Having every-other Friday off with my work schedule, one of the goals my wife and I have is that some of them will be used for family day's that can function as Home Schooling 'Field Trips', and not just 'lets go goof off' days.
The kids both being quite fascinated by animals, and(like all small kids) dinosaurs in particular, I thought it would be neat to drive to Washington State University in Pullman, to visit the Charles R. Connor Museum of Natural History. Previously, when I was a school age lad, I had taken a field trip into Seattle to the Burke Museum of Natural History, on the University of Washington Campus. I remember being quite impressed by the Burke Museum as a teenager, and so I felt the 300 mile round trip to Pullman would be a nice day for the family. In addition to the trip to the museum, it also gave me a chance to drive down some roads I have never been before. Life's adventures had never lead me to Pullman before, and I was interested in checking out another corner of the state.
There isn't a lot to see in between the Tri-cities and Pullman....unless you like wide open spaces. You go through two towns, a bump in the road called Washtucna, and Colfax, which counts as a real town...it has a Zips, an Arby's and a Taco Bell! Fortunately, I like wide open spaces. I like all manner of natural beauty...mountains, rivers, forests, canyons, red heads, brunettes, and The Palouse. Most of the south-eastern corner of Washington consists of The Palouse...a vast rolling plain. This time of year, much of it is still brown, other than a few fields green with clover. As interesting as it looks now, I would love to see it again in April when it is all green.
The museum was not all that I had hopped for...or that my girls had hoped for. There was a 9 foot by 20 foot 'cast' of a duck-billed dinosaur, and my older daughter thought that was neat. Other than that...there were about 700 mounted specimens of birds and mammals...neat stuff...life sized mounts of all 5 species of North American deer...a life-sized display comparing Dall, Big Horn, and Stone Sheep. Very good educational opportunity...but...I'm just not sure it was worth a 300 mile round trip.
Luckily...the 300 mile round trip was worth itself. 300 miles of getting to glance sideways and smile at my wife. 300 miles of listening to my older daughter read to the younger one in the back seat. We got to see 10 or 12 deer bouncing through the fields...
I got to spend a day with my family...and that is always worth it.
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