{"id":3355,"date":"2016-05-18T21:25:04","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T01:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/?p=3355"},"modified":"2016-05-18T21:25:04","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T01:25:04","slug":"magnolia-plantation-field-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/?p=3355","title":{"rendered":"A Magnolia Plantation Field Trip: The First Half"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_9462\"<\/a>As a child growing up outside the city of Chicago, I equated field trips with jaunts into the city. I remember visiting, among other places, the Museum of Science and Industry<\/a>, the Field Museum<\/a>, Adler Planetarium<\/a>, Shedd Aquarium<\/a>, and the Sears Tower<\/a>. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d pile onto the bus and head into the city, mashing our faces against often-frosted windows to try to see the tops of the skyscrapers as we neared our destination. And later, as an English teacher in the Chicagoland area, the majority of my field trips were to many of the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theaters, like Steppenwolf Theatre <\/a>and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater<\/a>. In short, most of my field trip experiences have been metropolitan in nature.<\/p>\n

Now, in the coastal Carolinas, at both schools my children have attended, the field trips tend to swing the opposite direction, toward parks and historical preserves and beaches and tidal creeks. This spring, the big third grade field trip headed to Magnolia Plantation<\/a> in Charleston, and I was able to help chaperone my daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s class. I was pumped for this trip; it had been four years since I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d accompanied my son on his third grade class trip<\/a> to Boone Hall Plantation<\/a>, so I was eager to experience another plantation with another child.<\/p>\n

I feel it important to first comment on several pre-plantation points of interest. This might be why travel publications are not beating down my door, asking me to write for them. This might also be why An Island Mom is more likely to be classified as a mom blog rather than a travel blog.<\/p>\n

Points of interest, then, for moms:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. In my rush out the door, I totally forgot to confirm that I had hand sanitizer in my purse before I left. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure if this is progress or regress.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Unlike the last plantation field trip, this time the school chose not to charter a bus and instead took a school bus. Now, the school bus we used could have been much worse, but it also could have been much better<\/em>. You know, liked chartered better<\/em>, with seats that actually take the human spine into consideration.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not complaining; the fee was much less expensive than the trip to Boone we took four years ago. Less expensive field trips are a good thing, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m assuming the transportation downgrade was the reason for this.<\/p>\n

      But wow.<\/p>\n

      I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry to say that, lest I were harboring any secret delusions of youth before entering that bus, I have now been assured that I no longer have the body of an elementary student. Those seats? They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly woo you with their comfort. Instead, they pretty much force one into the at-attention pose for the duration of one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey. Thus, while the bus bumped its way to Charleston, I felt like I was going to be propelled into the ceiling at any moment.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. I spent much of the ride there, when not talking with another mother, thinking about my character flaws. Specifically, I broke \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the rules\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on this trip, and more egregious is the fact that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m only about 50% sorry.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        It was all because of yogurt.<\/p>\n

        Actually, it was all because of laziness, but I like the effect the word yogurt<\/em> gives in the last sentence.<\/p>\n

        The night before, Baby-Girl came to me while packing her mandated paper bag lunch and said she really, really, really wanted to bring yogurt. Initially, I told her she couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take any, since her bag lunch would be sitting in the heat all morning. But, when a quick search of the kitchen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alternative offerings revealed I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d need to run to the grocery store to make Plan B a viable option, I was immediately fine with ignoring the bag lunch rule. I handed her an insulated sack and told her to pack.<\/p>\n

        Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a teacher. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made rules like this myself. And, when it happens on my watch, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been all like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the dipwad parent not following the rules?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

        Oh, there is shame in this.<\/p>\n

        Thankfully, for all two of you who came here looking for a travel post, my introspection was broken by our arrival at the plantation. We checked in, pulled over to disembark, grabbed our lunches, and walked to a picnic area for what turned out to be an early lunch.<\/p>\n

        \"IMG_9367\"<\/a>The picnic area was interesting, flanked by a petting zoo on one side and a retired outhouse on the other.<\/p>\n

        \"IMG_9371\"<\/a>Fifty bucks says the outhouse is taken out of retirement from time to time.<\/p>\n

        Watching the kids mosey over to the outhouse to figure out what it was brought an entertainment to my mealtime I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anticipated. I witnessed two quickly thwarted attempts to throw garbage in it (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is this the garbage?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), and more than one third grader slipped over, at some point during the lunch, to try out the seat.<\/p>\n

        It seems there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing like a mid-lunch break to sit a spell in the outhouse.<\/p>\n

        \"IMG_9384\"<\/a>\"IMG_9386\"<\/a>Our next stop was the petting zoo. I will never get tired of seeing peacocks. Their colors are my colors.<\/p>\n

        I know all creatures are beautiful and all that, but some creatures also scare the heck out of me. All while being beautiful, of course.<\/p>\n

        \"IMG_9396\"<\/a>This is one of those creatures. That neck makes me want to throw up with all that beauty.<\/p>\n

        \"IMG_9405\"<\/a>Next, we took a tram tour through the plantation. This is classic Lowcountry, folks.<\/p>\n

        \"IMG_9407\"<\/a>Why yes, those would be gator heads you see popping out of the water.<\/p>\n

        \"IMG_9410\"<\/a>So here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get: The turtles just sit there, like they are taunting the jaws of death or something. Maybe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wrong, but I think an alligator would enjoy a good turtle from time to time, when hunger strikes.<\/p>\n

        \"IMG_9416\"<\/a>It was on the midway point of the tram tour that I heard my favorite exchange, the words that made me ponder whether or not I should switch to elementary education, just for entertainment purposes.<\/p>\n

        We were in the middle of nowhere, miles from anything like a McDonalds, ourselves the only civilization around for acres upon acres. During a break in the narration provided by the tram operator, a child in front of me turned to another child with an observation.<\/p>\n

        \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I smell chicken nuggets!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

        Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, it took every ounce of self control I had, and I mean every ounce, not to lean forward and, in my best Sam Elliot<\/a> voice, say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Them ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t chicken nuggets you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re smelling. Them are gator nuggets.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        As a child growing up outside the city of Chicago, I equated field trips with jaunts into the city. I remember visiting, among other places, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, and the Sears Tower. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d pile onto the bus and head into the city, mashing our faces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[2052,2053,105,2054,2055],"class_list":["post-3355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-islandlife","category-island-parenting","tag-coastal-field-trips","tag-field-trips-in-the-carolinas","tag-island-life","tag-magnolia-plantation","tag-old-southern-plantations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.anislandmom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}