Clarke Visits D.C. 2018

Saturday, March 17, 2018

My favorite part of the trip was...

the dinner cruise (Jadie B)

showing up the Alabamians on the dance floor (Breanna)

the Potomac River cruise (Sophia)

the Potomac dinner cruise (Emma)

Udvar- Hazy Air and Space Museum (Guy)

the cruise (Hailee)

Showing up the Alabamians (Mady)

Proving the DJ wrong that Iowa is the best (Jessinda)

the yacht (Kayden)

the wax museum (Kodi K)

the wax museum (Jadi)

Arlington (Molly)

the wax museum (Ryleigh)

Mount Vernon (Alex)

doing the spy app at Mount Vernon (Elijah)

the cruise (Spencer)

the yacht (Jesse)

the yacht (Ryan)

Gettysburg (Trenton)

the cruise (Joseph)

the cruise (KJ)

learning about stuff from the Revolutionary War (Riley)

the World War II Memorial (Caleb)

traveling here and just being here with my entire family (Isabel)

going on the boat (Lexi)

the Lincoln Memorial (Alexis)

the cruise (Terry)

shopping (Allen)

the entire thing, but I really liked the museums (Elena)

celebrating my birthday on the cruise (Cecilia)

going to George Washington's House (Cody)

Mount Vernon (David)

the cruise (Gage)

Laying of wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Joey)

Mount Vernon (Seth)

the first air and space museum (Steven)

Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum (Jeremiah)

the dinner cruise (Noah)

the second air and space museum Udvar-Hazy (Daniel)

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Everyone had to rise early this morning so we could get going with our last full day in D.C. After loading the buses with our suitcases we headed to Arlington. Once we were in Arlington we visited JFK's gravesite, stopped by Arlington House, and watched the Changing of the Guards. The students were all pretty amazed with the Changing of the Guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They enjoyed learning that they took 21 steps and waited 21 seconds between each pace. Many students found the requirements of being a guard interesting.

From Arlington we drove past Iwo Jima. We were unable to get off the bus to get close because the typical parking and path are under construction.

Next we headed to the World War II Memorial. The students were able to explore the memorial and search for Iowa's pillar and Kilroy. Many were excited because the fountains were on. Earlier this week when we visited the Lincoln Memorial the reflecting pool had not been filled but today it was.

Our last big stop of the trip was to the Newseum. There were some great exhibits in this museum. Personally, I enjoyed the Politzer Prize Photography room. It is amazing how a photograph can tell such an incredible story.

We are now making our way to the Baltimore Airport. Pictures of the day will be added later. We should be back to Clarke around midnight/12:30. See you then!

PS. I just realized yesterday's pictures didn't post, so they are posted now.

Friday, March 16, 2018

Today was much less walking than we've had the rest of the week. We began our morning by going to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Smithsonian Museum. This Air and Space Museum houses many more aircrafts than the other air and space museum we visited yesterday. The aircrafts are hanging from the ceiling and are on the floor; everywhere you look there are aircrafts. The most well known museum exhibits are the Enola Gay (the aircraft that dropped the first nuclear bomb on Japan during WWII), the Concorde (air craft that used to take half the time to travel from the US to England), and the Discovery Shuttle. Many people also enjoyed the flight simulators and observation tower. We also had to eat at the museum. The only option for eating was McDonalds. This wouldn't have been an issue, but there were a couple other groups there who had the same idea we did. It took an hour to wait in line and get food-yikes!! Everyone was great sports and didn't complain.

From there we took the 1.5 hour drive to Gettysburg to tour the battlefields. Once we arrived we saw a video about the battle and then visited the cyclorama. The Cyclorama is a 360 degree oil painting on canvas. It depicts the battle. There is a light show and speech that goes with the painting to make the cyclorama experience. It is very neat. What is amazing is that painting wasn't done by someone who was at the battle. It was painted overseas by a crew of painters who went off of peoples writings and topography maps.

We then got back on the bus to tour the battlefield. Our first stop was Little Roundtop. Although the weather was very much NOT like the weather during the Battle of Gettysburg (90 degrees and humid) we could still envision what it would have been like for people who were in the battle. We then visited the National Cemetery where many soldiers were buried. If they were unidentified they are buried with a small tombstone and a number. We also saw approximately where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. It is gated off inside the cemetery so we could not go right to it. David did a nice job reading the Gettysburg Address.

From there we went to General Pickett's Buffet for dinner. There are many dinner choices that the students like there (and some even tried new foods!).

Right now the students are packing in their hotel rooms. Some groups actually kept their rooms pretty darn clean! Tomorrow will be an early morning to visit Arlington. See you late tomorrow night!

My favorite part about today was when we went to the aircraft museum and seeing all the aircrafts. -Ryleigh

(This tree witnessed the Battle of Gettysburg. The other trees were all given from different states)

(We learned to tell a real cannon from a fake one, look for the writing. If there is writing on the end pictured above then yes, it is real. If there are no numbers, it is fake.)

(President Lincoln stood to the right of the building about 20 feet to give the Gettysburg Address)

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)