Lorelai's Field Trip To Canoa Ranch

I have been a bit of a slacker this year when it comes to keeping up with my girls' schooling. I am helping them with their homework, of course, and making sure their grades are on track. However, in the last two school years prior to this one, I was able to volunteer in their classroom, and get an up-close-and-personal look at their classroom, their teachers, and their daily routines.

This year, for a variety of reasons, I haven't been able to volunteer in either daughter's classroom. Celeste's teacher was out on maternity leave for much of the first half of the year, and scheduling volunteer time with the substitute proved difficult. After her teacher returned, I was never able to really connect with her, and a regular volunteer opportunity never materialized. I have been disappointed in this situation, and I hope that for the next school year, I will be able to be a more regular presence in Celeste's class, as well as Aurora's.

Now that Lorelai is in fourth grade, it would seem that she doesn't "need" me in her class. By this age, most kids are pretty well-behaved and sedate. Her teacher has things well under control, and there aren't as many projects or activities that need lots of adult supervision. However, I still collect and sort the Box Tops for Lorelai's class, and I'll send in food if they need party supplies or something similar.

Being a chaperone on a field trip, though...that was something I could do! It would be a fun opportunity to spend some extra time with Lorelai and see how she is doing in her class. Plus, Lorelai begged me to go...perhaps she actually misses her old, boring mom coming to her class more often? At any rate, I signed up and went along for the ride to Canoa Ranch.

I'll be honest...when I first heard we were going to Canoa Ranch, my first thought was, "Why is Lorelai's class visiting a golf course??" That was the only "Canoa Ranch" in the area that I knew of. Pretty ridiculous, of course...naturally, the golf course had to be named after something! And this field trip, as it turned out, was a visit to that "something"...it's one of the oldest ranches in the area. It was formally established way back in 1820, and was a thriving cattle ranch (with a variety of owners) well into the 20th century. Tucson's current US Congressman, Raul Grijalva, even worked on the ranch in his youth!

In 2001, Pima County purchased the 6,000 acres that make up the ranch. They are slowly but surely converting the ranch into a historical site. There are several murals, costumes, and photo galleries up that detail the ranch in its earlier days, the history of its owners, and its impact on the surrounding area. However, the ranch is still very much a "work in progress," and has a long way to go before it is ready to be a full-blown tourist site. When we were there, many buildings were still closed off for renovations, and construction vehicles and workers were busily toiling on many scattered sections of the ranch. Tours are currently offered by reservation only.

Since this was the Ranch's self-declared "History Day," there were several docents and county employees there to talk us all through the ranch and explain everything within a historical context, as well as provide several hands-on demonstrations for the kids. Besides our school's two fourth-grade classes, there were one or two other small school groups present. Each group was rotated around between one of six "stations" that focused on different aspects of life at the Ranch.

Some of the stations focused on the regular work done on the ranch; for example, we got to see the old blacksmith's forge...

...and a few of the cattle pens. I thought the thick walls made of stacks of horizontal logs were really interesting!

 

In another location, we got to see a few of the ranch homes and imagine what everyday life was like for the families that lived there. In these houses were some clothing from the Spanish colonial period, as well as a lot of information about the Anza colonial expedition that passed across the ranch-land in the 1770s.

Some of the other activities were more hands-on. The kids had a short tutorial on pottery, and then got their own clay and a chance to "weave" their own pot. Lorelai's ended up being more of a "basket" than a pot, but I think she was satisfied by it all the same.

Other stations were more interactive for the kids. One presenter outlined the natural history of the land, detailing the dominant flora and fauna of the area. He slowly worked his way forward in time, starting with the primitive human tribes that lived in the area and finishing with the 20th-century white settlers.

Another station focused on the history of the railroad and how instrumental it was in shaping the economy of the area, with particular focus on how it affected the cattle-ranch economy. Several children were chosen to role-play significant characters from history here, and my lovely daughter got to be Abraham Lincoln!

Lorelai was not at all unhappy about being asked to wear a top hat and beard. She has been reading a book detailing the last days of Lincoln's life, and she has become very interested in Civil War history as a result. So it was fun for her to pretend to be this larger-than-life president.

After the roleplaying was done, the kids had perhaps their favorite activity of the day: cattle roping!

Well, not actual cattle roping...there are no more actual cattle left at the Ranch! However, the workers helpfully set up some bales of hay with small metal cattle heads as stand-ins. Then they gave each child a crash course in lasso swinging. As you can imagine, the results were not entirely successful, but the kids all had fun anyway!

The last station involved local foods. No, the kids weren't offered chocolate-covered crickets, although bug-heavy diets were discussed (those crickets are high in protein, you know!). The docent discussed the various types of grains and flowering plants in the desert that are fit for human consumption (since we were talking about pre-colonial times, corn wasn't considered a major crop in the discussion).

One surprising food option for desert residents is mesquite flour; basically, the inhabitants would harvest the mesquite tree's seed pods and grind them into a fine flour. Since this flour is gluten-free, its popularity has actually revived in recent years.

There were even mesquite-flour cookies available for everyone to try! They had an almost cornbread texture to them. Our house has a huge mesquite tree out front, and I confess that this experience made me a little curious about trying to make my own mesquite flour. We'll see if I'm ever brave enough!

Also available for sampling were tiny slices of prickly pear. It was a slightly sour taste, but otherwise not bad at all. The class had taken their lunch break shortly before this, though, so there weren't many takers for the snacks. Either that, or the kids weren't as adventurous as me.

After a small wrap-up lecture with the whole class, it was time to head back to Great Expectations Academy. The Canoa Ranch tour had an unfinished, rough around the edges feel, but I can see lots of potential there for future tours if the restoration process continues successfully.

In any case, it was a good opportunity to spend time with Lorelai. She spent a lot of time hanging out with me, and not much time hanging out with her classmates. I enjoyed her company, but hoped I wasn't keeping her from other social interaction. One of the things I have been most worried about this school year is Lorelai's social life. I have heard fourth grade can be a hard year socially for girls. And since many of Lorelai's friends moved or transferred schools last summer, I feared she would feel lonely and left out this year. In fact, she has seemed more standoffish than in years past...she often chooses to spend her time alone reading rather than talking to people. I have also noticed her withdrawing, spending less time with people, and acting moodier at home.

Here's how Lorelai during one of her not-moody times, cooking at home!

Thankfully, many people have told me that Lorelai is still friendly and vivacious at school and at her extracurricular activities. And her glum moods never seem to last long; she usually seems very content at home and with me and Nathan. In fact, I remember going through a similar "solitary" period when I was Lorelai's age! Unfortunately for me, that period extended into some of my junior-high years, and left me feeling very isolated and awkward. Hopefully Lorelai won't have to go through the same thing. I suppose there will always be something for me to worry about as my kids are growing up, and I should be grateful for all the good things about my beautiful daughter...like the chance I had to spend time with her on this field trip and learn along with her.