We finally posted our recent photos on Flickr.
Click here to see photos from late 2013
And here for an album of the first six months of 2014.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Steamboat Rock
In April we took our third annual trip to a baseball tournament in Eastern Washington. For the third year, we stopped at Steamboat Rock - a neat island in a lake with a tall hill you can hike to the top of and look down on the canyon. The weather was great - one of our favorite spots in Eastern Washington, about three hours from our house.
Jack Launches a Satellite
Jack joined the Tyee Middle School Satellite Club this year. Every Tuesday after school he would work with his group on their satellite - a cube about one-foot in each dimension that has a camera, measurement devices, and a lot of padding.
Then in March he went out to Ellensburg, and early on Saturday morning he launched the satellite. There was a large weather balloon filled with helium (about 10 feet tall when inflated) and then about ten satellites were attached to a wire coming down from the balloon. When the balloon is let go it rises over 100,000 feet into the sky, taking the satellites with them. This is the black of space, well above the atmosphere (airplanes fly around 30,000 feet, so it's three times as high). The kids set the camera in the satellite to take pictures at regular intervals.
Once it reaches a certain height the balloon pops and then comes down to earth (a parachute deploys so it doesn't crash down). Then the hunt is on - the satellite lets off a GPS signal, and we picked it up near Odessa, about another hour east of where it took off from. Very neat - pictures from the satellite to come!
Then in March he went out to Ellensburg, and early on Saturday morning he launched the satellite. There was a large weather balloon filled with helium (about 10 feet tall when inflated) and then about ten satellites were attached to a wire coming down from the balloon. When the balloon is let go it rises over 100,000 feet into the sky, taking the satellites with them. This is the black of space, well above the atmosphere (airplanes fly around 30,000 feet, so it's three times as high). The kids set the camera in the satellite to take pictures at regular intervals.
Once it reaches a certain height the balloon pops and then comes down to earth (a parachute deploys so it doesn't crash down). Then the hunt is on - the satellite lets off a GPS signal, and we picked it up near Odessa, about another hour east of where it took off from. Very neat - pictures from the satellite to come!
Trip to California
In February, we took a five-day trip to California. We spent two days at National Parks: Channel Islands and Joshua Tree.
Channel Islands are a few islands off the Pacific Coast - we took an hour boat ride to get to one of them and took a hike. On the way back a school of dolphins swam along with us.
Joshua Tree is a couple of hours east of LA, and is where the Mojave Desert meets the Colorado Desert. The landscape is beautiful, with large rock formations you can climb around, cactii, and of course the odd-looking Joshua Trees.
After that we spent a day at Disneyland. Everyone enjoyed the rides, particularly the Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Space Mountain.
Channel Islands are a few islands off the Pacific Coast - we took an hour boat ride to get to one of them and took a hike. On the way back a school of dolphins swam along with us.
Joshua Tree is a couple of hours east of LA, and is where the Mojave Desert meets the Colorado Desert. The landscape is beautiful, with large rock formations you can climb around, cactii, and of course the odd-looking Joshua Trees.
After that we spent a day at Disneyland. Everyone enjoyed the rides, particularly the Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Space Mountain.
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