KP in DC 2010
Day 1, Monday April 19, 2010

Page Updated: April 23, 2010

	We left KP High just about on time. Providence Green airport was busy. It took a long time to get thrugh security, even though they were efficient. An hour and a half on the flight was also longer than expected. Quality kids made getting sorted out very easy. I don't think too many of them napped on the plane. Soda and peanuts were the supplement to whatever 2:00 am breakfast had been.
	We boarded our tour bus at Baltimore-Washington Airport (also known as BWI). We'll be on the same bus for all three days, so kids can leave bags on the bus when we go into sites which make them a bother. The less work for building security, the faster we get through. Next stop Capitol Hill.
	After getting our group photo taken with the capitol building in the background, we circled the capitol on foot and found the lines very long there and at both the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.
	The sunny, cool weather made it easy to get better photos than this one, but they are on somebody else's camera. If you have great photos from the trip and want to see some of them here (so others can see them, too, contact Mr. Gallerani or email me at algot@runeman.org Here, you see the view from near the Capitol building (behind me) down the National Mall to the Washington Monument. The dome in the distance is one of the many buildings that are part of the Smithsonian Institution.
	We stopped to get photos of the Whitehouse. There are tours like ours moving around the city in buses, but recently new forms of transport are becoming available. These are Segways. They are on a section of Pennsylvania Avenue which is blocked to traffic as a security measure. Mr. Hasenfus, one of our chaperones is keeping an eye on our own group. He's in the baseball cap at the left edge of the image.
	The sidewalk across from the Whitehouse was once full of people doing sit-in style protests, trying to influence the President to change policies. This protester has been in place for 27 years. The rest had to leave because of a change in the DC laws. She was "grandfathered" and was allowed to remain camped out here. Many of our students listened to her presentation.
	My family legends include the invention of the doughnut (doughnaught, donut) by "The Widow Joralemon" who opened the first doughnut store in 1673 in New York City. The legend is also repeated online in a Geneology of the Joralemon family. I don't make doughnuts, though I've no doubt eaten many. It did come as a real surprise, seeing these donuts. The ones on the left of the photo are large ones, way bigger than Dunkin' Donuts serves, but the ones at right caught my eye. Though I was tempted, I didn't think I should display such gluttony as to eat a foot wide doughnut. Maybe all six of us chaperones could have shared it for our lunch. Maybe all 60 plus students could have shared a bite. If you go to DC, check the cookie shop at the Union Station food court.
	Our students were very organized, respectful and consistently upbeat. We spent many sessions in lines to get into the popular tourist destinations of Washington. Mr. Gallerani, at the right, is in his "signature" red jacket is just avoiding being in this photo.
	In the museum Ford's Theater, we saw many interesting exhibits including these seekers of influence during President Lincoln's time in office. A park ranger gave us the story of Lincoln's assassination by John Wlkes Booth. (Don't you think you recognize Mr. Gallerani at the left?) The theater is a working theater with modern plays as well as a place to visit as a tourist.
	Arlington Cemetery is a wonderful place to visit on a sunny, cool day. It is a long walk up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. We also visited other notable graves, Joe Lewis, the Challenger crew of astronauts, and of course, the Kennedy graves with the eternal flame.
	The Tomb of the Unknowns.
	Our tour bus drivers do much more than drive. They give us information during our drive past the places we don't visit, and start the day with us at breakfast. Here, Gene, driver of bus number one, tells about the well-known people buried at Arlington Cemetery. Arlington is on land appropriated from Robert E. Lee after the Civil War. The Custis-Lee mansion is on the top of the hill overlooking the Kennedy gravesite, where John, Robert and most recently, Edward Kennedy are buried.
	The Kennedy gravesite was the last stop of our visit to Arlington Cemetery. It is said JFK wanted to imagine the view he would "see" from his gravesite.
	After Supper, we toured several monuments and memorials, including Lincoln Memorial, VietNam  Memorial, Korean Conflict, World War II, Iwo Jima. The memorial to the Korean War is triangular and has two popular features, one of which is the statues representing soldiers, sailors and an air force forward ground observer, 19 soldiers in all which reflect in the polished wall (out of camera to the right) so that the reflection and statues number 38, a reference to the 38th parallel which divides Korea into North Korea and South Korea.
	The black granite wall not only reflects the statues, it also has a multitude of photographic images etched into by sandblasting the polished stone.
	The view of the Washington Monument from the base of the steps at the Lincoln Memorial is a popular photo because the Monument reflects beautifully in the pool.
	Next to last on the monument "night tour" was the World War II memorial shown here. It is a circle split through the middle, each side representing one of the theaters of war, Atlantic and Pacific. The vertical columns you see behind the fountain represent each state of the union. I hope somebody who got a good shot of the Vietnam Memorial and  our final stop, the Iwo Jima memorial, will get a copy to me. My shots didn't come out well. [update: see next images!] We gratefully boarded the buses one more time and arrived at the hotel just after 9:00 pm and look forward to another long and busy day tomorrow.
	Thanks to Nancy Crosby for sending the photos of both the Vietnam Memorial and Iwo Jima Memorial. The images round out the main places we visited on day one of the trip. If you have images to add for any day or activity of the trip, please contact me: algot@runeman.org or by way of Mr. Gallerani.
	Iwo Jima is an Island. In the Pacific Theater of World War Two, it was captured by American Marines as they fought against the Japanese. The memorial is dedicated to all engagements where the United States Marines have participated. The memorial is on a hillside in Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac River from Washinton, D.C. The tour of monuments is often done in the evening to get the chance to see the monuments and memorials lit up against a darkening sky.