Onekama School's Fifth Grade Aboard the S.S. Badger

Badger Trip
Lauren

Yesterday we went on a boat called the Badger. When we got on we had to go through the car deck. The car deck is as big as a foot ball field, but of course we couldn’t see the whole length of it because of the cars. Half an hour later we left shore, and my mom and I went out and watched the Badger leave. The water was a lot of beautiful blue colors.

On the boat there were a lot of things to do. My mom and I went to the gift shop first. There were a lot of different things to choose from, but we decided not to buy any thing yet. So we can buy stuff on the 4 hour trip back from Wisconsin. Then I went to the arcade with some of my friends Maeve and Brooke. The movie theater was fun as well. We watched some of Meet the Parents and all of Agent Cody Banks. Then I went outside to get some fresh air.

When the Badger was docking two men had to pull it in. It was a sight to see. It was really rocky and wavy when we were docking too. Then we got off of the boat. I went home with my mom. We were all tired from a lot of fun. The trip was great.

Badger Trip
Brooke Taylor

On the badger we had a lot of fun. I wish that we could go on the Badger again. It was not that cold when we were on are way. On the way back it got kind of cold. I was always walking around never in one spot all the time. I was mostly in the hallways with Lexi, Lauren, and Ashlie. When we got tired we sat down but not for long. So we had a lot of fun just walking around.

The arcade is where we mostly were but only spent a little of my money their. Some people did not even come out of the arcade. I would think it would be really hard to stay in there the whole time. It was kind of fun being in the arcade but it might need to be a little bigger. I only went in there like 6 times. The arcade is pretty fun.

On the badger we get to play bingo and you can win cups and a lot more. You can play trivia and one of our Onekama people got to go up. We all helped her out and I think she did really well. So she won the trivia.

The café was really big and you serve your self on the top floor bottom you don’t. You can get a meal $6.00 and get anything you want. I was not that hungry because I had my mind fixed on the trip. I thought their food was good.

Lauren, Taylor, Yumi, and I were all watching the movies that were playing. First we watched Meet the Parents and Agent Cody Banks. I liked Agent Cody banks better than meet the parents because it was more funny and I just like it.

When we got close to Wisconsin you could see the houses and, the water got really low. If you stand in it it’s almost up to your knees it would look like. We were so happy I thought this was the best day of my life being on the only steam ship left.

Submarine was really smelly and really big. Only 80 men fit in it. 36 people would have to share beds. After other people were in them and sweaty. The beds are really hard and I do not like them at all.

When we went inside the museum we went to the room and got split into groups. We hit the gift shop first. I got fairy dust and friendship bracelets and a lot of other cool things. I was in there for like 15 minutes. I really liked it a lot and it did not cost too much. That I am really glad of the low price.

On the way back when we got on the boat it was a lot of fun and, I really liked it. We were really tired but kept on playing the whole time. Till we got a half an hour away from the dock. Then we had to get all of or things out of the state room. Soon everybody was on the bus waiting the boat pull in. I hope everybody else next year likes it!

Onekama's bus backs on the Badger

Badger Trip
Alan

The Badger trip is my favorite field trip I have gone on. It was fun going to the front of the boat and putting your head over the side because it was so windy your hair would fly everywhere. It was so windy when you jumped in the air the wind would push you a little bit forward and sometimes a lot. When you would spit of the side of the boat when it was moving it would fly up really high then come back down.

When we came back to Michigan and docked the boat went at an angle and bent the metal on the dock. When we did that Logan said, "haaaaaaa break that metal." The people on the bus missed it all. It took a long time to dock it took about 15 to 20 minutes to dock the boat. I didn’t get to see us dock when we got to Wisconsin because we had to get on the bus.

The food on the Badger was really good. Nolan and I each paid three dollars and got one meal to split. Nolan and I went to the breakfast and lunch buffet. There are two restaurants on the Badger. The stuff in the gift shop was a lot of money. I got a visor for 11.95 and my dad a shot glass for 3.95 that’s all I got in the gift shop.

The S.S. Badger
Maeve

The Badger is very fun and exciting. It has 5 levels, 1 for the cars, 2 for the people. The front and 1 for the crew. There are 2 lounges down stairs and 2 lounges up stairs. The badger also has an Arcade, movies, the Badger Boatique, a museum, and a dining area up stairs and a lunch or snack area down stairs. The Badger was really fun. I mostly was at the front on deck. I also played Bingo, trivia, and was in the arcade. I had a great time on the Badger.

In Wisconsin, at the Maritime Museum, there was a gift shop, Boat models like the City of Milwaukee. There was also a place called Water Works, that’s where you made little boats and floated them down a water way. The museum was a lot of fun.

The Cobia is a big submarine that could hold 80 people and 16 torpedoes. The toilet was called the Captains Head, you also had to know 7 ways of flushing the toilet or it would spit it back up at you. There were 37 mattresses in one area and 39 people had to sleep in them. The Cobia, museum, and the S.S. Badger were really fun.

Badger Trip
Ashley

The Badger was fun. I won so many things. Bingo was almost the most fun. In bingo I won a Badger bag. At the arcade I raced, and I won in fifth place. When we first got on the ship we had to meet in the main room. When we could go explore, I went to see the ship leave. That was a cool sight.

Anyway when we docked, the metal split from scrapping the wood. At first when we docked there was a big thud. That was only because we hit the dock hard. It must have hit really hard for the metal to break.

The gift shop part was cool at the Maritime Museum. I bought a mood ring. At the Badger gift shop I didn’t buy anything though. At least I had a blast. But now I’m very tired!

Badger Trip
Brooke Ann

Yesterday we went on the Badger. There was an arcade, a movie theater, a buffet, and a nice gift shop, or you could rest, watch TV, read a book. We went to Wisconsin. It took four hours to get there and four hour to get back. My dad went with. The ride there was smooth. The ride back was rough.

In the museum we got to go on a sub marine. We also got to look at models of boats. On the sub marine they could fit 80 men. At the end of the trip they had to eat green chicken. It was a lot of fun.

On the way back we played Bingo. We also play in the arcade; we went to the top of the boat it was so wavy you had to hold our self up on something. Finally we got back to Onekama at 8:10.

SS Badger
Duane

The SS Badger is the biggest ship on the Great Lakes. The length of this great ship is 410’ 6". It is long enough to hold a football field. The Badger’s width is 59’ 6". That’s pretty wide. The Badger’s full height is 106’ 9". That means it’s tall enough to hold a two-story building. That’s just how big the Badger really is.

I really liked the SS Badger. It had the things to feed you. Some were the restaurants. Some were the lounges. The SS Badger also had plenty of entertainment. They had an arcade for instance. Also they had A movie theater, a gift shop, Badger Bingo, and the fact that you can see Lake Michigan the whole time. Those things make the SS Badger what it is.

I had a great time on the SS Badger. I played card games, watched movies, and played in the arcade. I also played Badger Bingo twice. I didn’t win a prize, but it was still fun. I want back on the SS Badger!

The Badger Trip
Cameron

On Wednesday we went on the Badger across Lake Michigan. It was a lot of fun to go on the boat. A large group of people played bingo, I played once and I won a Frisbee. I went all over the whole boat. Most of our class was in the arcade. I like the SS Badger a whole lot.

I liked the museum more than many other things. My favorite part was the Water World Exhibit. Most of the time I played with the water pipes. They also had boats and mini Soo Locks to play with. I liked the museum a lot. It was very fun and interesting to me.

I had a ton of fun on the tour of the Cobia. The Cobia is 312 feet long, about as long as a football field. The most wanted job on the sub was the water purification room, because that was where all the purest water was and you could drink and wash with it. On the sub the people filled the showers with potatoes and you could not take a shower until all the potatoes were eaten, that took about two weeks to do. I had a lot of fun on the Cobia.

Badger Fun
Malana

When we got on the ship it was crowded with people. There were a lot of cars too. The tour guide said that there was an oversize load yesterday. When Brooke and I got on the ship we walked around to find the Arcade. Then we went to the gift shop and looked around. We played Badger bingo.

What I thought was interesting was that the boat weights 4,300 pounds and still floats. I wish I could go on it again in summer but it costs a lot. The next time I go on it I am going to bring more money to spend. I had lots of fun.

When we got to Wisconsin we got on a bus to go to the Maritime Museum, Then we got on a submarine and we got walked around with a tour guide. It was a lot of fun.

SS badger
Logan

We went on the Badger trip two days ago. It was a lot of fun. First I got up out of bed at 5:52 am, ate, brushed my teeth, packed my bags and got ready to go. We were at the bus at about 6:35 am. Then I got on the bus sat next to Michael, then Cameron came and sat next to me. Then on the way there we sat and listened to music. When we got there we sat around and waited to get on the ship. We got a picture taken of us doing the Charlies angel pose.

When we got on the ship we went around the boat looked at the front of the ship walked around some more and went to the arcade. Then we took off at 9:00 am. Then we left for Wisconsin. The trip lasted for 4 hours, most of the time we were in the arcade. My favorite game was area 51 where aliens escaped from a secret lab and attacked you. We did walk around a little bit, then we saw a bunch of these weird shapes under tarps with little metal strips on it. We thought of every thing it could possibly be. When we were almost there, we saw a waste plant through a pair of binoculars on front of the boat. We docked and got into the bus. We had to wait a long time because of 6 or 7 semi trucks that had to be unloaded. Then we drove down the road a bit and there was a skate shop. Then in a few minutes there was a museum, which we went inside. We were split into 2 groups one that went in the Cobia, a submarine and we the group that didn’t go in the sub first went to the museum display. I went to a water station then my mom wanted me to try my hand at welding, and I did I liked it a lot. Then we went into the submarine and walked around in it.

Then we came back. We did the same thing almost, except I ate and got a shirt from the gift shop. We went in the arcade again and played some more. It was very fun and I liked it a lot. When we got close to the dock the boat started rocking back and forth Michael and I looked at this computer that talked about fish and other stuff that has invaded the great lakes. When we docked the boat hit a piece of metal and it snapped in half, everyone said boo except for Michael and I. Michael was laughing and I said "woo break that metal!" When we got back I went to the bathroom and we came to my house.