We ended our 2nd year of homeschool with an Earth Science Unit Study, specifically focusing on geology, rocks and minerals. We like to end our unit studies with an adventure trip. After a quick Google search The Desert of Maine popped up.
20 acres of sand dunes formed when a glacier past through during the last ice age. It’s pretty freakin cool. We easily spent several hours exploring. We brought my dad along with us on this adventure trip and that made it extra special.
Oasis Cafe
We arrived at The Desert of Maine around 11 AM. After purchasing our tickets we decided to start our day with lunch at the Oasis Cafe. At first I thought the menu was limited. In consisted of; hotdogs of various forms (hotdogs, veggie dogs, kielbasa), chips, popcorn, ice cream and drinks. This confused me a bit but later on during our visit I learned that Henry Goldrup, who took a chance on the Desert of Maine and opened it up as a tourist attraction, did not charge admission his first year of owning the business. Instead he made his money off of a concessions stand that only served hotdogs, popcorn and ice cream. Considering how well the current owners have done to preserve and restore the history of the Desert of Maine, the menu is most likely not limited but instead a throwback to that original first tourist season here.
The hotdogs come with a fully loaded option that adds green peppers, onions, tomatoes and pickles for only an extra dollar. My dad tried the coffee too and said it was great.
Natural Playground
The kids played on the natural playground while waiting for our food to be prepared.
Mini Golf
After we had been fed, Jake was adamant that we started our day with mini golf. So we went for it. Each hole on the mini golf course had some sort of theme and info about the Desert of Maine.
My favorite was the sand art.
The Desert of Maine
After mini golf we finally headed into the Desert of Maine.
Scavenger Hunt
The Desert of Maine offers a scavenger hunt throughout the grounds. Kids find the hermit, read some info about the Desert of Maine and use a crayon to rub a design onto their sheet. Collect them all and you can bring it back to the admission office and pick a camel charm or a stretchy bracelet. This was a hit with the kids. We all learned a ton too.
what a fun way to study Earth Science! Way more fun than sitting at a desk and reading from a book!
It was so fun!
Such a Wonderful Adventure!
It definitely was!
This is a brilliant idea to end the school year! 👍
Thank you! We had so much fun!