened the sign and put a subtle, graduated blend behind it. I suppose the sign says something of value.
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I’m pretty sure my son took the picture of the sign above and the one below to show the same perspective. I’m not that clever.
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My kind of subject. And the colors are almost dream-like.
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Lovely grasses with a sprinkling of tiny, white flowers.
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