A group of Montera Middle School students took a five day trip to our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. where they were exposed to beautiful landscapes and historic sites about our nation’s history.
Thursday 27th, Day 1:
After a long 5 hour direct flight from San Francisco to Washington D.C. the group hit the ground running:
When we got onto our bus and we were introduced to our tour guide. We first headed to a mall where we were given our first balance of $20 to spend and eat.
The first stop was the Military Women’s Memorial and then the Arlington National Cemetery where we watched the Changing of the Guard for the tomb of the forgotten soldier and went up to the Robert E. Lee Memorial.
The next bus ride was a long 3 hour bus ride to eat dinner at a Pizza Restaurant where we ate up and headed out to watch the reenactment play for the Trial of Israel Hands, the First Mate for Blackbeard and was deemed guilty by the group and other tour groups.
At one moment a kid in our group’s watch or device activated and sang an anime theme song of which the person who told us all about the Reenactment Trial for Israel Hands said “You know Anime is brain rot son”.
After that we spent the night at the Comfort Inn and ended our day.
Friday 28th, Day 2:
This day we have a 40 minute bus ride to the Siege of Yorktown Battlefield. The tour guide immediately turned us around for a 20 minute drive to Colonial Jamestown.
Jamestown was the first colonial town we visited. We saw an Indigenous People’s settlement, an English sailing ship, English Jamestown and saw an employee shoot a musket at some chickens.
Lunch at Williamsburg was the next event of the day. Most students immediately ate at Chick-Fil-A. Then we ventured into Colonial Williamsburg with two tour guides and went into the Colonial governor of Virginia’s Palace. In the Palace we went through every floor, saw hundreds of muskets and sabers, out into a maze where we all got lost and screamed for our lives and through the kitchen and not being able to eat the duck, biscuits and eggs.
We visited a blacksmith and he told us about his workshop and how long he can create stuff.
We went all over Williamsburg and saw three reenactors dressed as American soldiers from the Revolutionary War shoot muskets. Then dinner at Golden Corral
Dinner Corral was a potluck dinner where you can eat whatever. But the reason people remember Golden Corral is because of the drink. At one of the tables Niko, Nevin, Jce, Leo and Cooper were all in on making a drink filled with chicken, coca cola, ice cream, hot sauce and many more ingredients and had Jackson Masuret drink it. Everyone chanted “Chug, Chug, Chug!”, some kids threw up in their mouths until Santo Domingo stopped it.
After the disgusting memories of Golden Corral bowling began where we all bowled, played video games and real games for an hour before settling at the Comfort Inn for the night.
Saturday 29th Day 3:
We awoke knowing that we would not return to the Comfort Inn we all rode to D.C. and listened in on a talk about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln then disbanded for lunch.
At the Civil War museum where the talk was held students like Nevin, Niko, Jace, Big Baby, Mako, Leo, Markell, Wyatt, Luke, Sinclair and more students decorated statues of Union diplomats in the Civil War with their clothing like glasses, phones, hats, etc.
After riding on our bus through D.C. we all disbanded into chaperone groups and went to the Frederick Douglas House.
After eating mid sandwiches at the Lincoln Memorial we went into the Lincoln memorial and paid respect to Lincoln.
The day ended with us going through the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials before going to the Marriott Hotel for the night.
When we passed a Target we all thought we were going to sleep at Target but we ended our day at the Marriott Hotel.
Sunday 30th Day 4:
The day before the last day kicked off with all of us going to Mount Vernon and the House of George Washington for about an hour before going to a Smithsonian Museum.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture we explored African American History, from slavery, the Civil War to modern times.
We all then had a picture shot of the White House where we all had one big group picture in front of the White House and its gates surrounded by Secret Service Agents and other tourists, before going to a ferris wheel at a bay in D.C.
We all split into different groups and rode the wheel for about 3 turns of the wheel. Before returning to our Marriott rooms.
Monday 31st day 5:
The last day kicked off with a panoramic group photo in front of the Capitol and we all were able to get a copy of that photo.
Our last tour was through the Capitol building, where we learned about Congress and the political structure of our country.
Our final lunch was at a huge transit station where we were given our final balance of $20 for lunch and we all split up and ate our last D.C. meal.
We took one last group photo where the chaperones took our phones and took photos of our group then gave them back.
We spent our last money and took our last bus ride to the airport and we all flew a 5 hour direct flight from D.C. to San Francisco.
It all ended when we all got back to our school, said goodbye and went home with our parents.
These 5 days have been fun and educational. From Arlington, Williamsburg, Golden Corral, Mount Vernon, the Capitol to our flight back. The kids of the D.C. trip were better than last year’s. Washington D.C. is a blast of history and excitement so it’s been a great experience for us 8th Graders.