What have you done this week?

Saturday, Brooke and Big E left for the tenth grade school trip to Washington D.C. Here was the itinerary for their trip ...

Saturday
5:30 Depart for Atlanta airport
1:00 Arrive in Philadelphia
3:30 Independence Hall Tour
4:30 Liberty Bell
8:00 Arrive in Lancaster, PA

Sunday
9:30 Amish Farm and House Tour
1:00 Amish Buggy Rides
4:00 Strasbourg Railroad Rides
9:00 Arrive in Washington D.C.

Monday
9:15 Mt Vernon Tour
11:45 Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
2:15 Arlington National Cemetery Tour
4:45 Observation Tower at the Old Post Office
6:30 Evening monument tour (WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington)

Tuesday
9:30 US Capitol Tour and Picture with Congressman Bobby Bright
2:45 National Holocaust Museum
5:15 Dinner at the Fashion Center at Pentagon City
7:00 Walking Ghost Tour of downtown Washington D.C.

Wednesday
9:30 Museum of American History
2:00 Fly back to Atlanta
6:15 Back to Montgomery

Now, that is some mileage, some walking and some serious fun all packed into a five day period.

Both report that they had a really great time on the trip. To my surprise, Big E stated that it would be a fun "adult" trip. Get your minds out of the gutter, she meant a fun trip for me and her not that kind of adult. Of course, I think I would throw in a few additional days and stops; maybe a baseball game in Philly or Baltimore for example. But for an educational trip, I would have to say that their trip was first class.

Needless to say, you cant have sixty kids and adults traveling together without a funny story or two. I will share this one while Big E isn't paying attention.

Big E is only afraid of three things; heights, enclosed places and mice. The Observation Tower at the Old Post Office is a few feet tall, probably why they call it an observation tower. Apparently the kids talked her into "sucking it up" and riding the glass enclosed elevator (so you can overlook the mall inside) to the observation.

Apparently the elevator had a minor (major in her mind) problem and only made it to the ninth floor and you had to climb stairs to the twelfth floor. Hahaahaaa, I wish I could have been there to see Big E at this point. Well, Big E could not climb the stairs at this point. Apparently her body has some sort of internal height meter that warns her when she is above the ground floor despite being inside a stair well.

I have seen this little "dance" before though .... it is the back down the stairs (backwards no less) crouched as close to the cold concrete of the stairs in hopes that it will limit how fall she falls when the stairwell collapses (has this ever happened?). Look, I've only seen her survive a climb above three floors once and that was to see Keith Urban. Do you really think she is going to climb a couple of floors to look out across an observation tower??????

Well, she didn't!!!! She did manage to text me from the elevator and the stairs to inform me of her dilemma. Oh, she was calm in the messages, but I know she was cursing inside.

I hope one day we can go to Chicago so I can talk her into riding to the observation deck of the John Hancock Building (look it up, I've been there and saw the clouds below me!).