April 5th and 6th was the annual 4th grade trip to Fort Tejon. This year Gregory and I went with his class for the overnight field trip. The weather was the coldest they had ever had for this trip at this time of year. It was in the mid to high 30’s most of the time we were there and we even had some rain and hail to go with it.

Other than the weather, the trip was a lot of fun, especially for all of the kids. We arrived Monday morning around 10:00 and the kids were lined up for a briefing by corporal Bill. They moved into the barracks and were put into uniform. They had some basic training and then raised the US Flag. The flag was from the 1850’s time period as it had only 31 stars on it. That is the way the flag would have been during that time. The flag was very large, I believe I heard 33 ft. by 30 ft. The reason for such a large flag during that time was for people to be able to see the flag from far distances, as far as 20 miles.

From there, the kids spent the day learning the following trades: adobe brick making, carpentry, candle making, blacksmith, and kitchen duty. Adobe brick making proved to be the most difficult because of the weather. The kids learned how to mix the stuff, and pour it into forms, and use a trowel, but no bricks formed because of the weather. Gregory’s group even had to do the adobe workshop while it was hailing… true troops.

The kids made rounds to each of the five stations. Each round was completed with a gunshot from the musket. I was even allowed to fire off the second musket shot of the day. Gregory’s favorite station was the blacksmith shop. The kids got to twist some very hot iron. The iron in some cases, got as hot as 3,000 degrees when in the fire long enough. They also made wooden boxes and branded the letter “S” on the side for Sespe.

The meals were very good. All the kids helped cook dinner that day. We had sandwiches, stew, cornbread, apple cobbler, scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh bread, among other things. Nobody went home hungry. The kids all went to bed around 8:30 and each group of 4 had to do a night patrol of the grounds starting at 9:00. Gregory’s group was the last patrol around 11:00. After that, everyone went to sleep for the night. The parents were up around 4:30 to start the firing for breakfast for that morning (most of the parents). I slept in until 5:15. The kids were stirred up by corporal Bill at about 6:30 in the morning. They had to go out to raise the flag again.

After that, corporal Sean came in to give instructions for the kids to pack up all their stuff, move it to the next room and then clean the barracks thoroughly. The had to sweep everything, roll up all the bed mats, and clean the fireplaces out. It took them quite a while, but they eventually got it all clean.

The last part of the trip involved firing the cannon twice. The kids really enjoyed that and learned quite a bit about the canon and the different types of ammunition used during that time. The trip ended about 10:00 on Tuesday morning and Gregory and I headed home together. He said he really enjoyed everything and I did as well.
Lots more pictures here