Dam, Doughnuts and MNO with UFO's

 

We got to be the first field trip to Wilson Lock and Dam since 9-11!
Here the barges are at the bottom of the lock, 100 feet down!

 

In order to fit, the boat has to unhook and slide up next to the barges.

 The gates shut, they are 115 feet high and there's 18 feet of water under that.

 

It takes about 20 minutes for the lock to fill with 50,000,000 gallons of water.
The valves are 15 feet by 19 feet.

 One the water levels are balanced, the upper gate is lowered and the barge is pushed on out.  It takes about half an hour all total to enter and then get going again.
Private citizens do not have to pay to use the lock systems.

 There it goes!  The captain came out and tooted at us and waved like the Queen in a parade.  We all cheered and waved back.

 

I did an eye enhance thing on Ben and turned him into Benjamin, the 7th Cullen.  LOL

 

After the dam, we went to Krispy Kreme.  It turns out, it was my own personal last visit.  After eating whole foods for the last few weeks, the sugar and processed food made me really ill.  Even the kids were hoping for a stomach bug so they could throw up.  The doughnuts were not bad, just SO freaking sweet.

 Yum!  Oh, they look so good!!

 

Jake was enthralled by this on the way home.  A house of games.  Even though it was obviously out of business!

We also had Mom's Night Out last night.  It was an Unfinished Object Night, I resized pics and worked on a document that needed proofing and chatted.  I bought Cosmo, but in a group of 12 Christian homeschooling moms, the topic of things to try in the closet never really came up.  *sigh*  And there were photos, too.