Tuesday was spent at Mt. Vernon (home of George Washington) and at museums. Students were fascinated at Mt. Vernon as we explored that grounds and his house. After lunch we went to the Newseum...a museum built around how media affects our lives & the lasting impact. Students saw sections of the Berlin Wall and a 3 story wall of front pages from around the world on 9/11 as well as the radio antenna from the north tower. After the Newseum, we had time exploring the Smithsonians (American History & Natural History) and then ended the night with a walking tour of the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam & Korean War memorials. Student have been having a great time & braved the cold with minimal complaints.
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Our first stop in the afternoon was spent at Ford's Theater. This year is the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. We hear the story of Lincoln & how John Wilkes Booth carried out his plan and the consequences that he received. Our next stop was the Tidal Basin to explore the Martin Luther King, Franklin D. Roosevelt & Thomas Jefferson Memorials. Our tour guide Lauren did a great job sharing the history of DC as well the history of the memorials. Students were tasked with scavenger hunts at each of the stops to help them make connections. This evening we will finish our day after dinner with a ghost tour in Old Town Alexandria. All of the students have been great today especially considering we have covered over 7 miles of walking. After lunch we had a short visit at the Capitol building. This is a unique time for the Capitol building as it is under going a restoration process that happens every 50 years. A new trivia bit for me was to learn that the Capitol dome is built out of cast iron. The restoration process is expected to take roughly 2 years. The white statue inside is the original plaster cast of Freedom. This cast was used to create the broze statue that is on top of the Capitol dome. Freedom is 19 1/2 feet tall and was constructed during the Civil War. It was also an unwritten rule in D.C. that no statue is taller than Freedom herself so all other statues in the city are no more than 19 feet tall. The views from the top of the Washington Monument were amazing. The Monument is the tallest structure in D.C. And the tallest freestanding man made stone structure in the World. Students were impressed & in awe. Our tour guide Lauren also introduced the kids to a new trend: monument one. Monument one is laying on the ground and putting your feet up on the wall to take pictures from that angle. 😆 Our very chilly morning 38 degrees was spent doing a quick picture stop at the White House and exploring the WW II memorial. At the White House, Noah entertained us all by shouting for President Obama to come outside 😎 No luck for Noah. We are currently waiting for our turn at he Washington Monument. Our afternoon at Colonial Williamsburg was a lot of fun. The weather has been wonderful...a little brisk but sunny. We toured the Captial building, jail and several colonial shops such as the wig maker and silversmith. Before we spent a few minutes shopping, students experienced punishment in the style of the 1700s. Tomorrow will be our first very busy day in DC. On our list is the White House, Capitol grounds, Ford's Theater & several memorials. We spent this morning at the Jamestown Settlement. Students explored a replica of a Powatan village as well as Jamestown fort. Jamestown is important as the first permanent English settlement in North America and served as capital until the end of the 1600's. Students also saw working life size replica ships that the Virginia Company traveled on from England during their 1606-1607 voyage. Our day started off very early at the SGMS bus loop at 3:30am. Students were excited to get going. We made to LAX and through security without any issues! It was by far the easiest check-in I have ever done with students. We landed at Dulles Airport just outside of DC about 20 mins early and had to take a weird tram (giant moving box on wheels that vaguely reminded me of Star Wars) to baggage claim. Skylar was an amazing help claiming all of the suitcases from the baggage carousel. Our first destination was Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center which is part of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. This complex is home to dozens of aircraft including a Concorde Jet, SR-71 Blackbird Stealth and the Space Shuttle Discovery just to name a few. We spent about 45 minutes here before meeting up with the 2 others school we are traveling with & heading to dinner at Fuddruckers. Currently we are on the road headed to Williamsburg. All of the kids are getting along wonderfully. I am very lucky to have such a great group of amazing kids this year. |
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