Wonderful Wednesday!

If you were to ask your student, "How was the trip today?" Their response? "Hot." After a while, I learned my lesson, and realized I needed to ask, "Besides it being hot, how was the day today?" which was typically answered with "Great!", "Interesting!" and "Fun!" Not too bad for a 2:00am wakeup call!

All flights and buses rendez-voused at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, which offered students a wide variety of experiences: from the flight simulator to walking through various space crafts, reliving the Wright Brothers' first flight and exploring the science of light wavelength spectrums, fun and learning was had by all.

After leaving the Air and Space Museum, each bus' tour guide boarded the bus, and provided the students with a great background of Arlington National Cemetery. Here we hiked up the hills to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: we witnessed two wreath laying ceremonies before our own, and Mikaila, Nicole, Bridget and Caroline did a wonderful job laying the Stony Brook School wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider; it was incredibly moving to watch. We capped off our tour of Arlington Cemetery with a viewing of the SS Maine, the Challenger Shuttle Memorial, and finally the graves of John, Bobby and Teddy Kennedy. The view from President Kennedy's eternal flame grave is just spectacular: at the foot of the Robert E. Lee home, and looking out across the Potomac River towards the Washington skyline.

Finally, each bus when on a whirlwind tour of Washington memorials and monuments, complete with information from our tour guide to provide students with context. Students visited the Marine Corps/Iwo Jima Memorial, FDR Memorial, World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. Unfortunately, the reflecting pool was not there for students to view - it has been drained and is being reconstructed.

Dinner at Carmine's was delicious! It consisted of family-style servings of antipasto salad, garlic bread, spaghetti and meatballs, and chicken parm. Fantastic!

We arrived at the hotel in a staggered fashion, with a 10:00-10:15 lights-out call for students...a long day tomorrow, for sure! So far, this has been a great trip! Students are learning lots, and having a lot of fun doing so.