PEA RIDGE — There we sat in a school bus, perched in front of Pea Ridge High, 14 students and four adults at 3 a.m., ready for adventure, surprises and memories. We had worked ourselves tirelessly not only academically, but also diligently as fundraisers all year long; now, all of our selling raffle tickets and cooking spaghetti would pay off. We headed for the unknown.

Little did we know how much fun we were actually going to have, the friends we were going to make and the memories we would make over the next seven days.

Whenever we told people that we would be riding on a bus for 20 hours, one could see the pity in their eyes, as if saying, “Bless your little hearts,” but I have never had so much fun on a big, yellow bus. We took and playedtime, and the best was yet to come.

We left Pea Ridge, hours before dawn, and finally reached Custer, South Dakota, just a few more hours short of dawn. We checked in and saw our picturesque country barnretreat illuminated and prepared for us and our adventure. With it being in the wee hours of the morning, and an hour gained on our way (we were now in Mountain Time), we were exhausted, yet we were all so wide awake because we were overflowing with excitement. We couldn’t wait to start our week, filled with firsts: train rides, rock climbing, horseback riding and chuck wagon dinners.

We all got up that first morning, and of course me being the last one to be ready, and headed out into the crisp, unfamiliarly arid air and go to have breakfast as our first experience as tourists. As the day continued, we discoveredwhole lot different from home - crisp, cool and thin. We got to the train station, after breakfast, and climbed up the steps into the old 1880 train, the conductor explaining to keep our body parts inside the train at all times, but we found that impossible since we just had to point at the mountains and rocks and unfamiliar animals that were all so new to us. The train ride took us to a small town named Keystone where there was shopping, all our favorite activity. We found a small photography shop where the manager told us he would take some saloon-style pictures of us and cut us a deal, so we decided we just had to do it, (We seemed to fall into the “must-have” situations a lot!) just like we had to get that one-of-a-kind, handmade bracelet and try the new coffee shop next door.

Next we met up for lunch, all 18 of us, and found fromnewbies from the bags piled next to our table, now it was obvious that we weren’t from around there. After lunch, we went back to the train station where some of us napped and some just stared at the newto-us scenery, and I thought, “Well, it’ll be hard to top this.” But little did I know that every new activity would be my favorite.

The next day we began with a home-cooked breakfast and headed out in our hiking boots and got ready for a brand new activity- rock climbing. Not only was it new and challenging (which we learned were both good things), it was team building and taught us perseverance we never knew we had in us.

There we were, some of us scared of heights, some of us who were unaware that climbing these giant rocks could quite possibly be our calling, ready for something new. We cheered and whooped andout loud to each other of the day that lay behind us now.

We talked about how we “couldn’t believe she climbed that so fast…” or how we never knew he “was such a monkey, climbing those rocks like he had been since he was young.” We learned things about other people, and about ourselves that we won’t ever forget.

Later that week, after little sleep, still high on excitement, we were starving for not only steaks and hamburgers, but authentic South Dakota music. We climbed on the back of a covered trailer and headed off into the mountains and animal-filled prairies for a scenic route to our destination, where picnic tables and singing cooks waited for us.

After our delicious dinners, we sang songs and danced in a circle and shouted “Yahoo!” in unison over the mountains to hear our echo. Never would I ever imagine that I would bethey individually chose everyone else’s horse by experience, height and personality to ensure we got the most out of this new and fun endeavor.

We trekked through the Black Hills and into fields full of deer, pine trees and views that were post card-like, which seemed to be a regular view throughout the trip like Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument. I will never forget how big our group seemed until we stood next to that Indian memorial, and our founding fathers’ sculpture. Everywhere we went we seemed like we were such a large group, but at Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore, we were just these tiny dots next to a humongous piece of history. I remember walking onto the runway of flags and asking myself, “What was Mr. Pate thinking dragging us across America?” and then I saw the unforgettable view of the presidentsand thinking, “That’s why.”

Not once was there a dull moment with the combination of outgoing personalities and new friendships being built. We laughed until we cried and stayed up late talking even though we knew our day would begin at 6 a.m. We cooked dinner with people we never thought we would and shared a pot of coffee with a new friend on the balcony of a ranch we never imagined we would get to be a part. We found out that some people are morning people and that some people can tell really scary stories in the middle of a field at nighttime and that there are moments that a picture just can’t do justice.

As Mr. Tim Pate (our teacher) said time and time again, it truly was the “trip of a lifetime.”

Editor’s note: The trip described was of the AP Biology class from Pea Ridge High School and is written by student Noelle Littrell.

School, Pages 9 on 06/23/2010