DC...

In September, the school I work at won the No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award. How's that for a title?!? Oh yeah! Anyway, our principle was SO excited and in celebration of the event she canceled school last Tuesday and took us all up to DC for some sightseeing and then into Olde Towne Alexandria for a delicious dinner.

We all packed onto a bus and headed up to DC. The bus let us off on The Mall...and we headed off to do our sightseeing. My little group headed down past the Washington Monument to the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean Memorial. VERY COOL! I hadn't been to DC in a really long time so it was very cool to see all of these monuments. I was so gripped by the effects of war...seeing all the thousands of names on the Vietnam Memorial...it made me so grateful for all the soldiers that defend our country. It made me think of people like Clay Hanna...who is serving us in Iraq. It made me realize the extreme sacrifice he is making...leaving behind a wife and two young boys and facing death all of the time. Wow. It's crazy.

Anyway...after touring the memorials it was time to find some lunch. We headed to Fado's Irish Pub down near Chinatown. Yummy food...and a long walk! After a ride on the Metro we headed back to the bus and we were off to Alexandria. We ate dinner at the Union Street Public House for dinner. Salad, steak, and key lime pie! Oh yes! It was delicious!

The whole day was lots of fun...and I came home extremely tired! Here are some pictures of the day...sorry there aren't any with people in them(besides me of course!).

Me in front of the Washington Monument

The White House

The WWII Memorial

The Vietnam Memorial

Washington Monument

Truth

The Korean War Memorial

Me holding the Washington Monument (this is right before this guy came up and asked me to take a picture with him...NEGATIVE!)