Day 1:
Got to Redlands at 7:30, checked bags, got name tag, black visor, and interery.
Boarded bus at approx. 8:30.
Ate lunch in Silverthorn at subway. With teachers. I’m such a loser I sat with the teachers. Apparently they don’t mind that I have loser-itus. Or maybe it was the fact that I was sitting in the booth alone and that was against the rules. Oh well.
Then we got on the bus again and finished our ride to the Denver International Airport. We then stood around for about an hour, then checked our bags, then stood around for ANOTHER hour and a half near the terminal. I stayed near the “chaperones” and read a book that I started on the bus. Skeleton Key by Anthony Horwitz. It’s the third Alex Rider book. I love those books. There’s a movie coming out about them. The guy that plays Alex is hot.
But anyway, we got to chose who we sat with on the plane, so we were supposed to get into groups of 3.(the plane had three seats on either side of the isle) Stephani and Cody V(who were, at the time, dating) asked me to sit with them. I said ok, like I had anyone else to sit with. I was on the isle, but that was good cuz I could talk to other people(not that thare was anyone to talk to, but whatever). Went through heavy turbulance in Missouri as we were eating ‘dinner'(‘pizza sticks’ and cold gross marinara sauce). Stephani was on her first ever flight, so she was scared out of her mind.
Finally, at about 10 or 11 pm, we made it to DC. Our bus driver, Tyrone(or big Ty, or ty baby, or downtown tyrone brown), who drove us around all week, picked us up and drove us to the Comfort Inn. With my over-whelming luck, I shared a room with stehpani, lilliam, sam, and brooke.(*shudder*) We had a pretty big room, there were two big beds and one cot. Cot. Heh heh. That was mine. Then we had pizza for another ‘dinner’ and pop. giving pop to four girls that are already hyper is not good. They all took thirty-minute showers and then I couldn’t get them to shut up and go to bed until about 2:30 in the morning.
That about concludes Day 1.
Day 2:
Got up at five thirty. After sleeping for about an hour. They all got up and then took another shower, then dried their hair (all four of them), straitened it, and spent an hour putting on their make-up. It was insane.
Then at six thirty we ate breakfast. Note to self: never eat Comfort Inn’s eggs. *shudder*. I could hear my roommates telling the boys about how I was throwing a *b*fit last night because they wouldn’t go to sleep. But it’s funny, on the bus after breakfast to our first destinations, I heard EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM complaining on how tired they were. Go figure, eh?
Anyway, I met a girl from Redlands, Calloway, so I hung out with her. Our first stop was the Vietnam memorial. It was really pretty, and really sad. Then we walked to the Lincoln memorial, which was incredible. He was HUGE.
Then we we went to Arlington National Cemetery. It was incredible, how far it stretched. It was also even sadder than the Vietnam memorial. We walked around for a while, just looking at all the gravestones. We saw JFK’s grave, and his wive’s and his brother’s. Then Mr. Mages (The lead guy, a teacher from Redlands), took the four kids (including me) that were going to lay the wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldiers to get changed into our nice clothes. I wore that beige skirt and brown tank top I wore to bon voyage, plus a jacket-like thing that matched the skirt and looked professional.
Then we went to where they were just starting the changing of the guards in front of the tomb. We waited for about twenty minutes, then a soldier came up to us four and told us what we had to do. The two kids from redlands were in front, and me and Cody were in the back. We then walked down some stairs, with me concentrating very hard not to step on the girl’s skirt in front of me. Then at the bottom we stopped and the two kids in front accepted the wreath and placed it on the tripod. Me and Cody just kind of stood there and watched. Then someone played taps on the trumpet and we walked back up.
That was it. Then we went to Buger King for lunch. Since World Strides was paying for us
, we could get as much as we wanted. I sat with Craig, Cody, Taylor, Greg, and Stephani. Craig had three double cheeseburgers, two large fries, and two large drinks. It was so gross. But he ate it all, and then some. After that we went on the subway to the Smithsonian American history and natural history complexes. They were pretty cool. I got a sweet republican tie there, and wore it for the rest of the day.
After that we went back to the bus and went to a Chinese place for dinner. It was ok…and I was kind of hyper so I was doing these weird things with my empty pop can and chopsticks. Nothing gross, just kind of random. Then we went to the World War II memorial at about 6 or 7. That was one of my favorite places. It was so pretty, with the sun going down and the fountains. Then we went back to the hotel and my roommates once again took forever to shower. But they settled down by about 11:30, thankfully.
Day 3:
I realized that redlands guys are so much hotter than fruita guys. It’s not fair. But hey- I’m going to high-school with them! YAY! Anyways, the next day we had to get up even earlier, since we hit some major traffic the day before. At breakfast I could stil hear my roomates gossiping on how much of a *b* I was. That was fun.
We went to a building for a tour of the capitol, but they had forgotten us or something, because we had to go through a ton of security for nothing. We also went to the Library of Congress, but the line was really long so we didn’t go inside. Then we got our group picture early in front of the Capitol building, and greg wouldn’t stop pushing me into the kid next to me. I also found out I was the fourth shortest on the trip. That was heartening.
Then we went back to that building and finally got our tour of the capitol. We got there via this underground tunnel thing that connects a lot of the office buildings and supremes court places. The tour was really cool, the paintings were incredible. It was also really big. The tour guide was talking to me for a little while, I think she felt sorry for me because I walking alone. Great. Now I had the teachers and a tour guide feeling sorry for me. Just great.
Then we went to Union station for lunch. That was pretty good, I had pasta. I couldn’t see anyone I knew, and I doubted I could sit with them,� so I sat at a table near where the teachers and parents were. Could I BE any more of a loser? Then I trailed behind a few of the guys so I wouldn’t be alone. We went back upstairs and I got a coffee and the guys ditched me, so I drank my coffee next to Mrs. Fisher, taylor’s mom. My list of people feeling sorry for me was getting pretty long. Dang it all.
After lunch, we went to one of the Smithsonian air and space museums. I followed Craig and Greg around mostly, which was entertaining, because every time we saw a missle or a gun they ran over to it and drooled all over the display glass. Just kidding about the drooling part, but they were getting close. We went to the gift shop, and Craig wanted one of those orange jump-suit things that look like the ones that astronaughts wear, so he asked the cashier if they had adult sizes. They didn’t.
After that we went to dinner at Medieval Times. It was so cool. There was a huge arena thing in the middle, with stadium seats surrounding it. there were six sections of the stadium, blue (that was us), yellow, red and yellow, black and white, green, and red. Each section had a knight, (ex. blue knight, yellow knight, etc.), and there was this sort of play thing. There was a king, a princess, a traitor, knights(duh), and other people. The food was kind of gross, but you mostly ignored that and watched the show. They were having a tournament, so the knights would square off and stuff. When they were just walking or riding around (they even had real horses), the knights would throw flowers into the crowd(their section). The blue knight looked at me, kissed the flower, and threw it to me. That was the highlight of my trip.
Then we went back to the hotel, and most people went swimming, but I stayed in my room and finished my book and started another one. That night people kept calling us and hanging up, so I was not happy.
Day 4:
We had to get up early again, which sucked. I had taken a shower the night before, so I was good and fresh at least. We waited in line for Fords Theatre for about an hour, but it was worth it. We got to see where Lincon was shot, the bloody pillow he died on, and the dude that killed him. It was all pretty powerful.
Then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe gift shop, looked around there, then got to shop near where it was. I got some stuff for my brother. Then we went to lunch at this Trade Center thing, and I hung out with Taylor and Cody.
We went to the Halocaust Museum after that. It was very disturbing, not being sarcastic. It was hard not to cry.
These people were so…so sick. That’s all I can say about it. Then we went to the National Museum of Health and Medicine. That was sick too, but in a different way. Somewhere in there we went too the White house to take pictures through the fence. I don’t remember when we went…
Then we went to Armands(a pizza place) for dinner. I met Logan there. He’s so hot it isn’t fair. I ate dinner with him, cody, taylor, greg, and andother kid from redlands. He took Sam’s drink when she left for the bathroom ,and put peppers and parmesean in it. The moms caught him, so he couldn’t give it back to her. It sat there for a while, then he said he would drink it for a buck. So I took him up on that. He chugged it, and it was disgusting, and I paid him a dollar. He spent a lot of time in the tour bus’s bathroom afterwards…
Then we went to FDR’s memorial. A bunch of girls came over to Greg and Logan and took their pictures, because they thought they were “totally hot”. Then they both flirted with them for a while. It was so funny. Me and Craig just kind of stood there and laughed our heads off. That night Stephani was on the phone with the boys for about thirty minutes and broke up with Cody and let me tell you, she does NOT have a very quiet voice.
Day 5:
Got up at five thirty, cuz it was our last day and we had to pack everything up and get our room inspected. My stuff was all packed, but my roomates crap was spread all over the floor. And the sink. And the tables. And under the beds. Tee hee. Sucks for them. But they finally got it.
Once again they were gossiping about me flipping out when they wouldn’t get off the phone. I was really starting to hate them…
After that we took the bus too the dock on the Potomac to take a boat to Mount Vernon.(George Washington’s home). On the boat I stuck with craig, greg, cody, taylor, and later, logan. Once again, Logan and Greg found girls to flirt with, and got their pics taken… but this time they also got email adresses. then the girls were all over taylor and cody, who also got emails. That was also extremely funny. The girls were kind of rude though.
At Mount Vernon, we toured the whole place, but when we got to the mansion, there was a half-mile long line. So we didn’t tour that, we just left. Then we went to lunch at some place that had burgers and really good brownies. It was pretty good, and I sat with the guys again. Ooooh…and also, Logan sat with me on the bus away from mount vernon, to lunch, and to the next two destinations. Cuz I was near the people he wanted to talk to, and I was the only person not sitting with anyone, but still…I was flattered. He asked me to hold his drink twice.
Next stop was the National Archives, where I saw the declaration and the constitution. Then we went to the Zoo and saw pandas, which were erally far away, giraffes, which were way far away, and elaphants, which were way far away. And that took a grand total of *drumroll* FIFTEEN MINUTES.
Then we went to the airport. On the flight I ended up between two boys from Redlands, but they were both pretty cool. I bought an in-flight movie, Eght Below, which was pretty good. Then I tried to sleep, which didn’t work, so I talked to the kid next to me. When we got to Denver, everyone was pretty much fed up with each other, Greg was cussing everyone out, and the bus wasn’t there yet.
Finally, it got there, and we drove to the nearest Taco Bell, where we stayed for 1 and a half hours, because they messed up our orders. Then we got back on the bus and started home. Cody came back and sat with me because his seat didn’t recline. When we got home, it was three thirty in the morning and we were all asleep, but we were home. Finally.
And that is Bri’s DC Adventure.
*applause*