Day 9 - The Final Day

We have reached our final full day in the lower 48.

After our crazy day, the day before, waking up early did not go over well with our students.  We had to get them up around 6 to be ready to go around 7:30,to get to the Como Planetarium at 8.  We did not have a group of happy campers.  ALL of us were dragging just a little bit.

I have to admit that I had no idea there was a planetarium in Minneapolis.  I knew there was one in Duluth, with the college, but the Como Planetarium in Minneapolis is actually attached to an elementary school.  That's pretty sweet if you ask me.  I had no idea it was attached to a school, so we wandered around for a bit before we realized that the planetarium was inside a school.  We looked a little weird, wandering around, but whatever.

Some constellations

The man who ran the "lesson" was a tad late so we waited in the school lobby for a bit.  Overall it was a pretty cool presentation.  The students learned about the universe and the other universes.  They got to see what the stars look like over Minneapolis, then what they look like over Kongiganak.  They really enjoyed watching the starts show up on the wall.  They also learned about a couple of constellations.  There was some sleeping involved but overall it was interesting.

After the planetarium we had a bit of time to kill before lunch and then the afternoon activities.  We ended up just going back to the hotel and taking naps for a bit, or just relaxing.  It was more of a nap time for the chaperons and the students watched TV or wrote in their journals.

Next we decided to head to downtown Minneapolis and find the Bead Monkey first, and then find a place to eat lunch.  We ended up at a Dairy Queen and sadly most of our students had NEVER eaten at a DQ, this had to be rectified and was :D  They enjoyed their ice cream and a relaxing lunch. 

Dairy Queen!!

The girls had the afternoon at a store called the Bead Monkey and the boys were supposed to go bowling.  The Bead Monkey I thought was perfect for our girls because a lot of them like to bead and the type of beading at the store focuses more on metal than string, so I thought it would be a new medium to try.  Well, there were wires crossed at some point because I thought we were going to be in a class but I guess the idea was we were only going to shop.  I called Corey at Adventure Student Travels and in the end it was worked out.  The ladies at the Bead Monkey were super nice about everything and we ended up sitting in the corner with the girls and they worked on their jewelry kits that we bought for them.  The girls quickly discovered that this type of beading was nothing like they were used to.  There were a lot of frustrated faces. 

Checking out the selection

Working in the corner

Figuring it out

To top it all off, the bowling alley we had made arrangements with was closed.  So the boys went on a little road trip for nothing.  It truly felt like nothing was going right.  I was close to pulling all my hair out but in the end it all worked out.  We were at the Bead Monkey for a good three hours, the girls still trying to figure out their kits.  The boys hung around and walked around the neighborhood a bit and then came inside the store and wrote in their journals.  By the end of our "stay" the people at the store let us sit in a back room so the girls could work and the boys could write.  Overall I have to say that the people of the Bead Monkey were so patient with us and I really appreciate all they did for us.  The girls really enjoyed the jewelry they made and the boys had an afternoon of relaxation...perfect.

The group all together

Next we headed further downtown to find the Spaghetti Factory.  I wanted to find the restaurant and park before we tried to do anything else.  Parking downtown is a tad tricky for me.  We eventually found a place to park, close to the restaurant.  We had about a half hour before our reservations so we wandered downtown a bit.  They got to see the outside of the Vikings Stadium and they all thought that was pretty cool.  They also got to see the tram and what it looked like.  Mostly we just wandered around and looked at the big buildings and took it all in.  Dinner was absolutely amazing.  The food was great and different from what the students had been eating, it was all Italian.  The students were great sports and they all tried something new :D  Some got their first Italian sodas and they got to keep their glasses...pretty neat.  Dessert was a favorite, lots of chocolate.  They also got to play game in the little arcade in the restaurant, that made them VERY happy. 

Vikings!

OOOHHHH Football....

Old Spaghetti Factory!

1st Italian Sodas!

Yum

YUM

YUM!!

After dinner we had one more "1st" to do....a car wash!  The students have never been through a car wash and that was easy to fix.  We went to the nearest gas station, gassed up the vans since we were taking them back tomorrow, and we went through the car wash, all three vans.  The students were SO excited and scared!  The girls in my vans squeezed and yelled but they survived their first car wash.  The other vans made it safely through and a life dream had been accomplished.

1st Car Wash....scary

We survived!

What's happening...

The other vans lived to tell the tale

We headed back to the hotel and the students got to swim for the last time.  The pool was small but they didn't care, they just wanted to swim.  My mom was there too, she would be bringing me home the next day.  She hung out with the girls and helped us all pack.  It took a lot of talking and force to get the students out of the pool but eventually we got everyone in their rooms and started packing. 

 

We had to get up at around 4 to be on the road at 5 am.  At 2 am I still had girls up and wandering around.  I was getting sick at this point of the trip and I needed that two hours of sleep.  SO, to help calm the girls down I started to read to them.  15 minutes and they were all out...YES!  I found out the next morning that Sheila did the same thing with her group.