High schoolers in Arizona need one semester of Arizona History on their transcripts. I have been perusing AZ HIST curriculum for a time and what I have found is somewhat lacking…. ok, downright boring. I realize the history of the Baby State is not that in-depth like, say Mass. or Virginia, but come on, there were people with the pioneer spirit here back in the day that are worth “meeting”. I mean really! Who in their right mind would sit in a covered wagon for months all across the plains and then decide that Arizona is worth settling? This was before air conditioning! My keen sense of intrigue was piqued, to say the least. And, being the quality-curriculum-loving-homeschooling mom that I am, I decided to write my own curriculum for my kids (and interested others) for their required AZ HIST credit. SOOOOOOOOOOO, I’ve been reading old, smelly books and looking at ancient maps and reading some more. I decided a trip to the Cave Creek Museum was indeed mandatory last week for my boys and I. I suspected their interest level might wane, so I assigned Chief Fieldtrip Photographer duties to my sons to keep their senses heightened. With that, may I present to you, my faithful readers, a photo tribute to the not-highly-exciting Cave Creek Museum.
The first photo above is the back of my head walking into the museum. See what I’m dealing with here? Albeit, this was the view they witnessed most of the time in the museum. This wasn’t one of those attractions that had them running ahead of their teacher/mother. I was thankful it was just the back of my head and not my backside. I’ve trained them well.
Next we have a miner. He is sitting in front of a reconstructed mine with real-life water running out of his pipe so he can pan for gold right in the museum. He also has ALL of his mining tools displayed at his feet, including, but not limited to his 5 foot long contraption to catch rattle snakes. But you’ll just have to imagine all that good stuff.
Here is the aforementioned rattlesnake. It is fictious and behind safety glass, so don’t worry. Notice the little vertical stick by the tail. As Keeve and I were admiring the lame plastic snake the tail rattled loudly and scared the beejeebeez out of us. Austin had located the little step-on button while we were mesmerized by the snake. The boys found this HILARIOUS!
This is how you know it is the mining exhibit….. MINING. In case you couldn’t figure it out from the miner, the mine, the gold panning equipment, the faux river, etc.
There was a lovely pioneer kitchen display with all the kitchen tools of old, pots and pans, washboards, large wash barrels, etc……. and a tin of Ritz crackers on the shelf that captured my son’s interest. It was the only thing in the entire kitchen exhibit that was captured on Kodak.
Next we have something that said Enterprise on it. I don’t remember seeing this. However, there were several items that I didn’t exactly take the time to read thoroughly. I’m aware that the only reason this was photographed is because of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek.
Here is a man……….. holding plans for something………… and pointing? This was also a discovery that I missed in the museum.
Here is the lone picture that I took. It’s my boys sitting calmly in the bandshell. That was a new vocabulary word for me. But it is now in my memory banks and I look forward to an opportunity when I can use it in the correct context.
There were other pictures that didn’t make the blog photo tribute to Cave Creek Museum. Believe me when I say they were even less interesting than these. Thanks for taking this stroll down Arizona’s history with us. Please stay tuned for more titillating blogs on other museums I drag my children through. Next week we are off to the AZ Museum of Natural History! Dinosaurs in Arizona! How exciting! (Eye rolls from my children are predicted.)
My Sister's Jar 