An Elephant, a Hat, and a Boy

Other than a snow day, there’s nothing more exciting to a child than going on a field trip and missing a day of school. As a rural girl, I didn’t go on many school trips, but when my family moved to Washington, Illinois, for three years, there is one field trip that sticks out in my memory—a trip to a pottery factory/store and to a bread factory.

Although I’m not positive of the exact year, I am can narrow it down to 1965 or 1966.

This particular trip tugs at my memory because it was fun and because I was scolded. In spite of being a rebel in my heart, I’m actually a law abiding, rule following gal so the injustice of that scolding is still fresh in my mind.

One of the places we visited that day was a plant where they created pottery. We were introduced to molds, slip and kilns. At the end of that visit we were allowed to buy souvenirs in their gift shop which is where I bought the red elephant planter, in the photo.

The second place we toured was a bakery where we were shown the process of bread making and packaging. I regret to tell you that I no longer have those souvenirs, because I ate them. At the bakery we were given paper hats to wear as we toured rooms where the bread making was going on. The hats were to protect the yummy bread from falling hair.

We were in a narrow line listening to the tour guide tell us about the function of that particular room when a boy, standing behind me, knocks the paper hat off of my head and it sails to the floor. The tour guide immediately stops his spiel and tells me to put my hat back on and then gives a brief lecture (again) on why we had to wear them. All the while, my classmates glared at me and the boy behind me snickered.

“We must keep our hats on,” The tour guide says one more time before we move to the next room.

Although I was embarrassed, I didn’t let it ruin my day because our next stop was a picnic in a park with lots of running space and playground equipment.

Boys have come and gone in my life, but my love for (all things) bread and my elephant made of pottery remains.