Culture Shock

This four-day weekend, I logged 1,884 miles of driving to attend a graduation, a UW Alumni event, mark a birthday (the most important day of the year, she said), plus attend an early-morning bird walk just to make my schedule more hectic and myself more crabby. I made it as far as Brown Deer, WI. There are so many things to mention, I don't know quite where to begin.

When I left Medora on Thursday, May 13, it was snowing. That snow passed and turned into rain as I drove through it again on my way across the state. The next day, I got to drive through it again in Baraboo, WI.

Throughout North Dakota and Minnesota, there are ducks, geese, and other waterfowl in every pond. I saw great blue herons, great egrets, northern shovelers, northern pintails, American coots, mallards, blue-winged teals, American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, and, most surprisingly, an American bittern.

I met with Mark Peterson of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Audubon Society, a fellow UW alum and a good guy to chat with, in St. Paul on my way through. I had been delayed by an hour-long construction delay (that, by the way, would not have developed into any sort of a slowdown in North Dakota), and he had been delayed by his previous meeting, so it was all right. We quickly figured out that we had actually met a few weeks earlier in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, but neither of us realized then that we already knew each other via e-mail. We ate at a bistro and I had the best turkey and wild rice soup ever. Period. We talked natural resources and birds, I did a little networking and got some good tips, and he bought lunch. Hmm, someone came out too far ahead in that deal.

In the evening, we attended a the Rochester Chapter of the University of Wisconsin - Madison Alumni Founder's Day event, in which incoming freshmen were awarded with scholarships. The meal was good, and the folks at our table were interesting. We bought raffle tickets but won nothing. I didn't think a $100 bid for the autographed hockey jersey would have been a big bid, but I chose not to bid. I think it went for $125, still a steal. I was a bit embarrassed not to have a nice Wisconsin polo shirt, tie, or lapel pin to show some sense of belonging, and I rectified that the next day in Madison.

Before that, I got up early and went to the early morning bird walk, a regular activity at the Quarry Hill Nature Center in Rochester, MN. Some of the local Audubon Society members come along, which is nice since they are pretty good at spotting and identifying birds. I usually try to avoid the really intense birding - it's more of a leisure activity for me than a contest - but these people were really seeing a lot of stuff. I saw four "life list" birds, ones I had never seen before, and three birds I had only seen once before. These people were good. The "life list" birds I saw included the magnolia warbler, bay-breasted warbler, Tennessee warbler, and palm warbler, and the ones I saw for the second time ever included the American redstart, chestnut-sided warbler, and blackpoll warbler. While I was of little help spotting the warblers, my relatively younger ears were better at picking up the high-pitched cedar waxwings, and I found some of the other birds that the group missed such as American goldfinch, white-throated sparrows, red-bellied woodpeckers, red-tailed hawk, Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted grosbeak, and the northern flicker.

Then, on to Madison, where we ate lunch at the East African restaurant Buraka, a favorite spot, ever more so because of our adventure in Tanzania. We stopped to get Amber's ring refinished on the way in, also, but then it was on our way to Brown Deer to visit mom. After a brief visit, we returned to Madison, checked into the hotel, and collapsed into bed. I had been up since 5:30 in the morning, driven something like 400 miles and seen all those birds, and had no energy left to go out and celebrate with my brother, the whole reason for the journey.

Justin finished up his Masters in International Public Affairs from the Bob LaFollette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. The commencement was held in the assembly chamber of the state capitol building. I had last been in that building in the 4th grade, despite walking to, from, and around the building for four years as a student and Madison resident.

Wisconsin State Capitol

Inside the Capitol rotunda

The Assembly Chamber

Justin giving his "Lady Forward" pose. Lady Forward is the statue on top of the rotunda. His future is so bright, he has to wear sunglasses.

And now off to a career in government!

Back in Rochester, the barn swallows have built a nest on our front light again. They get a little excited when I get anywhere near the nest, but I don't mind having them there. It's fun to watch them strafe over the lawn, picking off insects. We also caught a glimpse of an Eastern towhee clinging to the tulips in the planter in front of the house. I had never seen the male of that species before, but I knew what it was.

Overall, the trip was a success, though I was in culture shock the whole time. So many cars, so many people, so much greenery and big trees. Everybody in a hurry. So many places to spend money. I had been asked last week whether I was going to miss North Dakota when I left, and I was ambivalent about it. Now I can say that I will miss it. There may not be all the conveniences of the midwest, but it's more than made up for with the room to spread out. Plus, the roads are in better shape.