8^th Grade Northwest History Trip

Each year, the eighth grade class takes a few days in spring for some school outside of school. In early May, the students and chaperones travel around Montana, Idaho, and Washington on an educational tour. The class savings from their last two years fund the trip. The whole expedition costs approximately eighty dollars per person. They explore the Northwest and visit some of the places that they study earlier in the year. These are some of their traditional stops:

• Campbell House: This old-fashioned home in Spokane, Idaho is part of the Museum of Arts and Culture. Characters with information for the tour are assigned to students and some adults. Then as they explore the house, the guide asks questions and each person reads the answer from the given info.
• Cataldo Mission: This old church in Idaho was built by missionaries and natives, and decorated with fairly common materials, including tin cans and paint.
• Gold Mine: This gold mine in Kellogg, Idaho has been turned into a tour. The gift shop is underground, and the entrance to the mine is in the back. Visible quartz veins in the stone led to gold. After touring the mine, the visitors got to pan for gold in tubs outside.
• Travelers' Rest: This is a site in Montana where Lewis and Clark camped that has been turned into an outdoor museum.
• Grant Kohrs Ranch: This working ranch in Montana from the nineteenth century is also a museum where the visitors tour the farmhouse and bunkhouses.