Our first trip had been in February and had been cold. Tomorrow I have great hope to be a brilliantly, wonderful day. In fact, it is currently 78 degrees in the shade! Because we will be at the base of the Rim it will be a bit cooler than it is in Payson. The water will still be icy - but that won't keep us out of it!
We typically visit six sites along the river. This time we are having to cut out the last stop. Imagine, if you will, a bus full of kids (a big bus). Imagine now a dirt road. Imagine that dirt road being a single lane. Imagine ruts that are deep. Really deep. Imagine a fallen pine tree that has been dragged (barely) to the side of the road. You have to be careful not to scrape the root ball at the side of the road. It is taller than the bus. There are hills. There is no shoulder. At the end of the road is an oasis of pristine water and waterfalls. However, the bus drive there is kind of like rafting. Needless to say the bus people said we can't take a bus out there again. Lucky for us, the other five sites are still accessible.
The trip is loads of fun. The kids have a blast and each time we take some students from other classes. Last time we took some middle school students. My students enjoyed working with the younger kids so much that they requested (and were denied for this year at least) to just take the middle school kids for the rest of the trips.
We see lots of critters (the lady bug just being one out of many). We send the kids into the river with kick nets to see what sort of bugs are living in the water - which in turn gives us an indicator on how healthy the water is.
Tomorrow should provide me with another 2 gig or so of pictures. Keep a look out for them on Flickr!
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