Wednesday June 19th

On this wonderful Wednesday, the CWF 4H’ers, have seemingly managed to grasp the concept of time and managed to get ourselves onto the bus by 7:45. The bus ride to the Capitol was occupied by naps and silent mental preparation for the obscene amount of security we’d soon be faced with. As sure as salt dissolves in water, as soon as we were through the line we were faced with security. Then we made our way down the ornate halls and sandstone stairs, past statues, stern and serene to the second line of the day. This line was for our tour and sadly we were not the only ones in it, eventually we made it to the front and into a theater. We were shown a film on the Capitol’s history and then dismissed to the guided portion of the tour. Before the tour started we were handed headphones attached to a small device, this was intended to help us hear our guide once all 40 of us had squeezed into the tourist filled part of the Capitol dome. These devices, of course, had a tendency to cut out.

Properly suited we marched into the crypt and stood above an empty tomb to admire architecture and we learned that a sculpture was created of George Washington shirtless. Then we were led to the rotunda to marvel at the paintings, carvings and statues that adorned the room. Next we were led to statutory hall to do the same. After our tour we headed to continue our tour of all of DCs security checkpoints. Once through our second security search, we visited with a staffer of senator Jerry Moran and then we had an appointment with Senator Pat Roberts.  At this point, we went for lunch at Longworth cafeteria before splitting into two groups based on our districts. The first group checked out the Library of Congress (more security) and the second visited their representatives (security! Surprised?). Then the first group visited their representative. 

After the library had been seen by both groups they joined together to feast at union station. After the groups had come together as one over dinner we headed out to Fort Myer to witness the Twilight Tattoo. We also visited Iwo Jima. Then back on the bus and to bed to dream of canon fire and funny hats.

— Written by Faith Schintler






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