This week's destinations - a farm in Arlington, WA for Halloween-y fun, and a trip further north, to Bellingham, WA, to check out Ceej & Bee's big bro Kennedy's new digs. But first, in preparation for the field trip, on Sunday night the kids watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Man, that Lucy is even meaner than I remembered. ...IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF NORWEGIAN ROYALTY: On our road trip, we stopped at a rest stop just south of Exit 208. There, we were surprised to find an historic landmark - a stump of a Western Red Cedar. 
Over 20 feet in diameter, the tree used to be 200 feet tall and was believed to be more than 1000 years old. Discovered by early settlers, this tree was killed in a fire in 1893. In 1916, its top was removed and Paul Wangsmo and Ole Rodway, who cut it into three spines. In 1922, Ole Reinseth and Slim Husby used horse teams to drag it 150 yards north and set it on a concrete base. In 1939, the stump was pieced together and placed along old Highway 99. On May 27, Crown Norwegian Prince Olav and Princess Martha drove through the stump. In 1971, the stump was moved to its present resting place where we found it today, on Oct. 12, 2009. What a cool surprise at an unassuming rest stop.
FARM FUN: Next stop, Foster's Farm in picturesque Arlington, WA. (It's interesting how quickly it goes from ultra urban to very rural not too far north of Seattle. ...) Foster's was just a couple of minutes off I-5. We were the only visitors at 10 on a mid-October morning. First we checked out the produce out front (pumpkins and other squash in all sorts of interesting shapes and sizes). The kids each picked a pumpkin. CJ quickly opted for a 'classic' model - orange and round and a bit too big for him to carry. Annabelle was a bit pickier, and finally decided on a bumpy yellow squash.
Over 20 feet in diameter, the tree used to be 200 feet tall and was believed to be more than 1000 years old. Discovered by early settlers, this tree was killed in a fire in 1893. In 1916, its top was removed and Paul Wangsmo and Ole Rodway, who cut it into three spines. In 1922, Ole Reinseth and Slim Husby used horse teams to drag it 150 yards north and set it on a concrete base. In 1939, the stump was pieced together and placed along old Highway 99. On May 27, Crown Norwegian Prince Olav and Princess Martha drove through the stump. In 1971, the stump was moved to its present resting place where we found it today, on Oct. 12, 2009. What a cool surprise at an unassuming rest stop.
FARM FUN: Next stop, Foster's Farm in picturesque Arlington, WA. (It's interesting how quickly it goes from ultra urban to very rural not too far north of Seattle. ...) Foster's was just a couple of minutes off I-5. We were the only visitors at 10 on a mid-October morning. First we checked out the produce out front (pumpkins and other squash in all sorts of interesting shapes and sizes). The kids each picked a pumpkin. CJ quickly opted for a 'classic' model - orange and round and a bit too big for him to carry. Annabelle was a bit pickier, and finally decided on a bumpy yellow squash.Next, we made our way to Foster's small farm animal display, where CJ and Annabelle got to see some chickens and goats (including one who would pull on a rope to fetch treats you put in a can for him).
The kids also explored a small hay maze - preparation for the acres-large cornfield maze that awaited.
We were the only ones in the acres-large cornfield maze. It was quiet and pleasant and like it was made for only us. :) There were supposedly 16 Curious George related signs hidden within the maze. The proprietor warned us that hooligans had torn some down and as we wandered path after path after path, it was clear that was the case. (What was weird, however, is that we found one of the 'unique' markers - Curious George sees the Rabbits - twice. Um, doubt hooligans recreated and planted a marker in the maze ...)
Anyway, we let the kids take the lead and let them take turns deciding which way to go at crossroads. We didn't feel the need to make sure we found all of the markers and saw all of the maze. Today was all about fun. (Tomorrow we'll talk about the parts of of corn and different kids of corn and ways to prepare it and its role as a food in our land.) Although a couple of times the kids did talk about getting lost in the maze and what we'd do and we did semi-jokingly talk about how we'd be able to survive in the maze, eating the ears of corn we found, using the stalks and husks to build a hut and so on.
Thankfully ;) we made it out of the maze alive. From there it back to I5 and northward, to Bellingham. We went to check out Ken's new place. A nice old house - good bones, good light, great space. In fact, I think I might be jealous. But I digress. We all went to the Puget Sound waterfront where we enjoyed the views and sunshine. The kids played around on a play structure that was a big ship - a pirate ship in their minds - and Kirby attracted lots of attention.
From there it was on to Boundary Bay brewpub for a late lunch, and then back to Ken's for a jam session playing Rock Band, The Beatles edition on XBox 360. Here's a shot of Annabelle singing "Helter Skelter." 
Looks like a fun filled day, canGJj hardly wait to see all of you guys.We ventured down the gorge to Bingen and saw the fall colors.Does Ken have a beard?
ReplyDeleteMust be a good maze if you passed the same marker twice. You'd be in real trouble on the third encounter.
ReplyDeleteTo GrammaR: That's not Ken, it's his roommate Ben, but that's definitely hard to see in the tiny picture here. You can click on the picture and get a bigger version and you'll be able to tell. Bet Bingen was nice.
ReplyDeleteTo GrampaR: It was actually a duplicate marker elsewhere in the maze which made no sense at all. Good thing we weren't trying to find all the markers in earnest.