Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is where The Dr. Awesomes spent all day Tuesday – this place was great. At the Refuge animals come first and people come second, therefore our day was primarily focused on nature. We started our day with morning songs “Bazooka Bubblegum” and “the Penguin Song.” Our morning get-to-know-you game was called “Mingle, Mingle” and campers made up their own ‘mingle’ dance while they found partners to discuss different topics with. We made sure to lather on the sunscreen and bugspray before our special treat for the day, a Naturalist-lead tour of a Prarie Dog Town! We first sat and observed the many behaviors of the animals, including alarm calls and ‘jump-yip’ calls. Campers then set out to explore the many different things around the town. We even saw a deer! To wrap up this activity campers wrote creative poetry about all they had learned.
Lunch was eaten under a gazeebo near Lake Mary. After lunch we set out to explore around the lake. During insect catching we found many grasshoppers and dragonflies. Barn swallow nests dotted the shores of the lake and many fish were seen in the water (Blue Gills and Bass). Campers then sat down to order GORP. From a list of ingredients they practiced consensus-building and chose which ingredients to include in their very own GORP. Campers will make that GORP on Wednesday. Responses to our end-of-day debrief question, “What was something you learned today?” included comments about the Prarie Dogs and their behavior and the many different species of animals we saw at the Refuge. After that we sang “On Top of Spaghetti” and loaded up the van. We look forward to going back to the Refuge later this summer to see even more of what it has to offer.