Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Nina, the Pinta, the...

...okay, well the Santa Maria wasn't there, but the other two were! 

We decided to take a homeschool field trip last Saturday to Kenosha, Wisconsin.  The kids had just had a week studying Christopher Columbus, and replicas of the Nina and the Pinta were in port at Kenosha until Sunday.  What a great way to visualize history!  Apparently these have sailed all over and had made their way down the St. Lawrence across Lake Michigan to Kenosha.  The Nina is an exact replica, and the Pinta was built slightly bigger.  I have a greater respect for those who traveled across the Atlantic in these little vessels!  They were small.  We heard a detailed account of Columbus's life and things that happened on that first trip.  It was an interesting history lesson.

They had examples of navigational equipment used, and we were shown how to use them.

Then, after the history lesson we were able to tour both ships.  It was a wonderful experience for the kids. 
After the ship tours we saw lighthouses.  We went through the Public Museum and saw a life-sized replica (the actual bones are safely tucked away in a controlled environment) of a wooly mammoth that was dug up in southeastern Wisconsin.  We went to the Civil War museum and browsed through a farmer's market.

We even rode this glamorous old street car on her entire circuit.  Isn't she a beauty?  It was a beautiful day that was fun and educational for our whole family. 

No comments: