Two if by...canal?

Olaiya is in school. School kids go on field trips. And school parents get to chaperone them. I got to do exactly that for Olaiya's first school field trip and it was awesome.

The First Form (= Kindergarten and First Grade) unit for October was Transportation. They learned about all sorts of transportation. They learned about transportation in the Bible (let me know if you want me to site all the verses they chatted about). In Art class they learned about transportation. (That deserves its own post.) In Music class they sang songs about transportation. So of course, their field trip was all about, you got it, transportation.

Our first stop was the locks of the C&O Canal in Georgetown. Here's where I'd like you to be all, Tara, why are there locks in Georgetown? and I would get to be all, I'm so glad you asked! I'd tell you all the geographic, topographic (is that even the right word here?) and historic details that led to the creation of the C&O Canal with great authority and clarity, and you'd say to yourself, Gee! I really got myself an education on Tara's blog today! However, I think it will really read more like half truths and generalities that we all know to be true, field trip or no field trip.

Let's give it a go.

So the Potomac River comes from the North and dumps into the Chesapeake Bay (think I could spell that without the Spellcheck 'cause you know, I live near it and have skied on its waters? No.), which connects to the Atlantic.

Yes. You all knew that.

Anyway, starting all the way back with George Washington, folks thought it would be a good call to connect the Eastern Seaboard with the Ohio River and the Great Lakes. Great idea, except there were some Falls, actually, the Great Falls, on the Potomac which kept boats from faring very well. Enter the C&O Canal.

Now I had a basic understanding of locks previously. I mean, I did grow up next to the Mississippi River and I did go on a field trip to the lock and dam in Keokuk, Iowa. I now have a higher, I'm-an-adult-now-and-come-on, your-child-gets-it understanding:

You put a series, in this case, wooden doors on a water canal. The boat has one set of doors in front of it, another behind it. You close the doors behind it, creating a dam. The water level rises. The boat rises with it. The boat is ready to go through the set of doors in front of it, that are slightly higher. The doors open and you exit onto a higher plane of water. Those doors close. The water rises up again, and soon the boat is ready again for the next set of doors, so on and so forth. It's like a set of stairs; the boat keeps working its way up the canal, through this system of locks, going up elevation it cannot on the actual river.

Are we there yet?

I say yes.

Well, except for this - the B&O Railroad (Baltimore and Ohio) totally beat them to the punch by eight years and got to Ohio first, so they stopped short of reaching their destination and via strategic media stunt became a National Historic Park.

Now for the non-textbook, this-is-straight-up-cool: These boats were and are pulled by mules! Mules in the water?? I know, same thing I didn't think out loud. They tie ropes on them and they walk on a towpath right next to the canal, pulling the boat along.

And Olaiya got to feed them, from her hand after they hauled us along! (Which if you know Olaiya is pretty amazing, groundbreaking stuff on the I'm-not-afraid-of-animals front.)

And I learned this little ditty from our period-dressed guides:

If your dad is a donkey
And your mom is a horse
You too, are a mule of course.

Yeah, can't be the other way around! Because a) Dude, mules are BIG. 'Wouldn't want a li'l old burro mama having to birth that action. And b) the reverse gives you a henny (which I tried to one up my dad with that knowledge and totally failed), a much, much lesser animal. Remember, D is for Dad and Donkey. Done.

A not-so-great reproduction of the postcard we were given. But it shows you our boat.

Towing us along

Olaiya's K teacher and two of her classmates "captaining" the boat.

Olaiya and company check, check, checking it out.

Um, a gun? Yeah, I don't remember what this is.

Looking down the canal

Mules and their leaders, right before we turned around

The mules walking past Georgetown townhouses - love it.

In the lock, looking up at our guide tying up the boat.

The same spot, up higher!

A shot of the locks, standing above one set of doors, looking up to the next. See the difference in the water level?

Small children prevented me from getting the angle I wanted, but here it is!

Not that you could tell from this post, but that was only the first half of our trip! We ate lunch along the Potomac there in Georgetown (that's Rosslyn across the river, with a plane there headed to Reagan)...

and got on another boat, this time with a motor and in the Potomac!
(Hmmm, 32 small children and no way to strap them down? I wasn't worried. But then, I was responsible for a group of four, whenever-I-turned-my-head-they-were-there girls.)

Olaiya's favorite part may have been these ducks. Their little feet are so funny!

Going under Memorial Bridge! This was a highlight for me. That's the Lincoln Memorial at its end.

Form One!

I could not have enjoyed the trip more. Despite being surrounded by swirling children, I was still thrilled with all the facts I picked up on the second tour: that the silk curtain in the Kennedy Center was a gift from Japan, that the steps' along the Potomac original purpose was for receiving dignitaries arriving by water and that you can lay down the Washington Monument inside the the National Cathedral. And there were so many more! The boat took us from Georgetown, past all of the Mall, under the Metro bridge (which went past as we were approaching!) down to Reagan National Airport, where if you know flight paths, we got some really close looks at planes leaving and landing.

I had not even considered taking a "water tour" of the Capital before, but folks, this was top notch.

I'm supposed to chaperone another one this week (pray that I get Naomi squared away happily!)...I'll hope to keep you posted.