Field Trip

I took a personal day yesterday to accompany Connor on his class field trip. We visited Wildlife Images in Merlin, which is like a zoo with native animals that are not able to be released back into the wild. These animals either were injured and not able to recover enough to take care of themselves, or they were imprinted too much by humans. This was more true of the bigger animals, like the bears and a cougar. The birds (eagles, owls & hawks) were generally unable to fly anymore. There was also a badger (Mr. Stubbs) who had been kept by a human when he was a baby and then got too wild to keep (there's a reason you're not supposed to mess with wild animals!).

After Wildlife Images, we had a picnic at a park and then the kids got to play there. Connor's classmates were not previously exposed to a merry-go-round before. This was a smaller one than I grew up with, and only allowed about 5 kids on at once. Connor already knew how to make it spin and how to stop it. I had to tell his classmates though. Later on, some older kids were spinning the younger ones, and they yelled to stop, but the big kids kept spinning. Connor stuck his foot out to drag & slow down, and clipped one of the big kids (who promptly stopped pushing the spin). Hee.

Then the big part of the trip: The Hellgate Jet Boats. We had 3 classes of 3rd graders, with parents & teachers, etc. The trip is about 2 hours. Besides racing down the Rogue River, they also dunk the front of the boat down to throw water over the passengers, or they spin the boats to create a hole for the other jet boat (they go in pairs) to dip in and spray the passengers. We sat near the back, and got reasonably wet. The people next to the right side near us got totally drenched! Luckily, we had a beautiful day, and everyone dried off before we got off the boats again. My jeans were only a little damp by the time we were back to the dock.

Connor had a blast. He's been talking about the zoo, the picnic, the part and the Hellgate :) Good stuff. If you're ever able to take that trip, do so. It's quite an experience!