Preparation Education

We got to go a long ways for our last field trip. My husband was working out of town, so we tagged along with him. We love to travel with him, when he has to travel for work. We get to see new things; learn about new places; and visit new museums. This time we got to visit with friends and family too, which made it extra special.

One of the days that we were in New Mexico, we spent at the Albuquerque Aquarium and Zoo. Why is it that zoos are just so much fun? No matter how many times you take kids to a zoo, they’ll always be happy to go again. We hadn’t been to a zoo for quite awhile, so that made it even more fun.

Here are a few of the favorite things that we saw.

We liked the Trumpeter Swan because he swam right up to us. I think he was used to getting hand-outs, but I was quite happy to take his picture. We saw Swans when we were in Malheur, but those ones weren’t used to getting hand-outs so they swam the other way. Even though seeing birds in the wild is a special treat, seeing a beautiful bird like this up close, no matter where, is just special.

We saw several birds at the zoo, but the most important one was a Road Runner. I was hoping with all of my heart that we would get to see a Road Runner in the wild. I’ve never seen one before. Everybody I talked to said, "Oh, I’m sure you will." Well, we didn’t. Fortunately, though we did get to see one at the zoo. So I can’t complain, I suppose, but I still really want to see one that’s not in a cage, so I’m trying to plan my next trip there just so I can see a Road Runner. Not really.

This guy was hugemongous. I made up that word, but it’s still true. We’d never seen anything like this before and there was two of them. He might even be older than my grandma. (Don’t worry, Grandma, he looks a lot older than you too!!)

Now this was the most exciting thing that we saw. We stayed and watched this little giraffe for a long, long time. I say little, but actually, he’s quite a bit taller than me. They’re around 6 feet tall when they’re born. It seems like babies from almost every creature are just cute. (There are a few that I don’t think are cute, even as babies.)

The zoo was full of babies and pregnant mamas while we were there. The zookeepers must have thought that it was time to really increase the population of the zoo’s inhabitants. We saw a baby chimp, a baby camel, a baby elephant, a pregnant snow leopard and what looked like a pregnant zebra and of course, the baby giraffe.

But the cutest babies of all were mine!!

We got to visit the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon. I couldn’t believe how long we spent at this museum. We were there for around four to five hours. Usually for me, a museum is exhausted in around two – two and a half hours, but this museum was like two museums in one: they had lots and lots on natural history and tons and tons on pioneer and native history. So on a five star scale, I definitely give this museum five stars. If you’re ever in Bend, Oregon for any reason, go visit this museum. It’s interesting to kids and it’s interesting to people a lot older than me, so it’s a great place.

They had a Bobcat and this Canada Lynx, which we watched for ages. These were G’tums favorite exhibits.

There was a Raptor Center. This Ferruginous Hawk was brought out during their presentation by one of the keepers. JD Boy was very happy, because he was the only one in the audience of mostly adults who was able to identify the bird. I was glowing a bit myself. He had gone around and looked at all the different posters in the Raptor Center before the presentation and had me read the name on each one to him. He immediately recognized that this bird matched one of the posters and he was right!

Here’s a smiling little guy, riding a real slow moving elk!

JD Boy posing with a real stuffed cougar.

We saw all kinds of animals that are specific to the area. We saw amphibians and reptiles (neither of which are my favorites!) black widow spiders (that might be ever worse) and fish and birds. We got to see a mother Mallard just outside of the museum with a bunch of newly hatched fluffy yellow duckings. That was free, but it was also a real attraction! We also got to see a river otter real close and hear a whole presentation about the river otter.

We got to take a nature walk with a wild-plant expert. He told us that it really isn’t a desert there, because they get 11 inches of rain per year and the definition of a desert is 10 or less. He helped us learn to identify several plants. I enjoyed that. Birds I’m getting better at identifying, but as for plants, I still have quite a ways to go.

Besides all of the nature that we learned about, we also learned about some history too. They had a great exhibit on pioneer life and Indian life in the area. We learned about people moving west, about trappers, about miners, about local businesses of the era.

Zippy is trying out a straw tick. She didn’t think it was that great either. We’ve read about them in our history studies a few times and I tried to tell her what they were like. Now she knows!

Trapper tent.

Canoe made from reeds.

Zippy took all of these pictures with her new camera (except the one of her). She sure loves being able to record the things that are interesting to her and I enjoy seeing what she takes pictures of.

We got to see so much more. We went through a real, old-fashioned, non-electric saw mill that still operates a couple of days a week, besides getting to look at a miniture model. We got to go through a gold mine. That was the least favorite part. It scared my youngest one quite a bit. We climbed in a teepee.

We just saw and did so many things. The exhibits were nicely organized and presented. It was definitely a great museum. You’ll have to visit it one day!