Tons of Michael Jackson music welcomed us to the Virgin
America gate at SFO. The flight from SFO to Washington went fine… amazing how
smart phones and headsets can make 5 ½
hours fly bye. As we shuttled to
the airport, the Jamaican driver was sure we were from Australia? After a chuckle or two, he guessed
Texas! What kind of Californians are we?
After getting to the
hotel and getting some dinner, we headed for the monuments.
The Jefferson Memorial is magnificent at
night…. majestic in its form with the preamble of the Declaration of
Independence amongst the words scrolled across the walls.
I wasn’t counting, but there had to have been a couple
hundred pictures taken.
After Jefferson, we
toured through the FDR memorial. It’s
set up so that visitors begin, thematically, with his first term in office and
walk through his 2nd 3rd and 4th terms. As you might have guessed, we came in from
the back and went backwards, from 4th to 1st term. Plenty of laughs and pictures.
The Civil Rights
memorial and Korean War memorial were next, followed by the spectacular Lincoln
Memorial. Several students literally sat
underneath the scrolling words of the Gettysburg Address, reading and
discussing them. Priceless for a history
teacher. Plenty of pictures taken in
the spot that MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech…. Along with pictures
of the Washington Monument with its reflection beaming off of the reflecting
pool.
Finally, we walked through
the Vietnam Memorial. While better
during the day in my opinion, it was probably our only chance to see it. The students took it in, had plenty of
questions, and took an impressive amount of time taking it in.
We ended by walking
back through George Washington University before hopping on the Metro and
getting back to the hotel by 11:45 or so.
Whew! We’re all tired and ready
for a good night sleep. Great first
day!!
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