Nation's Capital

Yesterday was one of the best days ever. My school sponsored a trip to Washington, D.C. as part of the curriculum for my history class.

I had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. (but it was worth it), and the bus left at 6:30 a.m. We drove to Maryland for breakfast, and I ended up standing in line for half and hour just to get something to eat. Then we were off again. We arrived in D.C. at around 10:30, and it was pouring down rain. My friend, Tiffany, and I decided to explore the Air and Space museum first because it was the closest building to where the bus had dropped us off. It was so awesome! :) The only bad part was baggage checkpoint because we had to stand in line just to get into the museum. We probably spent an hour and a half in Air and Space browsing the various exhibits on display. One of the best ones was the Orville and Wilbur Wright exhibit. There was a whole room filled with different designs they used to build their first airplane.

After the Air and Space museum, we decided to go to the Smithsonian Castle. Neither of us had ever been to D.C. before so we first had to find a map. After acquiring the map, I looked for the castle, we gathered up our belongings, and were off to the castle. It was still pouring outside, so I decided to use my umbrella. Little did I know that wind plus a flimsy umbrella equals an inside out umbrella, so I got soaked several times. Anyway, we walked down the sidewalk towards what we thought was the castle. However, we were going in the opposite direction, and ended up at the Native American museum. So, we checked it out for about ten minutes.

After the Native American museum, with some renewed confidence, we strolled over towards the Smithsonian castle. However, after checking her watch, Tiff alerted me that we only had and hour and a half to go to the musuems and eat lunch and be back on the bus. After deliberating, we made the executive decision to skip the castle and go to the Freer Art Gallery because I had to do an extra credit assignment for my history class. We spent about thirty minutes in the museum. The exhibits included: Hindu and Buddhist artifacts, Asian pottery, Japanese masks, and many other interesting items.

Since we only had about an hour until the buses left, my friend and I decided to go back to Air and Space to get some lunch. Upon arriving at the food court, we were awestruck. The size of the court was impressive. There were people everywhere! The food choices included, but were not limited to: McDonald's, Boston Market, and a pizza restaurant. We chose the shortest of the ten lines to stand in, ordered our food (which was more expensive than a nice main dish at Applebee's), found a place to sit, and ate our lunch. We then made our way back to the bus pick-up area, and yes it was still raining.

The next stop on our exciting Washington D.C. excursion was the National Cathedral. The people who were interested in seeing the cathedral boarded the buses and took what was supposed to be a ten minute ride (but was actually a fourty-five minute ride) to the church. Upon arrival I was shocked at how enormous the building was. We were told that the building was built in a gothic style. We received an exclusive tour of the cathedral which was given by one of the ladies who works there. She knew just about everything about the church. I had a really good time going from room to room admiring the beautiful details. The lady also told us that Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller are buried in the cathedral. We probably spent two hours in the National Cathedral.

After the cathedral, the buses went back to the Air and Space museum to pick up the remaining people who did not go to the cathedral. We then made our way to Georgetown to spend the evening. We spent three hours in Georgetown. My friends and I walked around Georgetown until we found a mall (The Shoppes at Georgetown), where we ate dinner at the food court. Then we walked around the mall to kill some time. We soon found ourselves bored, so we left the mall. It was pretty cold outside by now, so Tiff and I decided to look for a Starbucks to get a coffee, which was not hard because there was a Starbucks on almost every corner. We then made our way back to the buses, and this ended our long, exciting day in Washington D.C. and the surrounding area. I can't wait to visit again!




"Carpe Diem!"