Otter got to enjoy a day playing at the Downtown Aquarium in downtown Houston. [continue reading…]
Have you ever been to the “greatest show on earth”? Do you know what the greatest show on earth is? It is Barnum and Bailey’s Circus! Otter got to attend one of these shows. There was a lot to see. There were animal acts, clown acts, acrobats, flying stunts, music, dancers, lots of lights, and fireworks! How did the circus start? Well the circus show has been around for quite a long time. Many acts we see in the circus today got their start thousands of years ago. Acrobats and Jugglers were performing in ancient Egypt and China. Performers would entertain crowds at fairs in Europe during the Middle Ages. [continue reading…]
The Pony Express was a mail service that was created to deliver mail from the East coast to the West Coast as quickly as possible. Because it was just one man on horseback, the rider was able to make the trip quicker than a stagecoach. It took the stagecoach 25 days to drive the route. The Pony Express riders could make the trip in 10 days. They built several stations along the route. These were generally 10 to 25 miles apart, depending on how easy it was to ride through that area. If the area was wide open plains, then the stations were farther apart. The distance between stations was about how far a horse could run at full gallop without wearing out. At the next station, the rider would throw the mail on a new horse and ride on to the next station. After a few stations, a new rider would take over and ride the next part of the route.
Otter visits a stagecoach stop at Fort Croghan in Burnet, TX
Otter learned a lot while visiting the Wells Fargo Museum, including a little about what it was like to ride on a stage coach. The entire route from St. Louis to San Francisco on the Butterfield route would take about 25 days. It was about 2,795 miles and took about 596 hours. That’s a long time in a rough riding, no air-conditioned stage coach. That same trip would take about 5 days by car and just a few hours by airplane. Along the route were stage coach stops where the passengers could eat, rest, and get ready for the next part of the trip. Otter visited one of these stops while at Fort Croghan in Texas.
Otter visits Wells Fargo museum in Old Town San Diego
Strap on your guns and grab your hat. This week, Otter is off on an adventure to the wild west. Otter is visiting the Wells Fargo Museum and an original Wells Fargo stage coach in Old Town San Diego. You may be familiar with or even bank at a Wells Fargo Bank, and you have likely seen or at least heard about the stage coaches. Did you know that Wells Fargo began many years ago as a banking, mail, and stage coach company? When the Gold Rush began in California, people saw it as an opportunity to make a lot of money. While some went in search for gold, others began businesses to help the gold miners. One business was banking. Another was shipping. In 1852 Henry Wells and William Fargo became business partners and opened up the first Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco.