SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP
BY: Eddie Ponce, Student at San Miguel Middle School of Minneapolis
This is San Miguel Middle School. The seventh grade class went to South Dakota for a week-long field trip. As we headed out west we passed through lots of cities. We stopped in a big city to have lunch at McDonald’s; I had the chicken meal. When we got to the Badlands we took lots of pictures, I used a whole roll of film there. I took pictures for my mom and myself so that I could remember I went to South Dakota with San Miguel Middle School.
Our teachers told us that not every San Miguel School gets to go on lots of big trips like us, we were lucky to go to South Dakota. On our way to the first campground, we saw some deer but no buffalo or antelope like we had expected. The next day we went on a drive through Custer State Park. At first we saw 3 or 6 buffalo at a time, but then when we were on the trail for an hour we started to see more and more buffalo. We finally saw large herds of them; they were in big, big groups.
After we saw all those buffalo, we saw six or seven prong-horn antelope. We didn’t see as many of them, but we also saw large groups of deer and in different parts we saw groups of prairie dogs - they look like baby squirrels. By the camp, we saw lots of chipmunks. We chased some of them.
When we got to the camp we were so tired and cold we went right to sleep. The next day we drove the Wildlife loop again and saw donkeys. They came right up to the vans and stuck their heads in. I never knew that donkeys lived in South Dakota, I mean out in the wild.
If we ever get to go to South Dakota again it would be nice. I liked seeing the buffalo and other animals up close, and it was fun seeing Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse up close. Not a lot of people get to see the things we saw. If we get to go again for a longer time, it would be even better for us, we would have even more excitement!
