Field Trip Day!! The Blue Whale and Totem Pole Park

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is field trips. I love them. I love getting out of the house and going on an adventure with my babes. We are nearing the end of our school year, and all of us are beyond ready to be finished. I've had a tough time motivating my kids to knock out their work each day, so we took a break and went on an impromptu field trip. 

Our first stop was The Blue Whale in Catoosa, OK. 

The story is, the whale was built by Hugh Davis as an anniversary gift to his wife. You can read all about the history and find info about this Rt 66 attraction here.

The kids enjoyed walking inside and climbing all over the innards of the whale. 

Here is Matthew sitting on what used to be a slide that empties out into a nasty pond......with all kinds of nasty creatures that will bite your toes and possibly kill you. 

As you can see, my oldest and youngest were really impressed. 

This was a fun stop. It does not take a lot of time. You can fish (catch and release) off of the whale's tail, and there are lots of picnic tables set up and restrooms available, as well as a gift shop. Ya know, so you can get a T-shirt with a big blue whale on it. 

So we drove north to Foyil, Ok to visit Totem Pole Park. 

I always thought that totem poles were worshipped by different tribes but today I learned that they were never ever objects of worship. Totem poles were built to tell stories, represent family lineage, and house ashes of loved ones. 

The largest concrete totem pole in the world!

This totem pole represents the 5 Civilized Tribes; Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole.

Totem Pole Park has several totem poles, picnic tables, restrooms, gift shop, and a nature trail. For more info you can click here.

My Tollett tribe......although, sometimes, they do not act civilized. There is always that one kid in the picture......

On the way home, we stopped at Dot's Cafe for lunch in Claremore.  There was a big toilet by the front door where you can dispose of your cigarette butts, with a sign that read, "Put your buts here." My boys thought it was funny, Rachel thought it was tacky. It was tiny and full of locals. It was cramped and had tacky decor. We were served off of chipped up and mismatched Corelle dishes. We drank our cokes out of the can and thankfully I had cash because they don't mess around with those fancy debit machines. The service was a tiny bit slow, but friendly and the food was great. It was a perfect greasy spoon/hole in the wall.....and the company was unbeatable. 

Oh, how I love my little Tolletts.