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Today’s ‘Friday Happy Hour’ questions were deleted after some careless clicking on my part. Not saving my work also played a role. Rather than try to remember what I’d written, let’s just go with one question this week. The topic: field trips.
Earlier this week, Brett Savage asked whether we knew our Super Mario Bros. villains from our obscure dinosaurs. In his quiz intro, he touched on his annual field trip to the local museum. This sent us on a field trip tangent.
We had our share of memorable trips—The Land of Make Believe, Turtle Back Zoo, Hershey Park—but my clearest memory is about a trip that wasn’t taken. After the bombing of Pan-Am Flight 103, our scheduled field trip to Newark Airport was canceled. When a classmate asked our teacher what one thing had to do with the other, she said, “You might get kidnapped by terrorists.” It’s a wonder any of us ever flew again.
What was your best field trip?
[Image courtesy of buelow. See transcripts of previous Friday Happy Hours]
Comments (34)
Comment
When I was in 2nd grade, the school decided to send groups of 5 kids to different places. Most of them got to go to cool places like the Coke bottling plant or behind the scenes at the zoo.
My group went to the landfill.
posted by Annie on 6-6-2008 at 2:05 pm
Without a doubt, the best field trip was the annual visit to the local Wonder Bread factory during grade school. Every class dutifully marched through the factory, watching the huge kneading machines dump the pale dough into the hoppers. What made it fabulous was that, at the end of the tour, we were given slices of minutes-old bread to eat. Oh my… the smell, the taste… It’s a cherished childhood memory.
posted by Welmoed on 6-6-2008 at 2:08 pm
Growing up in PA, the yearly trips to Hersheypark were always a blast. But my most memorable field trip was to Washington, D.C. I was in the Air and Space Museum when the Challenger blew up that day…
posted by theYerg on 6-6-2008 at 2:09 pm
In either first or second grade, my class went to the site of what was once an ancient Native American settlement near Dayton, OH. I don’t remember much about the exhibits, but I do remember the dioramas and paintings of topless native women and how uncomfortable they made all of us at the time.
posted by Ira on 6-6-2008 at 2:11 pm
Without a doubt, it was the annual grade school pilgrimage to the local Wonder Bread factory. The best part was at the end: getting a slice of just-baked bread.
posted by Welmoed on 6-6-2008 at 2:12 pm
Annie-
That’s pretty funny!
posted by Johnny Cat on 6-6-2008 at 2:23 pm
When I was in 2nd grade (back in the 1970s) we went to Philadelphia and did the whole Independence Hall thing. The best part was that at the time the Liberty Bell was house inside City Hall, without hardly any security around it. Not only could you touch it, you were encouraged to touch it. My fingers have been in the crack of the Liberty Bell.
posted by zantimisfit on 6-6-2008 at 2:47 pm
I went on two great field trips as a junior in high school. The first was to the restoration department of an art museum in San Diego. I decided I wanted to go into art restoration until the lady told us it required good skills with chemistry and math. I realized I should stick to what I knew best - talking and reading about art.
The other trip we took was to the Norton Simon in Pasadena. The art was great, but the best part was having my dad as a chaperone and sharing something I love so much with him. It was so fun to talk about art with my dad and hear his perspective on sculptures and Van Goghs.
posted by Andrea on 6-6-2008 at 2:47 pm
I went on a field trip to the landfill and thought it was great! It was in college, an environmental science class. The guys who worked there had some crazy stories…
Best field trip was definitely the one to Six Flags in high school physics class. The teacher wanted to spend the day having fun, so he helped us fill out the physics worksheet on the bus on the way there.
posted by Heather on 6-6-2008 at 2:48 pm
The “big” sixth grade field trip for my year was to the Sewage Treatment Plant. The highlight of the trip was playing (by myself) “Name That Non-Flushable Item in the Treatment Tank”.
The next year, the sixth graders got to go to Baltimore.
Am I still bitter? No…
I grew up in a town of 5,000 people, all of which revolved around our one and only McDonalds. One year, if you sold enough magazine subscriptions, you got to ride in a limo (!!!) to McDonalds. Let me tell you, it was better than discovering gold for an eleven year old.
posted by Lauren on 6-6-2008 at 2:59 pm
Every year in elementary school, we took a field trip to the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. Every year was a different theme–Old West transportation, prairie school, Native Americans, etc. I remember the school one the best, because all of my friends and I got scolded by the “schoolmaster” for having “fungus” on our fingernails–our candy-colored nail polish. I also remember the sod house year, because 1. we got to eat pioneer food and 2. it was freezing (those sod houses are remarkably warm though–the pioneers were really onto something there).
Andrea, I also have good dad memories. My dad was the first dad to go on a field trip–it was always moms before. Once, he and another dad both went and brought their awesome cell phones and we all took turns talking on the phones from both ends of the bus and being awed by the power of the bag phone.
posted by kate on 6-6-2008 at 3:00 pm
Without a doubt, my french classes always took the BEST field trips….usually some art exhibit or a french movie, then delicious food at a local french cafe where we would listen to the chef’s stories about French politics.
A close second would be my recent geomorphology class, where we spent the afternoons traipsing over the Indiana Dunes and golf courses and through swamps looking for landforms. Best Gen Ed I’ve ever taken.
posted by Liz on 6-6-2008 at 3:05 pm
We took a trip to the tortilla factory in 2nd grade. That was pretty great, getting to eat warm tortillas at the end. And everyone got to take home a bag of fresh warm corn tortillas.
We went to court in 8th grade. It was a moderatly unplanned trip, my 8th grade social studies class stood in front of the school and took a city bus downtown to the courthouse, to watch whatever cases came up for a few hours. There were three drunk driving cases, and I’m sure the judge chewed out the drivers more than he would of because an impressionable class of kids were sitting there. The last case was actually the mother of a classmate, who was suing her neighbor over something. that was cool, since we all knew the family.
We missed the bus back to school and got to wander around downtown unchaperoned for an hour until the next bus came.
posted by Jenny on 6-6-2008 at 3:08 pm
Museum of Natural History in Cincinnati. They had a simulated cave you could walk through. Another fond memory were the lunches your parents would pack for you, lunch always included a can of soda wrapped in aluminum foil–it was a special treat for field trips only. And the age old question “Should we leave our lunches on the bus or take them with us?” Oh those were good times.
I had a field trip to the local landfill in college, I thought it was awesome. Must have made an impression cause now I work in the landfill industry.
posted by Cathy on 6-6-2008 at 3:38 pm
In the Atlanta area in the 70’s there was a great museum out in the country called the Living Museum or the Life Museum or something like that, probably out around Kennesaw Mountain. They would present scenes from local history in which the kids got to act out some of the parts. I remember they had several “sets,” including a ship, an Indian encampment, and a fort. I got to play James Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia colony. It probably doesn’t exist anymore. Anyone else remember this place?
posted by Scott on 6-6-2008 at 3:45 pm
sea world after hours- Shamu was feeling frisky and showing off. enough said.
posted by amy on 6-6-2008 at 5:00 pm
Hands down it would have to be the time that my whole highs school, 25 kids, went to A Midsummer’s Night Dream. They kept the original dialog, but it was set to 70’s-techno-disco-60’s. When the Fairies first showed up there was an AWESOME dance scene, with a disco ball.
Best. Play. Ever.
posted by Emily S S on 6-6-2008 at 6:45 pm
I grew up in Daytona, about an hour from Orlando, so over the years several of our field trips included treks to the theme parks. The best one, though, was during my junior year of high school, when my drama club got to visit Islands of Adventure before they opened it to the public. They were letting various groups test out what they had finished so far, so we got to not only be some of the first to see the new park, but check out the works-in-progress and the “beta” versions of what the attractions came to be.
posted by Celeste M. on 6-6-2008 at 7:40 pm
In 3rd through 6th grade, I lived in Hawaii. Talk about cool field trips. We went to tourist sites in the name of “field trips” from Iolani Palace to tromping through taro fields in mud almost to our knees. The best was the end of fourth grade, going to the Polynesian Cultural Center and ending the long day with a luau and hula show.
posted by Joanna on 6-6-2008 at 7:51 pm
So pretty much the most recent field trip I went on. This past spring break, me and twelve other kids in either Spanish 3 or higher, went on a nine day long trip to Mexico, with 3 chaperons of course. We started out in Mexico City and took a tour through much of Mexico and ended up in Cancun. We got to climb many pyramids and see ancient Aztec, Myan, and Olmec ruins. It was so much fun. The best part was that my 17 birthday was in the middle of that week.
posted by Katie on 6-6-2008 at 8:38 pm
hmm. In 7th grade, we went on the “Great Western”, which was an exciting opportunity to camp every night for 10 days everywhere from Yellowstone to Devil’s Tower to Jackson Hole. Four pre-teen girls + tent = nightmare. In 8th grade we went on the D.C. trip, which was a bus trip to… yeah… D.C. But I really enjoyed my elementary school field trips to Hannibal, Missouri, home of Mark Twain and the Mark Twain Cave. So much fun. So was the “haunted house” in Hannibal.
posted by stacy on 6-6-2008 at 9:29 pm
I grew up in Quebec & we went to the Sugar Shack every spring. Maple tree farms and all the maple syrup you could get sick on! Yum
posted by Sylvia on 6-6-2008 at 9:37 pm
Back in 8th grade, my class went on a several-day-long overnight field trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania. I had just moved into town and I didn’t have any friends to room with on the trip, so I was dreading the experience. My mom was going to make me go, but I begged and begged and begged her to let me stay home and pocket the $300 the trip would have cost, and she finally let me. I skipped school during the days of the trip because quite literally every single other person in my classes was on the trip. It felt so rebellious to lay around on the couch and watch movies instead of getting on the bus to go to school. Now, that was the best field trip ever.
posted by Sandy on 6-6-2008 at 11:26 pm
My school tried to sponsor a trip to Cuba my sophomore year of high school. It wound up not getting approved because more parents signed up, to be chaperons, than students. Since I was one of the two (!) students who signed up, I was a bit pissy for awhile.
My middle school chorus would go on trips to Herseypark every year. We’d go and compete, then celebrate our first (or second) place finish running around the park like mad. Ahh, those were the days.
Also relating to middle school chorus, the choral director every year at Christmas gathered up any willing choral students to go with him to the local PEPCO (electric) company and sing carols in their lobby. We didn’t get to see much, but we felt special nonetheless.
Not really a field trip, but I lived in DC, so the museums and monuments were never anything special to me. Well, except one year when I volunteered at the Smithsonian and got to see all the exhibits they couldn’t fit on the floor. It’s inspired me to want to work in a museum when I go out into the working world.
posted by Nicole on 6-7-2008 at 12:55 am
I grew up in a small town in the north of Australia and when I was in fifth grade my teacher was into wildlife and nature stuff (think cubs or scouts or something) so we would go to the billabong (waterhole) near our school and look at the crocodile traps and find chrysalises to keep in the classroom until the butterflies emerged. It was pretty cool. Never saw a crocodile in one of the traps though.
posted by Steve on 6-7-2008 at 2:11 am
The best field trip I’ve ever been on? I was an Air Force brat living in Germany when I was in the third grade in 1985. A bunch of classes went on a 2 night trip to Bingen (famous for the mouse tower) and right across the river was Rudesheim, where the Niederwalddenkmal was erected (a big statue of Germania which was set up as a memorial after the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870’s) Rudesheim struck me as one of the European towns that feel European. These towns were on the Rhine river and we took a nice long boat ride the next day, which was really exciting and saw the famed Lorelei. We also saw a castle, which was the second one I saw by that time,after being in Europe for only 2 months (the first being the Heidelberg castle.) We stayed in a youth hostel which meant we had chores to do, which was fine. I also remember that there was a break dancing contest that broke out amongst the boys (it was 1985 after all!) We took the train both ways, to the towns and back up to Landstuhl, where we went back to Ramstein. What a blast! I don’t know if parents could handle allowing kids to stay overnight like that at such a young age, in a strange country.
BTW my captcha is week discount
posted by Sarah Christensen on 6-7-2008 at 4:04 am
My eighth grade class went to a taping of “The Mike Douglas Show.” My mother and I were chosen to perform in a skit and appeared on camera. Later, you can clearly hear my mom booing George Hamilton (she thought he was cheesy). Shaun Cassidy was on this episode, and in those days, that was pretty cool. (Yes, I’m *that* old.)
posted by loripop on 6-7-2008 at 10:44 am
In 7th grade my whole school walked down the street to see Microcosmos. The reaction from the crowd when the snails were getting it on was priceless…
As for Dad stories, I fondly remember touring the Anheuser-Busch factory with my dad when I was 8 years old. A few years later he joined AA…
posted by Anne on 6-7-2008 at 12:11 pm
I’m only mentioning this because it was so weird. In 6th grade, went to Fernald. It’s outside Cincinnati and they used to process uranium during the Cold War. Many people that have lived near or worked there have health problems, and at the time it wasn’t completely cleaned up. I still wonder why they took us there ..
posted by Reggie on 6-7-2008 at 9:22 pm
During a college summer session I took a criminal justice elective. We took a field trip to an Indiana State Prison where I had an opportunity to meet and talk to two guests of the state. One had been involved in a robbery but seemed like he’d matured since going in at age 18. The other guy had killed his parents. Very creepy afternoon.
posted by Jim on 6-7-2008 at 9:31 pm
Heather–my favorite trips were quite literally the SAME as yours — high school physics to six flags, and a trip to the landfill this past year with my environmental geology class.
so weird!
posted by Meghan on 6-7-2008 at 9:46 pm
In 4th grade my class (with all of the other Integrated Day classes at my school) went to NYC to visit the Statue of Liberty. The power was out on the Island that day so we couldn’t go. Instead we took a vote-visit the World Trade Center or take the ferry to Staten Island. We voted to go to Staten Island but missed the last boat out there so instead forty 3rd through 6th graders sat in a ferry terminal for two hours. The highlight of the trip was watching some man fight with a deaf woman over the payphone.
posted by April on 6-8-2008 at 2:04 am
Looking back, I’m so glad I got to go on some pretty memorable field trips in the pre-9/11, pre-No Child Left Behind days. A farm (several times- least favorite), Sea World Ohio when it still existed, Washington D.C., an apple orchard, a landfill (also not fun- when the school bus drove over the top of the garbage, it ran over a seagull, causing much distress) Cedar Point Amusement Park for Physics Day and various marching band outings (Outback Bowl among them. Alas, we never got to Macy’s.) The most memorable trip wasn’t a field trip per se, since it was in August of 2003, but it was with the marching band at Cedar Point when the infamous blackout of the Northeast happened. Boy, was that trippy to see everything just grind to a halt. It was just so QUIET, despite tons of people walking around confused, on their cell phones, wondering if it was a terrorist attack.
The food stands gave out free cups of water to passers-bye. Several cars were stuck at the top of rollercoasters like the Raptor and Millennium Force, and for the former, people walked down the swirly steps to safety. In the latter, where there were no stairs, people cheered when the coaster finally was pushed over the edge. I thought the whole thing was strange, but funny. Talking to people stuck on the rides: “How’s the weather up there?” “Fine. We’re just hanging around.” “See you later!” “We’ll be here!”
We listened to the radio on the bus ride back, and a spokesman for Cedar Point claimed that no one got stuck on rides. HA!
posted by arfies on 6-8-2008 at 7:40 pm
Assassinations tend to be part of a typical 3rd grade field trip in Baton Rouge. The State Capitol building is popular in all capitals, I imagine, but as far as I know, the one in Baton Rouge is only one to witness an assassination (Huey Long in 1937). Indentations from the bullet holes still riddle the marble walls — I’ve stuck my fingers in those.
Another memorable field trip involved an overnighter in 8th grade on the U.S.S. Kidd, a retired battleship now docked on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge. Two of my classmates ended up having sex on the ship, apparently as part of a dare (this was 8th grade, mind you, and I went to a Catholic school). The entire class was punished for that one. I still say that stinks since I was down below, nursing carsickness after four hours on a bus.
posted by Lindsey on 6-9-2008 at 12:37 pm