The District of Columbia

So I'm back. I bet you didn't even notice I was gone. :P
But yeah I spent last week days traveling to, and being in, Washington D.C. It was a pretty interesting experience. There were about 80 kids on the trip, they split us up, girls on one bus boys on the other. The bus ride was probably the worst part. I don't mind the traveling part, I'm fine with sitting in a vehicle for a few hours enjoying the scenery, that wasn't the bad part. It was being stuck on a bus in the same seat with the same people around me for several hours that was getting to me. The girl behind me was gonna kill herself and fighting with her "best friend", the girl in front of me was obsessed with hobos, the girl diagonally from me was obsessed with buttresses and the girl next to me was as quiet as a mime or something and didn't talk at all... unless i tried to talk to her and then she'd say like one word. She might've said five words on the whole trip. Then there were the girls who were obsessed with one of the boys. They would not stop talking about him... it was really annoying. Oh and the girls in front of us for a few rows were constantly brushing their hair or talking on cell phones or putting make up on. Most of these kids are in eighth grade. o_O Somehow I stayed sane though. I think it was the stops for meals. We'd take over a McDonalds or something and hang out... that was cool. I like being around an assortment of different people but I like having space too. So yeah... anyways.



Monday after my orthodontist appointment we went to the drop off location at about 1:30 and stood outside in the wind for a while. When the buses finally got there we loaded everything and everyone on and we were off. We stopped at Central Station for dinner. That place was CRAZY. Oh my gosh, you would not believe... We got to the hotel at about ten thirty that night. In the morning we woke up at 6:30, which was kind of annoying after going to bed late and then not being able to sleep very well. Plus, the girl I had to share a bed with was hogging the whole thing and that really annoyed me. I get kind of crabby when girls that annoy me and that i dont know are all up in my personal space when im trying to sleep... but yeah, moving on. The first day we went to Arlington which was pretty cool for a cemetary. We got to see the changing of the guard too, which was kind of neat.


The weather was absolutely gorgeous at Arlington. It was a little chilly at first but when the wind died down it was beautiful out. Perfect for walking around and looking at stuff. Plus the cherry blossoms in D.C. were at their peak when we were there so that was pretty awesome too... and the scenery was awesome.

After Arlington we drove around and then went to the Washington National Cathedral which was pretty amazing. I got a gargoyle there and a candle for my mom. The gargoyle is cool, its like two inches high, its a little chimera. He's sitting on my computer. He pwns. Anyways, yeah, the cathedral. right. The stained glass windows were awesome, the architecture was beautiful and it was pretty neat to see.


After that we drove around for a while and stopped outside the white house. We couldnt actually see much of anything... it was kind of disappointing but oh well. And we walked back to the buses again. Yay.


there was so much stuff crammed in to one day I cant remember for the life of me what all we did that day. Which is kind of sad. But we did a lot in a small amount of time so bear with me okay?
We went on a guided tour of the monuments as the sun started to set. That was really cool. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the WWI and II memorials and Vietnam i think...




After the monuments it was late so we went back to the hotel.
The third day we went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We were pretty rushed so we didn't get to see a lot of it... We saw the geological stuff, the diamonds and what not, the dinosaurs and the greek and egyptian stuff but that was it.

Then we went to Mount Vernon.



That was pretty cool... unfortunately it was cold and rainy and so my group unanimously decided to go inside and walk around in the visitors center as apposed to walking around and seeing everything in the cold. After that we changed into our nicer clothes and headed off to the dinner cruise. They didnt let us take pictures of the outside of the boat but inside they didnt mind I guess since everyone was taking pictures. Myself included...
The cruise was really neat, they had a buffet and we all ate then they had dancing which I did not participate in :P I took the pictures and talked to some people...

Then we left and got back to the hotel at about 11 or so and the next day with heavy hearts (or something like that) we headed home. We took a detour through New York (we were twelve miles away from the city Aiden Witmore lives in, at one point and then we got off the exit to go a different direction) and stopped at Niagra Falls which was basically a big waste of time. It took forever to get there and then it was freezing cold outside and we stayed for like half an hour before we left again. Not worth it. But anyways, yeah I got home at about 12:30.

I didnt want to leave... sure some of the kids were annoying but I love seeing exciting new places... Theres nothing exciting near where we live, nothing to do, so when I get to go places like D.C. or Vegas I don't want to leave and go back to my boring little city. There was so much we didnt get to see or do and so many kids I didnt get to talk to. I think technically I made a total of one friend on the trip :P I talked to other kids of course but only one of them really hung out with me on a regular basis. I also knew a couple of the kids from things before the trip so it wasn't that bad. But yeah. I'm home again... thank goodness its finally warming up, the weather was gorgeous over the weekend...

My dad brought up the idea of living in a motor home and that kind of made me sad at first for some reason. But after thinking about it and being in D.C. and wishing I could stay maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea. :P The only problem I could think of was never settling down, thus never making friends (not that I have any in the city we currently live in anyways) and never learning how to drive because I'd be terrified of driving a motor home x3 but that was about it.

Anyways yeah I'm back and I have a week of school to catch up on so I better go do that. You all should keep checking my photography blog for pictures of the Lipizzaners and D.C. :)