Flat Stanley

Some time ago, our grandson Alex sent us a letter asking us to take a creature called Flat Stanley around on a few adventures in Riverside.  Now that the souvenirs and the little book I created have been received by Alex (making him "the most popular boy in second grade," he told me) I can now write about it.  Here are a selection of photos I printed out and made into a book.

 First stop was UCR, and Dave's lab and office.

We dressed him up in a lab coat and showed him around.

Microscopy Room

Then to Dave's stacked-with-papers office.

We showed Flat Stanley where the Citrus Experiment station was first established--right here at UCR.

Back in the car, we buckled him up for a longer drive.  Apparently this is the photo that made Alex's class laugh the most--to see Flat Stanley in a seatbelt.

We drove out to Cabazon where there are concrete dinosaurs, on a large scale.

 That's Dave holding Flat Stanley by the foot of Tyranosaurus Rex, as it was VERY windy out there and we didn't want him to fly away.

All good exhibits include a gift shop, where we picked up a couple of things for Alex.  The letter was quite specific on that score.

Back in Riverside, we showed him Victoria Avenue, with long lines of palm trees on either side of the street.

Then to the Citrus State Park, where there are orange groves.  Riverside's claim to fame is that this is where the first navel orange tree in the US was grown.

 Then we took Flat Stanley to the Mission Inn, an historic hotel of strange and wonderful architecture.

We knew he had to sit in the chair designed for President Taft, who was going to visit the Mission Inn (apparently he was offended and never sat in it after all).  There were already some couples there taking photos of each other.  We stood politely waiting, but when one couple took longer and longer, we asked if we might have a moment to take a photo.  We placed Flat Stanley in the chair and the two couples started laughing.  

"Flat Stanley--they've got a Flat Stanley!"  

As we left we wondered how we were never blessed with knowledge of Flat Stanley before, but were really happy we were now in the loop.

The Chinese Pagoda, a gift from out sister city.

The next day Flat Stanley waited in the car during church, but he did come to choir to sing.

The last place Flat Stanley visited before being folded back up into his envelope and mailed back to Alex, was the school where I teach.  Here's the envelope, tucked into my briefcase.

 I thought they matched nicely.

Flat Stanley was a good student, better than some of the ones in the class!  Here he is, being hosted by Brenda--one of the great students.

 

The book.  I made it a double-sided, Japanese folding-style book.

Here it is, all tied up, ready to go.

The souvenirs.
Thanks for coming, Flat Stanley!