Monforton Goes to Washington DC

2011-05-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday May 5 Day 6

2011-05-06T05:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our whole class went to Fords Theater, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. We arrived at the theater at around 7:00 P.M. and toured the museum about Lincoln. Then once we arrived we watched a play called “Liberty Smith”. The play was very entertaining, by combining quotes from the past and comedy. I think this was one of the most fun things to see or do while we were in D.C. This play was funny and educational and I hope you can experience what we did. Ben

Note from Mrs. B - We also during this day – toured the Art Museum, the Natural History Museum and saw the Hope Diamond, toured the American History Museum to see the Lincoln exhibit, the Civil Rights exhibit, and the Star Spangled Banner / making of the flag display. We went to the Holocaust Museum for almost 2 hours then went to Air and Space to see the IMAX show about the Hubble Telescope. I almost walked their feet off. All this before dinner at the Old Post Office and on to the theater. We had our second cab ride from the METRO to the hotel – our first was to capitol hill to have breakfast with Senators Baucus and Tester on Wednesday.

We went to the Holocaust museum and saw how the Nazi’s had put all these Jews in a train car. The fact that they crammed every one in so tight that they had to take turns to sleep. When I saw how many shoes had been put into a pile, well, it almost made me sick. The replica of the gas chambers was very depressing. It was really hard to imagine the number of deaths that occurred. After this we went to the Air and Space Museum to take in an IMAX movie on the Hubble. This was awesome and it was our first chance to sit down. We continue to add to the miles we walk.

Yesterday we went to Fords Theater to see where President Lincoln got shot, and to watch a play. To me it was the best play I have ever seen. It was so funny and cute I loved it! The play was called Liberty Smith. I also learned a little in the play while it entertained me. There were so many people at the hotel and when they left I was so sad. But other than that , the trip was really fun! We met so many new people here and we really wish we could make the week last longer. I can’t wait to go to the Mall of America! This morning we are on our way to the National Cathedral. Yesterday we walked 21526 steps or about 10 miles.

Natalie

PICTURES TO BE ADDED WHILE WE SIT IN THE AIRPORT

correction

2011-05-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

Jackson's entry - there are 4,048 stars representing 100 deaths each.

Day 5 May 4

2011-05-05T06:25:00.001-07:00

Day 5 May 4

2011-05-05T06:20:00.000-07:00

The Korean War Memorial was fun to see. You could see the 19 statues of the stealthy soldiers walking through a rice patty and 19 more in the reflection on the wall, which adds up to 38 for the division of Korea at the 38th parallel. There were also laser etchings in the walls that had great detail. There was one quote that stood out, “Freedom Isn’t Free,” which means that you have to give something up or fight for your right to be free.
Duncan

The Arlington cemetery was a beautiful sight to see. Even though it was raining the walk was worth it. The eternal fire next to the Kennedy’s grave was very moving to see too. At the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the guards do their march and it is very exciting to see. Twenty one steps and twenty one seconds. We saw Mr. Bill Mendoza at 11:00 tonight when we got back to the hotel after visiting the city sights by night tour. He is in DC working on Indian Tribal Colleges. It was fun to see our old friend. Amber

Today we went to the WWII memorial. I talked to two veterans from the war, they were from Oklahoma; there were also a lot of others from the busload of veterans. They were taking part in an organization called Honor Flight. This program is dedicated to bringing every living WWII veteran to the memorial built in their honor.
My favorite part about the memorial was the 1,000 stars each representing 100 people that died in the war. Another part of the memorial was the wreaths and ropes that were representing each state that helped in the war. The ropes also represented the bond between the states. They separated the states depending on which parts of the war they fought in, one side had the Pacific and the other had the Atlantic. After I saw this memorial I felt like this war meant more to me then I thought, and I am grateful for the freedom these veterans fought for. Jackson

DAY 4 MAY 3, 2011

2011-05-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

TODAY WE WALKED 21309 STEPS ON MRS. BROUGHTON'S PEDOMETER OR ABOUT 25 MILES TOTAL SO FAR! OUR FEET ARE TIRED!

The Prince

Prince Charles was at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday May 3, 2011. I was at the front when I saw a bunch of people and at first I thought it was Barack Obama, but then I saw a 6 foot tall guy. A person said it is Prince Charles. Prince Charles is Prince William’s father, so I put my hand out. He shook my hand and said, ”Hello, I am Prince Charles and who are you?” I said my name is Jake K-------- from Bozeman, MT. Then the prince said, “Oh well, have a nice day Junior.” Then I knew it was him.
The security here is amazing. Everywhere you looked you saw security guards protecting every area around the Crown Prince. One guard was 7 ft tall and about 300-310 pounds and very intimidating.
We will be back soon. We are having fun. Jake K.

Hi everyone! Today was such a fun day! We really are busy from seven in the morning until ten at night! But every minute of the day is a blast and worth every minute of it. You meet so many new people and have people’s numbers by the end of the first day! You all are probably wondering what we did today, so here was our schedule. We got to sleep in today, so we ate breakfast at 7:45. Around 8ish we all got on our assigned busses and headed to the Jefferson and FDR Memorials. Then we went to see all the National Archives. That was very interesting! We ate lunch after that and had about a half hour to walk with friends. And we spent the rest of the day on Capitol Hill! We had a huge surprise at the Supreme Court, but I will let Jake K. tell you about that. We also got to eat at the Union Station! I got to see all the trains take off and pick people up. And finally we saw the White House! It was so cool to see all the snipers on the roof! One cool thing that everyone here in D.C. is talking about is Osama Bin Ladin’s death. They all already have t-shirts about all of it and it’s a huge topic! Anyway we really do have a blast here because everything is so much cooler to see in real life!! See ya☺

Baillee

Hey guys! We are all having a great time in Washington D.C. I love it here because it’s all green! Ha ha. Today we visited the Library of Congress and it was amazing. There were so many old books everywhere I looked. There were a couple of original bibles and many pictures of very important people. The security check points were very interesting to get through; people weren’t allowed to take pictures and we all had to take our belts off, cameras, cell phones etc. The artwork and the paintings of the building were beautiful! Oh my gosh! This location was where part of the movie, National Treasures, was filmed. This is the location of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of books that he sold to the government after the original library burned. Well, that’s all for tonight, I’m exhausted.

-Nessie

Tuesday May 3 Day 4

2011-05-03T17:36:00.001-07:00

Day 3 Monday, May 2,2011

2011-05-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Jamestown

This morning we went to Jamestown. It was very interesting! We got the chance to go on the boats and realize how packed the men were under the deck. In the museum we saw a short film about the town, which was full of information. We also got to help carve out a tree making a canoe with shells. It was very hot and there were a lot of bugs near the water. There were several people reenacting the town’s people that we could of talked to about what they were doing. It was split into 3 sections: the Native Americans, the fort where they were settled, and the ship area. In the Native American section we went into the huts where they lived which were full of animal skins, a fire pit, and an area for food storage. In the fort they fired a musket about every half an hour, in the fort they had a rooster and hen, cannonballs and a cannon, and the church where they were required to attend. For lunch we ate a picnic lunch in the shade.

Jacob P.

Williamsburg

This afternoon we arrived at Williamsburg. This was my favorite part of the day because the people were acting, (no wonder I liked it so much). The people were legitimately living like they were born in the 1700’s. A lot of them actually had done these jobs for a living like the silversmith. I liked the little shops the best, and I really liked the wig maker. She made wigs for the important people in town and explained to us how she had to shave the people’s heads. They made a wood sculpture of the patents head – a blockhead. I found it interesting because of all the different stiles, and the importance behind the wig. The more important person, the bigger and longer the wig! The old town was very interesting. We saw the church, 2 taverns, many shops, a medical place, silversmith and a bakery. Another really cool part of this unique little town was that archeologists were still digging up remains of the old town! Our tour guild had us you walk down a hill and at the bottom - boom! There was a huge pit with a ton of little treasures left behind that told a very important and interesting story. This old town was very interesting because everything was real. It was all old town 1700 Williamsburg. This was a very interesting experience and gave you a great taste of what the 1700’s were like. Literally the food in the bakery was amazing!!

- Hannah

- Tonight we went to the Pentagon Center (the mall) for dinner. We each received a brochure of coupons that gave us a selection of where we could choose to eat. I chose to eat at Villa Pizza. It had extremely awesome greasy cheese pizza, which is my favorite food ever! After we had all finished eating, we all got the opportunity with our chaperones to look around the four-story mall with a glass atrium. The main entrance was on the second level with a food court of more than 40 food restaurants below it on the first floor. There were two choices that could transport us from level to level, which were six escalators and one glass elevator. I had the opportunity to shop at the Apple Store for the first time ever which by the way is a white room filled with the newest technology from the “iPod” company. My favorite shop of the mall so far is Sephora. This store is a two-story heaven of make up! We get to go back to this marvelous place for dinner on Thursday, which I am psyched about by the way! I really enjoyed myself today and this has been the best trip so far!

~Taylor

Day 2 Sunday May 1

2011-05-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the zoo, and we got to see the gorillas, spiders, snakes, tigers, and much more. It was so much fun. We got to see so many different animals that I didn’t know I would be able to see. There were so many people there, and it was my first time going to a zoo. We saw the giant anteater with her 5-month-old baby and the baby gorilla. The male lion sat above his pride of 2 mothers and 6 babies looking very proud. The panda snapped and ate bamboo right in front of us. The Amazon Rainforest was amazing with all the fish and the monkey sitting right above our heads. . Afterwards, we got to go to McDonalds for lunch, and then we had ice cream at Baskins and Robins. Bye, Talan

Today we rode on the Metro in the morning to go to the zoo, and we changed trains at Metro Center which is a maze of tracks on many levels. We had to go up the steps and then down and across a bridge to get to a different line. The track where the metro runs is electric, and you are not allowed to go down there. It was a fun and exciting to ride on the metro because if you have never been on one it is different than a regular bus. The metro goes faster than a bus and you have to get a metro ticket to get on. When you transfer metro trains you don’t have to slide your ticket through the machine. The only time you slide it through the machine is to get in or out of the metro station. The cards that we used were only a single trip so you can only use them to ride on the metro one time to your destination. Mrs. Broughton’s pedometer recorded that we walked 20,513 steps today. Bye! Christina

Going to the Old Post Office was an interesting experience. It had a wonderful view from 12 stories up. From the top of the tower which has a 360 degree view of the city, you can see the Lincoln Memorial and even the Jefferson Memorial. We also saw the Washington Monument from the tower, but we weren’t even close to the top of it. When you look out across the city you can see everything. It was almost as cool as flying on the plane!!!! I also enjoyed seeing the bells which are the official bells of Congress. They were rung just last year. They were bigger than I thought they would be and had inscriptions on them. There is an official group of bell ringers. We walked down two flights of stairs to see them on the 10^th floor. The elevator to the 12^th floor was glass.

Sincerely,

Danielle

2011-04-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday April 30 Day 1

2011-04-30T20:48:00.002-07:00

The First Day

Well, when we first got back from the long flight, we decided to head to the hotel and kick back for a while. The hotel rooms are pretty nice (the one I’m in doesn’t really have all the accessories - like our ice bucket was missing). After that we went down to eat the delicious food that Close Up provided us. Then came the boat ride. We saw a lot of memorials such as the Lincoln, Jefferson, and the Kennedy Center on our trip from Alexandria to Georgetown and back. (Alexandria was a harbor for the shipment of tobacco.) and last but not least the legislative house of our country, the Capitol Building. It was really cold and windy on the river, but it was so pretty with everything green.

Brandon

The trip has been fun so far. The plane ride was long. Then we took a bus ride to the hotel. After we got to the hotel most of us took a shower then we ate dinner. Then the crazy bus driver hit a sign after we all ate dinner. He took us down to the dock and dropped us off. Next we went on a long boat ride after that we went to Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream for some good ice cream. Then we had a good ride back to the hotel.

Skyler

After we got off the plane in Washington D.C., we took a bus to our hotel and ate dinner, then we took the bus to the docks and went on a boat ride on the Potomac River. The boat ride was fun and kind of long but it was enjoyable. We saw the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial during the boat ride. The Potomac River is very muddy and it is littered with plastic bottles and wrappers, which is disappointing. I just find it a little weird that people always say how awesome the rivers are but then throw all their trash in it. Anyway it was a good experience but I hope that one day it will look like it used to.

Jeremy

Saturday Photos

2011-04-30T20:48:00.001-07:00