Washington DC... Again. Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013
Well, it's one week later, and I'm in Washington, D.C. again, this time with two busses full of 8th graders. What's wrong with me??? At least I'm "just" a chaperone, and not the guy in charge.
This entry is the first time I've used this blog space for something other than our family trips. I've been looking forward to trying to blog with the iPad, and even though we used it last week, I'm still seeing this as a field test to see how it works before we get to Europe this summer. So far, so good, and I especially like being able to type things in as we're traveling, before the end of the day. (It's funny. I've had a lot of dreams in the past few weeks where we are on a big vacation somewhere and I haven't been keeping up with the blog, and I'm starting to worry that I'm going to have to take a whole day just to catch up.)
After gathering at East Middle, starting at 5:30 AM, we checked students in, had them say goodbye to parents, and we were on the road by 6:30, right on schedule. Our first real stop was lunch in Breezewood, PA, about noon where one bus went to McDonalds and the other, ours, went to Hardee's. The ride was as uneventful as it is going to get in a bus of 34 8th graders. It came to life as we crossed the Potomac River, at about 2:20, and the Lincoln Memorial and other familiar sites came into view.
I was a little nervous about the fact that the trip organizers had scheduled from 3:00 to 5:30 at the Museum of American History. It seemed too long of a time. Half of the museum is closed until 2015 for renovations. Mr. L. Said, "Well, it's still the nations attic." We arrived a half hour ahead of schedule, which I think made matters worse. Students were allowed to roam on their own (and we do seem to have a reasonably well-behaved bunch), but after an hour it seemed that everyone (except the other teachers) was ready to go. Julie take note: next month when you come, an hour will do ya.
I started my tour at the gift shop downstairs, which I had been looking forward to. I was disappointed to see that the store seemed to be about half or maybe a third of the size it used to be. Maybe I'm misremembering it, but I don't think so. I got my pressed penny, and started to explore the museum exhibits, which have been greatly renovated since my last time here. Starting on the third floor, there's an excellent exhibit on the American military, with Washington's uniform, Andrew Jackson's coat, lots of Civil War stuff including Sheridan's horse and the chairs used at Appomattox, and plenty of other stuff. An exhibit on the Presidents showed the several different roles a person plays in that office- a lesson I will have to teach in a week or two. The Star Spangled Banner, Dorothy's ruby shoes, Edison's lightbulbs, and so many other things were on display, but in completely new settings and exhibits. I could go on and on here, but I won't. Even so, I cut my tour short, partly because I didn't know how to pace myself to cover three hours, and partly because I found way more then half of our students sitting idly in the lobby, and I thought it best to not leave them sitting there alone.
Dinner was at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, which is connected to the Ritz-Carlton, so that should tell you it is an upscale, expensive mall. I know that many kids were burning off their money fast here because of that. We were supposed to get here at 6:30, but were here well before 6:00. We stayed until 8:00. That was way too much down time. I kicked myself for not bringing the iPad with me, or at least some comics.
I really wasn't that hungry when we arrived, so I drifted away from the group to take some video of the four story central area around the food court. I ended up buying a pretzel and, much later, a few tacos. I was disappointed that such an expensive mall had all their public restrooms under renovation, so I had to go to a set of trailers outside. That let me see the CVS across the street, and I bought some Dr. Scholl's inserts for my feet. I also found a great present for Julie that some students pointed out in the last minutes before we were to leave. I won't write what it is here, but she'll have to wear it when she comes to Washington!
This entry is the first time I've used this blog space for something other than our family trips. I've been looking forward to trying to blog with the iPad, and even though we used it last week, I'm still seeing this as a field test to see how it works before we get to Europe this summer. So far, so good, and I especially like being able to type things in as we're traveling, before the end of the day. (It's funny. I've had a lot of dreams in the past few weeks where we are on a big vacation somewhere and I haven't been keeping up with the blog, and I'm starting to worry that I'm going to have to take a whole day just to catch up.)
After gathering at East Middle, starting at 5:30 AM, we checked students in, had them say goodbye to parents, and we were on the road by 6:30, right on schedule. Our first real stop was lunch in Breezewood, PA, about noon where one bus went to McDonalds and the other, ours, went to Hardee's. The ride was as uneventful as it is going to get in a bus of 34 8th graders. It came to life as we crossed the Potomac River, at about 2:20, and the Lincoln Memorial and other familiar sites came into view.
I was a little nervous about the fact that the trip organizers had scheduled from 3:00 to 5:30 at the Museum of American History. It seemed too long of a time. Half of the museum is closed until 2015 for renovations. Mr. L. Said, "Well, it's still the nations attic." We arrived a half hour ahead of schedule, which I think made matters worse. Students were allowed to roam on their own (and we do seem to have a reasonably well-behaved bunch), but after an hour it seemed that everyone (except the other teachers) was ready to go. Julie take note: next month when you come, an hour will do ya.
I started my tour at the gift shop downstairs, which I had been looking forward to. I was disappointed to see that the store seemed to be about half or maybe a third of the size it used to be. Maybe I'm misremembering it, but I don't think so. I got my pressed penny, and started to explore the museum exhibits, which have been greatly renovated since my last time here. Starting on the third floor, there's an excellent exhibit on the American military, with Washington's uniform, Andrew Jackson's coat, lots of Civil War stuff including Sheridan's horse and the chairs used at Appomattox, and plenty of other stuff. An exhibit on the Presidents showed the several different roles a person plays in that office- a lesson I will have to teach in a week or two. The Star Spangled Banner, Dorothy's ruby shoes, Edison's lightbulbs, and so many other things were on display, but in completely new settings and exhibits. I could go on and on here, but I won't. Even so, I cut my tour short, partly because I didn't know how to pace myself to cover three hours, and partly because I found way more then half of our students sitting idly in the lobby, and I thought it best to not leave them sitting there alone.
Dinner was at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, which is connected to the Ritz-Carlton, so that should tell you it is an upscale, expensive mall. I know that many kids were burning off their money fast here because of that. We were supposed to get here at 6:30, but were here well before 6:00. We stayed until 8:00. That was way too much down time. I kicked myself for not bringing the iPad with me, or at least some comics.
I really wasn't that hungry when we arrived, so I drifted away from the group to take some video of the four story central area around the food court. I ended up buying a pretzel and, much later, a few tacos. I was disappointed that such an expensive mall had all their public restrooms under renovation, so I had to go to a set of trailers outside. That let me see the CVS across the street, and I bought some Dr. Scholl's inserts for my feet. I also found a great present for Julie that some students pointed out in the last minutes before we were to leave. I won't write what it is here, but she'll have to wear it when she comes to Washington!
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10:40 PM
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