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| US Marines Marching Band Performance |
As you know from my last blog, I like to admit my mistakes
outwardly. Last night I made one of those mistakes. As I sat in my room absolutely
exhausted from a marathon day in the city, I ignorantly wrote:
“[W]e made it back to the hotel to call it a night at
10:00pm. A bit earlier than last night, but it seems that everyone is
absolutely exhausted. We (hopefully including myself) are going to call it a
night and be back up at 6:45am for another full day! “
The reality of the situation is that the kids – even after
walking ten miles in 90 plus degree heat – decided to stay up and have a
hallway party. Never again should you wonder about your own child’s ability to
perform long, strenuous tasks. As they displayed to all of us, they just keep
going…
In coordination with this, all of the students seemed VERY
tired this morning for our 6:45am wake up call. Today involved significantly
less walking and was almost exclusively dedicated to honoring the men and women
who serve this country.
After breakfast at the Crystal City Sports Pub, we went on a
bit of a driving tour of the city. We planned on showing the student the
Washington National Cathedral – another stop that was missed due to our flight
cancellation. This eventually turned into a longer driving tour of DC where the
students saw Embassy Row – a famous cluster of foreign embassies in Washington –
and the Naval Observatory – the official residence of the Vice President of the
United States. Through it all, we were able to reschedule our tour of the
National Cathedral in place of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving which
Shelly insists “is a bunch of printing presses.”
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| Students who coordinated their outfits in the morning pose for a photo at the US Navy Memorial |
After our drive, we stopped at the United States Navy
Memorial for a while before continuing on with our afternoon.
We traveled to Quantico to visit the National Museum of the
Marine Corps – a stunning display of the long, honorable history of our Marine
Corps. The students enjoyed a meal in the mess hall and received their own custom
engraved dog tags with their name and “Youth Tour 2014.” This was a first-time
stop for Youth
Tour and we loved it!
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| The Youth Tour group poses outside the National Museum of the Marine Corps |
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| Kiley and Megan pose in front of Robert E. Lee's home |
Afterwards, most of the group traveled to Arlington National
Cemetery. This is an absolute must whenever you travel to Washington, but the
students unfortunately missed it when our flight was cancelled. We were able to
rearrange items on the itinerary to make it work and the students saw the
Kennedy Gravesite, the Tomb of the Unknowns, the Changing of the Guard, and the
home of General Robert E. Lee. While they did all this, Rob, bus driver extraordinaire,
Pat, standard chaperone, and myself, intern extraordinaire, traveled to
Georgetown to pick up DC Cupcakes and Five Guys for the students to eat for
dinner. (Note: Pat is actually a good chaperone, but he gives the students a
hard time, unlike myself)
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| A Marine explains his metals to Jasmine |
Finally, we all traveled to the National Marine Corps
Memorial to enjoy the Marine Corps sunset parade. It was an outstanding
performance and gave the students the opportunity to talk with Marines and
thank them for their service. We returned to the hotel quite early – about 9:00pm
– though I expect students will stay up until final room checks at 10:30pm
despite the fact that tomorrow we are running with Senator Chuck Grassley at
4:15am. Wish them luck! It will be a long, hot day at the US Capitol.
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| Students pose with Marines outside the National Marine Memorial after the sunset parade |
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