We
started out bright and early, a little after 6:00 AM when
we all should have been catching up on sleep. There were 24 people,
so we divided equally into two vans. Well, both vans had the same
count, but that's about it. The people in my van were, well, a
bit crazy sometimes. There was just the right blend of
personalities or something like that. I sat between Jordan and
Josiah, which was asking for trouble. It all started when the
temperature in the van started to rise abnormally. I said I was hot
and some people who don't have a good grasp of the English language
thought I was describing myself. Some claimed all the moisture on the
windows came from us guys in the back (Jason was with us too) but I
don't think that's based on a true story. Everything went downhill
from there. There was just too much hot air. Somehow the majority of
the blame for all the hilarity landed on one poor person. I'm a nice
guy, so I'll keep the person anonymous—don't want to embarrass
anyone.
Anyway,
we finally got down there and finally found a place to park. It
seemed that police cars were everywhere and some of us were worried
about bombs, believe it or not. Once we got out of the van
around 9:10, things cooled down. It was just gorgeous outside, a
perfect October morning with a slight chill and breeze that kept us
moving. We were late for our scheduled tour of the Capitol but headed
in that direction with hopes of still getting in. There was a
marathon of sorts happening on one of the roads we had to cross so we
had fun trying to find gaps and getting across without tripping
anyone. Think we did it. We walked a little further and came to the
Capitol.
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| At the reflection pool in front of the capitol building |
We stood outside for awhile looking up at the magnificent
building. It's quite something to actually see it. Jesse went
investigating to see if we could still get in and I think most of us
were excited when he came back and told us we could in about ten
minutes. We had to go through security and then got in a long,
snaking line to get ready for the tour. We watched a 15 minute video
about Congress and then were hooked up with a tour guide. I did have
to laugh when I heard one of the guides call out “Cross Keys
Academy” as we were finding our place.
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| Under the Rotunda... |
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| "Republican" and "Democrat" |
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| The Magnificent Rotunda |
Afterwards we headed towards our vans to eat lunch. I'm not sure what happened, but we basically ended up walking in a big circle trying to find one of the vans, which Joshua had to move because we were out of time. The plan was to eat lunch close to the Monument, but the first parking space he found was all the way up at the Air & Space Museum... I liked the walk, though, going up close to the Washington Monument which was covered with scaffolding. There's something I've always loved about walking around DC, still not sure exactly why.
We ate
lunch on the lawn in what they call the Mall, I believe.
Around 1:00 we went into the Air and Space Museum. Here we
were basically on our own, with the group breaking up as we all went
various ways. I followed Jordan and Josiah around as I'm prone to do,
along with Natalia, Bethany, Sara Ann, Linda, Jason, and Eli—hope
I'm not forgetting anyone. It was a fun group and we leisurely
strolled around reading the displays. One of my favorites was a video
clip of the Blue Angels doing their jaw-dropping tricks. It's very
neat, though I'm not sure I would want to try it myself. (Maybe Seth
would?)
Jesse stressed that the IMAX was optional, but we all wanted to watch it and I think we were all glad we did. We watched To Fly. I think a few of the girls (and some others) screamed at various parts—can't blame them, really. It was surprising when we felt we were riding along in a car only to suddenly drop off a cliff.
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| In Eager anticipation of the coming iMax... |
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| "Brillant idea, why don't I just push it over?" |
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| "hey Drew, come help me, this is harder then it looks... " |
We
headed for the vans around 4:00, without much switching. Sarah
Petersheim somehow got in our van, so it seemed we would probably
have a less exciting ride home. It didn't turn out that way, though,
surprise, surprise. We had a grand time. It's hard to recreate such
times on paper, especially when there are so many inside jokes and
some things I don't want to bring up.
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| Outside of the Air & Space Museum |
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| What Photographers do for pictures... |
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| Hi Jason... |
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| More Photographers |
We
all stopped for supper at Subway around 5:30. Jordan got the
crazy idea that we should have a photo shoot where everyone was
taking a picture of someone else...taking a picture of...someone
else..taking a picture...of someone else...etc...etc. It was very
funny. I think we all enjoyed our meal, even though some of us guys
said a few things that didn't add to the enjoyment of our food—inside
jokes again and some things I don't want to, well, never mind.
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| Yes, thats me, and Yes, I'm eating Subway... I would still like a Pumpkin Spice Latte, but they didn't have one close...:( |
We got back to church a little after 7:30. We were all tired, but it was a wonderful day. I loved every minute of it.
| I'm somewhat overwhelmed even now as I write by how blessed I am to have such a wonderful group of friends. Even as we had fun together, the spirit of the group was so refreshing. We are seeking to draw closer to the Lord and follow him wholeheartedly and this enables us to bond in a very special way. I want to thank everyone in the youth group for their part in making it a wonderful day. |
The Account of the day was written by Drew Barnard... if you have any complaints about it... I can get you his email address...
For real, I'd love to hear from you... as always, comments are appreciated!!!
Proverbs 21:1
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will
