Geography and the Ark

We spent the better part of the day yesterday in downtown Chicago. Unbeknownst to either the Captain or myself, The Boy had achieved the highest score in his school during an oral geography bee; which earned him a chance to take a written test which would determine the top 100 students in the state (grades 4-8).

Wouldn't you know if that Boy didn't just score in the top 100! We always knew his eerily strange knack for remembering and navigating to places wasn't just a quirky inherited postal gene, but a bona fide skill. This award did wonders for solidifying his family nickname of "On-Star."

Having not studied for either test (how do you study for a test you don't know you're taking?) he decided to stick with his healthy ambivalence for test taking and not crack open atlas one for the competition.

So, yesterday we headed down to the Field Museum for the Illinois State National Geography Bee. The winner would score an all-expenses paid trip to the National Geography Bee in Washington, D.C. and $100 (I'll let you guess which was more enticing to The Boy).

We declined the invitation to spend the night before the Bee downtown for fear that it would be one giant Krelboyne-fest. And based on the atlas toting youth who had decided to study for the Bee, it seems our suspicions were well-founded. But pocket protectors and coke-bottle glasses aside, it was a very nice, well-organized competition. The Boy did well, but didn't make it into the final round, which in the end was probably okay. I don't know that he would have known what to do with the overly emotional moderator when she announced between tears and sighs the winners.

Besides, I'm not sure that our nation's capital is quite ready for a visit from The Ark.



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