Noah's Ark

While these Theodore Roosevelt ungulates are enjoying the new spring grasses, the rest of the state of North Dakota is not so high and dry.




Everyone has heard of the Fargo flooding, but did you know that the rest of the state is underwater too? As I was driving yesterday, all day I'd see little pockets of former farmland-turned-ocean like this one - its waves slowly creeping to the road and lapping at its eroding edges.


At one point, it didn't just stop at the edges, instead I-94 became a shallow water funland.



I decided, since I've been kicking myself ever since I drove by two weeks ago, that I would exit and check out the Red River in Fargo. I was surprised to see that the Maple River, which I cross before entering Fargo, was HIGHER than when I last crossed - instead of being less than a foot away from the steel tresses of a neighboring bridge, it was half-way up them! The flooding from THAT river in the roadside ditches went on for miles.

I got off the freeway when I started to see makeshift dirt dikes again. To actually see the river this time I had to drive two blocks into one of the most affected neighborhoods. The street closest to the river had a giant pile of dirt right down the middle. On one side, the houses appeared to be fine, except for the sandbag piles protecting their lower two feet.



...but on the other side...



I was having flashbacks to the year we had 3.5 feet of water in our basement thanks to the Great Brown Deer Flood of '97.

I walked a little farther and found a closed Gooseberry Park. I didn't see any boats, any animals marching two by two, and for that matter, any people, the whole time I was back in this neighborhood. Seems they've given up for now, silently poised for the second crest of the Red River coming this week and waiting for those storm clouds to finally clear up!

So long, Caribou...

Well, after a last-minute sprint to the finish that made going to Alaska actually look somewhat plausible, Nathan turned down the opportunity at Denali and they accepted. I had even gone as far as to talk to Denali's Science & Learning Center Technology Contact about volunteer opportunities that would have given us the chance to live in park housing. However, there wasn't already a good internet connection I could use to work there and the park would not let us affix a satellite dish to park housing. That was the last big obstacle keeping us from going, so we're not.

I'm actually relieved. It was a pretty exciting opportunity at first glance, but the extreme craziness of the logistics soon made me long to stay in the lower 48. Even if we could have gotten internet in park housing, I would still have had to volunteer an extra 8 hours each week just to live there (on top of a job where a 40-hour work week is unheard of). Plus, there's the problem of getting there, which takes about a week by car. Not to mention making sure someone is taking care of our house and yard. Anyway, you get the idea. Alaska, we'll come visit you sometime, how about that?

After a near-blizzard here Sunday/Monday, the yard this morning looked like this when I woke up:


I also got a chance to cross the Red River in Fargo on Saturday. I wasn't sure if I would see it until all of a sudden there were three-foot-high piles of dirt coming up the on ramp and then I saw a Red River sign right before freaking out. The water was almost up to the I-94 bridge! I estimate there was less than a foot left before it would have reached the road where I was driving. The restrooms in the park up the hill from the lake were half-way submerged. Sorry, I'm still kicking myself, but I wish I'd stopped for a picture!