Day FIVE | The Badlands

Our last full day in the Badlands began just as chilly as the night that preceded it.  Much to the group’s dismay, the sun didn’t look like it would make its way out all day.  Regardless, everyone did their best to keep the mood light, despite the weather.  Our first assignment of the day entailed an hour long introduction to topography task, with the Badlands being our first subject.  The class split up and went on to map a relatively small area of their choosing.

Strangely, during the laydown of our work, we encountered two Iowa State alums who were more than happy to see ISU students out on the road.  Mixed results and muddy boots later, we were on to our second stop of the day: The Wall.  It is there that Gary directed us on a relatively brief hike around The Wall, pointing out plant species, both new and familiar.  While the group encountered interesting objects such as animal bones, though perhaps most exciting was when the sun finally broke out of the clouds and revealed the beauty of the park, while providing some much welcomed warmth right before breaking for lunch.

After a hearty lunch consisting of soup, peanut butter sandwiches, soup, soup, an apple and more soup with Emily Snavely I was ready to tackle my Place Project, while Kyle and the rest of the class tackled the first colored pencil drawing.  Fellow classmate Lucas Buscher and I split off from the rest of the group to capture the necessary pictures for our collage that’s to be completed upon return to Ames, while the rest of the class worked on their colored pencil drawing of the Badlands. While doing a laydown of the drawings, Kyle noted that all of the students had a different interpretation of the Badlands. With our workday being completed, we were surprised to learn that we would be treated to s’mores from Park Ranger Gene Johnson and his fiancé from Columbia, Monica.  The generosity was much appreciated and a fitting end to a full day.

Will and Kyle B 

Day FOUR | Farewell To Mindy

We woke up far too early this morning only to be pushed out of the hotel by 8 a.m. Before leaving, we said our farewells to Mindy Cooper which brought about a lot of tears (especially in the male population). After barely escaping Minneapolis, we headed west along the southern edge of Minnesota on our way to South Dakota.

Drivin' down the road singin' like....

Prior to leaving the state, we decided it would be a good idea to stock up on food before we spent our first nights of tent camping. Everybody seemed to be under the impression that they could survive the next few days on mainly bagels and peanut butter… we shall see how this works out. Soon after we entered South Dakota, the sky let lose all its fury on our convoy.  We almost decided to turn and go home until Julie gave us a pep-talk and basically called us a bunch of babies. The rain continued for almost three hours and it finally cleared up as we were reaching the Badlands.

Very Bad Lands

When we arrived at the camp spot, we set up our tents and ate some supper. We then went exploring through the local buttes which were super slippery and hard to navigate safely. Soon after all this was done, a blanket of darkness came out of nowhere and we were confined to using our headlamps. Then we sat down and wrote this blog.

Gage and Branden 

Day THREE | Minneapolis, MN

Starting off our first chilly day at the Walker Arts Center we walked through the sculpture garden and did sketches of any given sculpture. Looking at the sketches now I already see the improvement of my classmates and myself.  Seeing works of art in a designed landscape was a breathtaking experience.

Cherry Spoon - Sculpture Garden

 Our final project of the day was to take measurements of a given courtyard and draw a plan view, section cut and three details. We were assigned groups and headed out in various directions. Soon after we started taking measurements in front of a television station multiple people including security came out of the building and questioned us. According to Michael Martin being questioned by authority is not unheard of in Landscape Architecture.

Eric and Zach - Measuring a Courtyard

 After wrapping up our project and mostly all the class getting in trouble for taking measurements without permission, we were done with class work for the day. Our last day in Minneapolis was coming to a halt. The final snap shots of the city were taken and everybody got their last supper in Minneapolis.  We started to draft out our projects the best we could then called it a night.

Mariah and Xuerong

Mariah and Blake 

Pacing Exercise

How many paces do you take in 100 feet?

Day TWO | Minnehaha with Heidi Hohmann

The second day into our trip, was a brisk morning with several of our peers underdressed for the chilly Minnesota morning.  We walked a ways, with goosebumps down our arms and legs, to the birth place of the Twin Cities (the Mississippi River) where we met Heidi Hohmann. Heidi came all the way up to teach us about her home city, Minneapolis.  We walked around both sides of the Mississippi, learning about the ‘booms and busts’ of the city’s growth. 

After some history lessons we went to a cute little neighborhood called Nicollet Island, which has a quaint style of architecture.  We began our super quick sketches that looked absolutely terrible, but that’s what it is suppose to be about; rough sketches (if you aren’t Gary) that captures the general idea of the place.  Slowly improving after multiple sketches of the ‘antique’ houses, we concluded our study of quick sketches at the Hennepin Bridge, with a two and seven minute sketch.

After filling our starving bellies, we went back to the stone bridge and did a watercolor painting for one hour.  Unfortunately, the weather was really windy which made the drawing process a bit more challenging. We had a quick lay down and afterwards, we headed off to Gold Medal Park.

We arrived at the park to see a big open space with a huge hill near the center.  A pathway spiraled up the hill with a medal lining on both sides of the concrete. This was so the concrete would stay level and wouldn’t slant with the hill. In the park, we had to make a section view that ran parallel or perpendicular to the river. We split into groups based on the last digit in our social security number, or Iowa State University id number since some of the foreign students didn’t have a S.S.N.  After laying down our section views, the class was released and walked back to the hotel to enjoy our free evening time.

Kyra and Jessica

Day ONE | Gary's Crazy Fishing Story

 On the first day of our trip I think we were all excited to FINALLY  be on the road. However, I know many of us were sad to leave some friends and family behind. The trip started off with an entertaining fishing trip tale by the one and only Gary Hightshoe involving a minnow and a pike. Lets just say it was a little far fetched. After a short meeting we headed to Mason City for a tour of the recently restored Park Inn. It was one of the first Frank Lyod Wright structures in Iowa and a perfect example of prairie school architecture, which emphasizes the horizontal lines of a structure. Like all of his designs this hotel was "Frank" size; in other words, it was designed for shorter than average human beings

After our informative tour, we caravanned on to the Stockman House and Rock Glenn. After a quick ten minute exploration of the bluff and creek, we did a one hour sketch of  a prairie school style house near the bluff. After a lay down of our sketches we took a much needed lunch break. We had one more stop before Minneapolis which was a State Park known as Pilot Knob which is the second tallest kame in the state of Iowa.

  After a couple of ten minute renderings at the top of the lookout and the rolling fields, we walked or ran back to the van and drove straight to Minneapolis. Where we checked into the Comfort Suites and met back up with Mindy. Finally we were dismissed and were free to explore the city, eat dinner, and relax. It was a great start to what is sure to be a great adventure.

Erin and Aziz

It’s a great day to be a CYCLONE!

The clock is ticking down to our departure for the Savanna Traveling Studio. Students and faculty are packing and preparing for the trip, but many of us took a little time off to enjoy a beautiful day at Jack Trice Stadium for the much-anticipated Cy-Hawk rivalry.

Can you spot a Savanna Student? 

3OT! The game was full of ups and downs, but the crowd remained elevated (literally, in the student section) and enthusiastic. It was great to see some of our students on the new jumbotron and I hope they bring a little Cyclone Spirit to our trip. 

Go State!

Julie