Detour

The boys and I had a field trip planned for today. We were scheduled to visit Burt's Pumpkin Farm with our homeschool group. On the way to Dawsonville, it began to rain. Some phone calls were made it was decided to try to reschedule our trip, rather than clomp around in all the mud and dirt while looking for pumpkins with our kids. NOT that clomping around in the rain and mud isn't fun, but we decided to reschedule it anyway.

I thought fast. I didn't want to just take the boys home and do regular schoolwork today. They were expecting a field trip! But it was raining outside, so that made educational nature hikes in the mountains impossible. Then, I remembered Dahlonega, this cute little historical gold mining town which lies inbetween our house and Burt's Pumpkin Farm. So, we made a detour. We made it to Dahlonega and even found a wonderful parking space in the rain...God was smiling down on us!

We decided to visit the Historic Gold Museum and Court House. I remember going there on a field trip as a kid, and it was lots of fun. We were able to take the guided tour with a group of 35 7th graders from Atlanta. I was a little worried, as my boys can me a wee bit much for some people to handle, but both of sons behaved like perfect gentlemen. I was proud! Jordan even sat, still and quiet, during a 17 minute educational video on gold mining in Dahlonega.

Jordan thought the whole experience was "good", but Shaun was really into it. He listened intently to all of the speeches and had a good time seeing all of the exibits. On the way back out to the car he was so excited that he told me all he had learned:

"Did you know that the chairs we sat in were over 100 years old?"

"Did you know it took three weeks for the men to get back to Georgia with those coins? These days, its only a three day drive".

"Did you know that Benjamin Franklin...um...I mean Benjamin Parks was the first one to find gold in Georgia? He was hunting deer and he tripped on a yellow rock."

And on and on. I loved it! I love that he's interested in history. After the tour, I let the kids pick a treat from the gift shop. A vile of gold for Shaun (4 bucks) and a small bag of rocks-er-I mean stones(!) for Jordan (3 bucks).

We finished our trip with lunch at Chick fil a.

Here are some pictures from our day. Shot from my iphone, so the quality is bad. :)


Shaun with a mining tool. Not sure what its called.


Sitting on the 174 year old chairs.

The view from the top of the courthouse.

I can never get a good picture of Jordan on my phone...he's just too fast.


I bribed him with this bag of rocks if he sat quietly through the movie.

Shaun and his vial of gold.



Lunch at Chick fil a. My favorite picture from our day.

It was such a good day. So relaxed. I haven't really enjoyed spending the day like that with my boys in a long, long time. The only downside of the trip is that Shaun now has "Gold Fever". I see a trip to the Consolidated Gold Mines in our near future.