Marine Science Field Trip

I had the great opportunity to go on the Marine Science Field Trip this year. We started on Wednesday morning and got back Saturday night. On Wednesday we visited Steinbeck Vineyards in CA, and the owners taught the kids a mini-lesson and took them for rides around the vineyard in a 1975 Jeep. That night we camped out at San Simean State Campground, right by the beach. We had a telescope and taught an astronomy lesson that night. We were also visited by some raccoons and what we think was a wild pig of some sort. It made for an interesting night.

The next day we drove out to Monterrey Bay and visited Hopkins Marine Station, a satellite of Standford University. Then we got to spend some time at the tide pools nearby. We also spent a couple hours at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, which was huge! That night we drove up to Alemeda and spent the night in a nice little hotel.

In the morning, we took the ferry over to San Fransisco. It started raining on us and many of the kids put on huge garbage bags to stay dry. We spent a little time at Pier 39 and then walked down to the ferry terminal for Alcatraz. One ferry ride later, we spent a couple hours touring Alcatraz. It was pretty cool. After taking the ferry back, we let the kids loose on Pier 39 for dinner. Our next stop was Reno, which should have only taken 4 hours. However, we got stuck in some crazy traffic for 1.5 hours, and then it started snowing around Lake Tahoe! Our 4 hour bus ride turned into a 7 hour bus ride!

We stayed the night at Circus, Circus in Reno. In the morning, we took an hour long tour of the University of Nevada, Reno campus. I think all universities are pretty much the same, so nothing too terribly exciting there. After that, we spent another 8 hours on the bus and made it back to Vegas. I can't wait for the next field trip!