Minneapolis 4-H Trip

Minneapolis 4-H Trip

I have been in 4-H for six years now.  With 4-H, comes many different opportunities including the chance to go to Minneapolis this past year.  I made the decision to go during late winter.  I knew that it would be a totally different experience going to another state without my family.  I did bring along one of my close friends, Josie Denning.  We planned and packed months ahead of time, even though most of our schedule was already planned for us.  Only kids in grades seventh and eighth could attend, and you had to be from region 17.  

On day one, both of us went to school until about 12:30.  My dad picked us up from school and took us to Wings where the charter bus was picking us up.  There were several kids there, but only three from Avoca.  Council Bluffs, Underwood, Neola, and Minden kids were already on the bus.  Harlan and Oakland kids also got on with us.  We knew it would be a long ride, so we brought along electronics, blankets, and snacks.  There were televisions on the bus, so we watched a lot of movies!

When we first got there, we went to the Science Museum of Minneapolis.  We stayed the night there.  It was amazing! There was a 30-foot tall dinosaur sculpture and lots of different modern art sculptures.  The giant room quickly filled with the salty smell of freshly popped popcorn.  We had about two hours to just explore.  We took pictures of practically everything! I didn’t think I was going to like this part, but I ended up really enjoying it.  We had to wake up really early the next day.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t really hard because the floor wasn’t a very comfortable bed.  We all prepared ourselves; we knew we had a long day ahead of us.

After we all got ready, we headed downstairs to this huge room with a stage.  There was a lady on the stage with a lab coat and goggles on.  We watched a video about tornadoes.  Soon after she told us she was going to make a tornado.  Surely enough, she did.  Next, she proceeded to make lightning.  She had volunteers hold metal rods.  All of the kids had these special yellow gloves on.  They stood about eight feet apart from each other, and the lightning transferred throughout all of their poles.  She also made a very bright rainbow appear on the wall.

After the show, we got back on the charter bus and headed to the Mill City Museum.  When I first stepped into the building I remember it smelling really old and dusty.  All of the walls were made out of wooden boards.  We went on an elevator tour, which was kind of cool.  It showed us the history of the museum.  There were lots of loud parts when I jumped out of my seat.  We were really high above everything.  It felt like we were above the whole city.  They told us all about the history of the city.  It got kind of boring after awhile.

            Then, we headed to our hotel.  It was probably about 12 stories high.  There was a beautiful, tall waterfall in the middle of the main floor.  They had a huge pool and even a Starbucks in the lobby area.  Everybody that walked by us was wearing fancy business suits.  There were four glass elevators that took us up to our room on the ninth floor.  There were two bedrooms, a living room area, and a kitchen in our room.

            We got about a half an hour to spend at the hotel before we headed to Mall of America.  We quickly had to decide what we wanted to do at the mall because we only had two hours.  I had never been there before, so it was really overwhelming.  There were people everywhere.  There was a roller coaster and lots of other rides.  We were on the second floor, and we could see a flash mob getting started below us. There were probably 100 people dancing.  They had the music really loud.  Everyone was looking at them like they were crazy.

            We didn’t get back to the hotel until about 10:00 p.m.  I went straight to my room and went to sleep.  The next day, we woke up bright and early.  This was our last day in Minneapolis.  I went downstairs to smell the aroma of breakfast being cooked.  They had everything you could imagine.  There were pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, ham, fresh fruit, eggs, toast, hash browns, yogurt, French toast, doughnuts, bagels, and lots of other stuff on the buffet.  You could also get made-to-order food.  It was so yummy!

            Next, we headed to the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory.  We quickly walked through the plants first.  Different smells filled the dome shaped room.  After we walked out of there, we went to see the gorillas, giraffes, zebras, and lots of others.  There wasn’t near as many animals as our zoo has, but it was a nice little zoo.  The polar bear was my favorite.  He could do tricks.  The whole time we were there, he was doing back flips against the wall.  I put my hand up to the glass to compare his paw with my hand.  His paws were huge!

            After the zoo, he got back on the charter bus and headed home.  I slept most of the way home because I knew we had school the next day.   It was around 6 p.m. on Sunday when we got back to Avoca.  We had to drop a couple of people off on the way.  Overall, I had a blast.  It was one of the best experiences I have ever had.  I would go back to Minneapolis in a heartbeat.  It was an amazing trip!