Fieldtrip to the Beach

In out homeschool science book, we are learning about day three of creation where God separates the land from the sea. Our book ties in a discussion about rocks and fresh vs. saltwater during this chapter as well. Being a lover of hands-on, concrete examples, I got in my head that we had to go to the beach before I could proceed any further with our science book. Thankfully, Don humored me and decided a family outing was a possibility.
We started out at the visitor center in Jenner right where the Russian River empties into the Pacific Ocean. We learned a little about estuaries, the types of animals that live there, the Native Americans that used to be there, and some of the first Russian settlers. The kids mostly just wanted to throw rocks in the river, which we let them for a little while.


Then we headed up the coast a little to a lookout where the ranger at the visitor center had told us the sea lions had been hanging out. We are standing on a cliff looking down at them. Here you can see the Russian River in front of the sea lions and the Pacific Ocean behind them. This is right where the river joins the ocean. Lydia thought the sea lions were rocks or logs at first, but every once in a while one would scoot along and dive into the water. They are actually quite large. You can sort of see how they compare to the people walking on the beach a little ways up.


We finally got around to driving down to the beach at Goat Rock. There our mission was to collect pretty rocks to later tumble in the rock tumbler at home. Maggie decided she had to taste each rock and see if any of them were yummy. Keeping Caleb and Don from climbing turned out to be a lost cause.



Overall it was a lovely day and everyone came home and ready for a nap.