Charlies Trip to Bolca

Charlie's class went on a field trip on Monday and I got to go with her. Let me tell you it was great. We went to Bolca where they have an archaeological site. We got to look for fossils. When we met at the school the parent volunteers got assigned a group of kids. So Charlie picked her friend Rachel and the three of us had a good time. This is Charlie and Rachel on our 1 hour bus ride.

Our first stop was at the museo dei fossili. It was all very interesting to me.

Instead of having us watch a video in Italian (which most of us wouldn't understand anyway), we got a tour guide to explain about the area and what sort of fossils area found in the area. Tropical, if you can believe it. Charlie and Rachel mostly listened, except when they were talking.

This is a fossil of some plants that were found. All the fossils are very impressive.

They had a wall depicting what the area used to look like millions of years ago. Charlie found a vine to swing on. So she and Rachel went for a ride.

These fish are like some of the fossils that were found in the area.

These are some shell fossils that were uncovered. The girls thought that it looked like an upside down ice cream cone.

At the end of the walk through the museum there are fish tanks with tropical fish and plants. The kids really liked to see live fish.

Then we rode on the bus to the entrance road of the archaeological site.

We had to walk down this road for about 1 mile. It wasn't fit for the buses so we hiked. The girls really liked the walk.

I didn't get any pictures of lunch. I think I may have been to hungry. After we ate, the kids looked for fossils. I didn't ask but I assumed that all the rocks came from the cave that we went into last. The girls really had fun trying to break open the rocks looking for fossils.

They got smart and went and asked the man that works there for some help. After that they would hammer on the rocks for a few minutes but in the end they always just took the rocks to the guy and volia fossils. They found about 10 fossils between them.

This is Rachel looking over the edge of the hill. It was a pretty good drop.

Then it was our turn to go in the cave.

I didn't see as much as I would of liked. The girls were just ready to get out of there. I think they felt like they were in jail.

After the cave we had ice cream and then the long hike back up to the buses. This is Charlie and Rachel with Lexi and Toni (our neighbors).

All in all I think that the kids had a good time. I'm really glad that we live where Charlie can have this kind of experience.