Thursday, March 15, 2018

Thursday, March 15, 2018

After breakfast this morning we headed to Mount Vernon, home to George Washington.  Our first stop at Mount Vernon was George Washington's house. We played a little "follow the leader" to tour his home.  Although his home looks as though it was made of stone, it is actually wood that was covered with sand. 80% of his home is original, including some of the floors.  

When we were completed with the home tour we were able to break into smaller groups and tour the rest of the land.  His property used to be upwards of 8,000 acres, but is now about 500.  Many groups visited the slave memorial, slave quarters, tomb of Martha and George Washington and the gardens.  They also enjoyed lunch at Mount Vernon.

At the completion of Mount Vernon we headed to the Capitol to meet Senator Grassley and have our tour.  The senator allowed for about a 10 minute question and answer time and then we were on our way to visitor center for our tour.  The tour began with a short movie and then we met our tour guide, Paul.  Paul was fantastic. We each got a headset and were able to hear him well as we went though.  He made little jokes along the way and the students really seemed to enjoy it.  At the end of the Capitol tour we started to head down the mall to the Air and Space Museum.  As we were on the House of Representative side Barb saw Steve King walking out of the building. Mr. Kedley called to him and he came down and talked with a small group of people for a couple minutes.  Then we headed to Air and Space.

Due to our timing with the Capitol we only had 30 minutes at the Air and Space Museum before it closed.  From the Air and Space Museum we headed toward the dinner cruise.

The students had a BLAST at the dinner cruise.  We shared the room with a high school group from Alabama. I have to admit that my first thought was that our students would be intimidated and not want to dance because the other kids were older; BOY, WAS I WRONG! Our kids took over the dance floor! They danced to all genres of music and couldn't stop smiling.  It is safe to say that they will sleep good tonight!

Mileage Update: 

Wednesday: 5.03 miles

Thursday: 9.24 miles (over 21,000 steps! Some dancing was included!)

My favorite part about today was the cruise trip and Air and space museum. - Joseph

My favorite part of today was by far the cruise trip. The second best time was the air and space museum. - Trenton Engle

My favorite is to danced. -Lexi

My  favorite part of today was dancing on the cruise ship. We danced the entire night and had a blast. -Emma 

My favorite part of the day was the cruise ship also.  I enjoyed it because it was different than walking around and we got to have good food!  Everyone had a good time and I certainly enjoyed the dancing and food. 

                                         -Hailee Fry 

(Tomb of George and Martha Washington)