Taylor's Tales: Trip to DC

I had the BEST time in Washington DC!! I had never been, and even though I had seen pictures of the things I saw there, there is nothing like being there and seeing everything firsthand. I went with a group of teachers and principals from my school. Seven of us went: Roger (Principal), Molly (Asst. Principal), Sean (Asst. Principal), Cathy (Math teacher), Ann (ESOL teacher), Sheryl (Math coach), and me (Special Ed. English teacher). Some of us left Monday, so we had 3 extra days to do the tourist thing. The other two came in Wednesday in time for the conference on Thursday.

Monday: The week started out quite interesting. Ann is always the first one at school and is usually the last one. She wanted to get there at 5-5:15 am for our 6 am flight. We all get there by 5:15...except Ann. She gets there at 5:35...and they don't let her on the half-empty plane. She missed the entire day...she arrived at the hotel at 8 pm. Poor Ann. Other than that mishap, Monday was a very smooth day. When we got to DC, we checked into our hotel, the Crystal Gateway Marriot. Then we headed to the metro, their subway system, to go to Arlington Cemetery. Since it was so hot (100ish), we rode around on a tourmobile of the grounds. It was a sobering experience. We saw JFK's eternal flame. We watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldiers. I thought this was amazing. You could see the path where the guards have walked so many times before.

Arlington

They went on as far as you could see.

Tuesday: We went to the National Archives. We were all very excited about this. We saw The Magna Carta...I can't believe how good of condition it is in for being about 700 years old!! We waited in a LONG line to see The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and The Bill of Rights. The line was well worth it, and I think every American should go see them. It is amazing to think that I was looking at documents signed by Ben Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, etc. I also didn't realize how large they were. Unfortunately, to protect the documents from fading and ruining, you aren't able to get pictures. You will just have to see for yourself how big they are. There were other amazing things at the Archives, but those three were obviously the highlight. Then we went to the Smithsonian Natural History museum. This is where there are some dinosaur bones and my favorite- the 45.52 carat Hope Diamond. Then we went down the road to the Smithsonian American History museum. Since it is three stories, and we were getting tired of walking..we only looked around on the first floor. We saw Julia Childs' kitchen..I loved the movie Julie & Julia, so I was definitely excited to see it. Before going back to rest at the hotel, we went to Ford's Theater. Unfortunately, the line was MASSIVE..so we didn't get to go in.

National Archives

Smithsonian- T-rex

Hope Diamond

Cathy and I

Ford's Theatre

Julia Childs' kitchen

I had to pose in front of it.

And again..

All of her pots and pans

Her diploma from cooking school

Wednesday: My birthday! It was definitely the most memorable birthday I've had because of the amazing things I saw and places I went. We went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was a very sobering experience. It was packed. I was amazed at how reverent everyone was. Even children that were there were very respectful and quiet. I have always been interested in WWII and the Holocaust. I have taught the Diary of Anne Frank..this year I read Boy in the Striped Pajamas with my sixth graders. I have watched videos and looked at pictures, but nothing can compare to standing there in one of the railroad cars that held about 500 Jewish prisoners on their way to a concentration camp, standing on the road from the Warsaw ghetto, standing in front of the bunks from a concentration camp, seeing a room full of shoes, seeing a room full of hair..by the time you get about halfway through the museum, it's almost too much to take. After this, we went to the Library of Congress. Because of 9/11, a lot of the security in DC is much different, so we weren't allowed to actually go in the Reading Room..we were just able to look in through a glass door. That night, we did the DC at Night Tour. It was amazing..I know, I've said everything was..but it was. We went to: Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Wall, Iowa Jima Memorial, and FDR Memorial.

View of Capitol from Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Library of Congress...so beautiful inside!

Ceiling of Library of Congress

Library of Congress

WWII Memorial- Me, Molly, and Sean

WWII Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Washington Monument

On the tour bus

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln

Thursday: This is the first day of the conference. We did a "networking session" to meet people from the other schools who received the Schools to Watch award. My school is the only school from Arkansas that was there, so that was pretty special to us. We only had to be at the conference for the morning, so we went to the Capitol building and ate lunch. Then the real fun began. We went to Representative John Boozman's office where we met his staff. One of his interns, BK, took us on a tour of the Capitol. We went on the usual tour that tourists go on..we saw the old Senate room, the old Supreme Court room, the current House of Representatives and watched them vote, walked around the room that used to be where the House met which is now called Statuary Hall, where Presidents are lain in state, the Rotunda..I'm sure I'm forgetting other places we saw. Then we went outside to the steps and met Boozman for a group picture. He had to go back in and vote, then he wanted to talk with us. He told his Education liasion, Zach, to take us to the Rayburn Room and he would join us shortly. The Rayburn Room is where lobbyists meet with Congressmen to convince them to vote a certain way..Presidents have held press conferences...it's a big deal. "Regular" tourists can't just go into the Rayburn Room..you have to get special clearance and badges..I felt pretty important. haha. Boozman came in a few minutes later, and we sat down in a big table..I was right next to Boozman. We introduced ourselves and told him what we taught, then we discussed No Child Left Behind and what we wanted him to do. We were all on cloud 9..we got to visit with him for about 2 hours!! At the end of our discussion, he asked us if there was anything we missed on our first tour. He ended up taking us down into another part of the Capitol where tourists aren't usually allowed. We went down a set of stairs that were the stairs that the British rode their horses on to escape the burning Capitol building in 1814. Our founding fathers used these stairs. They were worn down so much, you could feel it as you walked on them. Then we went through a secret, secret tunnel back to his office. The only reason I call it the secret, secret tunnel is because I was walking with one of his interns and he told me he had never been down the tunnel we were in..he said he'd been down the secret tunnel...but not the secret, secret tunnel. We were all so pumped up by the time we left!!!

Rotunda

The Capitol Building

Capitol Building

Me on steps British rode horses on

Rayburn Room being used by President Obama..this isn't my picture..this is one of the things that occur in the room.

Rayburn Room

Sean, Sheryl, Roger, Rep. Boozman, Molly, Me, Cathy, and Ann

Ann, BK, and me

Underground tunnel used by Congressmen- Molly, Boozman, and an intern..this is the secret tunnel.

Me waiting for Boozman

Future Congresswoman Taylor..or me just sitting in Boozman's chair...he happened to walk in just as I was pretending to sign something...great. At least he laughed about it.

Friday:We had our conference all day which was really good..but there isn't really anything to write about..I mean the day before I was in the Rayburn Room!!!

Saturday: We had the conference that morning. That afternoon, we went to the White House for a tour. I wish I could say that I met/saw someone important..but I can't. Nothing too eventful happened other than seeing so many Secret Servicemen with automatic guns. We went back to the Smithsonian American History Museum. I saw the ruby red slippers, Kermit the Frog, the stars and stripes..HUGE flag that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner. I did see a stupid teenager about get tackled by security...she STUPIDLY pulled out her cell phone in the room with the flag..um, there's a reason that there is hardly any light there...the flag is old and will fade. We ended the day (and our touring of DC) by watching the sunset in front of the Capitol building.

White House visit- Roger, Molly, Cathy, and me

Sunday:Our pilot didn't show up, so instead of arriving at XNA at 10am..it was more like 4pm. Oh well. At least everyone made it on the plane this time!!

I'm sorry this was such a long post..I wanted to write down everything I did ..so that I can remember where all I went and what all I saw.