A Special Grandparent/Grandson Bond
Article from Quarterly Monte Vista Grove Newsletter 2015
Marilyn, Nico, and Jim Leaving Pasadena June 25,2015
Can you remember your favorite teacher? A teacher who maybe played a special role in your life? Perhaps was a role model to you? Now imagine… what if your favorite teacher was your grandfather?
Nico Symons Galassi is a 13 year old boy in the 8th grade who lives in Pasadena, California. His favorite subjects are History and Science. Some of Nico’s hobbies include: fencing, science and biochemistry. Jim Symons, age 81, is Nico’s grandfather and resides at Monte Vista Grove Homes. Jim and Nico share a special bond. For the past year, Jim has been homeschooling his grandson in History, with a special focus on the explorations of Lewis and Clark.
This past July, Jim, his wife Marilyn, and Nico all took a road trip to follow the Lewis and Clark trail. The road trip lasted for 14 days and they drove over 4,000 miles. They started in Pasadena and traveled north and east to Great Falls, Montana in two long, hot days – it was 116 degrees in Mesquite, Arizona. Following the route of Lewis and Clark along the Missouri River in Montana, they then drove from Great Falls to Helena, Three Forks and over the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass on a one lane dirt road. Stops in Idaho included Salmon, Lolo Pass, and Lewiston. The last part of the trip followed the Columbia River, stopping at Walla Walla, Washington and The Dalles, Oregon before reaching the Pacific Ocean at Astoria. After visiting Fort Clatsop near Astoria where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805, they turned south to return home to Pasadena.
As Nico’s teacher, it was important to Jim to let Nico experience the trail instead of just reading about it. In Jim’s opinion, Lewis and Clark are the most important explorers in American history, making life and death decisions almost daily in a wilderness never seen before by American citizens. Jim enjoys homeschooling Nico because he can be creative in his teaching and learn alongside Nico about American history.
One of Nico’s favorite memories of the journey was a stop at historic Ft. Benton, Montana, where they visited an ice cream shop and were offered a variety of types of soft serve on a boiling hot day. Another memorable moment was at Lemhi Pass where they found Sacajawea Spring, a tiny stream they could straddle which was the origin of the mighty Missouri River. Lastly, at the end of the journey, Nico had the privilege of stopping in Oregon to visit his great aunt Margie whom he was “super excited” to see.
If Lewis and Clark were still alive, Jim would like to ask Lewis how he kept his team going when they were lost and starving in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. He also is curious to know what happened and what was going through Lewis’ mind when he was attacked by a grizzly bear near Great Falls – and suddenly realized his gun was not loaded! Nico would like to know why Lewis and Clark took so much soup (which turned out to be the biggest expense of the whole expedition). On Nico’s travels they stopped at a “fancy restaurant” in Three Forks and ordered minestrone soup. Nico complained about how disgusting the soup tasted so the question he wanted answered from Lewis & Clark (and became a running joke the rest of the trip) was if the soup the expedition ate was the gross minestrone soup Nico had eaten. Nico also wonders why their spelling was so terrible. He explains that in Clark’s journal the word ‘berry’ is spelled three different ways in one sentence. ‘Sioux’, the Native American tribe, has 28 different spellings. Jim jokes that he thinks it was probably part of their humor.
These two are quite the duo and one would see how special their bond is. Jim describes Nico as being brilliant. He says you can ask him any science question and he will be able to answer it. Nico summed up his travels with his grandpa as, “It’s pretty fun traveling with my grandpa!”
On the horizon for the next summer’s trip are possibly Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica or even the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Stay tuned for more adventures from Nico and Jim!
Nico Symons Galassi is a 13 year old boy in the 8th grade who lives in Pasadena, California. His favorite subjects are History and Science. Some of Nico’s hobbies include: fencing, science and biochemistry. Jim Symons, age 81, is Nico’s grandfather and resides at Monte Vista Grove Homes. Jim and Nico share a special bond. For the past year, Jim has been homeschooling his grandson in History, with a special focus on the explorations of Lewis and Clark.
This past July, Jim, his wife Marilyn, and Nico all took a road trip to follow the Lewis and Clark trail. The road trip lasted for 14 days and they drove over 4,000 miles. They started in Pasadena and traveled north and east to Great Falls, Montana in two long, hot days – it was 116 degrees in Mesquite, Arizona. Following the route of Lewis and Clark along the Missouri River in Montana, they then drove from Great Falls to Helena, Three Forks and over the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass on a one lane dirt road. Stops in Idaho included Salmon, Lolo Pass, and Lewiston. The last part of the trip followed the Columbia River, stopping at Walla Walla, Washington and The Dalles, Oregon before reaching the Pacific Ocean at Astoria. After visiting Fort Clatsop near Astoria where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805, they turned south to return home to Pasadena.
As Nico’s teacher, it was important to Jim to let Nico experience the trail instead of just reading about it. In Jim’s opinion, Lewis and Clark are the most important explorers in American history, making life and death decisions almost daily in a wilderness never seen before by American citizens. Jim enjoys homeschooling Nico because he can be creative in his teaching and learn alongside Nico about American history.
One of Nico’s favorite memories of the journey was a stop at historic Ft. Benton, Montana, where they visited an ice cream shop and were offered a variety of types of soft serve on a boiling hot day. Another memorable moment was at Lemhi Pass where they found Sacajawea Spring, a tiny stream they could straddle which was the origin of the mighty Missouri River. Lastly, at the end of the journey, Nico had the privilege of stopping in Oregon to visit his great aunt Margie whom he was “super excited” to see.
If Lewis and Clark were still alive, Jim would like to ask Lewis how he kept his team going when they were lost and starving in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. He also is curious to know what happened and what was going through Lewis’ mind when he was attacked by a grizzly bear near Great Falls – and suddenly realized his gun was not loaded! Nico would like to know why Lewis and Clark took so much soup (which turned out to be the biggest expense of the whole expedition). On Nico’s travels they stopped at a “fancy restaurant” in Three Forks and ordered minestrone soup. Nico complained about how disgusting the soup tasted so the question he wanted answered from Lewis & Clark (and became a running joke the rest of the trip) was if the soup the expedition ate was the gross minestrone soup Nico had eaten. Nico also wonders why their spelling was so terrible. He explains that in Clark’s journal the word ‘berry’ is spelled three different ways in one sentence. ‘Sioux’, the Native American tribe, has 28 different spellings. Jim jokes that he thinks it was probably part of their humor.
These two are quite the duo and one would see how special their bond is. Jim describes Nico as being brilliant. He says you can ask him any science question and he will be able to answer it. Nico summed up his travels with his grandpa as, “It’s pretty fun traveling with my grandpa!”
On the horizon for the next summer’s trip are possibly Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica or even the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Stay tuned for more adventures from Nico and Jim!
July 4, 2015 at the End of the Lewis and Clark Trail
