Mirth and Laughter

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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Dam Good Day

I went on a field trip to day with my son's 4th grade class. We vistited the local dam, which is pretty wonderful, considering it's a tad smaller than the Grand Cooley Dam that we'll also be visiting soon. Still the water is rushing right now (only for a couple of more weeks though, then they shut it off).

We got to see the giant transformer, the generators that create the electricity, the control room, and we also got to peep out doors and windows, for a birds-eye view of the powerful water moving through the dam. As son said, "Awesome!"

Afterward, one of the moms, who is also a local park ranger, told us about the very quaint brick cottages near the dam that used to house the dam workers, and now house park rangers. One of them is supposedly haunted by an 11-year old boy who fell off the bridge and drowned in the river. The woman told us a hundred interesting facts about the area and the houses, and then took questions. It went like this:

Q: How did the boy drown?
A: Er, he fell in. Any questions about the houses? (hands go up)
Q: Did the boys parents know he was at the bridge?
A: I don't know, it happened about 80 years ago. Any questions about the animals in the area? (hands up)
Q: Did the boy know how to swim?

You get the picture. LOL. Not one question in 20 minutes about anything but the drowned boy. The poor park ranger - she tried to keep a straight face through it all, but it wasn't easy. The rest of us parents were hiding smiles behind our hands. So you see, an awesome dam, powerfall water, interesting history, incredible wildlife, and all they care about is the ghost. :)

What is your favorite place to visit?



13 Comments:

  • At 1:33 PM, Blogger Lucy said…

    Favorite place to go? Las Vegas. I don't get it though because I'm not a drinker and I'm not a gambler but I go every chance I get! :~)

     
  • At 8:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Favorite place to visit...England. Everything there is AMAZING!!! The field trip sounds like it was fun, and very typical of 4th graders. It's like Christmas. You buy the expensive toy, and your kids play in the box. Had I been there, I would have wondered about the boy too! I love the way kids cut to the good bits :) I'm sure everything else was interesting, but who doesn't love a good ghost story?

     
  • At 8:25 PM, Blogger Ellen said…

    Lucy, I've been to Las Vegas a few times, and always have a lot of fun. For some reason though, it loses its charm after a couple of days. Maybe it's because I lose my money each time. LOL.

    Dawna, I LOVE England too - especially the Lake District (but all of it was fabulous). And Scotland. Now if I could just get to Ireland and Wales. :)

     
  • At 3:01 AM, Blogger Marly Mathews said…

    England. :)

    It does sound as if you had a dam fine day, Ellen! :)

    I agree with Dawna, everyone does seem to love a good ghost story. We have a local mansion here in town with one romantic ghost story...the daughter of the owner of the mansion was supposed to get married and they were holding their engagement ball, the fiancee was on horseback riding to the ball when he was thrown from his horse and killed. He'd promised his fiancee that they would dance at midnight, and he did show up and dance with her...problem was, he'd died two hours earlier. When they found him, his watch had been cracked in the fall and it was stopped at the time of his death.

    ~Marly

     
  • At 3:14 AM, Blogger KimAmburn said…

    Disney! We're headed there in about a week and I can't wait. The field trip sounds like fun - I love going places with kids.

    BTW, Marly, I love that ghost story

     
  • At 5:59 AM, Blogger Tempest Knight said…

    My sweet spot is the beach. Not any beach, but a road close to the beach, nobody goes there to swim or anything. So I park my car, sit on the sand and watch the surf. A good way to relax. ;)

     
  • At 7:12 AM, Blogger Ellen said…

    Ooh, Marly - that's a great ghost story!

    Kim, Disneyland or Disneyworld is one of the places we want to take the kids before they're too old to want to go (which will be any minute now). I hope you have a great time!!!

    Tempest, your spot does sound sweet. You'd probably tease me without mercy if you saw how pasty white I was. Bring on the sun!

     
  • At 10:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    LOL, I bet teenagers would do the same thing!

     
  • At 6:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    You mean you didn't know about the ghost (I've heard there is more than one down there) at the dam? ;)

    Favourite place: Hmmm, can I say my grandma's kitchen on baking day? ;)

    Dublin and Galway are the choices for today. ;)

     
  • At 7:38 AM, Blogger Aura said…

    I love hearing ghost stories and those were great! My favorite place is Scotland. So rugged and beautiful, it's just amazing. Can we go there now?

     
  • At 8:04 PM, Blogger Ellen said…

    Thanks for dropping by, Suzanne!

    K, that's the first I've heard of any ghosts down there. I guess I'm not "in the know." LOL.

    A, Scotland....Men in kilts...*sigh*

     
  • At 6:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey, ghosts are people, too. ;)

     
  • At 9:50 AM, Blogger Chris Peters said…

    LOL. Yes they were.

     

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