Casey and Peter's DC trip!

 The week after school got out Peter and Casey went on their trip to Washington DC. Here is the adventure as told by Peter  [and Casey] (with corrected spelling)

"Wednesday, June 3, 2026

"We go the the school at 12:30 [in the morning] to get on the bus that would take us to the Boise [Airport]. We were waiting for an hour and a half for the bus. Dad kept calling the bus, but eventually we were going to miss our flight if we didn't leave soon. [The bus driver miss-read the time and thought he was supposed to be there at 12:30 pm instead of 12:30 am.] Some of the parents took us to the airport. [Thank heavens for those parents!] We all slept in the car. 

"When we got to the airport we had to wait for everyone to get there. When we got on the plane I sat by Teagan [Taylor] and we watched Phineas and Ferb, and slept. When we got to Denver we got on a train to the docking platform that our plane was at. When we got on the plane there were screens. I watched some of Top Gun then slept. 

"When we got to DC we rode a bus to Mount Vernon. We got to see George Washington's house and grave site. [It was a really fast 20 minute stop before we had to go to our next place.] When we got back to the bus we met the other groups and our guide Blake. We went to We, the Pizza for dinner and ate pizza. After dinner we went to the Twilight Tattoo Military Show. It was really cool. They reenacted things from the past, sang songs, and did acts. After that we dropped off our guide Blake, then went to the hotel. The hotel was nice. Then we slept.

"Thursday, June 4, 2026

"We woke up Thursday morning and wend down to breakfast. Me and Teagan almost got lost going to the breakfast area. We ate breakfast. There were MUFFINS! We got on the bus and went to Arlington National Cemetery. We walked around the cemetery. We went to the [John F.] Kennedy Memorial and grave sites. After that we went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. When we were there we for tot see them switch out [the changing of the guard] and the changing of the wreath. [We lost Nathan Myers there as well. We also found him too.] 

   

"Then we went to Iwo Jima Marine Memorial. When you walked around it you could see the flag rising. Then we went to lunch at the Ballston Quarter Market Food Hall. I got a crepe that was rolled up in a cone shape. After lunch we went to the WWII Memorial. We found both Kilroys, the drawings WWII Americans would write during the war to make Hitler mad. Then we went to the Washington Monument. I tried to find the pothole that was covering the mini-Washington Monument. I couldn't find it so I took pictures with the monument.

"Then we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. We got passports that had a story of someone during the Holocaust. [This was actually one of the favorite stops for the kids. It is pretty emotional, eye-opening, and solemn.] We went through it, then went to the Museum of American History. At the Museum of American History there is the flag that inspired the US National Anthem. There is also a bunch of things from America's history, like Captain America's shield, Hamilton's clothes from the play, C3PO, R2D2, etc. 

    

"After that we went to dinner at Nandos Peri Peri. It was good food. [We had chicken; it was good.] Then we went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Our guide told us to find his favorite quote. [I do not think anyone did.] Then we went to the Franklin D Roosevelt [Memorial]. There were lots of quotes and waterfalls that show how America was doing at this time. Then we went to the Jefferson Memorial. After that we went back to the hotel. 

"Friday, June 5, 2026

"We went down and ate breakfast. I got a chocolate muffin. After breakfast we got on the bus to Gettysburg. On the bus we slept and played games. We got to the visitor's center and we looked at the cool things on display. When it was time we went into a theater and watched a short film about Gettysburg. Then we went up escalators and saw a really cool and really old painting. While we looked at the painting there was audio telling us about it. [It's called a cyclorama and was a sort of performance piece before movies were a thing. It was pretty cool.] After we looked at the painting we went to the souvenir shop and got pressed pennies. 

   

"Then we got back on the bus and a guide came on and showed us the battlefield. He told us where people were and about cannons and the war. We got to go up on a tower and see the battlefield. We got to see some of the monuments of where people were. We dropped off the guide at the visitor's center and we went to lunch at The Upper Crust. [Another pizza place with some arcade games.] After lunch we went to the Shriver House. It was there during the battle. There were bullet holes and we got to learn about what happened there and about the Shrivers. 

         

"When we left we were going to go to the Museum of Natural History to pick up our guide, but there was a lot of traffic so we didn't get to go. So we picked up our guide and went to Qdoba for dinner. After dinner we went to the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial. They were all really cool. The reflection pool was filling up finally while we were there. [It was being redone and was empty until that day. We did not get to see it full, but it was reflecting.] We dropped off our guide then went to the hotel and went to sleep.

      

"Saturday, June 6, 2026

"We woke up and had to pack because we were leaving. After we packed we went down and had breakfast for the last time. Then we went to the bus and left our luggage with Sam the hotel guy. Then we went to the Capitol and walked around the grounds. Then we went to he visitor's center under ground. We spent an hour looking around and I got the Constitution. I found the two Idaho statues and Brigham Young. We watched a show about the Capitol then got a tour. 

"After the tour we went to the Library of Congress and looked around. I saw the first book printed on a movable printing press [the Gutenberg Bible]. I got a picture where most of the book [in the Library] are. Then we went to lunch at Reagan International Trade Center food court and I got a meat hoagie. It was good. We ate fast then hurried to the bus that took us to the big cars that took us to the airport where we waited for our luggage. We went on the plane that took us to Las Vegas. There were a lot of casinos. I got a Lego set there. Then we flew to Boise where we drove to the middle school. [The bus picked us up this time!] Everybody went home and we all had a good time."