Military Museum

Recently we went on a field trip to Old Sacramento. If you ever visit the state capitol of California I urge you to explore the area of Old Sacramento here is a link to the last blog I did about Old Sac.

Todays blog is all about the Military Museum in Old Sac. This museum is a tribute to all branches of the military, not just one branch.

There is a wall just inside the door to the left that is a tribute to all the fallen military members who lived in California since the Gulf War started. This is a sobering view of our war.

We started our self guided tour going to the right of the room and working by each display. They have the display's well lit and filled with informative cards.

There are display cases on each war and what the military looked like in that era.

There is a new display that shows women in the military as well

There is even a display that shows the music of different era's and how it rallied troops.

Field Trippin'

We recently went on an adventure to the northern coastal town of Eureka California. My husband is from there and we went to visit our family before we make the trek across the ocean to our new home. While we were there we took the opportunity to explore some of the natural wonders that are in this area of the state.

We visited Patrick's Point where we followed the trails down to Agate Beach, only to discover that it was to darn cold, far to windy and a bit dangerous with the tide coming in to actually look for Agates on the beach. The hike down was pretty, and very educational.

Then we went over and checked out the Yu'rok Tribe's village that is located at Patrick's Point. Talk about awe inspiring!

Then we wandered off to explore the hike up to Ceremony Rock. Being deathly afraid of heights I did not actually venture all the way to the top, however I did find a nice level spot with a bit of a view where I felt safe.

looking up

the view from between two rocks on level ground.

On our way home we drove through the Avenue of the Giants. This is a beautiful drive if you have time to take a leasure stroll I strongly suggest it. The entire drive is about 24 miles of winding through the famous Giant redwoods of Northern California.

view of the road from my sun roof

view looking up from the sun roof

We also pulled over and hiked through the forest and studied some of the fallen trees. These ancient redwoods sometimes fall and are left to decompose on their own. This decomposition gives life to organisms in the forest and is the way its supposed to be. The kids had a blast exploring the redwoods on foot. There is something amazing being among trees so tall, they make you realize just how small you really are in this world.

The family walking across a redwood bridge (aka fallen tree)

M & I (proof I am not always behind the camera)

We found a Drive through tree and some tree houses.

driving up to the drive through tree

a little closer

inside the tree looking up through the sun roof

The kids loved going to the top of this one

you cant get to the top of this one but it was fun looking inside. 

On the way home the kids slept, and slept, and slept. It was certainly a trip to remember!

Field Trip Thursday...

Last Thursday was a beautiful day. We decided it was a fantastic Sunny day in california and the kids could really use a field trip. So with our tanks full of gas we hopped in the car and drove the 30 minutes to Old Sacramento.

For a homeschooling family Old Sac is a wonderful place to explore! There are several museums there as well as original buildings that date back to the gold rush.

We talked about the Pony Express. This happens to be the last stop the Pony Express made in its cross country venture to bring the mail. There are wonderful statues and Plaques in Old Sac that tell part of the tails. This of course interested some more then others.

My family hanin out with the rider. 

An image of a Pony Express rider

We took a ride in the horse and carriage and talked about how the modes of transportation 100+ years ago.

This building was the first wells fargo bank in Sacramento. It is no longer a bank but the building is still there with the signs up so that you can see what it looked like decades ago.

The whole Old Sac area is fun to walk around, even though its just full of shops. There are some great little eateries there as well as several museums. We went into the Military Museum which dates back to the first skirmishes ever fought in California in the Spanish American war. I will blog all about that on another day and include several of the pictures I took inside that museum.

we visited the old school house as well and really enjoyed talking with the historian inside. She talked about how school back then was a lot like homeschooling because you had more then one age group and the older children always helped the younger children get through their studies. 

We walked down to the American River and talked about how it served as a way for goods to be sent up river to Sacramento from San Francisco during this time. We also talked about what type of animals might live in the river when we found this guy 

Sunning himself

loving the sunshine

and the attention we were paying him.

We stayed and had a wonderful dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. and watched the sunset over the American River.

We learned more in one day then we could have learned in a month of studies. We had a blast and enjoyed some of our local attractions. We will likely miss some of these things when we relocate but I am positive we will find some new interesting history to enjoy in our new location as well.

Stay tuned for the blog about the Military Museum and some of what we learned while we were there.