Special Double Edition and Finale!

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After some much needed rest, I am finally getting to the final two days of our incredible trip. As usual, there is a lot to get to, so here we go! Day 7 began with the usual breakfast at our DC hotel. We had a typical departure time of 8:15 and headed into the city. There was a tropical storm that made its way into DC on Friday, but we pushed through and managed to have a great day. It was yet another way that our kiddos showed just how awesome they are! They never complained, had fun, and made the best of the day! Our first stop for the day was the Capitol Visitors Center. As we drove into the city, our tour guides impressed upon us the significance of the Capitol as the center of our government. We arrived with some time to spare, so we got some free time to explore the Visitors Center museum and gift shop. When we met back at the Freedom Statue, we grouped up for some pictures with Oklahoma Senator, Jim Inhofe! He was nice enough to pose in our group pictures, said a few words to our students, and posed for several individual pictures. It was a very neat experience for our students to get to meet one of our Oklahoma Senators! After we said thank you to Senator Inhofe, we got in line for our Capitol tour which began with an inspiring film about our great nation entitled E Pluribus Unum. Your final homework assignment is to find out what that phrase means and why it is important to Americans. After the video, we met our Capitol tour guides and began our tour. The Capitol was buzzing with hundreds of people touring and the acoustics make it very difficult to hear, so everyone got a set of headphones that were tuned in to our tour guide's microphone. It was a little strange, but really the only way we could hear. The tour took us into the Rotunda where we saw some of the famous paintings in American History depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Surrender of General Burgoyne, Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, General George Washington Resigning His Commission, Landing of Columbus, Discovery of theMississippi, Baptism of Pocahontas, and Embarkation of the Pilgrims. It was absolutely incredible to see these famous paintings in person! We also got to see Statuary Hall which is home to, of course, statues! Each state can provide the Capitol with two statues. The only requirements are that the statues depict someone from the home state and the person must be deceased. Oklahoma's two statues are of Sequoyah and Will Rogers. Though the tour was somewhat short, it was still a wonderful experience to tour the center of our nation's government. After a quick lunch in the Capitol, we headed to the Library of Congress. We took a short walk through an underground tunnel to reach the library which is home to several million books, manuscripts, newspapers, microfilms, comic books, films, maps, sound recordings, photographs, and government publications. The most notable work we got to see was one of only three Gutenberg Bibles known to exist! Also on exhibit was Thomas Jefferson's personal library. It was surreal to see books owned and read by Jefferson himself! To think that many of the books influenced him as he wrote the Declaration of Independence was truly unbelievable. We also got to see the Main Reading Room and many of the amazing mosaics throughout the beautiful building. When we departed Capitol Hill, we made our way to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is an incredibly well designed museum. Each visitor is given a card depicting someone who went through the Holocaust and tells about them. An elevator takes each visitor to the top floor and we made our back down to the main floor. The museum tells the story of the Holocaust chronologically while displaying countless artifacts, pictures, and videos. It was a sobering reminder of the Holocaust and the importance of standing up to injustice. Next on the itinerary was a stop at Ford's Theater, site of President Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth. The theater is operated by the National Park Service, so once we made our way inside, a park ranger took questions about the theater and the famous events that took place there on April 14, 1865. Our group and those with us in the theater asked many thoughtful questions that helped us learn more about that fateful night. Pushing through the rain and near exhaustion, our group made a quick photo-stop at the White House. While we weren't able to tour the White House, it was still very neat to see the famous home in person. After several pictures, we departed for the National World War II Memorial. One of the newest memorials in DC, it pays homage to those who fought and died during WWII. It was a very impressive and thoughtful memorial filled with symbols and quotes honoring our veterans. We then made a quick stop for dinner at King Street Blues BBQ. It was a great opportunity for fellowship with the whole group, get out of the rain, and re-fuel for our night tour.After dinner we visited some of the iconic memorials and monuments in DC including, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. Each of these great American memorials were reminders of some of our great Americans as well as the ultimate price paid for our freedom. Our final day began just like the others with breakfast at the hotel. We also packed our bags for the last time as we prepared to come home! Our first stop was at the National Archives, home of the Charters of Freedom, the most important documents in our nation's history. The documents included the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Articles of Association, Articles of Confederation, Treaty of Paris (1783), and Washington's First Inaugural Address. It was very humbling to be in the presence of these momentous documents. Our next and final stop on our tour was at the Smithsonian Museums. We established a meeting time and place and allowed everyone to explore the museums on the National Mall. The three primary museums visited were the National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, and National Air and Space Museum. As was the case throughout our trip, it was amazing to see so many incredible artifacts like, at the American History Museum, the American flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem, "Defense of Fort McHenry", that would later become our national anthem. At the Air and Space museum, we were able to see several spaceships, including the Mercury Friendship 7, Apollo 11, and Apollo Lunar Module. We also got to see the Spirit of St. Louis, the first plane to make a non-stop flight from New York to Paris, flown by Charles Lindbergh. In the Natural History Museum, we saw the Hope Diamond as well as complete skeletons of a tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops! Though it seemed like we were short on time, it was a great end to a perfect week! After the museums, we boarded our buses and said goodbye to DC. Overall our trip home went very well. The second group was delayed a bit, but everyone made it home safe and sound!I want to thank everyone for an incredible week. First and foremost, our students. All week long, they showed why they are the best students around! I can't say enough about how great they were! Secondly, our chaperones. Their teamwork to ensure everyone was always safe and happy made everything run efficiently and smoothly. Thank you to Mrs. Bundy, Mrs. Rayon, Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Brylewski, Mr. Walden, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Lemon, Ms. Brown, Mrs. Green, Mrs. Spillars, Mrs. Fraley, and Mr. Reneau. While this trip was a lot of fun for all of the chaperones, it is also a lot of work. Your time and effort is appreciated! Next on the thank you list are our wonderful tour directors, Danielle and Donna. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and planning! Your humor and flexibility made everything run perfectly even in the face of traffic, rain, and ER visits 😊 Finally, thank you to our wonderful families, especially our parents whose support and hard-earned money made all of this possible. 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