The freshmen class from Clinton Christian Academy traveled to Hannibal, Missouri where the author Mark Twain grew up, for an overnight trip on May 11 & 12 . The town was his inspiration for the town of St. Petersburg from his books: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Our first stop (after feasting on Chick-fil-a food and checking into our hotel) was the Mark Twain Cave Tour. Some of us regretted wearing shorts as we stepped into the cool (it is 52 degrees, year-round), dark cave. We were able to see Mark Twain had actually written his name on the wall and see an area where Jesse James had used the cave as a hideout in the late 1800s. Mark Twain had played in this cave as a kid and used it as inspiration for the cave in Tom Sawyer. It allowed us to imagine how scary it would have been when Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher were lost in the cave. After that, we walked 244 steps up Cardiff Hill to see the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse at the top. The following day, we walked around downtown to look through all the different stores. At one point, the freshmen decided it was a great idea to walk back up the 255 lighthouse steps again... and again! We finished off the trip on a Riverboat Tour on the Mississippi River passing the same area where Huckleberry Finn and Jim float down on their raft. Special thanks to CCA English Instructor, Heidi Foreman, and CCA parents, Justin and Kari Wright, for chaperoning this awesome trip!
