East Coast Travel Log: Monday

(Please note: The days given in the log titles refer to the day that the log was created, not the day it refers to.)

8:01 am - I said I'd continue later, just didn't specify how later. Dear god, I just skipped a whole bunch of days.
(Editor's note: This comment was due to a mislabeling of earlier days' logs. Yes, I know that skipping from Saturday to Monday isn't 'a whole bunch of days.')

After touring Gettysburg, we went to DC and ate dinner at a buffet. As would become the norm, they had laid out a much smaller selection of food for us to choose from, including spaghetti, pizza, and salad. We ate, and then went to the hotel.

On Saturday, we did a lot of touring of monuments and memorials. We saw the Lincoln, the Vietnam, the Korean, the Jefferson. Jay took us to Arlington National Cemetary, and we toured it, then went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. That was pretty spiffy. Like Brendan said, "If there's one thing I got out of that, it's respect for our military." He's right. Josh Evans, Melanie Crocker, Tracy Barker, and Jay laid a wreath at the tomb, with a ribbon that said "Alder Creek Middle School". SO awesome.

Then we took a look around DC. We saw a bunch of official buildings, but regrettably didn't get to stop at the National Archives or the Library of Congress. Shame. We did, however, walk around the Capitol, and poked our heads around the White House. There were a few protestors in front of the gates on the south end of the building, and lots of people talked to them and got pictures of them. That was pretty neat.

We continued our tour of memorials with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Wow. That was a truly amazing memorial. It had an awesome design, with lots of cascading waterfalls, bronze sculptures, and stone. I got some really spiffy pictures of it. I loved it.

At some point in the day, we also went to see the World War II Memorial. That was another breathtaking one. It had a beautiful design, with bronze wreathes and lots of water. I got another bunch of photos of that, though people there were as inconsiderate as Hades, paying no attention to me when I was trying to take a picture. There was a really awesome portion called the Wall of Freedom or something like it, with 4,000 gold stars on it, but people were swarming around it. I understand the desire to see it, but they wouldn't even move for the second that it took to take a picture. Gah.

We ate dinner at a place called Poncho's (sic). The food was pretty good; they'd laid out on a table in the front a whole bunch of taco and burrito fixin's (yes. Fixin', plus -s.) I enjoyed it, and then we had ice cream. Mmmmm.

8:23 am (continued) - The chaperones had intended us to take a night tour of the memorials, but since it was Stefany Young's birthday, they called it off. Instead, we went back to the hotel, and swam for a bit. I meant to go call my home, but realized that I didn't have my phone card. I had loaded it into my other wallet, and left that one at home. All my 500 minutes of prepaid phone time were sitting on my desk in a cheap wallet. Yeesh.`

11:31 pm - On Sunday, we toured Mt. Vernon. That was pretty neat, though we couldn't take pictures inside. I got some good ones, though.

And then we went to the Smithsonian museums. It was pretty awesome; I think I liked the Natural History museum the most. Again, pictures were scarce, but it was a really awesome experience.

After five hours at the Smithsonian museums, we got back onto the bus and took a three-hour trip to Williamsburg. About halfway through, we started a talent show. I watched a good few people get up, and then got up and did a short comedy routine kinda sorta stolen from Brian Regan. Heheh. It got a good few laughs.

Today, we went off to Colonial Williamsburg and wandered around for an hour or two. It was pretty neat. I enjoyed seeing the buildings and architecture, and found the blacksmith's smith quite cool. Well, hot. But whatever.

Then we got lunch, went back to the hotel for 35 minutes, and hung out before we took what we were told was a hour and a half ride to Busch Gardens. We loaded onto the bus once more, the chaperones started the movie again-- "Sandlot"-- and we were on our way.

Ten minutes later, we were in Busch Gardens. Schroeder and the chaperones played a trick on us. Rawr.

Busch Gardens was simply amazing. So much fun. Brendan and I went on the ride "Apollo's Chariot" around seven times, "The Loch Ness Monster" five, "Alpengeist" twice, and "Escape from Pompei" about four times. I got some really awesome coaster pictures, and didn't lose anything. Woot. I got a T-shrit that said "Fear the Four", referring to the four roller coasters at the park-- Alpengeist, Loch Ness, Chariot, and a fourth called "Big Bad Wolf". It was an absolutely AWESOME day.

And we go home tomorrow. Wow.