How About A Field Trip?

One of my best early memories of grade school was taking my first field trip. I grew up in the heart of the heartland—Omaha, Nebraska. If you don’t know where Omaha is, picture a two-page map in an atlas. Omaha is smack dab in the middle where the two pages meet. So, what could be more midwesternly wholesome than Miss Kendrick’s 2nd grade class visiting the Wonder Bread plant?

I can still remember the shower cap thingies we all had to wear, the big mixing machines with the dough stretching and pulling against the gigantic paddles, the floor-to-ceiling stainless steel ovens, the menacing slicers hovering over the conveyor belts, and especially the smell of the warm bread rising and baking.
At the end of the tour everyone in Miss Kendrick’s class got a slice of bread. Man, I was sold on Wonder Bread. Not only did it taste great, we learned it helped to “build strong bodies twelve ways”.

When did we outgrow field trips? Maybe we’ve just convinced ourselves we’re too busy for something as frivolous as visiting a place just to find out how it works. The whole idea is to recharge our batteries by experiencing new things, learning about new places, exposing ourselves to new ideas–to maintain a sense of `wonder’ about the world around us. Shouldn’t that be a lifelong quest?

My husband and I just got back from a fabulous vacation to London. We visited museums and the palace, we went spent a day at the races at a track about 45 miles outside the city, we listened to jazz in a nightclub, we even ate in Gordon Ramsay’s newest restaurant—Maze. Oh, my word, it was exciting!

Vacations are great, but now that we’re home I’m vowing to keep some time free in our schedule for field trips. I want to see how the library works behind-the-scenes. I’d like to attend one of the all-day cheese making classes held by Alpine Dairy. I’d like to have a pass to visit St. Louis Screw & Bolt. Their website says they’ve been in business since 1887 and are one of the oldest screw and bolt factories in the world. I think it would be fascinating. By the look of their website they also seem to have a great sense of humor—check out their staff photos!

I love Cardinals baseball and the Arch, but there’s so much more to living in the St. Louis area. Anyone want to join me for a field trip?