This time three years ago, I was exploring around the monuments and museums of our nation's capital. It was part of Youth Tour, and our group met up in Oklahoma City on a Friday afternoon to get started.
We got to this hotel where we were all going to stay the night, got registered, and then sat nervously chatting with our parents or observing our fellow travelers while our parents talked to people they knew. Then there were a couple of meetings to sit through and a fancy banquet and posed group photos, all of which were a little awkward and uncomfortable for everybody. We started talking later that night, getting to know each other, and attempting to puzzle out which counties were covered by which co-ops.
The next day, we woke up bright and early, dressed in our matching T-shirts(an old lady commented that we looked like a bunch of penguins), and set off for the airport, where we then nervously went through security and took a quick course in alphabetization of last names. It was a good way to meet people, like Adam, Tauri, Brandi, Aubrey and Lorene. Once we landed in Baltimore, we explored the Harbor, sampled new restaurants that we'd never heard of(like Five Guys), and marveled at all the trees. On getting to D.C. we saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the WWII Memorial, and a statue of Albert Einstein. When we finally got to our hotel(which was FANCY), a bunch of us immediately got in minor trouble for being too loud. There was a piano there in the lobby, and Tosh started playing it, and the rest of us naturally started singing along as soon as we figured out what she was playing. Fun memory.
On Sunday we toured Arlington Cemetery, which was a somber experience, but important. From there we went to the Smithsonian campus, hustling around to see what we could. Will, Brendan, Chrystal, Claire and I examined the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History and were thoroughly confused by what we saw of the Art Museum. We also nearly walked into a gay parade, were sidetracked by PETA advocates(with hilarious results) and merrily iaywalked across busy streets. Some highlights of what I saw included Kermit the Frog, Dorothy's ruby slippers, the flag that flew over Fort McHenry(inspiring Francis Scott Key to pen "The Star-Spangled Banner"), and the Hope Diamond. Our buses then took us to a dinner theater where we saw a musical production of Happy Days, and then back to the hotel to watch the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
On Monday we attended a meeting with all the other states, took pictures of the White House, ate at Hard Rock Cafe, toured Madame Toussad's wax museum and went to Union Station for a bit(got lost for a bit there) before going for a boat cruise/dance on the impossible-to-pronounce Potomac River. Most of us snapped pictures and compared accents with Minnesotans when we weren't hiding in the corner or swapping pins and stickers.
Tuesday had us going to Mount Vernon(which was cool, but we disliked the tour guide), the Iefferson Monument and the Newseum. Had some bus trouble, as one broke down and the other got kind of lost trying to find us, which delayed our getting to the Marines' Sunset Parade. And it started raining. Like, pouring. Here we were stranded on the side of the highway a thousand miles from home in a massive city, which definitely wasn't in the plans. So we played Ninja to kill time, which was great, and a handful of us were tagged as "the Spider-Monkeys" due to our playing style. (Me, Aubrey, Agatha and Maty).
Wednesday we were shown around the Capitol building and we also saw the Holocaust museum before going shopping and looking around Ford's Theatre.
Thursday most of our Senators and Congressmen spoke to us for a bit and answered our questions, and then it was time to go back to Baltimore to explore the Orioles' home park before getting back on the plane and heading home. Our flight was delayed about an hour due to bad weather, so we passed the time by playing word-games and find-the-stick-figure hiding in the magazine pages.
Once we got home, I wrote a recap of the trip, which was printed in the next month's issue of Oklahoma Living magazine(link can be found here). Some of us met up last summer for a reunion, it was neat to see folks again. And then a couple more of us were interviewed for an Oklahoma Living article on college survival last March, which was a really neat experience. (That story can be found here.)
There's so much I could keep writing, but most people, not having gone on Youth Tour, would get a little bored by my ramblings. So I'll just sum up by saying this: It truly was the experience of a lifetime, and I loved being a part of it. Wish I was there. maybe someday I might get to return to some of those sights we saw.
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