Monday June 17th

The morning began far to early for our taste, but the promise of sights to see managed to lure us out of bed and by 7:45 we were all packed onto the bus and ready to lay seige to the city. As we drove through D.C our PA, Jed, filled us in on city history, trivia, and conspiracy theories until we felt like locals in our tour bus slowly driving past tourist attractions while taking pictures. We arrived at Mount Vernon and met our first line of the day, after it had been determined that we served no threat to anyone but ourselves (we went through security) we were released into the wild of the mansion tour line. The mansion, as it turns out, boasted a great view of the Potomac as well as many chairs that Washington had, allegedly, graced. As I toured Mount Vernon I began to realize just how much we idolize George Washington, and he has became a deity in the midst of the American creation story. Many if us went to visit George Washingtons tomb where he rests with his wife Martha. The atmosphere about the tomb was a strange mixture of forced solemnity and festivity. We understand Washington as a myth not a man and to be faced with the remains of a living myth is quite strange indeed. 

We viewed Washington's stables gardens and slave quarters and when we were tired of the heat we went inside to the museum where we saw realistic recreations of Washington's face , a pair of Martha's shoes and George’s dentures. In the museum store I bought a 5 dollar bottle of Powerade, and I realized hydration has never been so expensive. We loaded back onto the bus and were off, Jed stuffing our heads with facts.

The first order of business upon our return was lunch where we celebrate our driver, Tanya’s birthday. After our teenage appetites had been sated we were ushered into groups and prodded untill we produced a bill (the legal kind, like the schoolhouse rock song). Next we were allowed a bit of free time that was, of course, largely spent making fun of each other. After our reprieve we headed down and stood in line for dinner with the perfect patience of a desert waiting for rain. Then we prepared to converge on the city like a sandstorm, back onto the bus we poured and Jed took the mic. First we went to the World War II memorial and after bathing our brains in the "mind blow" mixture of chemicals produced when you understand symbolism(thanks Jed) we found Kilroy. We saw the Vietnam veteran memorial. Then we climbed the many steps of the Lincoln memorial to greet the famous sculpture of the man himself, from there we were but a single set of stairs away from where MLK delivered his famous speech, here we felt the first raindrops fall and as we reached the bottom of the memorial the first stoke of lightning struck . We hid from the rain while the lovely Tanya fetched the bus to save us and we fled away into the storm leaving the Korean memorial behind us unseen. As we passed the Jefferson memorial the rain slowed to a stop allowing us to make a quick visit. Of course, the rain picked up again as soon as we left the shelter of stone Jefferson's favorite haunt. We skipped or sulked back to the bus to be packed back to bed in preparation for another delightful day. 

— Written by Faith Schintler


Pictures from the Day







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