For the last full week of school, Joshua and about 180 of his closest eighth grade friends took a trip to Washington DC to have some fun and maybe even learn something along the way!
Amongst rumors of spreading Swine Flu, the groggy teens and their chaperones boarded their luxury coaches at 5:30 AM on Monday morning and set off for the Best Western in Springfield, VA that would be their home for the next four nights. The trip would get off to a rockin’ start Monday evening with a Moonlight Dance cruise on the Potomac aboard the Cherry Blossom. With the girls in their finest dresses and the boys struggling to tie their ties, a fun time was had by all – even culminating in the big dance off!
Tuesday would include trips to Arlington National Cemetery, the United States Marine Corps War (Iwo Jima) Memorial, a tour and group picture at the US Capitol, lunch at Union Station, the National Cathedral, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (one week after the shooting there – probably with the tightest security in Washington!) before capping the day watching “High School Musical” performed at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre!
Wednesday included visits to the National Zoological Park, the White House, the National Air & Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of American History, and then an evening tour of the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the World War II Memorial.
Thursday would be a fun day! The group spent most of the day at Busch Gardens before a much acclaimed dinner at the Golden Corral and evening tours of the FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.
Energy was winding down by Friday and what would be an early departure for home with a stop at Liberty Park in New Jersey and a ferry tour of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. When the busses finally rolled back into the school parking lot at 8:30 Friday night, a thrilled but exhausted troop of teens dragged off and headed for bed.
What a wonderful trip for you, Joshua. You saw more in one week than I did the entire time I lived in the neighborhood of all those fantastic museums and memorials. I wish you had had time to call your cousin, Rob, but I know everything was scheduled and you couldn’t go off on your own.
Hope all the family is well.
Great Aunt Ruth