Over the Mountains-Day 2

 Mom and I did not sleep well the night before in the cabin at the Sleeping Lady Fine Arts Center.  So we booked a room for tonight at the Leavenworth Howard Johnson's.  But first we woke up and went to Applets & Cotlets / Liberty Orchards in Cashmere. Our class ate some of these candies at Teacher Andrea's "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" Party in December.  Applets & Cotlets are Turkish Delight, just different flavors than rose.

 Another hairnet!  Yes those are bags under my eyes....

 Like Theo's chocolates in Seattle, we got a tour.  It was short and sweet.  Unfortunately, I can no longer eat any of these candies since they are dusted with corn starch.  My corn allergy is new.....

 Next stop, Ancient Lakes trailhead near Quincy, Washington.

 Teacher Andrea and Mom.

 This hike was in a desert biome.  There was a lot of dust, rocks, and sun.

 It was a two mile hike to visit four small lakes, and strangely, several waterfalls!

Can you see the waterfall?

 Our class made notes about the biome.  What we saw, smelled, touched.  There were NO rattlesnakes, although several boys in our group really wanted to find one.

 Class picture.

 We were all really tired walking back, but I did a good job and did not complain.

After this, we drove back to Leavenworth for dinner.  I was excited to stay at the motel instead of the cabin.  Mom and I each had to take a shower to wash all of the day's dust.  I also got to watch an hour  of the Cartoon Network, before we fell asleep.

Over the Mountains-Day 3

 Thursday morning we woke up and drove went to the Wild Horse Wind Farm outside Ellensburg. Wild Horse is owned by Puget Sound Energy.

 The visitercenter was high on top of a ridge of which you could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood.

I'm not sure why it's called wild horse because it has tons of cows.

 Here's my class and some of their Mom's.

This is me standing at the base of one of the windmill blades.

Afterwards, our tour guide, Caleb, took us into one of the windmills.  This one to be more precise.

The interior at the base was a 16' room with a really tall ladder, secured by magnets.  We could not see tot he top because of the landings.  These windmills are taller than the Statue of Liberty.

After the wind farm, the class drove out to the Ginko State Park which has a petrified Forest.

I am standing on a petrified log.  Teacher Andrea got the interpretive center open for us.  We were able to get move information on how the trees were petrified and how the site was discovered in the 1930's and turned into a State Park.

We were right next to the Columbia River.

We also saw some ancient native American petroglyphs.  It was 1 o'clock in the afternoon and I was done.  I asked Mom if we could drive home.  We made it back to our house at 4:30 pm.  I really enjoyed this 3 day field trip, but I was happy to be home.

Blue Belt!

I joined the Black Belt Club last October and I have seen a lot of personal improvement in those karate skills.  Sensei must have thought so too because I tested for my blue belt (beginning of the intermediate belts) last Saturday.  I got my belt last night.  I am happy to have it.  I will have it for awhile, since there are two levels to blue.

Presently, I am still the youngest kid in the Black Belt Club and I am looking forward to continue training 3 times a week.  Yesterday, we got to break boards for the first time.  This was a lot of fun!

This video is from the end of the test.

Pompeii-the exhibit

Mom and I have been wanting to go to this exhibit since it came to Seattle.  We read about Pompeii last fall, which was all inspired by the pop song "Pompeii" by Bastille.  We ended up going with Andrea, Andy and Elliot, since they are members of the Pacific Science Center.  Andrea, Andy and Elliot saw this exhibit last month, so Mom and I just went through it together, while they went to the IMAX theatre.

 They let us in in groups, so we had to wait for 10 minutes to get in after our time. 

Not the most flattering picture....Mom had to turn off the flash.  Finally!  we were in.

Statues, house gods and frescoes!

 Fountain

more frescoes....

 Axe head

huge urns for olive oil!

My favorite piece, a 2,000 year old green glass bowl.

This carving had to do with theatre.

Gladiator stuff.

Now we get to the ominous part of the exhibit, the day of and after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

This is what the city could have looked like just after it was buried in ash.

They had some body casts from the real Pompeii.

So, in western Washington, we have 5 volcanoes close by, could Pompeii happen to us?  It looks like Tacoma is going to get it.  Since we are north of there, we should be fine!