Things I Learned on Pikes Peak

Today's adventure was a drive to the summit of Pikes Peak. It was sunny at the top, above the clouds!
Did you know? "Pikes Peak" has no apostrophe in the name! (Misplaced apostrophes are one of my pet peeves. But I found it interesting that there is officially none in the name of the mountain!)
We met a yellow-bellied marmot along the road! He was kind enough to pose for a picture... but he declined rolling over to show us his yellow belly!
Did you know? The words to America the Beautiful were inspired by the view from Pikes Peak. There is a monument about it on the summit.

Living Geography

Learning is a lifestyle in our family... and the learning doesn't stop even on vacation!

We love to learn more about the places we visit. Often I will make up "trip journals" for the kids before we leave by printing out worksheets about the states we will be visiting. These are fun for them to work on in the car as we travel through each state.

Here are some sites that have state printables:

• USA Coloring Pages - Apples4theTeacher.com
• States Coloring Pages - Crayola.com
• State Outline Maps - ColoringCastle.com
• America Color Pages - Friends Across America
• State Emblems Printables - KidZone Geography
• Colouring Book of Flags: United States
• USA Printables

Our route this year takes us through 10 states:
I'll be sharing more travel-related learning activities here during the next couple of weeks. I'm also posting scenery pictures on Ramblin' Roads, if you care to follow along!

Bears' "Ploughed Field"

One thing I like to do on road trips is stop and read the historical markers along the way. As we traveled south through eastern Idaho today, we saw several. This was my favorite one of the day:

LONG BEFORE MINERS AND RANCHERS
SETTLED STANLEY BASIN, BEARS
DOMINATED THIS AREA
When Alexander Ross and his Hudson's Bay
Company trappers stopped here, September 20,
1824, they "observed at some distance the
appearance of a ploughed field, and riding up
towards it, found a large piece of ground more
than four acres in extent, dug up and turned
over. On getting to the spot, we observed
no less than nine black and grizzly
bears at work, rooting away," eating
camas, onions, and wild celery.

This was the first day of our 2-week road-trip. Stay tuned for more interesting things we learn along the way!

4th of July Learning Activities

Here are some links I found with great ideas for learning about and celebrating Independence Day! Enjoy!

Crafts:
Firecracker Favors
Fireworks Flowers
Fourth of July Wreath
Independence Day Crafts
Independence Day Shaker
Parade Stick
Patriotic Candle Jar
Patriotic Flip-Flops
Patriotic Punch Cups
Stars and Stripes Shirt

Printables:
Fourth of July Coloring Pages
Fourth of July Crafts and Games
Fourth of July Worksheets
Independence Day Coloring Pages
Patriotic Pinwheel
United States Coloring Pages
U.S.A. Paper Airplane

Recipes:
Fourth of July Cake
Fourth of July Desserts
Fourth of July Jello Salad
July 4th Treats
Lemon Bar Flags
Patriotic Cake Balls
Patriotic Crispy Rice Sparklers
Patriotic Pastries
Red, White and Blue Delight