Today, I got to go on my first field trip since I became flat! I got to go to Vulcan Park and Museum in Birmingham! I got to go with my old class, and it was such a fun day! First, We walked up, and I immediately saw a giant statue! It was the Vulcan! We got our tickets, and started our hike up the hill to the statue and museum.
When we were almost all the way up to the statue, we stopped and looked out at the view of Birmingham. I was looking at an informational sign about Jones Valley Urban Farm. The sign was there, because we were looking over the railing at the city of Birmingham, and through the binoculars, we could see the Jones Valley Farm! While we were looking at the informational sign on Jones Valley Farm, I met another flat person! He said his name was Farmer Flat Jack, and he was a farmer at Jones Valley farm! It was so cool to meet another flat person, just like me! He said that he was picking up a large pumpkin in his field one day and was squashed! He said that now, when he isn't farming at Jones Valley, he travels around and tries different foods from different countries, and he even blogs about his experiences, like me! He gave me his blog address, which is right here: Farmer Flat Jack! He also invited my class to his farm whenever we wanted to come visit! I told him that we would definitely be coming to visit soon!
After talking to Farmer Jack, I got to look out over the beautiful city of Birmingham. My class all got to stand up and use the binoculars to look out and see the city!
We continued to make our way up the hill to the museum, when we were met by our tour guide, Phil Ratliff. He is the head of the Department of Education at Vulcan Museum, and he started to tell us some interesting facts about the statue of the Vulcan man. Phil said that the Vulcan statue is made from the iron that was found in Birmingham. He also told us that Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world! We also found out that the Vulcan was designed by an Italian artist named Guiseppe Moretti in 1904. The Vulcan statue is 56 feet tall!
My class got to walk into the base of the statue and take pictures in the marble lobby! Some students went up to the top of Vulcan, but some, including me, stayed at the bottom and watched because we are not to fond of heights.
Once everyone was safe on the ground again, we were able to walk through the museum! The museum is currently hosting an exhibit called, "La Storia: Birmingham's Italian Community." Phil, our tour guide, said that this exhibit and event was recurring, and it would still be open in September 2015! He started to take us around the Italian exhibit, and told us a little about each picture or artifact. The exhibit mostly was about 20th century immigrants that came from Sicily, which is an island in Italy. Phil also stopped at part of the exhibit that honored the Feast Day of St. Joseph. Phil told us that St. Joseph saved the town of Sicily when their crops were destroyed by a drought, which meant that they had no rain for a very long time. St. Joseph provided the town of Sicily with food to keep them from starving, and so every March 19, which is the Feast Day of St. Joseph, the Vulcan takes in can goods and food to give to the poor in honor of St. Joseph. I thought that this was very special.
After we learned about St. Joseph and the Italian exhibit, we got to stop in the gift shop, where we ran into Flat Jack the farmer, again! We took a picture next to a bobble head of the Vulcan statue. My other classmates were too big, but now that I'm flat and small, I was just the right size to stand with this Vulcan. I had such a great time on this field trip, and I can't wait to come back with my mom and dad!
The admission to get into the Vulcan park and museum was $6 for adults, and $4 for kids. With my mom's permission, I got the link to the Vulcan website, and found out more fun information about different events and fun things to go see there again!
The link for the Vulcan is here: The Vulcan Park and Museum
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