Day 5 Blog

27thNov.

Welcome to ‘Day 5’ or as people keep calling it here ‘Black Friday’- The day after Thanksgiving… the day that most people saw their money disappear like they saw the clouds vanish this morning for a morning of brilliant sunshine.

(Almost) everyone filled up on the delicious buffet breakfast before heading off to the shopping mall early to get some great specials! The sun stayed up as we emerged from the mall- our arms full of shopping bags (Heck - even Mr Roberts joined in!!). But who couldn’t resist a 50% discount across most stores?? After shopping we then hurried back to our rooms to put away our shopping and headed to the ‘Metro’ to go to the ‘Museum of Natural History’.

From the Metro station we had a long, icy walk to the museum and what awaited us…? Another bag check!!

We all waited eagerly inside the foyer so we could explore the wonders of the museum.

Some highlights of the museum were: “Rexy” – the giant statue of the Tyrannosaurus Rex made famous by the movie “The Night at the Museum”, the Hope Diamond, which is said to be cursed because it’s wearers usually die soon after wearing it, the giant display of the grey whale, the skeletons of giant animals such as a land sloth and a turtle, skeletons of mini horses, and the various gems.The holiday crowds were huge, making it very hard to get to the more popular exhibits but everyone seemed most impressed by the experience.

After the Museum and a head-count, we then made our way through the rain and cold wind to the Capitol Building. Soon after stopping to put our rain jackets on the Sun came out!! This made for some very good photo ops as we were walking up to the Capitol Building!

After arriving at the “East Entrance” of the Capitol Building (which was the furthest away from the Museum of Natural History…) we were greeted with yet another bag check. The worst part about this bag check was that we were not even allowed to take empty water bottles in there – we had to throw them out! Some of us had water bottles that we wanted to hang on to, so we kept them outside of the bin. We later found that they had been placed in the bin, so of course we went in the bin to get them! It was rather suspicious that we were in the Capitol Building for a considerable amount of time and everyone’s drink bottles were on the still on top of the recycling bin! You’d think that after all that time other drink bottles would be in there too!

After making it through the security check-points, we waited for our tour tickets. The line was long, so instead of going to the 2pm tour, we went to the 2.20pm tour. We were then ushered into a lecture theatre where we were shown a video about the construction of the Capitol Building, and also the formation of the American government. We were then greeted by a tour guide who showed us several rooms of the Capitol Building which were huge and ornately decorated. These rooms contained several statues (most of past Presidents) that had been donated by State governments of America or commissioned by Congress.

This bought us to the end of the tour where we had the choice to leave or visit an interactive look at the Capitol Building. We decided the latter would be worthwhile and spent some time there.

By this time, everyone’s feet and backs were sore and everyone was exhausted! We then walked to the Metro Station to catch the train to Arlington Cemetery. Unfortunately, the closing time for the visitor’s centre at Arlington Cemetery was 5pm, and we had arrived just after. We were severely disappointed that we had come all that way for nothing! So we then walked back to the train station and took the train back to our hotel.

Tonight, we had some activities planned. There was a choice between ice skating (there is an ice rink on top of the mall right near the hotel) or seeing a movie (some of us had been dying to see “New Moon” of the Twilight Saga. Most chose ice skating (which of course was fun…and guaranteed us a good night’s sleep.) The movie was also enjoyable with all who saw it concluding that it was far better than the last one!! And the ice skating gave us plenty of excuses to sing along to some classic songs as we skated. Upon checking into Mr Roberts after we arrived back at the hotel, we were awarded a Twinkie (a cake with icing in the middle), which some of us had never had before (it tasted great…)! And Kristen gave the lucky few that were around at the time a sampling of some delicious candy corn…

Well, after a long (but enjoyable) couple of days in Washington D.C, our time as come to leave. As one member of the group commented, “Just as we begin to fit into a city, we have to leave!” The people around the hotel and staff are beginning to know us as we are such a large group! We will be sad to leave the comforts and luxury of Washington D.C, but Space Camp will be an entirely new and fun experience!

As it nears lunch-time in Perth, all the Leeming High School kids will be packing their bags and watching the all-night marathon of George Lopez (perhaps at the same time?) on Nickelodeon.

Goodnight! George Lopez (and of course bag-packing) awaits us! By Kristen and Jessica.