We have arrived! We were greeted by some WorldStrides leaders at the airport. We loaded our bus and met our bus driver, John, and tour guide, Sally. This began our journey to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico. It was a 45 minute to one hour drive. When we arrived we went to their lunch room to eat our box lunches of ham and turkey sandwiches. It was a rather quiet meal- I'm not sure if people were more tired or hungry and just stuffing their faces.
Sally, our tour guide, left students with an assignment as they got off the bus. The assignment was to find out something about Sergeant Reckless. Their learned fact was their ticket back on the bus. (I had never heard of Sergeant Reckless, so I'd recommend researching her). But in case you don't want to research her, she's a horse. She carried over 9,000 pounds of ammunition into battle even when she was injured.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the museum. We saw all sorts of great exhibits revolving around the Marines. There were a couple rooms that we went into that were transformed with temperature and sound to make it seem like you were in a location battling with the Marines. It was incredible to see. Of course the students found the gift shop also. We finished the Marine Museum with a stroll in their memorial park. We only walked a short way, but it was beautiful.
After the Marine museum we headed to the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. We went in the hall of nations and were able to go out on the terrace. From the terrace we could see the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. We concluded at the Kennedy Center by seeing the gold bust of John F. Kennedy. It is 8 feet tall and weighs 2,000 pounds. The artist is the same artist that did the Einstein Statue which we will see later in the week. If you stand in front of the bust and cover half of his face you can see that there are two emotions on his face. His right side has a more tired look and his left side shows his younger side.
We then headed to dinner. It was a Mexican restaurant. They set up a buffet with taco stuff. Personally, I thought it was very good. The kids seemed to think it was pretty good also!
From dinner we went to the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. On the way I asked some students what year they were born--2003/2004. So I honestly didn't think it would mean as much to them as what it would mean to the adults. However while we were there I was a tad surprised how touched some of the students seemed by the memorial. Many walked by and commented how sad it was. The memorial has a bench for each of the 184 victims from when the plane hit the Pentagon. The benches are shaped like airplane wings and are facing one way if they were in the Pentagon and the other way if they were in the airplane. There is a little stream of water under each of the benches. Many of the benches had flowers on them. The entire memorial is incredibly touching.
As I write this we are on our way back to the hotel. The kids seem to be rather exhausted. Hopefully they'll sleep well tonight! It was a great day and I know many are looking forward to tomorrow!
From the kids:
It was first time flying on a big plane and it was amazing. Then we went to the school to get on the bus. We had to wake up at 3 A.M and I was extremely tired and didn't want to get out of bed. Then we had to get our luggage and get to the school to wait for the bus to come.
-Isabel pettit
Today it was not my first time on a plane, but it was still fun. The takeoff and landing is always my favorite part. Today was kind of a long day, but I still enjoyed it. When we had dinner, afterwards, we got ice cream! I was ecstatic. But, at the end of the day, I was really tired, since we had to be at the school at 3 in the morning. I was a walking disaster apparently, because I kept almost dropping things, and just being a klutz. I didn't really showcase my finest moments I guess. Actually, that's pretty normal for me, but, I was still on the struggle bus at the end of the day. Hopefully the rest of the week will go better.
- Riley Elsbury
The best thing i did today was go to the 9/11 memorial.
- Trenton Engle
My first time flying was amazing Z
-Caleb Kenter
Pictures to come later!!
Pictures to come later!!
Thank you for the update, great pictures!
ReplyDeleteLynda K.
Thank you for sharing! Looks like everyone is having a great time!
ReplyDeleteEdith F.