Off to Newport, Oregon for a QUICK Field Trip

I am still not sure why I volunteered to chaperone on the 5th grade field trip to Newport, Oregon but I have pictures to prove my insanity.

 This is the bus Hunter and I were on with Mr. Hite’s class.  Mrs. Fletcher’s class was also on the field trip and they were on a second bus.

We left about 7 am on May 27th and came back about 7 pm on May 28th.  The trip was about 7 hours each way with a lunch stop and all.

One of our stops was the Newport Aquarium.  This is Hunter & Austin feeling starfish & other sea animals in the tide pool.

This is a picture of the jellyfish in the beautiful blue tank.  This small tank lit up the whole room.

This is the ginormas Alaskan King Crab.  I imagine these things could put a good pinch on a person.

The cute little puffins were outside in the aviary.

This is the two boys looking at the fish going underneath us.

And this is one of the tunnels through the tanks.  You can see the window in the floor.  Boy, I got some really weird reflections with my flash…

Of course we had to pose at the picture taking station in the gift shop.

And the second station…

Outside the gift shop was this aggressive little garbage picker.  He was as fast as lightening coming in and out of those trash cans.  He was sure eyeballing all of the fudge coming out of the gift shop!

At then end of the outside exhibits there are a bunch of statues the kids can climb on.

The next big event was going to the Newport Pool…

Here are some of the kids playing water basketball.

And then we have Mr. Jim Hite on the rope swing – here is the swing…

The roll up for the dive…

And the finish!

You would think that all that swimming would tire them out – yeah, right!

We overnighted at the Newport National Guard Armory in the gym.  Pizza for dinner and basketball or a movie for fun before bed.

On Friday morning we all woke up early so we got some time on the beach before our next stop.

  We were just slightly down the road from the lighthouse and some fantastic tide pools.

We arrived at the tide pools and the tide was somewhere around –2’.  This is a picture of Seal Rock and there are seals with their little pups out there enjoying the sun.

The kids had a class to teach them about the different sea animals in the tide pools and they got to explore and look for them.

Lots of pretty starfish, clams and mussels all waiting for the tide to come back in.

And one last look at the seals.  See the little pup off to the left?

Once class was over at the tide pools we got to do a little shopping in Old Town Newport.  Of course we had to get a huge bag of salt water taffy!  And we had to see the sea lions.  After a latte and a little walk about town we climbed back on the bus headed for home.  We did have lots of excitement on the way home though.

We were just coming up on the last passing lane before Sisters and the other bus was pulled over by a state trooper!  It would seem that someone had a little road rage trying to get somewhere on the eve of a 3 day weekend – poor bus driver!  The bus driver and everyone else on the bus were fine but some really big butthead called the cops and said that the bus driver cut him off at the end of the passing lane – yeah right!

I say “poor bus driver” because that little gal will never live that down in a small town like Prineville where everyone knows her.

Hopefully, the kids forget over the summer…