Last day field trip

We had our last day of school today.  For the first part of the day, we watched the movie Tron projected as large as I could get it on my wall with another class.  The second grade girls were ogling the main character, Sam.  Until this year, I was not aware that seven year old kids noticed beauty in that way.  I guess the learning goes both ways. 

Later in the morning, my class partnered up with the first grade and we took a tour of the local fish processing plant, Trident.  It was awesome.  Thankfully, there were two teachers and a principal to help out.  The kids were super and the experience was awesome.  Had we have stayed later, we would have seen them process halibut but the overall feel was like a backstage pass.  It was so cool. 

Enjoy the pictures from our day. 

Cupcakes in an ice cream cone.  For some reason cupcakes in a cone taste better than the traditional way.  These were a pre-trip appetizer.

Boat off loading halibut at Trident.  Follow the orange pants man's gaze to see the white underside of a fish.

Net full of halibut.

Halibut in net being lifted to processing facility.

Net load of halibut that is on its way to being placed in the aluminum container.

Halibut.

The underside of a halibut.  To the right is an eight year old kid for comparison.  This is a legal size but keep in mind these fish can get very big.  Many, many, many pounds bigger than this.

The threshold of the plant.  This is one of Sand Point's local fish processing plants.  We also have Peter Pan here as well.

Halibut heads.  The heads are chopped as soon as they are moved into the building.  In the past the heads were disposed of but halibut cheek meat is supposed to be the bee's knees, so the meat is now saved.

Further into the facility herring fillets makes its way down the belt to be mechanically separated from the skin.

Ground fish.  Once the herring fillets are separated form the skin, the meat and bones are ground up, sugar added, and it is flash frozen.  This kind of meat is used in fish sticks and nuggets.

There were many belts moving herring down to be ground up.

Trident on site laundry facility.  I took a picture of this to show another side of the facility.  Trident workers and others may use this service (I think one of the teachers used it-they wash and press, a pay by the bag deal).  I am unsure if the workers' dorms have laundry rooms but this is a nice one stop shop for those in need.