My Experience in Washington DC
On a school trip, I went to Washington DC. This is America’s capital and has a lot of historical significance. There is a lot of important history in Washington DC that defines America, such as the place where Martin Luther King Jr. stood when he gave the famous speech, “I have a Dream…” and the World War 2 Memorial, which honors the fallen soldiers from the second world war. I will write about what places I went to on the school field trip, and some history I learned from there.
The first place our group went to (after breakfast) was the National Law Enforcement Memeorial. It was a chilly day, and the winds made my ears freeze. The memorial was surrounded by tall buildings. In a circle around the memorial was blocks of stone, and carved in the stone are the names of all the officers that died in service. Our tour guide told us that one of his friends, who was an officer, who died and had his name engraved here. We took a couple of pictures and left to our next stop.
Our next stop was the Ford Theater, the theater where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The theater just looked like the other buildings on the street. We when got inside, it just looked like any old-fashioned theaters. If you didn’t know America’s 16th president was assassinated in here, you wouldn’t have thought of this theater as a special theater. In this place, we learned that nobody used Ford’s Theater after Abraham Lincoln was shot for over a hundred years, and how the restoration tried to make everything as accurate as possible, such as putting a portrait of George Washington in front of the box where Abraham Lincoln sat that day. After this, we ate dinner and went back to a hotel to sleep.
On our second day, after we ate breakfast at the hotel, we went to visit Gettysburg. Gettysburg was the site of the most famous battle of the American Civil War. We toured the battlefield, stopping at places like Little Round Top and Culps Hill. After we took pictures, the group went to the Museum, where we were shown a detailed mural of Pickett’s Charge, the turning point of the Civil War. The tour guide said that when the Gettysburg veterans saw the memorial, they cried because it brought up their memories of the battle. After the Gettysburg tour, we went on to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This was my favorite part of the entire trip, where we got to see dinosaur fossils and the gigantic stuffed elephant sitting in the lobby of the museum. After we explored the museum and visited the gift shop, we went to eat dinner. We then went to the World War 2 memorial. Then we went back to the hotel, and this concludes our second day of the trip.
The first place we visited on day four of our trip was the Arlington Cemetry. The Arlington Cemetry is a cemetery for fallen soldiers and people that changed America, such as John F. Kennedy. We walked up to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and watched the changing of the guard and the Wreath Laying Ceremony. For lunch, we ate at the Pentagon City Mall. After lunch, we had a group photo in front of the capital building. Then, we visited the Iwo Jima Memorial, which had a statue of the five soldiers raising the American flag over the island. We left for dinner after everyone took pictures. For dinner, we went to Bowlmor Lanes, and had lots of fun bowling while eating. We went straight to the hotel afterwards and slept.
On day five we went to visit George Washington’s Mount Vernon home. We walked through the house, taking note of the weird greenish-blue wallpaper. When we went up the stairs, someone wasn’t looking at where they were walking, and hit the celling. After we went through the house, we headed to George Washington’s tomb, where he and his wife, Martha Washington, was buried. We then saw some archologists digging in a field behind George Washington’s house, went up and asked them some questions. Afterwards, we visited the National Museum of the Marine Corps. This museum is huge. They hung real fighter planes and helicopters from the celling in the lobby. There was even a D-Day landing boat with model soldiers! We saw weapons from the different time periods, from the Revolutionary War to now. This place was where I took the most pictures. We ate dinner, and then went to the hotel.
On the final day of this trip, we went to the International Spy Museum. The museum displayed lots of gadgets and tools used in missions, from assassinations to information gathering. The part I remember the most about this museum was an interactive console that showed the decisions and events after 9/11, leading up to the capture of Osma Bin Laden. After the museum, we went to the National Air and Space Museum, which had lots of planes, from commercial travel to military use. There was even a Space Shuttle in the space section of the museum. After the museum, we ate, and then went to the Ronald Regan airport to take the flight back home.
Overall, this trip is a fun experience for me, as we visited many places that is important to the history of America, and I learned a lot about the places we went to. The museums were interesting to me because there is a lot of information that I wouldn’t normally look up or encounter. The memorials and building in Washington DC are very grand. They seemed mighty, strong, and important. I hope you have a chance to visit Washington DC, and truly appreciate why the memorials were built.
