Last year I was poking around the thrift store and found a book published by some professors at UNR. It was a geologic and historic tour book of the Reno area. You go to their starting point and set the odometer to zero and takeoff. I have been wanting to do this with my kids for ages, and this was the week to make it happen. We needed a break from math and stuff. So we took the classroom on the road.
Yesterday, we did a quick geologic tour of Lake Tahoe. We saw fault lines and volcanic rock, different types of flora and lava flows. I really learned quite a bit myself.
But today was the big day. We took a four hour tour around Virginia City and the Comstock Lode. It was a lot of fun. We learned about the different types of rocks and pine trees and pinyon junipers that grow on the slopes. We talked about wagon toll roads, bandits, mining, monoliths. It just went on and on. Oodles and oodles of stuff. When we got to Virginia City we got some lunch and then went on a quick trip on the V&T Railroad to Gold Hill.
On the way home we went through Washoe Valley and saw where there were huge rock slides and such. It is eye opening to realize how much history has happened in my own backyard.
I thought it has been a productive couple of days, doing some untraditional schooling with my boys. It makes me realize how important it is to get out and see the world with my kids more often. I don't do that enough. I hope I can find more awesome books that give driving tours of local areas in the future.
1 comment:
This post made me kind of laugh. "I don't do that enough" is a juxtaposition to recent, earlier posts of traveling to EUROPE. I think you're doing a great job of letting them experience things. It sounds like this was a fun activity, wish I could have tagged along.
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