Explore America Group Completes Experience

A Trip To Remember

The experience was worth the challenging journey for the Froid and Medicine Lake Explore America groups in April. Having to change travel plans often because of blizzard conditions in North Dakota, the students successfully made the trip to Arizona/Nevada and back home.

“We went in a blizzard and arrived back in a blizzard,” Tracie Smith, advisor for the Froid School group, laughed.

The group, consisting of 12 Froid students and six Medicine Lake students, was originally supposed to leave on Wednesday, April 13. The first of this April’s blizzard delayed the trip three days. Then, Froid students left a day earlier than Medicine Lake’s members.

“It’s hard to reorganize flights for that amount of people,” Smith explained.

After spending the first day in Las Vegas, Nev., students got to experience the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah.

“We got to sled and snowboard in the dunes,” Smith said. “The kids really enjoyed it.”

Other highlights included seeing the conservatory at the Belagio, Bryce Canyon National Park and then Zion National Park where some of the students played in waterfalls.

Later in the trip, students took in the breathtaking Grand Canyon. After learning through hikes at the canyon, the group traveled to Sedona, Ariz.

“They were very tired at the end of the trip,” Smith said. “We spent every day hiking and exploring.”

The way back to Montana on the weekend of April 23-24 was also a little bit of an adventure.

“We knew there was another storm,” Smith said.

The Froid group’s flight to Minneapolis to Minot was delayed four hours so much time was spent in the airport. The Medicine Lake group spent an extra night in a hotel. Despite the interesting trip, it was certainly a trip of a lifetime for the students.

“It was a wonderful experience,” Smith said. “We were grateful for the community to help fund the trip.”