Day 16 - Museum of Flight

This boys reminds me of Dane. He has had a passion for airplanes since he was 18 months old! He has always wanted to be a pilot, and now he wants to be in the airforce.

After we left Mt. St. Helens we continued to drive North. I was hurrying against the clock. I knew that we needed three hours to see the Museum of Flight properly. But I also knew that we only had about 1 1/2 hours max before it closed.

We arrived and of course, the children didn't know we were going to go. I don't like to tell them my plans until I know if I will actually get there.

The older boys went into a simulator of an F15, while the little boys enjoyed a ride in a Blue Angel.

They also went to a children's area and rode airplanes and controlled other planes with proper controls and foot pedals. It was very well set up.

Riding a Helicopter

Austin, the Pilot

A Replica of the Wright Brother's Plane

Dane's favourite area of the Flight Museum was the World War fighter planes. It showed planes from World War I and II - Friendly and Foe.

As well as the planes there were other displays. Below shows the symbols that the Jews had to wear during the war.

Jewish Symbols

A Flyer

Day 16 - Mt. St. Helens

Some wise acre sent me an email asking me when I would be home. He then went on to say, "No, take your time, you might find a mushroom farm tour or something."
Funny!! You might think I make detours and do things other than the things I had already planned! Well, as a matter of fact, I guess I do! *grin*

Today for instance, as we were driving along I saw signs for Mt. St. Helens. Do you think I would be a good homeschooling mother if I let a field trip like that go by???? Not!!! So off we went. We had a choice of going to the centre that was just 5 miles off the I-5 or going 53 miles off. I knew that I had plans for the afternoon and time was getting short, so we just did the first centre. It was well worth it and in a year or so we will go back and see the actual site of Mt. St. Helens. That site takes you within 7 miles of the site and you can see the lava flows.

We watched a video that showed us the "Fire Below". It was from the view point of three people that had lived through it. One man had been a logger when the mudflows came over the mountain!! He was in hospital for 30 days with burns over his whole body. It took him 10 years to go back to the site and plant crosses to his three friends that did not survive. The other two people were a man and woman who were fishing when all of a sudden a log dam burst and all the logs came rushing down the river and knocked them in and they were battered by the logs and nearly drowned.

The movie was mind boggling. I can't wait to actually see the volcano.

A Model of Mt. St. Helens

Volcano and Lava Model

They have a model of a volcano that you can walk inside of. It gives you a cross section of the earth, so you can see the layers in the ground. It also has a glass covered floor that shows you *way* down into the earth, where you can see the lava glowing in the centre of the earth. It gives a good idea of what it is like. You can then see a line of the lava flow up to the surface of the earth, where the large bulge on the side of Mt. St. Helen's was. It was this bulge that broke through when there was a large earthquake hit it.

Ash Dispersion Model

This model shows the height of ash in areas of volcanoes. Mt. St. Helen's was the highest, by far! It was 8 inches on this model compared to .2 - 2" tall!

Viewing Mt. St. Helens

Mt. St. Helens

Day 15 - The Shasta Dam

The Tired Travellers (4,300 kms behind them)

Today we left John and Margaret's at 10:00 am and drove til about 1:00 pm. At that point we saw signs for the Shasta Lake. I knew I recognized the name and shortly after I saw signs for the Shasta Dam. Since we *are* on a Rambling Road Trip we decided to take a side trip and follow the signs.

I am very glad we did because we ended up seeing the second largest dam in America!

The View From the Centre of the Dam

We walked across the dam and I got a brochure and read the important facts to the boys. This dam used 5,000,000 cubic metres of concrete and 803 feet across the base!

Anyway, after this we kept driving til about 6:00 pm. We left California's warm weather behind (in Shasta it was positively hot) and headed North to Oregon. Here we encountered snow. Apparently 5 days after we drove through that area they had a couple feet of snow!! There were still snow drifts on the side of the road, in some places! I am very thankful I missed that!

Distant Snow

We found a little no town called Canyonville, Oregon. It had nothing in it except a casino and a hotel. But I called the hotel in advance and it was a Best Western. After our last getting burned with a grungy hotel I had decided to call ahead and find out about it.

Me and My Bro

Learning to Dive

Austin had a wonderful trip. I spent one night in the hot tub (me, get in a cold pool? Not!!) showing him how to swim under the water. He went from a few second submersion to where he is like a little fish. He can do somersaults and flips around in the water, plus jumping in and swimming under the water across the width of the pool. He tried in summers past to learn, but we learn in a lake and it isn't the nicest place to learn. His big brother also got more comfortable in the water from this trip.

Relaxing in the Hot Tub

This hotel was great and only six years old. They had a nice little indoor pool and hottub, so the boys got to go swimming tonight. Because of their colds, coughs etc they have only been swimming two other times! So maybe we will try to get a nice place with a pool again tomorrow.

Day 14 - Visiting a Historic Covered Bridge

Lunch on the Patio

After we left the mine we went back to John and Margaret's and had lunch and then a rest. And then we took off again for the afternoon!

Margaret took us to see a very long covered bridge.

The Bridge

Unfortunately I do not have my papers with me that tell how long this bridge was, but I believe it was the longest covered bridge at something like 600' long. The bridges were covered to protect the surface of the bridge from the weather.

This bridge used to charge people a tool to pass through.

Toll Prices

On New Year's Day, 1997, there was a huge flood that did a lot of damage to this bridge. The river rose up to and over the floor boards in this bridge! If you were to see this is about 30+' down to the creek bed, plus the river bed up to the roads is very wide, so that was a lot of water!

Walking Near the Bridge

The Inside of the Bridge

After we went for a walk through the bridge we checked out the Visitor's Centre. Here the boys were able to see a real stuffed Kodiak Grizzley Bear!! It was huge!

Margaret and Bear and the Boys

There were other animals in the centre that were stuffed. It gave the boys an idea of the size or look of the animals, better than a story book could.

Day 14 - The Empire Gold Mine

Arriving at Empire Gold Mine

John Teaching Us All About the Shafts

One of the Old Shafts

There were hundred's of miles of tunnels under this area. The deepest shaft was 11,000 feet down. The men would descend in carts at a rate of 600 feet per minute!

One of the Cart Tracks That Runs 1000's of Feet Down

One of the Mine Shafts

You can see way far down into the tunnel, but it is barricaded off. Next year they are going to be creating an underground entry, so that people can see from the lower side.

The Shaft

Rock Stamper

This was how they crushed the rock that they brought up from the tunnels that held gold. They could then work with the smaller pieces of rock in a smaller machine.

Showing Off the Cart

These carts were what brought the hard rock up from down deep under the earth.

We only had a couple days with my cousins, but they, being wonderful hosts, made sure we saw locals spots of interest. John took the boys and I to see the Empire Gold Mine. That was fascinating, because the buildings and machinery are still all intact.

John has so much knowledge that just walking anywhere with him you are filled with so many interesting facts. It amazes me how much he knows. At the mine there was no need of a tour guide, because John knew all the information and was able to share and explain it all to us!

The Children Meet Some Cousins!!

We headed out really early this morning for my cousin's house. They lived near Grass Valley and it was to be about a six hour drive. We got to their house and found the most beautiful setting.

A Waterfall Swimming Pool

If you look to the left you will see that the water runs out of the top of the pool, creating a waterfall effect. This is intentional and makes for a very pretty sight.

The View From the Patio

Another View From the Patio

Their land is 33 acres in size and they have a large pond with two swans and an Egyptian goose. They also have some birds from Canada.

Their Swans

The drive to the house is a windy pleasant drive. I would love to have this 'yard'! The kids would love roaming it, but John says they have poison oak, so have to be careful where the kids play.

Right after we arrived we took the kids down to see the swans and the geese.

Enjoying a Walk With Margaret

They enjoyed the walk and John was very informative with all the information about the trees, the iron in the ground, the irrigation system, the lava rocks that were all over the place. They were called Marshmallow Lava, because when they came up from under the water originallly (when there was water in this area) they cooled very quickly, creating a rounded look to them.

Lava Rock!

We had a wonderful guest house to stay in. Margaret had equipped the kitchen with anything we might need for snacks and breakfast! It was so nice to kick back and relax after running for the last two weeks!

Enjoying Hot Chocolate and Cookies in "Our" House

John and Margaret had lots of knowledge and mentoring to share with the boys, since John works for NASA (he was part of the design team for the Apollo 13 spacesuits) and Margaret is a well known cardio pathologist, who is working on new advances in heart transplants. The boys had the opportunity to hold items that had been to Space and learn about new space technology and heart transplant advances that are taking place right now. Insider information! *smile*

The boys had a wonderful time getting to know my mother's cousin, John and his wife Margaret, and we are very thankful for the chance to see them. John and Margaret and my family immigrated from England in the 1960's.

John and Margaret and I

The Boys and Their Newly Met Cousins