Washington DC Trip

My fellow youth advisors and I recently spent a weekend with several of our youth in Washington DC.  We took them there specifically to see the Holocaust Museum, as well as monuments, memorials, the Smithsonian Museums, and Arlington Cemetery.  We had a wonderful weekend and absolutely perfect weather.

 WWII

 Washington Monument

 Lincoln

 Vietnam

 Lincoln (sorry, uploading pictures never puts them in order.  Whatever.)

We stayed in a fantastic hotel outside the city.  It was an Embassy Suites (this is not a sponsored opinion; we paid for our rooms) and it was awesome.  I ended up with my own room because one of our advisors couldn't make it at the last minute.  The rooms at Embassy Suites aren't just rooms.  They are suites.  As in two separate rooms, plus a bathroom.  It was so stinking nice!  And for me, when I am never ever alone anymore, to have this whole room to myself, part of me just wanted to hang out at the hotel!  It was also directly across the street from a big metro station so we had no trouble hopping on and getting into the city.

We got into the city on Friday afternoon and settled in.  Then we went right into the city to see the monuments.  We saw all of them pretty much; the Washington Monument, which is under some renovations/restorations due to damage from the earthquake a couple years ago (wow, that was years ago already?); Lincoln (and the steps where Erik proposed to Kelly, awwww); Vietnam memorial (which made me think of my dad and my uncle who both served in the military in Vietnam); WWII which made me think of my mom's father who met my grandmother during that war; Roosevelt memorial which had some really inspiring quotations and picturesque water features;

(Sorry this last one is hard to see.  It says, I think, "I have seen war.  I have seen war on land and sea.  I have seen blood running from the wounded.  I have seen the dead in the mud.  I have seen cities destroyed.  I have seen children starving.  I have seen the agony of mothers and wives.  I hate war.")
Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial which was actually a surprise to us and was on the way to the Jefferson Memorial (which I had never been to, even though I have been to DC quite a few times). 

Above: Jefferson.  Below, MLK, Jr.

We walked ALL of this.  DC is a very walkable city, but walking all those monuments was a long, long, long walk.  By the time we got to the Jefferson Memorial, we were all tired and hungry.  As in starving.  And let me tell you now, there is NOTHING to eat anywhere near the Jefferson Memorial.  We started walking and finally made our way back to the metro, got off at some mall and ate at a place called Noodles Inc (or something like that).  It was good, and we were so happy to sit down to eat.  None of us wanted to get up for our drink refills!

When we went back to the hotel, we set the kids "free" and then checked on them later.  I guess they were disappointed in the pool, which was indoor and small, but basically they were good and behaved.  What I expected.  :-)  We have great kids.  Most of them are seniors now.  I am really going to miss them!

The next day, Kelly and I got up at the crack of dawn to wait in line for tickets to the Holocaust Museum.  Kelly was told to be there by 730 to guarantee tickets for opening at 10am.  Tickets are free, but there are a limited number available each day.  So you have to wait in line.  Well, we got there at 730 and there was NO ONE there.  Just a security guard who looked at us, at his watch, and said, "Ya'll are way too early."  Well, that's okay, we sat and talked and watched the line grow.  We did indeed get our 10am tickets, and went in when the rest of the group met up with us.  And in case any of you can relate, police officers and their immediate family can always get in, even if there are no more tickets.  How completely awesome is that??

The museum is serious business.  It is both a museum and a memorial.  It is very moving.  Very emotionally draining.  I've been once before, and what I remembered from the previous time was that near the end, there is a section just about the children, and by the time I got to it, I was done. I just walked through.  It was kind of the same this time, but I noticed more things about the children throughout the museum.  Since having my own, that kind of thing affects me much more deeply than it did before.  Some of it I just can't think about.  At all.  It's just too hard.  I become those mothers, trying to protect their children, knowing they are going to die and being completely unable to do anything about it.  It is so awful and yet I know that people need to see this so that it never happens again.  And there are people who say it's a hoax and never happened.  I don't know how they can believe that, with all the physical evidence there is, but I won't get into that.

After the Holocaust Museum, we went to lunch, took an emotional break, and then went to the Smithsonians.  We did the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum.  The American History Museum has the huge dollhouse, as well as the dresses of the first ladies.  But I think we were all just worn out.  Kelly and I zoomed through, then went to the ice cream shop and sat.  The girls who were with us apparently played a form of hide and seek.  What was I saying about how great those kids are?  :-)  Actually they were okay.  Then we went to the Natural History Museum which was much more fun.  Kelly and I got little gifts for our kids (I got Karina and Elena a book about DC; Karina got a necklace and Elena got a stuffed giraffe which she is now sleeping with), saw the Hope Diamond, some dinosaur bones, and some mummies.

We ate at a pizza place for dinner, and then went back to the hotel.  On the way back, we found out why the other advisor was not able to come, and had to quickly decide what to do about telling our group.  We decided to tell them, got approval from the advisor, and met up with the kids in Kelly's room to discuss the following day and tell them.  Our last day in the city was Sunday, and we were going to Arlington Cemetery to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Kennedy graves, and some of our family graves.  We made our plans and then told the kids what we had found out.  All weekend they'd been asking us why she couldn't come and we honestly did not know.  But Bill called me to tell me we'd gotten a letter from the church.  Our pastor has cancer.  For the second time.  But there is good news; it was caught VERY early, it's caused by a gene, and that's why it's her second bout, and they expect her to make a full recovery.  Still, it was a blow.  We were all pretty upset, but she is doing well and has had the surgery.  Great news is that the cancer was not only caught very early but was completely encapsulated, which means chance of it having spread is greatly reduced.

Sunday morning we didn't have to get up as early which was so nice.  We had breakfast at the hotel, and got on the metro to Arlington.  Some of the kids have family buried there, so we were making little side trips to visit those markers.  My grandfather--my dad's dad--is buried there too.  We saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is so amazing and if you are ever in DC, you should see this.  It is every 30 minutes, all day every day.  After seeing the Kennedy graves we were heading back, stopped by my grandfather's grave (I hadn't realized it had been so long since he died, back in 2002.  And I hadn't realized that his first wife, my biological grandmother who I never knew, was buried with him.).  Then we headed home.

 My grandfather, above, and please don't see that as disrespectful, I'm just protecting a bit of my privacy, and below, on the back of his headstone is Dorothy's information.  Due to space issues, spouses are buried on top of the servicemember and their information is engraved on the back of the headstone.

Next year most of our youth group will be at college.  This was a really fun weekend (despite the distressing news) to spend with them, both to learn and to enjoy their company.  We are so lucky to be able to work with these kids and watch them grow into adults.