8th Grade DC Trip

It was Ellie’s turn to go to Washington, D.C., with her class.  I actually really enjoy going, and I am grateful every year I am given the chance.  I asked Ellie if she was okay with me going before volunteering.  She said she was.  I just requested not to be her group’s chaperone. 

We had a small group of kids – less than 60 kids, I think.  We boarded the bus at 6:30am and took off.  Ellie with her friend, Harper, were somehow right in front of me!  What luck!

   

We stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch, made it to Gettysburg by about 1:30. 

Thankfully, even with the government shutdown, they were giving guided tours at this national park.  The girls learned about the Civil War and the Battle at Gettysburg.  They climbed the very tall fire tower and took pictures on top of Big Round Top.  It ended up being a windy, but beautiful day.

    

After a massive buffet,

we headed to the night tour of various monuments in DC – FDR, Jefferson, and MLK Jr.  These are not my favorite ones to see in the dark, but this is what time permitted us.  Thankfully, the lights were on at FDR and we could see some things.

    

After a good night’s sleep, we met downstairs and had a breakfast buffet in our hotel.  We left by about 8am to get to to our first stop.  This year was a bit different.  There was a government shutdown happening – a really uncooperative Congress was arguing over the budget – so all the Smithsonians were closed.  Our tour company scheduled us a stop at Mount Vernon in place of those.   I had never been here, so I found it interesting.  We saw George Washington’s family tomb, the cemetery for slaves, the slave quarters, toured the house, and soaked in the view of the Potomac.  It was beautiful. 

    

From there, we headed to the Holocaust Museum.  While this intrigues me every year, the political unrest in the U.S. right now painted this in a different light.  It is amazing what can so quickly happen given a chance.  How easily people can be taught to hate based on religion, race, skin color, eye color, country of origin, sexuality, and so many things that don’t really make that person loveable or detestable.  And they certainly aren’t cause for the atrocious acts of violence that were showered on these groups.  It is a hard, but necessary, place to visit.

The kids are usually starving for lunch at this point because it is almost 1pm and lunch at school happens at 10:10.  We head to a mall food court and let them go.  Then, we walk forever around Arlington Cemetery and watch the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  All of this makes me consider the lives that have been lost for causes we aren’t even aware about and sometimes didn’t even care about.  The tragedy of war.

The day ends in a light-hearted and loud manner – at Medieval Times dinner show.  My adult crew (Kelsey Rowley, Maddie Aumend, Jess Matz, and me) had fun watching the kids.  And the kids always have a lot of fun cheering for their knight.  Ellie and her table got a picture afterwards with their knight. 

   

The drive back was LOOOOOOONG.  We were caught in a traffic jam and did not make it back to the hotel until almost midnight.  It made for a very short night.

The last day we souvenir shopped, went to the People’s House (a really neat mock White House experience), and visited numerous monuments. 

    

Then, we headed home.  This was the only snafu – we left without lunch and didn’t feed the kids until almost 2pm!  I was very hungry.  We made it home by about 7pm on Friday night.  And I was thankful for the weekend!

Erin Travels a bit

I took a personal day a bit earlier than normal this year.  We (Steph R and I) gifted mom with a girls’ trip to see Daniel at Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It’s kinda a trek to get out there – 5 hours or more.  But we decided to just do it.  We left Friday morning around 9, stopped for lunch, checked into our hotel, and then had a delicious meal at Agape Café right next to the theater. 

We had great seats.  They weren’t in the lower section, but they were near the bottom of the next level and off toward the side.  We like them because you could see all the things happening on all sides of the theater.  There is a lot going on – animals, singing, lights, set changes, and more.  It was enjoyable. 

We headed back to the hotel afterwards and pretty much collapsed into bed. 

On the way home, we stopped at an outlet mall to see what there was – lots of shops, lots of still pretty pricey clothes, and a lot of nothing that we took home.  We did have the experience of witnessing the spotted lanternfly (locorma) invade everything!  It is an invasive species related to the grasshopper from Asia.  They fly/hop, and they are disgusting.  You are literally supposed to step on as many as you can to try to just kill them off.  You are also supposed to check your car so you don’t transport them from state to state. 

    

It was a good getaway, even though it was a lot of driving.

Then, for my 8th year in a row, I headed to Gettysburg/Washington D.C., with the 8th graders from school.  I am not sure when I will get tired of going.  It is a get away with very little responsibility – kinda.  I don’t have to plan the trip, navigate on the trip, entertain people on the trip, worry about food, restaurants or lodging.  I just get to go, count heads, take cell phones at night, encourage kids to look at things and think about things.  I do get tired; we walked over 7 miles on Thursday and stayed up later than I normally do.  But I enjoy it. 

I always like to see who we get from the National Park System to be our tour guide at Gettysburg.  This year, we had a man who had taught 8th grade history for 27 years (and some additional years at the high school level).  He got them.  He did a great job keeping it focused, giving out enough, but not too much, information, and trying to help them learn about what went on during the war.

This year, we went to a new White House Experience that was really cool.  It was maybe a little small for our group, but I thought it was so neat – the media and technology, the visual representations of the white house, the bounty of facts and tidbits you could learn. 

    

We also walked up Capitol hill to get to the backside of the Capitol building I don’t know if that was worth it, but it was new and something the kids see on TV, but got to see in real life. 

We hit the usual spots – World War II Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, FDR (one of my favorites), MLK Jr., Arlington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and the American History Museum (Smithsonian). 

    

Washington D.C.

For the 6th year (I think), I have chaperoned the 8th grade trip to Gettysburg and Washington D.C.  My first years, we went in the spring.  While it was beautiful, it was also unbearably hot, likely to rain, and super crowed with other school kids on similar trips.  Then, we started going in the fall.  I prefer this.  Typically, the weather is more cooperative, and it is less crowded.

This year was unique because Madison was an 8th grader.  I debated about just not going.  But, frankly, I usually really enjoy going and connecting with the kids in a different way.  I decided the truth was I wouldn’t really be in Madison’s world much if I wasn’t her chaperone unless she chose to seek me out.  So, we both went.

Here are photos (more than normal because I wanted pictures to document Madison’s time as well).

Travel:

    

Gettysburg:

    

Nighttime Monument visits (Lincoln, Korean War, and World War 11):

              

Day 2 Sights:

       

Final Day experiences:

    

And that final ride home had a twist that I had been lucky enough to not have experienced until this year.  The boys’ bus started having mechanical problems.  And we drove sloooooowly back.  We had planned to get home earlier than normal – maybe even 7:30pm!  However, we did not make m   it back unil 10:30pm!  It was a long, slow ride.  But we were safe, and that is what matters.