Little Red Schoolhouse Field Trip = Exhaustion

The Little Red Schoolhouse kids went on a field trip to the mainland last week.  As with most things on the island, this trip was considerably more complicated than a normal field trip would be…

We decided that school would meet at 8:00 AM at the ferry terminal in Avalon.  Parents were responsible for getting their children to the mole, where the ferries depart Avalon.

So I got up at 5 AM, began getting ready, then awoke the boys at 5:30 AM.  We ate breakfast. Mom got fueled up with coffee. Dad came downstairs to say goodbye and we were on our way by 6:10 AM.

We arrived in Avalon, picked up an overnight parking permit from the City Hall, parked our truck, and walked to the ferry terminal.  There we met with the teacher and waited for the rest of the boys’ classmates to arrive.

Our group was complete by 7:50 and we all piled on the ferry. After an hour-long ride across the San Pedro Channel, we disembarked at Long Beach and transferred to two rented vans. Our next stop: the Discovery Science Center in Anaheim.

The Discovery Science Center was great.  It is an interesting mish-mash of science topics that kids love, from dinosaurs to rockets. They feature hands-on activities for to help kids understand inertia, the water cycle, mechanical engineering, anatomy, and dinosaurs. The kids tried lying on a bed of nails, rolling balls across a spinning disk, stepping into a chamber where 80 mph winds whipped at your hair, and shooting rockets powered by water. They made art out of coffee filters, soluble markers, and water (and learned a bit about liquid chromatography in the process).

We ate lunch in the restaurant at the Center.  Thing 2 was particularly angry that we were eating our bag lunch rather than buying pizza at the Pizza Hut. He threatened a hunger strike, but a grumbling tummy got the better of his indignation at being denied pizza and he eventually ate something.

We drove back to the ferry terminal around 3:00.  Some of the class caught the ferry back to the island, but we stayed on the mainland for a weekend of fun.

Total travel time (round-trip): about 5 hours

Time at the Science Discovery Center: about 4 hours

Many thanks to the Del Rey Yacht Club for funding our trip.  This yacht club has been a huge supporter of the LRSH over the years and we thank them for their support!