Parker in Washington D.C.: 2012

Saturday, June 2, 2012

We're Home

We're home safely, everyone has his or her luggage, and we're about to leave the airport. We estimate we'll be home around 1:15 or 1:30.

The girls just met a famous actress michelle Monaghan

The Last Day...For Real...We Hope

It's a beautiful sunny day in Baltimore. Everyone seems to have had a good night's sleep. Right now, students are slowly waking up and coming down to breakfast, after which we will start shuttling them off to the airport.

Our flight, AirTran 8755, is scheduled to leave at 11:15, and with hope we will not run into any more weather problems. Students should be arriving back at the school sometime around 1pm.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Home Away From Home

Tonight we'll be staying at the Sleep Inn & Suites on Bell Grove Road in Baltimore, ME. Currently, students are being shuttles in small groups from the airport to the hotel, and we expect everyone to be in their rooms within the hour.

While we will most likely be without our luggage, the hotel has graciously offered to provide us with toothpaste and toothbrushes. Considering the circumstances, everyone is being very patient.

Flight Set For Saturday

AirTran was able to arrange a flight for us back home tomorrow. It will be AirTran flight 8755 at 11:15am. That should get us back to Boston a bit past noon.

We will be staying at a hotel tonight, though at this point we don't have specific details. We will be heading there by 10pm tonight.

Flight Cancelled

Tornado warnings in the Baltimore-Washington area has cancelled our flight back and has pretty much shut down most of the airports in the region.

AirTran is working on chartering us a flight for tomorrow. Currently, there are not enough available seats for us to make it back late tonight.

There are few details at this point about flight times and beds for the night. More to follow as we find out.

Einstein

White House Portait

Yesterday, former President George W. Bush was on hand to celebrate his official portrait unveiling at the White House. Today, Parker was on hand to take portraits of themselves at the White House. I wonder which got more media coverage?

Memorial Tour

Molly, Julie, Marissa, and Kaitlyn at the Women's War Memorial

The Memorials for Korea and Vietman

These two memorials are impressive. The 19 statues depicting soldiers on patrol during the Korean War has a haunting feel to it. The statues are tall and no matter where you stand, at least one of the soldiers is looking at you.

Directly across the mall is the Vietnam Memorial - a long, black granite wall with the names of all who died during the war. Students walked through, looking for the names of those who came from Reading. Then, with a graphite pencil, each took a rubbing from the wall.

East Meets West

We made a few friends at the Lincoln Memorial.

The Last Day

At 8:45 everybody is on the bus and ready for our last day in Washington. Right now it's a little bit overcast and a little bit muggy. There is a chance the cloud cover will burn off, but that will only heighten the probability of strong thunderstorms late in the day...just in time for our return flight.

Last night was a great time at the Kennedy Center when we all saw the long-running play Sheer Madness. There were lots of laughs (even a few good-natured jabs at Mr. Lyons), and everyone represented Parker well. We returned back to the hotel at about 10:30, and after a long, hot day, everyone was eager to collapse and go to sleep.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Parker Lays A Wreath At The Tomb Of The Unknown

The FDR Memorial

The MLK Memorial

Natural History Museum

Lighting up the Stage

Encore Performance

A 30 Second Hamlet

A record-breaking performance at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The White House

Bus 2 stopped by the White House for a quick photo-op.

Having fun at the Folger Shakespeare Theater

Charlie Robinson, Eric Redard, and Jacob Ingram playing ugly witches!

A Stone of Hope

Anthony and Alex at the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

Bright-Eyed And...

It's. A beautiful, sunny day here in the nation's capital. Everyone seems to have survived the night, notwithstanding the Celtics' loss, and the many trips to the gift shop between 8:30 and 9:00 to stock up on soda, Pringles, and microwave popcorn. (And, did somebody order a pizza?) As far as we can tell, most everyone got a few hours sleep.

Today will be a long adventure. Our bus will stop at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the National History Museum, Arlington Cemetery, the Iwo Jima Memorial, and a performance of Sheer Madness at the Kennedy Center. I'm sure everyone will be exhausted when we rerun home tonight after 10pm.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

On the Potomac

Overlooking the Washington Monument

Evening at the WWII Memorial

Mr. Lyons and his disciples

The Washington Monument

From the Jefferson Memorial

Coolidge Meets Parker ...

On The Steps of Democracy

My Buddy Tom

Dan was excited to learn that Thomas Jefferson had red hair too.

Phillips Flagship

Halfway Through the First Day

A little bit of down time while we wait to enter the Holocaust Museum.

The Statue of Freedom

Inside the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol

A Case of Sam Adams

On our tour of the Capitol, we were disappointed to learn that the statue of Samuel Adams, one of the two statues representing Massachusetts, was sealed inside a box while roof repairs were being done. Maybe next time.

A Rite of Passage

Having been off the plane for only an hour, our first stop is a group picture in front of the U.S. Capitol building. This annual trip rite of passage is a great way to set the stage for the next few day, and it will serve as a lasting memory for years to come.

So far, the trip has been going smoothly. The weather, if not sunny, is cooperating, and while it is pretty muggy, it could certainly be worse. After the photo, we head to lunch and then a tour of the Capitol. Last year we saw a few famous faces. I wonder who we'll run into this year.