A family trip took us to the Ozarks of Missouri. We had a little time on the way home and made a side trip to take in a field trip destination: The George Washington Carver National Monument just outside of Diamond, Missouri. I had always thought that GWC was a pretty neat guy, but I came away from this museum thinking he was pretty fantastic!
The National Monument is a Junior Ranger site so the kids were really excited. While we were there we picked up booklets for the
Historic Preservation badge and the
Bicentennial badge. Those we can turn in at a local NPS site later.
The site is a no cost site, which is always nice. The galleries were very well done. The kids loved learning more about George. Mom had made them read a couple of books on him before this trip and so they were filling us in on some back story along the way.
The lab area was a neat place for on-site demonstrations. We missed one just by a couple of hours - darn! No worries though, we were totally content to wander on our own.
For this Junior Ranger badge, you needed to do a total of 6 activities. We had completed all of them, but couldn't pass up the chance to walk the trail too! So off we went. It's 3/4 mile for the main part with about an extra 1/4 mile if you walk around the pond as well.
When we visited the statue of George as a child, the kids spotted a little orange lizard which thrilled them to no end. The little guy was a bit shy and refused to make an encore appearance ;) The walk was totally lovely: a beautiful spring, bridges, the Moses Carver house tucked into the woods... Hubby had a great time playing "what tree is this?" with Bubby (who actually didn't do too bad).
And we kept Shorty busy on the trail with a game of Red Light, Green Light. That idea will be kept for future reference for sure!
The cemetery of the Carver family was a peaceful addition to the walk...
The last stop on the walk was a bust of George where he would "tell" you (via recording) his favorite poem "Equipment" by Edgar Guest. I loved it! This is only a part...
"You are the handicap you must face,
You are the one who must choose your place,
You must say where you want to go,
How much you will study the truth to know.
God has equipped you for life, but He
Lets you decide what you want to be."
And then the swearing in. This part never gets old. It brings a thrill each time to all of us. Mookie dubbed this park her new favorite (as has been each successive one ;) ). Over all, this was an excellent site. Hands on, colorful and intriguing displays, a walking trail - this site ranks among the best we've been to. We have our sights set on learning more about this fascinating man and are eyeing up new possibilities for Ranger badges in the upcoming year. Oh boy!
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