Saturday, June 15th, 2019
6:45 am came early. We headed over to the Crystal City Pub &
Grill where we ate a delicious breakfast buffet. Rob met us with the bus and we
drove over to The National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico. One of the
students brought a Bluetooth speaker which led to a lot of group singing on the
way to Quantico. We have a lot of talented singers! The students spent 2 hours
touring the exhibits at the Marine Corps. It was honestly breathtaking walking
through all the different war exhibits and seeing the sacrifice and bravery of
so many marines. We ate a sack lunch within the National Museum of the Marine
Corps at Devil Dog Diner.
Following the Marine Corps was the Navy Memorial, where we
took a lot of pictures
We then went and paid tribute to the nation’s fallen police
officers at the National Law Enforcement Memorial.
We spend the entire afternoon with Amy Gold. Amy Gold is a
must-have in the world of tour guides. She is witty, quirky and very
knowledgeable about Washington D.C. Amy took us on a very detailed and
enjoyable tour of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, WWII Memorial, the Martin
Luther King Jr Memorial, and the Iwo Jima Memorial. Additionally, we spent time
outside of Capital Hill and The National Mall. While at the MLK Memorial, we
were able to meet service members from Texas that were on an Honor Flight.
We dropped Amy off around 6 pm and headed to the Union
Station food court for dinner. Everyone was able to browse the different
options. After
supper, we headed back to the hotel for a night of games and more mingling with
other state groups. Shelly, DJ, and Zach conducted the Youth Leadership
Council (YLC) interviews. YLC is an opportunity for a student from each state
to return to further develop their leadership
skills.
Throughout the day, we met other Youth Tour groups from
Kansas, Hawaii, Mississippi, California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Utah.
Each state has state-specific pins that the students trade. The goal is to
collect the most pins from other states. At the end of the trip, the person
with the most pins earns a $50 Amazon gift card. However, Iowa Youth Tourer's
have a bargaining advantage with yellow corn necklaces and state pins. So far,
Will Rasmussen from the Pella Cooperative Electric Association is winning the
pin challenge.
If you guys didn’t catch on from the Facebook videos, we had
a LOT of great singing on the bus rides. I think when we get back home these
students should come together to form a 2019 Youth Tour Choir. Although
Washington D.C. is really fun, we are all looking forward to sleeping in till
7:30 am tomorrow.
Clayton Merritt
Youth Tour Intern
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