This post is pretty photo-intensive, so please bear with the load time.

On our first real day out we had scheduled to see Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated. When we got there the line was literally around the block. Ford's Theater is cool, but not that cool. Instead, we decided to proceed straight to the Natural History Museum. One problem: it wasn't open yet, so we had to kill some time. We spotted one of the many souvenir shops and decided to make the obligatory stop that all kids make. They loaded up on goodies for folks at home, DC hats, FBI shirts, and all the other stuff that I bought in DC when I was their age.

Once that was all done, we went to the National Mall for the first time, then it was on to the Natural History Museum. We started in the mammals section were we saw lots of prehistoric animal remains. I'd post some pictures, but I already have so many in this post that it would be too much. Seeing the skeletons was a segue to the Live Insect Museum, which sounded really fun. Once we got in there the kids pointed with fascination at some of the insects and repulsed in disgust at some of the others. I told them stories about black widows and south western crickets, both of which they had on display.

A really interesting display that they had was an actual bee hive. The hive was inside and opened up to the front of the building where the bees would exit, go get pollen, and bring it back inside. Seeing this set off the text connection alarm in my head, since our class was reading The Secret Lives of Bees at that time. We briefly compared and contrasted how similar the bee hives were to what we read in the story.

While we were going through the museums my students kept spotting "challenge words" from our class word wall. It was one of those vindicating teacher moments because they were realizing that our challenge words are words that you really do need to know.

After the live insects, we ventured through the minerals section, which includes the famous Hope Diamond. We were running low on time, so we went quickly to the dinosaur exhibit. I was surprised that the kids weren't more interested in the large megalodon teeth or the T-rex skeleton. Maybe it's just that I loved that stuff when I was a kid.

Once we were done in the Natural History Museum, it was on to the American History Museum. I think they enjoyed the American History Museum more because it was material that they could better relate to. The first thing they saw was the flag that hung over the Pentagon immediately after the 9-11 attacks.

Next, I took them to what I thought would be a much more substantial exhibit on the 1927 flood of the Mississippi River, which devastated Greenville, MS. Despite the fact that the exhibit was small, it was still great to get them some local history from a national museum.

We got lunch at the museum and then went up to the civil rights exhibit that they had been running. The material was pretty gripping for these young black students. They'd never seen a KKK robe before or really seen pictures of explicit racism.

The most interesting part of the exhibit was a room that was half a white classroom and half a black classroom. They were quite easily convinced that the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson was wrong.

Speaking of racial intolerance, my girls were disturbed by the pictures of Hitler in the exhibit on America's armed conflicts. I had taught them about the Holocaust and they knew exactly who he was. All they could say was, "That man is so evil."

Further in the exhibit they took a special liking to the wartime propaganda. Hey -- understanding propaganda it's a sixth grade benchmark in Mississippi!

The next part of the trip was pretty awesome. My fellow Ed Trust intern and friend from UVA, Elliot Haspel set me up with his dad, who works at the Dept. of the Interior. We got a guided tour of the Washington Monument and many of the war memorials.

The Monument was actually really fun. I'd never done the tour of it before.

We made our way down the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial. It was late in the afternoon and the kids were tired from walking all day. We checked out Lincoln, but what I really wanted to do was show the kids the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. I said, "Do you know the 'I Have a Dream' speech that you've studied in school every year since first grade? That's where MLK made that speech."

Not that the kids knew what the Korean War was, or would be able to understand its significance in the Cold War, but I took them over to the memorial anyway. While we were there, I had to get a picture of us the same way I got a picture with Katerina and Lindsay in high school. Lindsay and Kat came back four years later and did the picture again.

What happened next, I didn't get any pictures of, but it's particularly interesting. One of the chaperones on the trip had a friend who died in Vietnam. She wanted to get an etching of his name, so I took her over to the Vietnam Memorial while the kids rested. As it turned out, the name of this particular person was listed on the top of one of the middle slabs of the memorial, which was about 12 feet high. There are no ladders or anything there, so I tried walking around to the top of it. I was told by the park service that was a no-no, despite the fact that I needed an etching from the very top. I went back to the bottom and helplessly looked up to the top of the slab. Then, a man came by and asked what we were trying to do. I explained our situation and, without thinking twice, the man leaned against the wall and said, "Get on my shoulders." I hesitated for half a second and then did as I was told. I climbed up and got the etching as best I could. I climbed down and we thanked the man profusely, to which he responded, "Anything for a one of my brothers."

Once everybody was somewhat rested, we made our way to ESPN Zone for dinner. ESPN Zone was really fun for the kids. The only thing of note was that I took my star basketball player on in one of the arcade shoot-outs. We both tied each other in the first round, tied each other again in the second round, and he beat me by one point in the third.

On our way back to the hotel, we had to ride the subway from downtown and ran into a few homeless people. On our way down the subway to the Metro I put my body between the kids and a homeless man and ushered them down the escalator. As we were going down the kids were chatting about the homeless man and one of them said, "Man, he wasn't a bum. Did you see the shoes he had on?"

The last portion of this day was utterly absurd. We rode the Metro back to Pentagon City, where we catch the hotel shuttle. It was past 10 PM and everybody was exhausted. We had no problems with the hotel shuttle up till now, despite the fact that we were a group of 14 people. The shuttle came, filled up, and the driver informed us that he wouldn't be coming back for us because the hotel allegedly told us that we could not ride the shuttle. Pissed, I called the Best Western Pentagon front office and the man basically told us "too bad". While I did that, Brianna got on the phone with Travelocity, where we purchased tickets. Travelocity called the hotel and the hotel lied to them, saying they told us that we couldn't ride the shuttle. I went back and forth with the man on the phone for quite some time and he eventually hung up on me. I called back and yelled that I would get him fired and was on the verge of filing child endangerment charges against him for leaving us on the street that late at night. I doubt I could really do that, but hey, I was angry. You're probably asking right now why we didn't just take a cab. The answer is that I hadn't budgeted for it, and going back and forth that many times over the next few days would cost close to $150. After relentlessly calling, he eventually caved and sent the shuttle. When I got back, I went to front office, wrote down their names and demanded to know which of them hung up on me. They both stonewalled me, so I said, "If you don't tell me, I'm telling your boss and Best Western corporate that it was both of you." I still didn't get anything out of them, so I left. The next morning I talked with the manager, Subhash Vohra. He explained that because we got group rates we weren't entitled to ride the vans. But -- that was incorrect. We didn't get group rates. He was thinking about some other school group that was there. We were essentially three families who paid full fare. I called Best Western corporate and made my case to them. They pulled my reservation and wholly agreed with me. The management capitulated on the vans issue and we got the service as advertised.

When I got back to Mississippi I got this verbatim letter in the mail from the manager:

Dear MR. Hughes

Best Western Customer Relations has notified me that we failed to your expectations at our hotel. I appreciate your taking the time to write and hope you will accept my apologies.

PI. accepts my apology again for not meeting your expectations. When I met you this morning, and told you that our shuttle service is for individual guest only not for group. We have only 2 vans which we run from 6.00AM to 10.00PM. I also told you that we will help you for your group, but only first come first serve. Some time we will not be able to take all the guests together. I hope I clarify the situation. On me.

We appreciate your patronage and hope you will stay with us at Best Western Pentagon. I assure you, we will do everything we can to make your stay a comfortable and happy one.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Subhash Vohra
GM.

Needless to say, I do NOT suggest staying at Best Western Pentagon.

Next Entry: Missed the Capitol, National Art Gallery, Lefty Protesters, and The West Wing