March 13, 2022
We began our morning with breakfast at iHOP and dressed for cold weather again. Our departure time was 8:00 so we could drive 2 hours to Monticello. Brad brought some movies for bus rides so we enjoyed Jungle Cruise on the ride. The drive was beautiful and weaved throughout the countryside.
Once we arrived we took a shuttle to the house that Thomas Jefferson lived in and explored his estate. His father owned the land and was given it for free as long as he “continued to improve the land”. Thomas Jefferson was given and owned 5,000 acres from his father and he built Monticello on top of the mountain.
After a group photo we split up to explore the grounds. It was beautiful. The grounds were gorgeous and the view was unbelievable. I can only imagine what it looks like in summer when everything is green. There is a large garden too. I enjoyed learning more about Sally Hemings and found the odometer that Jefferson used to calculate distances between his home and Washington and other important locations interesting. At 11:30 half of our group got to take the tour inside the home and at 11:50 the other half.
Once inside the house we saw all around learned so much from our tour guide. There were so many interesting details ago the house. Jefferson built a clock in his house with a pulley/weight system that adjusts throughout the day. The weights show how far in the day it is. However, he didn’t account for the height of the room and ended up having to drill a hole in the floor for the calendar to continue to Saturday.
I also found his dining room interesting. He was a man of privacy so he didn’t want people listening to the dinner conversations. He had one trusted butler, but the cooks cooked in the basement and brought the food upstairs. They then put it on a door with shelves that rotated and the trusty butler removed the food on the other side of the wall.
At the conclusion of our tour we met to take the shuttle back to the visitor’s center to get lunch. We had to go quickly to make our Mount Vernon reservation so we grabbed sandwiches and ate on the bus while watching “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
Unfortunately we got caught in traffic and were unable to make our Mount Vernon reservation so we changed plans and headed into DC to get the Air and Space Museum.
When we arrived at the Air and Space Museum we were greeted with a line to enter. After a short wait we were in. What we found was that the museum was going under construction beginning March 28 through Fall 2022. Unfortunately that meant most of the exhibits were closed. We decided to cut our visit short so we could visit two more memorials.
After Air and Space we headed to Washington Monument. We were able to walk along the National Mall. The weather was finally beginning to warm up.
We enjoyed a little time at the Washington Monument exploring and taking photos. The students like to lay down and put their feet on the monument because it looks like a path to the sky.
Our next stop was the WWII Memorial. This is one of my favorite memorials in the summer, but the water was not in the memorial yet. The students searched for Iowa, found Kilroy and took in the wall of golden stars. It is a very powerful monument. There was a time when there were many honor flights coming in to tour the memorial, but unfortunately, those tours are coming to a close.
Dinner at G Street was delicious and the students loved the pasta buffet before heading to the tidal basin. We began with the FDR Memorial which is split into 4 “rooms” for his 4 terms as president. We were behind a group of middle school students from another school and I must admit how incredibly proud I am of our students. The middle school students were being incredibly disrespectful and our students were respectful every step of the way. They too were disgusted by the other group’s behavior and made a point to be role models and show how to act.
After a quick walk along the basin we arrived at the MLK Memorial. Our guide, Brad, is a wealth of knowledge and makes the learning resonate with the students. We explored MLK’s quotes before getting back on the bus. Veronica said the quotes were her favorite part of the trip so far. Our group received another compliment from another group about how polite and well behaved they are.
We are having an incredible time. The group has been so go with the flow when we have scheduling changes and has a great attitude!
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