Mission to Mars

I went to the Cheltenham Badlands, near Terra Cotta, ON, with a friend yesterday. It was quite the sight -like a piece of Mars in the middle of nowhere.



Afterwards, we went to the Belfountain Conservation Area and walked the trail around the river. The water was surprisingly cold, and we cooled our feet [I've just learned the river is spring-fed]. I saw a cuckoo wasp for the second time in my life (having just seen one a few days before), but unfortunately could not get a picture because it zipped away. I went on a suspension bridge (a new experience) above a waterfall. I had lavender tea (delicious), and on the way home we stopped at a cemetery in Rockwood with the most unusual chapel and a number of deceased people named Death!

Arkona

I went fossil hunting at a conservation park in Arkona, ON on the weekend. I went with my friend Leslie and her hiking group. I'm not really a big fossil enthusiast, but I have discovered that I love brachiopods; they're very nice to hold (I find holding small pieces of rock, glass, plastic, such as gems or Crazy Bones to be soothing) and they are somewhat translucent. The fossils were found along a river; you just had to look down and you would see them in the mud -hundreds of them.

We searched along the river for a bit and then went to a lovely waterfall to search for trilobites. I wasn't keen on wading into the water, so I sat on the rocks near the cascade, basking in the misty breeze. I could have sat there all day. I love the wind; few things can re-energize me like it can -I'm wind-powered!