Trips
Down Mexico way
By Emily Clark Taylor
Mr. Jones went along with Mr. Dassett on the marvelous Mexican Caravan, a huge cultural experience for us students. We visited many famous sites including the anthropological Museum in Mexico City, Xochomilcho, the pyramids at Teolhuacan, Palzcuara, Taxco, Acapulco, etc. Mexico is still a favorite spot for us to vacation.
Nature trips
By Emily Clark Taylor
Over my four years, I had several favorite classes. Mr. Jones led a biology class on many fascinating 7 a.m. field trips to look for birds, wildlife, and aquatic creatures. I learned to recognize newts and salamanders and began a life long interest in bird watching. A favorite trip was to a blue heron colony in the Rice Lake nature preserve.
Memorable meetings at the UN
By Stephen Skjold
Going to the United Nations and seeing Eleanor Roosevelt and Hubert Humphrey was a great highlight.
Outsmarting the turkeys
By Boris V. Bachynski
I was approached by the Mac Weekly editor to go to a local turkey farm and take a photo commemorating the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. With hatchet in hand we delved into a flock of turkeys but cooperation was not on their agenda – these birds can really run! After a number of failed attempts, I suggested we try some corn for bait. I took a couple of handfuls of corn and created a line of corn from the flock to where I and the photographer were located. One bird in particular took the bait and came nibbling toward us, close enough for a fine picture (See the photo on the Friends and Faces scrapbook page.)
Rocky Mountain High
By Brian L. Anderson
The second semester of our senior year, Jack Mason and I were chosen to represent Macalester College at a "United States Representation Abroad" conference being held at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. We traveled by train for two days in a Pullman car watching the snow covered landscape flash by in five states before arriving at the cavernous train station in Denver. At the Academy we ate every sumptuous meal with the cadets who sat ramrod straight in their chairs. Interacting with those bright young men in our panel discussions was a "breeze" for Jack, a bit more challenging for me. We both admired their dedication to duty, discipline, and desire to be Air Force pilots. En route back to the Twin Cities listening to rhythmic clacking of steel rails, Jack and I reminisced about the beauty of the majestic Rocky Mountains peaks, the brisk invigorating air at the 5,000-foot elevation, the awe-inspiring Academy chapel, the gracious attitude of our hosts throughout the conference and our good fortune to represent "Mac" at America's newest military academy!
The 1957 train trip to New York and D.C.
By Brian L. Anderson
During Easter vacation of 1957, I joined about three dozen classmates and upper classmen led by Dr. Dorothy Dodge for a train trip to New York and Washington, D.C. I remember we had some group pictures taken before our departure at the Union Station in St. Paul with a special "send-off" by a Mac bagpiper! Our tour of the United Nations General Assembly and Secretariat buildings as well as seeing the Russian Embassy really impressed me. And even greater thrill was meeting with Minnesota's Senator Hubert Humphrey on Capitol Hill and having a group photo with him! Visiting the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial was also a very emotional experience for me because I was reminded of the great sacrifices they made in their service for our country.
Going home for a day
By Dona Meigs Morgan
As I remember, student nurses were the only ones lucky enough to have Saturday class. When we planned a weekend trip home, it meant leaving campus after class ended at 10 a.m., a three hour car ride home and a 24 hour visit with our parents before starting back to school.