We saw Josh off to Washington DC this morning at the unholy hour of 5 am and not without a little motherly worry to accompany him on his journey. Now, while I fully comprehend that he is 16, highly capable of watching out for himself and not a stranger to airline travel, you have to remember that this is a new experience for all of us. Shipping him off to the Boundary Waters in July with a group of church friends is entirely different. For one, there's no plane involved. I won't even go into the whole Security Level Orange thing that will undoubtedly follow him everywhere he goes. The fact that there's a need for that sort of thing is the worrysome part. I hope he has the time of his life. I hope he soaks up as much history, travel excitement and fun as he possibly can. But, I'm still going to worry until he's safely back home again.
With that said, without a doubt he is in for a wild 4 days of historically relevant and exciting sights. His flight this morning includes a layover in Indianapolis so as I write this, he's milling about the airport there waiting to catch the connecting flight to DC. When they finally arrive, sometime just before 2:00pm, they'll promptly dive into a sight-seeing tour that includes Arlington National Cemetary-Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Changing of the Guard, Kennedy Gravesites, the Challenger and Iwo Jima Memorials, and finally, a stop at the Pentagon City Mall. All before 6:30 pm! After that they're headed toward the hotel just long enough to check in and dump their bags before they head off to the Inaugural Dance. They won't return to the hotel until 10:30. End day 1! It's a good thing he's young and resilient because personally, that whole itinerary wears me out just thinking about it.
The rest of his trip is essentially more of the same until Wednesday when they come home. Tomorrow they'll spend the day at the Sept 11 Pentagon Memorial, Capitol Hill (they may have a tour of the interior if our MN Representatives come through for us) but if not they'll have a tour of the grounds, the Supeme Court, and Library of Congress. After lunch they'll hit the National Archives, the Holocaust Museum, and the White House for a picture stop. After dinner they'll go to Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial, Veitnam Memorial and finally Kennedy Center. This is probably their easiest day because on Tuesday (Inauguration Day) they have to be up and out of the hotel by 4:30 am so they can get over to Capitol Mall where the ceremony and parade takes place. Nothing actually happens until 10:30 am and the parade doesn't start until 2:00 pm. Now here's the fun part. Everything is outdoors, temps are supposed to be in the low to mid-30s. DC is expecting some 4 million people to this event. We were informed last Monday that (at that point in time) they had one porta-potty for every 7000 people (yuck!) and that there are no tents, sheltered areas or refreshment stands anywhere. Hold your water everyone! Predictably, the general plan is to try to get as close to the ticketed areas as possible but really, regardless of where they end up, as long as they're along the Mall, the Jumbo-trons should afford them a good view. I guess we'll find out when he gets home how good it was. I would imagine that by the time they get back to their hotel that evening they'll all be more than a little chilled and tired. Thankfully their evening is pretty much free from that point.
Wednesday is their last day but they are scheduled to see Mt Vernon and their choice of one of the museums in the Smithsonian Complex before they head for the airport and home.
Josh has been duly tasked with collecting postcards everywhere he goes (for that scrapbook I need to start one of these days) and taking lots of pictures. Hopefully I'll have photos to post when he gets back. Other than that all he really needs to do is enjoy the experience. In the mean time, I'm going to be the typical Mom, and worry about him until I see him again. Keep him in your prayers won't you?
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