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2025 DC Trip Day One Sunday June 8th

 

Well, it was quite the early start this morning.  I happen to be traveling with bus number one, which is due to load at 1:45am.   always try to get to school before everyone but when I arrived at 1:15m, not only was the bus already there (Yeah!), there were already a couple students in front of school as well.  What a great start!  Everyone arrived on time and we loaded up and pulled out of Kenilworth before our 2:00am departure time.  After last year’s mess with being dropped at the wrong terminal, I verified with the bus driver which terminal we needed.  Thank goodness I did because his paperwork showed the wrong terminal again.  We arrived at Terminal one and American Airlines was in the process of printing our boarding passes. They ended up boarding us as a group which worked out great and we pushed back out of the gate right on time.  Unfortunately, things were not so smooth for the other group.

 

I am writing this on our flight so I only have some of the details at the moment but apparently one of our students had a medical issue while going through security and ended up being transported to the hospital.  A big thank you to Mr Radke for his calm handling of the situation and to Ms Crozier for stepping up to accompany the student to the hospital and stay with her until the parents could arrive. 

 

Our group has a layover in Charlotte before continuing on to Richmond, Virginia.  The other group has a layover in Chicago before they continue on to Norfolk, Virginia.  If there is a positive here it is that if Ms Crozier ends up missing that first flight there are more options to get into Norfolk this evening than there are to Richmond.  Both groups have a fairly long layover and as far as I am aware both groups are on time so we should have plenty of time to grab some lunch.  Thank goodness these two airports have food reasonably priced. Much cheaper than that $8 bottle of water in San Francisco.

 

We are proceeding east into two different cities and scheduled to arrive at about the same time however the group going into Norfolk encountered a weather problem.  Due to the threat of lightening they had to sit in the plane on the tarmac for about 30 minutes as a squall moved thru before the ramp agents were allowed to come out to park and unload the aircraft.  Since Bus #1 had some extra time we decided to stop and check out the College of William & Mary Bookstore.  They had lots of W&M swag but wow! The prices were crazy high. I don’t think many people bought anything.    Ou first official stop is to meet up in Williamsburg (which is about halfway between Richmond and Norfolk) for dinner.  We are dining at Sal’s this evening, which features wonderful Italian food.  We have been here many times.  I remember the food as being great and the service is fantastic but I did not remember how wonderful the Manicotti tasted. Yummy!  They also had fresh made bread, salad, two kinds of pizza, penne pasta with marinara sauce, penne pasta with meat sauce, some truly fabulous meatballs and brownies.  What a taste treat after a very long day. 

 

After dinner it is time to go on a ghost tour.  There is some very threatening weather including possible tornado warnings in the area but its only a threat.  It did rain a lightly for a few minutes but other than that it was a pretty good tour.  We have three guides to take us around Colonial Williamsburg and onto the campus of the College of William & Mary to tell us all about the ghostly inhabitants of the area. I am not sure if anyone saw a ghost this evening but we sure heard some spooky stories.  I am pretty sure all three guides talked about the pirate Blackbeard at some point during the tour.  He was not a very nice person as he was portrayed in the old Disney movie.  (If you have not seen it I am pretty sure it is still available on Disney+)  He was actually a pretty horrible human being who met his demise in a pretty horrible way.  Be sure to ask you student about him.

 

After the tour its time to head to our hotel.  We have stayed at this hotel a number of times and it has worked out quite well for us.  All the boys are on one floor and the girls are on another. Everyone heads up to their rooms to drop off their bags, then back downstairs for a very quick meeting to discuss a couple of issues that come up today (I know I told everyone NO Crocs or Sandals!) and go over the plan for tomorrow.   Time for bed checks and a good nights rest.  See you tomorrow.

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2025 DC Trip Day Two Monday June 9th

 

People be draggin’ this morning.  Last night there was quite the storm outside.  The windows were rattling in the wind as the rain came pelting down hard against the glass. Thank goodness no tornado sirens but it was definitely a strong storm.  This morning everything was nice and clean with the sun shining bright. It it wasn’t for all the soggy branches and tree limbs hanging down you would have never guessed we just had a big storm. I think there were quite a few kids who didn’t sleep that well since we had about 15 show up for breakfast with their name tags.  Bummer.  They had to go back to their rooms to get them before they could eat.  Bet they won’t make that mistake again.

 

Breakfast today was your basic hotel breakfast buffet.  There was plenty of scrambled eggs, Denver potatoes, bacon, sausage, pancakes, apples, bananas, three types of cereal not to mention orange juice, apple juice and coffee.  Not a bad way to start the day plus we don’t have to cook or do any dishes.  

 

After breakfast it is time to get back up to our rooms to collect our luggage and to check to make sure we are not leaving anything behind.  Phone chargers are usually the the item left the most but as far as I know everyone remembered their today.  On the bus, we get to take the scenic route to Jamestown.  This road is built to look like the old dirt road through the forest just like it looked back in the early 1600’s.  A beautiful drive!  

 

At Jamestown we start our tour at the Glassblowing Building.  Glassblowing is one of the first money making ventures attempted by the colonists after they realized there was no gold to be found.  They have recreated the experience (well, except now they have a huge gas fueled furnace rather than burn tons of wood) to demonstrate the making of objects out of glass.  These items would then be shipped back to England for sale.   As I was watching all I could think about was how do you pack the glass for a two month voyage back to England on the rough Northern Atlantic so that things wouldn’t break.  

 

From here we stop but to pay the entry fee at the ranger station (because it wasn’t open yet before we went to the glassblowing) then over to the Jamestown settlement. Here they have built exact replica’s of the Jamestown Fort in its surrounding buildings as well as all three of the ships they sailed over to America aboard.  Only one was on display, the other two are supposedly in dry dock somewhere being refurbished before the big 250th birthday celebration next summer.  At each of these spots there are docents to explain what we were seeing as well as give demonstrations of the blacksmith making body armor and everybody's favorite, the shooting of the musket which was much more complicated than you might expect. Students could check out the church, the guardhouse, the storerooms (with the Tobacco drying from the ceiling), and the Captain’s Quarters.  If is easy to see that the Captain had much better accommodations than the regular crew.  

 

They have also built a replica of a typical Powhatan Village.  They primarily lived in domed communal homes with a chimney, er actually just a hole in the center of the ceiling for the fire pit that is on the floor in the center of the building.  beds were mats on the floor with mostly deer pelts for blankets.  A bit on the primitive side but better than sleeping outside.  Just imagine your fireplace is just spot in the center of your dirt floor and the chimney is just a hole in the center of your ceiling with mat that you can cover the hole with when it rains.  The docents in the village were demonstrating how they made the mats with reeds, how to make fish hooks out of deer bones and how they finished some very odd shaped pottery to use like a crock pot in the fire. 

 

From here it is time for lunch.  Today we are going to a new restaurant, Plaza Azteca. As you can tell baby the name this was a Mexican restaurant.  We have never been to this spot before and for the first time that I can remember, the restaurant staff was not aware that I would be bringing 100 people for lunch today.  I am not sure who dropped the ball but it was going to take them a while to get the restaurant ready for us so we got back on the bus to sit in the air conditioning while they got ready.  I have to admit, they did a pretty good job considering the circumstances. It took them about thirty minutes to get set up before we came it to enjoy a fairly decent Mexican lunch. I have been coming to the East Coast for many years and suffice to say they typically don’t do that great with Mexican food.  That being said, today’s lunch was better than most East Coast Mexican food I have tasted in the past. Here we had a choice of a couple burrito plates or a couple different enchilada plates with rice and beans or Steak or Chicken Nachos. Considering they actually served us a plated meal as opposed to buffet style they did surprisingly well at getting our meals ready and served.  Kudos to the staff at Plaza Azteca.

 

After lunch we spend the afternoon touring Colonial Williamsburg.  This was the original capital that feel into disrepair then was completely rebuilt and refurbished in the 1920’s to be just like it was prior to the American Revolution.  Our group went off in four different directions with four different guides so I don’t know what your student happened to see but here are some of the choices.  The Capitol, the Courthouse, the Governor’s Palace, the Magazine Yard and Guardhouse (where the weapons are stored), the Public Jail, the Stables, the School, the Apothecary (Pharmacy), the Bookbinder, the Brickmaker, the Cabinet & Harpischord Maker, Carpenter’s shop, the Gunsmith, the Leather Breeches Maker and Shoemaker, The Printer, the Silversmith, and the Wigmaker, to name just a few.  At each of these sites there were docents to describe what was done in each of the shops.    In addition, some of the personal residences such as the George Wythe House and the Peyton Randolph House  were open for tours.  Some of these places we saw last night, from the outside in the dark, while we were on the ghost tour.  Obviously we did not have time to visit all these places in a short afternoon but use this list to ask your student when they saw and did during the tour.  We finished the tour with a little shopping. Most of us visited the Lululemon shop and/or the Wythe Candy Shop.  The candy shop was amazing.  All kinds of tase treats at fairly reasonable prices. 

 

After a full afternoon, it is time to eat once again.  This time dinner is at the fabulous Rocco’s Smokehouse. OMG!  This place is fabulous!  Pulled Pork, coleslaw and buns  so you can make your own sliders. BBQ Chicken. Mac & Cheese,  baked beans and green beans. Add in some chocolate chocolate chip brownies and you have one tasty meal.  This is truly one of my favorite restaurants that we visit.  The food is fantastic and the staff could not be friendlier. We always feel like we are having a meal at our favorite uncle’s house when we come here. 

 

After a great day of site seeing followed by a fabulous meal, we get to sit back and relax for the drive to Charlottesville.  Its a bit of a drive but after two long tiring days the students are ready for a little rest and relaxation.  We are having a bit of trouble with kids getting sick from dehydration.  Had to stop at a rest area to tend to some ill kids and get some waters out from under the bus.  The stop helped.  We made sure everyone had water and now that we back on the bus heading to 

 

I am posting this a little early to take advantage of the wifi on the bus.  I like tonights hotel but I seem to have trouble accessing the internet at this one. So here is what we will do this evening. 

 

After last nights quick meeting meeting to go over some of our early issues tonights meeting should be a whole lot more fun.  We will have some trivia questions, give out some prizes and generally have a nice recap to end the day.  Hopefully everyone will go off to bed feeling a bit recharged and ready for a good nights sleep before tomorrows adventures.  

 

See you tomorrow.  Mr Eklund

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Tuesday,  June 10, 2025  Daily Blog for Day Three

 

Good Morning Charlottesville!  

 

Today we again start of with a breakfast buffet at the hotel.  Pretty much the same fare as yesterday except today there was French Toast.  After breakfast, just like yesterday, we head back up to our rooms to get our bags and to make sure nothing is left behind before checking out and loading up the buses.  

 

We pull out of the parking lot right on time heading to our first stop - Thomas Jefferson’s home which he named Monticello. Such a beautiful home. There are so many improvements and innovations in this home that it actually took Jefferson 40 years to complete.  Jefferson designed it and oversaw its construction although for much of those 40 years he was not there in person. He spent a lot of time away doing things such as writing the Declaration of Independence, serving as America’s first ambassador to France, the second vice president and the third president of the United States.  

 

The tour of the home was very informative.  The guides are extremely knowledgable about the house, its features and contents as well as about Mr Jefferson himself. They encouraged questions and provided in depth responses hat showed a deep knowledge and not just some canned response to satisfy a tourist.  A very impressive staff to show us around a very impressive home.  There was a lot to see inside including an extensive display in the entry hall of objects collected by Lewis & Clark and from Native American tribes.  I probably heard the most comments about the wine delivery system, the dumb waiter, the way Jefferson slept and the clock. All of these items were extensively described by the guides during the tours so hopefully your student can tell you about them.

 

Outside the home, the highlights included the ice house, the slave quarters and extensive displays about Sally Hemmings, her family and her relationship with Mr Jefferson.It is a very interesting site to visit because it is constantly running through your mind the juxtaposition between writing the document most associated with freedom in the history of man and the fact that the guy who wrote it owned a total of close to 600 slaves over the course of his life…not to mention that slaves built the entire home and property that we are touring.  

 

I also was very glad that we had plenty of time to take the tour as well as look around and even shop.  It seems like every time we have visited in the past we were always rushing through times, trying to meet the timeline that was created by our tour times and lunch appointments.  By changing lunch to an untimed food court we were able to enjoy our visit at a more leisurely pace.  This meant skipping lunch at the historic Michy’s Tavern but I think it was the best choice. 

 

Speaking lunch, today we went to the Dairy Market, which is essentially a mall food court without the mall.  We had a choice of about ten different restaurants offering a variety of choices. We could choose from pizza, burgers, Indian, Thai, sandwiches, Bar-B-Que, Pasta and more, even Ice Cream.  It was nice to see how spread out everyone was with their food choices.  I have been on this trip in the past where you could see almost every student lined up in front of Panda Express or Chik-Fil-A.  Here the students were making a wide variety of choices.

 

After lunch its time to head towards Washington D.C. to our next stop which is located in Quantico, Virginia.  This is the home to the Marine Corps Museum. Quantico is also the home of the FBI Academy but we are only visiting the Marines on this trip. It is a bit of a drive, about two hours, but the good news is this is the last long drive of the trip.

 

The Marine Corps Museum is fabulous.  It traces the entire 250 year history of the marine corps which was founded a year before our country was born. Today’s visit, unexpectedly got a little personal for me. I was going through the Vietnam War section of the museum and realized that no one else on this trip was old enough to remember witnessing the things on display in real time.  It brought back memories of the nightly footage of the battles, the bombs and napalm drops on the countryside, the nightly body counts on the news, the protests going on all across this country especially on college campuses. It was personal because I was terrified of getting drafted and having to go serve.  I was not quite old enough but the fear was there and it was very real.  Fortunately for me, the war and the draft ended before I reached eighteen years of age but not by much.  I personally knew young men who were sent over including the high school quarterback who lived across the street from us in Reseda, California.  Even though he was only a couple years older than me, he used to babysit my younger brother and I on occasion and he was drafted shortly after he graduated from high school.  He was sent to Vietnam and came home in a coffin three months later.  I am so grateful to those who have served this great country and it is quite painful to watch what is going on in our country today.  I don’t even know where to go next with this but I felt I had to share just how much of an impact this trip can have on all of us, even me who has been here 20 times.   Thank you for sending your child. I hope they come home with a better understanding of just how lucky we are to live in this country. 

 

Time to pick up our guides.  Ella has been with us for the past three or four years.  She is fantastic.  It is almost like going on a tour with your best friend.  She makes every stop an enjoyable experience.  We have a new guide to go with Ella today (Our other regular guide is home with an ill husband.)  Greg comes VERY highly recommend and I can’t wait to meet him.  I am sure tonight is going to be great as we enter the Washington D.C. portion of our trip.

 

We are little early for dinner so we are going to make a stop at the 9-11 Memorial outside of the Pentagon.  This is a very somber site feature a stylish silver bench over a small reflecting pool for every person killed in the attack on the Pentagon.  It is simple but quite beautiful. The benches come up at an angle with the high end pointed toward either the Pentagon or the sky depending on whether the person named on the bench was on the plane or in the Pentagon.  This is a beautiful memorial designed to be a gathering place where family members or just anyone who wishes to sit and reflect or commune with the deceased person is welcome.  Each bench has the name of the person as well as the year they were born, starting with the youngest person to the oldest as you walk through the memorial.  Very moving memorial.

 

Next it is time to eat.  Tonight we visited a new restaurant called Fire Works Pizza.  Guess what is on the menu, surprise…pizza!  There were three flavors of pizza (cheese, pepperoni and ground beef toppings) as well as two different salads.  For dessert, chocolate chip cookies and brownies.  The food was pretty good.  I got a lot of thumbs up from the students plus the outdoor dining atmosphere was quite nice.  

 

By the way, I had a real nice chat with Greg, our new guide.  All the chaperones who have been with me before are already impressed.  I think we will be really happy with Greg.  More about him on future blogs.  So far we have been in Virginia but tonight after dinner it is finally time to head into Washington DC.

 

The plan is to visit the Martin Luther King Memorial, the walk to the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial then stroll around the tidal basin to finish up at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  That was the plan anyway.  Unfortunately, at almost every turn our bus drivers encounter blocked roads.  Our drivers split up, trying various routs but each one ended the same.  Basically, you could not get to where we wanted to go.  Eventually both drivers gave up and dropped us at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  Well, not exactly “at” more like “in the general vicinity of.”  Eventually we make it to the Thomas Jefferson where we go up the stairs to see this very impressive 18 foot tall statute of our third president.  The statue is under a domed structure that looks similar to Jeffersons beloved Monticello with some information and quotes from Jefferson imprinted on the interior walls.  A beautiful memorial with a beautiful view from the top the stairs.

 

 

After the Jefferson, we knew we could not get picked up if we went to the MLK or FDR so instead we thought we would try to go to the White House tonight instead.  That was the idea but neither bus could get even close to pick us up.  All of us on Bus number one had to walk a very long way to where the bus could meet us.  We hiked around the end of the tidal basin, past the Mint, past the Holocaust Museum, past the Department of Forestry and past miles of fencing that was being installed because of Saturday’s parade and  No Kings Day protests planned for Saturday.  This is why all the roads are closed so they could put up these massive fences.  It took us so long to get to the bus that we had to call it an end of the night since our drivers will be past their allowed driving time limits.  We load up Bus #1 and head for the hotel. I am not sure where bus #2 had to go but they were in such a pickle because they got stuck in a couple of road closures that were open when bus #1 went through literally minutes before.  Bus # 2 arrived at the hotel almost 45 minutes behind bus #1.  Hopefully this will not mess us up in the morning.  

 

So, we check into our hotel and have two very brief meetings about tomorrow. At the meeting I mentioned that we (Ella, Greg and I) will work up plans to try to make the best use of our time tomorrow.  The good news is the roads that were closed tonight are supposed to open tomorrow.  The bad news is, they will be putting up the fences in other places so different roads will be closed instead. In other words, we are going to start the day at Arlington National Cemetery but after that what we do will depend a lot on where we can and cannot go.  Just call me Gumby because we are gonna be as flexible as possible.

 

That’s it for tonight.  Wake up time is 5:30am so I am going to bed.  See you tomorrow.

 

Mr Eklund

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2025 DC Trip Blog - Day Four Wednesday June 11th

 

This morning starts out early with a a very nice buffet at the hotels for breakfast.  Similar fare to the previous mornings but to be honest I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to the food this morning.  I was busy stressing out about road closures, detours and other issues like we had faced to previous evening trying to work out a plan to avoid the same issues today.  And for the most part, we were successful.  It meant driving bigger circles around the problems and walking further in some places but it worked and we didn’t really get blocked out of any place we were trying to go.

 

First stop is Arlington National Cemetery.  Oh my is this place busy today.  We arrived shortly after they opened and already there were about a dozen bus loads of kids working their way through security.  It is quite a hike up the hill to start the day but our guides stopped occasionally along the way to explain what the students were seeing.  Ask your student about the different symbols on the grave stones as well as what the coins on top of some of the stones mean. They should be able to explain the meaning of both of these things.  We stopped off at the John F Kennedy eternal flame as well as the grave sites of Robert and Teddy Kennedy, both of which are just around the hill from John’s.  The students also had the opportunity to see the tributes to Americans lost in the Challenger Space Shuttle crash, the main mast from the battleship USS Maine and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  All of this before reaching the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. No matter how many times I have seen this ceremony it is always impressive!

 

From Arlington we drive around the edge of DC to reach the Air and Space Museum.  There is a lot to see here, from the wright flyer to a Star Wars X-Wing Fighter.  Maybe to most interesting item was a motorcycle that used to belong to Even Kenevel.  Most of the students did not know who Even was so I gave brief description of him tonight at our meeting.  I also recommended the students search youtube for the video of Evel’s unsuccessful attempt to jump the Caesars Palace fountain.  Even though he failed at this attempt is is one of his most famous  jumps. 

 

Next it was time for lunch.  We had planned to try something new and buy lunch from the numerous food trucks parked around the Mall.  Since all of these parking spots were blocked last night, we didn’t know where or if these food trucks could be found so rather than take the risk, we took the lunch coupons for Friday and made our way over to the Reagan International Trade Center.  This way will not need to get back on the bus but can walk to our next two museums plus we figured this site would be unreachable by bus on Friday due to the scheduled road closures. The Reagan is one of the largest office building in the world, so big that it has its own food court on the bottom floor.  There are a lot of choices from burgers to gyros to pizza even smoothies and ice cream.  

 

After lunch we just have to walk the the corner of the block, cross the street and walk half a block to our next destination, the American History Museum.  This is where you can see many examples of American culture.  Just some of the items your child might have seen include the dresses worn by the president’s wives to the inaugural ball for every first lady. They also had the signpost from the television series M*A*S*H, the Ruby Red slippers from the Wizard of Oz, the original flag that inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner, and the list goes on and on. 

 

Next we walk across the street to the African American Museum.  Personally I think this might just be the best museum in DC.  You can easily spend multiple days in this museum but since we only have a couple hours we really had to chose wisely what to see.  It was either start four floors under ground then wind your way up through the entire African American experience in America  Here you can see artifacts from the arrival of the first slave trade ships to arrive i  the early 1600’s to today.  OR we could go all the way up to the top floor and work our way down to the main floor viewing exhibits on all the cultural aspects of African American life. The top floor features entertainment such as television, movies, music, theater, and art.  The next floor down depicts how African Americans contribute to our society in areas such as sports and the military. The next floor has interactive exhibits including a dance lesson for the students to join.  You will have to check with your student to see what they focused on in these two museums. 

 

From here we get back on the buses.  Fortunately, James and Tony are able to find a couple of spots fairly close.  Its a quick trip across the Potomac River to the Pentagon City Mall for dinner.  This is an actual shopping mall but we pretty much are only visiting the food court. Here the choices include Popeye’s Chicken, Charley’s Cheesesteaks, Chipotle, McDonalds, Panda Express and other typical mall fare.  

 

After dinner we hop back on the bus for the short drive to Myers Army Base at Arlington to attend the Twilight Tattoo. Since it is the Army’s 250th anniversary (thus the stated reason for Saturday’s parade) tonights show was extra special. After some music and singing,  The Golden Knights (the Army parachute team) came floating down from the sky to start the show.   We were treated to performances by the drummed fife corp, the army drill team, George Washington’s revolutionary army, as well as presentations from soldiers dressed in the uniforms from every war in American history.  They drove up in Humvee’s, shoot off Howitzers, guns and machine guns.  They even brought the horses back to replay Paul Revere’s midnight ride and finished off the show with a flyover by three Blackhawk Helicopters.  What a great show followed by a meet and greet with all the soldiers that appeared in the show.  This is an extremely fun event for all of us.

 

We finish up the night with a visit to the Marine Corps Memorial.  This is a huge bronze statue that brings to life the Joe Rosenthal photo of the raising of the American Flag on Mount Sirabachi during the American takeover of the island of Iwo Jima during World War II.  I beautiful way to end the day.  Time to head back to the hotel for a meeting, some trivia and some prizes. What a fun day. We even did some singing on the bus at the way to the hotel.  

 

Tomorrow is going to be a challenge but I think we have a plan.  We will do our best to see as much as possible while avoiding the road closures as much as possible.  See you tomorrow.

Mr Eklund

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2025 DC Trip Day Five Thursday June 12th

 

Another long but awesome day here in our nation’s capital.  Every day of our trip has been exhausting but today was ever so much more so.  Oh my did we have a long day.  Add in the temperatures are about ten degrees higher than yesterday as is the humidity.  Plus now we have to navigate the miles and miles of fencing that makes Washington DC look like a very large federal prison.  Black, ten foot high heavy duty fencing is everywhere. Fortunately there are gates at most corners but you don’t know if there is a gate or not until you have nearly completed a very long walk. Knowing we would be facing these challenges we set out to make the most of our day.

 

Breakfast once again was a buffet in the hotel.  Plenty of eggs, potatoes, French Toast, bacon, danish, cereal and yogurt gave plenty of options.  After breakfast we head into Washington DC to start our day.  On the way to the Capitol, we drive by the White House to see if we could possibly visit later in the day.  Unfortunately, the street (Pennsylvania Avenue) the White House is on is closed as is Jackson Park which is located directly across the street from the White House. It is very obvious that this drive by is as close as we are going to get to the White House on this trip.  I am sorry but we tried our best.  We did pause our drive as long as possible to allow photos from the bus but there was no place to stop nor a place to unload the bus. 

 

Our first actual stop of the day is the United States Capitol.  There are no big fences here but it is a very long uphill walk to the entrance. It’s not even nine o’clock yet but the temperature is already over eighty. This is one of our most beautiful buildings and the guides do point out some of the statues that are displayed on the exterior. Thanks to your Congressman Jarod Huffman we have a tour of the building. The tour begins with a film Called E Pluribus Unum which means Out of Many, One.  I love this film.  I had tried to buy a copy to show to my classes but the only way to see it is to visit the Capitol.  After the film we begin our tour.  We are given a headset which allows us to hear our guide even if she is half way across the room then we head upstairs.  There is so much to see from the huge paintings in the Rotunda, including the one that appears on the back of the two dollar bills I gave you, to more than a hundred different statues.  Our guides had some pretty inspiring stories that really made our visit special.

After the tour we tried something very different, we had lunch in the Capitol Dining Room. Set up very much like a cafeteria we had a number items to choose from such as burgers, salads, chicken sandwiches and pizza.  We ate an early lunch to avoid the noontime crowd which worked out perfect for our next stop.  

After lunch we had an opportunity to visit the House of Representatives gallery. (Again, thank you to Congressman Jarod Huffman’s Office!)  We got really lucky since they were in session when we entered the room.  The room was largely empty of people but there were some congressmen and congresswomen delivering speeches to the empty seats.  Once they were done, the House recessed for lunch which gave me a chance to explain what it was they were seeing. (I couldn’t explain before because we are not allowed to talk while they are in session.) They were reading to the empty room simply to put whatever they read into the public record since every word spoken in both houses of Congress must be reported to the public. If you are interested you can go online and read the minutes from today’s session.  I also explained how voting works.  On the back of the benches near the end of every other row there is a card reader.  To place a vote, the house members would slide their cars through the reader then press a Green, Red or Yellow button.  Green if the vote is in favor, Red if the vote is No and Yellow if they want to abstain from voting. Once the member has voted a box next their name will be illuminated with the proper color.  There is sort of a scoreboard that takes up most of the upper wall above the speaker although we cold not see it.  You can only see it when it is lit up. What it is not it simply looks like a blue Fleur de Lis pattern wallpaper.  I think it was so cool that we got to see how things worked plus I had a chance to explain things while we still in the room.  Pretty cool sight.

Next we walk across the street to get unclose look at the SupremeCourt. I think this might have been the first time I have been to see the Supreme Court and there was not anyone out front.  From there we turn river and walk down to the Library of Congress.  This is the largest library in the entire world partially because they get two copies of pretty much every book ever publish as the process the copyrights for the material.  The average person cannot check out items from this Library but the President sure can.  This is how Abraham Lincoln learned medical tactics better than hi Generals during the Civil War. 

Now it is time for that very long walk back down the hill to our next event, getting our pictures taken on the steps of the Garfield statues with the Capitol in the background behind us. Despite the heat we did our best to smile and not look like a wilted flower. By now it is early afternoon and it is HOT and HUMID! The rest of the day is going to very physically difficult. We did our best to keep everyone hydrated but despite our efforts a number of kids were feeling the effects of the heat.  We took a lot of breaks in between long walks during the rest of the day.  Those photos should be ready in a couple of weeks. I will let you know when I will come down to Kenilworth to hang out in front of school to pass out the photos.  Please try to stop by and pick your up.  I will not be mailing them since postage is way to expensive to do so. 

Thank goodness it is time to get some cold water, and into the air-conditioning as we get back on the bus to take us to our next stop.  We have to drive very long route around miles of fencing to get to the Vietnam War Memorial, also known as The Wall.  On our drive we pass the Black Lives Matter street across from the back side of Jackson Park.  Unfortunately, you would only know this f you knew because the Black Lives Matter paint on the street has been removed. 

Because of the fencing and road closures earlier in the week we are in for a very long afternoon since the buses simply cannot get from place to place.  We are going to walk from Memorial to Memorial.  Normally this isn’t that big of a deal but it is today because it is so hot and humid. Thank goodness there was some shade and people selling water, Gaterade and ice cream at just about every stop. That being said, let’s walk through the afternoon.

First up, the Vietnam War Memorial, also known as The Wall.  This memorial is series of polished black granite slabs with, starting narrow at each end with the slabs getting taller and taller in the middle of the wall.  On the wall are the names of the 58,000+ men and women who lost their lives or went missing during the war. I was very impressed with how quite and respectful our students were are they walked along the wall.  One of our students was even able to find a relative whose name is engraved on the wall.   

Across from the Wall is the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.  This is a bronze statue that depicts a nurse comforting a wounded soldier. It was interesting to see all the hair ties left on the base.  We learned this is an honor since most of the female nurse had longer hair and would tie it back before diving in to work on a patient.

Next is the Lincoln Memorial.  This is the same scene that was on the back of the penny for many years, with a giant statue of Lincoln sitting in a chair.  They are working improving this memorial by adding bathroom and shopping underneath as well as a handicap ramp to make it up to the statue inside the building at the top.  There are hoping to have this project completed but the countries 2050th birthday in 2026.

After Lincoln it is on to the Korean War Memorial.  This memorial features 16 full since bronze soldiers on patrol as well as a polished black granite wall with a large num her of etching depicting people and animals that were involved with the conflict.  One of the cool special effects of this memorial is that no matter where you stand at the back of the memorial it appears that at least one soldiers is staring directly at you.  The students were challenged to take a picture from a variety of positions, then zoom in closer to see which of the soldiers is looking at them  Have your child show you the effect, well, if they took up the challenge. 

Next we walk to the Dr Martin Luther King Memorial. This was one of the spots we could not get to on Tuesday evening.  Carved out a huge piece of sandstone the memorial appears to show Dr King as the figure emerging out of the mountain. Some of his more famous quotes are carved into the walls behind either side of the exhibit. 

Next is another long walk to the World War II Memorial.  This is one of my favorite’s because there is so much symbolism everywhere you look. There are pillars representing every state, with wreaths hanging on each pillar representing peace, or food production or some other aspects of support for the war.  There is a wall of stars where each star represents 100 soldiers that died in the war, more than 400,000 American Servicemen are represented. This barely taps the surface.  I urge you to do some research on this memorial.  It is worth your time and effort.

From here we make our way over to the Washington Monument.  Unfortunately we don’t have passes for this but we did have a chance to get up close and personal.  Wow is this monument ever tall.  We knew it was the tallest building the the district but its height is really driven home when you are standing right next to the bottom of the monument.  It was a nice view but the walk is really starting to get the everyone.  Since there is no shade between the World War II, past the Washington Monument almost all the way to our bus there is not shade.  The entire group is fading fast. Thank goodness we finally make it to the bus and head out to dinner at the Bee Liner Diner.  Dinner was pretty good.  There was choice of Burgers, Salads, Chicken Parmesan, Hot Dogs and some kind of BBQ Jack Fruit Sandwich (I saw on and still have no idea how to describe it. 

And with that, we decided to call it a day—a long, full, unforgettable day.  Everyone is exhausted so we drop off the guides and head back to the hotel. We have a quick meeting to go over tomorrow and it is time for bed checks.  We fly home tomorrow so I will be writing the next blog on the plane.  If I am able to log in I will post it from the airplane, other wise it will probably not get posted until Saturday Morning.  Good night.  We will see you late Friday night/early Saturday morning.   Mr Eklund

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2025 DC Trip Blog for Friday June 13th - Our final day

 

What a week we had in our national capital.  The challenges were tremendous but with a lot of replanning and restructuring of our itinerary by the guides, drivers and me we were able to fit in almost everything on the plan as well as squeeze in a couple extras to make up for the things we just could not accommodate.  Let’s take a look at the last day of our journey.

 

Once again we started off with a breakfast buffet in the hotel. I think we have started to take it for granted but I feel I am sure gonna miss it next week when its back to making breakfast myself.  It’s easy to get used to eggs, sausage, pancakes, potatoes, cut up melons, pineapple, yogurt, bananas, apples, three types of cereal, 3 types of milk, orange juice … well, you get the idea. It turns out it is  very nice to have a full spread with multiple choices fr breakfast everyday.  Somehow I don’t think my typical yogurt with a scoop of granola is going to be quite as enticing. 

 

Today we have to clean out our rooms, pack our bags and say goodbye to our DC home.  Just like making breakfast, we are going to have to get used to making our own beds and cleaning our own rooms again. Once we have the buses all loaded up we head into Washington DC.  We are taking a very different route today.  Surprisingly the freeway is packed but the surface streets are relatively empty.  James and Tony are taking us around behind the SPY Museum rather than go right through town.  Great plan and it does avoid the traffic however as we get close to our destination, every path we take ends up hitting a roadblock.  Eventually, it is decided that we are as close as we are gonna get and the guides come to lead us on a hike through some plazas and building courtyards before coming up through the L’Enfant Plaza. It is a bit of a crazy route but we finally end up right behind the SPY Museum!

 

Before entering the very large SPY Museum building a very intimidating member of the SPY Museum staff comes out to describe what the students will be doing as they tour through the building.  They are issued an identity card and are about to become SPYS!  As they make their way through the top two floors they will observe and learn about all kinds of spy craft methods. The really need to pay attention and remember their details as they visit kiosks which walk them through each step that a spy needs to maneuver if they hope to stay free.… and alive. It is a pretty unique experience.  The students who really embrace the role have a great time pretending to be a spy.  In addition to the game, they have many wonderful displays and artifacts.  I especially like the carrier pigeons with the camera mounted on their chests.  I also loved the mini-drone that had the look and size of a dragonfly.  Lots of cool stuff to see. This is one of those museums that is different for everyone because there s simply so much on display it is a bit overwhelming.  They also had some great recommendations for shows to watch if you want to continue the experience.  Three great shows that they mentioned were TURN  (all about George Washington’s spy network), The Americans (all about a Russian couple pretending to be American’s who are activated as spys after living undercover in the US for many years) and CHUCK (a very fun TV series about a salesman in an electronic store who accidentally becomes a spy.)  I have seen every episode of all three of these series and I can highly recommend all three of them!  I am pretty sure you can find them streaming someplace.

 

After the SPY Museum we decide to get out of Washington DC so we can avoid any more detours when it is time to go to the airport. For lunch today we head across the river to Alexandria, Virginia to visit a retired torpedo factory that has been converted into an artists gallery. It is in an area with a lot of little shops and restaurants.  (Think Pier 39 in San Francisco only with authentic colonial buildings located along the Potomac River.)  We have plenty of time to wander around and enjoy lunch, maybe get some ice cream (I tried frozen custard which tasted amazing similar to the soft serve ice cream at the CostCo Deli). All in all, this turned into a very nice, relaxing way to end our trip.  Thank goodness we thought to use our vouchers for the Reagan Trade Center instead of using our cash at the food trucks on Wednesday as we had originally planned. 

 

From here it is time to say goodbye to our guides Ella and Greg as well as our drivers James and Tony.  Thank you again to everyone for contributing to our tip fund so I was able to give tips to these four as well as our guides in Williamsburg, on the ghost tour, as well as some of the people who helped us at the hotels.  They were all very appreciative and this is part of the reason we are able to get such great people who want to take care of us each year.  

 

As I mentioned in the notice that included in todays cash allotment for dinner, if there is someone you would like to send a special note to for any reason you can send it to me and I will make sure it makes it to the right person. I even put your money in an envelope addressed to me to make this easier for you.  

 

The picture that we took on the steps of the Garfield Memorial with the Capitol in the background will be available in a couple of weeks.  I will send out an email message to let you know what day Mr Radke and I will be hanging out in front of Kenilworth to pass out the photos. This is one of my favorite things to do.  It is always great to hear what you thought about the trip when you have had a chance to reflect on your week and you are not completely exhausted. If at all possible, please try to stop by and pick up your photo.  The photo itself  was included in the cost of the trip but it is way to expensive for me to mail them to you.

 

Thanks again for joining me on this journey. I hope you had a wonderful time and will think back to this crazy trip with lots of fond memories.  Don’t forget to thank your parents for letting you go on this amazing trip. Now go get some rest, you earned it.

 

Mr Eklund

mreklund@gmx.com

 

3293 Amoruso Way

Roseville , CA   95747