Bismarck

Tuesday, May 29th all of the 5th grade classes at Aurora Elementary school in West Fargo took a field trip to Bismarck/Mandan, ND.  The field trip was to see the North Dakota Capital Building, The Heritage Center, Fort Abraham Lincoln and the On-a-Slant Mandan Village.  Jacob asked me to be a parent chaperon for this field trip and I gladly said yes.  I've never been to any of these places and I was looking forward to the trip. 

Our first stop was Fort Lincoln where the On-a-Slant Mandan Village is located.  While at Fort Lincoln we learned about the Mandan Tribe and got to walk through some of the reconstructed earthlodges.  It was interesting to see where and how the tribe lived years ago.   

Our second stop was to General Custard's home and the Central Barracks.  Once we got off the bus at Custard's home we were met by a uniformed soldier/tour guide who conducted the tour as if it was 1875.  A lot of kids were confused when our tour guide (who played the part of a uniformed solider from 1875 very well)  kept mentioning a dinner that night at Custard's home that they were all invited to.  They couldn't figure out how they were going to get back to Mandan in time for the dinner party.  It was funny. 

Our third stop was the Heritage Center.  This was the only part of the trip where I was responsible for 7 kids by myself!  I think I was given a great group of kids!  They all behaved very well.  We walked through the Heritage Center for about 45 minutes and looked at all different exhibits.  There was a lot of interesting exhibits.  By this time the kids were getting anxious to see the Capital Building!

Our final stop was the Capital Building.  We got a brief tour of the first and second floor and then we rode the elevator up to the 18th floor observation deck.  On the 18th floor you could walk all the way round the building and look out from every side.  There were many interesting pieces of history and information on the walls to read.

It was a fun trip with fun little boy.  I'm glad I went and I look forward to the year MaKena gets to go.  Maybe I'll be a chaperon for that class too! 

A model of the earthlodges was on display in the Visitor Center. We were told this is what it looked like back when the Mandan Tribe lived there.

A picture of one of the earthlodges.  It looks small on the outside but inside they are quit large.

This is a picture of the inside of the Ceremonial Lodge.  As I was standing in there the teacher informed me the previous year there were bats hanging from the ceiling.  I about ran out.  Thankfully there were not bats this year.

A group picture.

Another group picture.  This one was at the Heritage Center.  (Jacob took some pictures at Custard's house but they didn't really turn out.)

This ship was downstairs in the Heritage Center.  (Because I waited so long to blog about this trip I can't remember the name. I'll have to google it!)

4 of the 7 students I was in charge of during our visit at the Heritage Center.

A picture of the Seal inside the Capital Building.

Another picture of the Legislative Hall inside the Capital Building.

A picture from the 18th Floor. 

One more group picture outside the Capital Building.