It is the second day of our journey! We have learned so many things that we find it hard to believe that it's only our second day! After waking up in our chilly hotel room, we got ready for an even more bone chilling day and headed out for our first breakfast in the hotel. After having a scrumptious breakfast, we got into our bus and headed for our day's tour. The first place we visited was the Ford Theater. This is the theater where President Abraham Lincoln attended a play during the Civil War to gain stress relief. Sadly, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth while the audience was laughing, so the gun shot sound was drowned out by the sound of clapping and laughter of the audience. We had the opportunity to see the theater and where Lincoln sat during the play.
Next, we headed across the street to the Peterson House. The Peterson House is where Lincoln was taken to recover when he got shot. Sorrowfully, Lincoln perished minutes after he was put in bed. While we were there, it unexpectedly started snowing, and we were sad we had to leave the snow..., but it was worth it.
After going to the Ford Theater and the Peterson House, we stopped at the Lincoln Gift Shop so we had a chance to buy souvenirs . Our next destination was the Capital. We chanted "Hole Waimea" to honor the statue of the King Kamehameha. After chanting and representing who we are and where we come from, we headed to the Capitol for a tour. We first sat down to watch a video about the statues inside the Capitol, then actually toured through the capital to see all of the beautiful statues. When it was time to leave, we quickly packed up and headed toward our Senator Brian Schatz's office. Once we entered the office, we chanted "Hiki mai" to represent HPA. Afterwards, we talked to one of the staff member named Nicole, who is actually from Hilo, Hawaii. She shared the items that Senator Schatz is presently working on. She also spoke to us about trying new things and the importance of working hard. After the long and worthy conversation, we headed to the Union Station (transportation station) food court. We ate quickly and headed to the Natural History Museum. The only sounds you could hear from us when we entered the museum were the loud gasps of awe and excitement. We saw an iMax film about dinosaurs, and we went to examine the exhibits. We all enjoyed our time there so much that we were so sad to leave because we had learned so much!
Next it was time for dinner, we went to the Pentagon Mall. We all were amazed how big and how crowded the place was. Before eating dinner, we split up in to groups and went SHOPPING!! Then we ate dinner at the food court down stairs.
Overall, this day was full of emotion as it continues to lead us to the door of knowledge.
This is overall the best trip ever!
~Lexiana and Sana
