My Trip to Washington

Back in high school, I had the opportunity to be part of a wonderful organization called Youth and Government. Each year, the students involved in this organization would come up with ideas they felt should become law. Then, we would all travel to Springfield where we would argue those bills as senators and representatives. One person would be elected as Governor, and if your bill was passed and signed by the governor, then it would become “law.” Some of the bills actually did become laws when they were picked up by real senators and representatives. As a result of this experience, the students gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about how our democratic system works. It also instilled within me a lifelong interest in the political system.. As a result, I frequently watch the news, pay attention to what is going on in the political arena, and most importantly, I vote. With this in mind, I hope you can appreciate the desire I have always had to visit Washington, DC and see everything I could. This past weekend, I had that chance!

The trip began on Thursday when I was picked up at about 4:30am to shuttle us to the airport. After checking in at the airport, we flew on a small jet aircraft to Baltimore. We then shuttled into Washington. Shortly after checking into the hotel, we all headed down to what is referred to as the “Washington Mall.” This is an area which contains the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and all the buildings of the Smithsonian. Below are some pictures of that walk.

The next few days I spent doing the real work I had traveled to Washington DC for. I was there with several teachers and administrators to learn everything we could about good schools at what was called the Model School’s Conference. I plan to write about this more in the near future, so for now I will talk mostly about the trip.

After attending workshops on the second day, I went back to that area by myself and visited the museums. My first stop was the National Air and Space Museum. It was wonderful experience. Some of the highlights were the lunar lander, the Apollo space capsules, and the planes invented by the Wright Brothers. Below is a picture of the lunar lander.

Next, I walked over to the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of Natural History. Below is a picture of one of the dinosaurs. It was amazing! Unfortunately, you can imagine how crowded it was with several thousand teachers there!

Since it was about to get dark, I decided I better head back. This was the first time I had ridden a subway by myself, and I really didn’t want to be alone on the subway at night. While walking back, I ran into Pennsylvania Avenue. I remembered that the White House was on this street, so I figured if I kept walking on it I would eventually get there. I did, but it was a killer walk. When I got there, they had the closest street blocked off, so I really couldn’t get very close. Thankfully my camera has a descent zoom. Here is a picture I was able to get.

On the way back towards the hotel, I thought I heard music. As I followed the music, I began to notice it was Christian music. To my delight, there was a youth group ministering to the homeless in a park. Their band was really good. I spent about half an hour or more listening to the Woodridge Nazarene Youth Group play music for the homeless. Then, the pastor gave a short message. I spoke with a nice lady who shared with me some of her experiences on her Christian walk. I told her of how my wife and I were often seeking God’s guidance, and yet so often feeling like we just don’t know what it is that God wants us to do. She told me of how God and worked in her life, and how she had once been through a similar experience. She promised to pray for us. It was one of the moments when you feel like you were really supposed to be right there. I knew at that moment that it was not an accident that I had stumbled upon that group. In a word, it was just neat. Here is a picture of that Woodridge Nazarene Youth Group.

Some of the other highlights of the trip (besides the conference) were visiting Arlington National Cemetery, The Lincoln Memorial, and the many fine dining establishments. I also had a GREAT time getting to know my coworkers. I cannot say enough about what a fine group of people they are. Everyone seemed to look out for each other, and I really felt included. Traveling with a large group is usually challenging, but this time everyone worked together very nicely. It was the best school trip I have ever been on!

To view all of the pictures I took, click HERE. Go to View Pictures, and Slideshow. Enjoy!