A school day walk in progress

School ends for my son this Wednesday. Because we're so far enough ahead, we decided to take our field trip today, just so we could have a leisure day and still have it count as a school day.

We went to the Eco-Justice Center, sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Racine. It was interesting to visit there, since I'd never been there. They have chickens, geese, ducks, other birds, a couple of pygmy goats, and alpacas. The alpacas were cute.

Well, it was interesting how they have a raised bed of flowers in a couple spots, and then others are native to the area from before the Native Americans were here, and how the roots help keep the underground water shelf clean, etc... Then they have at least two good sized veggie gardens that they live off of. They even take stale bread to feed the animals and birds.

We walked the trail and it was interesting to see the different buildings on this land. There was a red farm house, where the office is on the main floor, and a gift shop upstairs, a regular house for the nuns to stay, an old barn that got converted to house the cats and fowl. Even the old outhouse was there, though I'm sure it's defunct at this point... and they have everything from a turbine to solar panels that help to run the energy there, and has saved a whole lot of money...

Funny how these elderly people make by there, and they even do crafts such as weaving the old fashioned way, and all sorts of stuff. They're self sufficient. Even down to the apple trees and making apple cider. I'm hoping to visit there again. Maybe even bring a school trip there.

We followed that up with a short trip to the Salvation Army store, where we picked up a couple odds and ends we needed. A desk light for Metal Fan, a Lord of the Rings computer video game for my son, a sewing box for me (with some extra odds & ends goodies included), and some eco-friendly garbage bags for house hold use.

For supper we went to the Yard Arm Pub & Grill. It was interesting to say the least. It wasn't what we were figuring on, but since we were there... My son was gutsy, he tried the Calamari, and liked it. I had the chicken sandwich, and Metal had the bratwurst patty with grilled pepperoncini peppers and mozzerella cheese on it. We shared a couple appetizers, and I'm not sure if I am very fond of their "sand dollars". It's potato sliced VERY thin, deep fried like a potato chip, sprinkled with grated parmesana cheese on it. It wasn't bad, but I'm not sure if it was my cup of tea... The thing with this place is that it's sitting right where Root River comes out into Lake Michigan, and many of the boats port in this area. So it's the boat scene that makes it very attractive.

We finished the day out with going out to the movie theater. We'd originally joked with him saying we're going to watch "Farmer Boy", a book by Laura Ingalls Wilder with his grandma, but he was pleasantly surprised when we went in to see X-Men 3. It was pretty interesting, and was glad to see it.

We're broke but we were glad to see it. The trip to the Eco Center was free, so it was worth the long day.