NEW: Goodbye to Washington & the East Coast

Today we finished our tour with two more visits.
In the morning we departed our hotel, loaded the bags, & boarded the bus for the 20 mile drive to Mount Vernon, VA, George Washington's home.
We spent the morning at Mount Vernon, touring the mansion, then enjoying free time to explore his estate - the farm, the gardens, & the museums/visitors center.  We had time for lunch & even shopping before departing.
Next we headed to the airport.  But before checking-in we visited the neighboring Udvar-Hazy Center, an outpost of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum located by Dulles Airport.  This is where the museum's larger aircraft are housed, including the Blackbird spy plane, the Concorde, & the Space Shuttle Discovery!  We had over an hour to explore this awesome museum, then drove the few miles to the airport.
After a very busy 4.5 days it was time to say our farewells & travel home.

PS:  A Note From Declan
It was my pleasure & privilege to lead yet another BCS trip to Washington D.C - the 7th year I think!  As always I enjoyed working with the BCS students who are always lively, engaging, & inquisitive.
A huge thank you to Mr. Reeves, Ms. Nall & Mr. Laws for their efforts helping to make this another very successful BCS Washington D.C trip.  Thank you also to the parent chaperones who helped keep the students together & safe whilst (hopefully) enjoying the trip to DC themselves.  A lot of work is also done 'behind the scenes' at BCS by Wendy Kay & Cheri Head so thank you to them both too.
Next up for us will the BCS Senior trip to Europe - this year visiting England & France.  I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces that I last saw on their DC trip 4 years ago!

UPDATED: A Day in Virginia - UVA & Monticello

Today we left the big city behind for a day trip to Charlottesville, Virginia.
Departing our DC hotel on board our bus, we headed out, finally getting clear of the DC traffic about 30 miles out of the city!  From then on it was a quiet & scenic drive all the way to the city of Charlottesville, home of 3 Presidents - Thomas Jefferson, James Madison & James Monroe!
The focus of the city today is the University of Virginia (UVA), founded by Thomas Jefferson himself in 1819.  So our first visit was to take a tour of the 'Academic Village' at the heart of this historic campus - the only university campus in the United States listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The group split into 2 & the tours were led by current students, who focused not only on the history of the university but also some of its unique traditions, college life, etc.
After free time for lunch & shopping for UVA clothing etc, we drove to nearby Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.  Like the university, Monticello was designed by Jefferson himself, & the house if full of his inventions & belongings.
Departing from Monticello, we drove north towards Washington D.C, stopping en-route for dinner before arriving in the capital after dark but with time still to make 2 more visits today - to the World War II Memorial & the White House.
Finally, after another long day we arrived back at our hotel, tired but cheerful.

A Busy Day in DC!

Today we had a very full day, starting this morning with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery.
We departed our hotel after breakfast, riding the metrorail to Arlington & beginning our tour on the 'tourmobile'.
Our visit was interrupted by cleaning of the marble at President Kennedy's tomb & the visit of the Chairman of the French defense forces!  But we managed to see everything planned including the many thousands of graves, the tomb of President Kennedy & some of his family, the space shuttle & Iran rescue mission memorials, the Changing of the Guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, & the home of Robert E. Lee, Arlington House.

Back in DC, after time for lunch at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building food court, it was time to visit the National Mall once more.  There the group split into 2 with the students choosing which Smithsonian museum they wished to visit - the Museum of Natural History or the Air & Space Museum.
After the museums we stopped nearby at the National Archives where we were able to view the 'Charters of Freedom' - the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, & the Bill of Rights.
By now it was 5:45pm but we still have time for more sightseeing...
We made a stop at the nearby Navy Memorial, then had a final hour of museum time to visit the twin Smithsonian museums of the National Portrait Gallery & the Museum of American Art.  The Gallery of Presidents, the license plate 'Preamble', & the courtyard are always popular.

Nearby is Chinatown where we had our group dinner today.  Then it was time to ride the metrorail one more time, back to our hotel, at the end of a very busy but good day!

DC in Depth

Today was dedicated to getting to know the Nation's Capital in more depth.

So we began, after breakfast at our hotel, by traveling like the locals do - by DC Metrorail.

Our first stop this morning was the United States Capitol, where the group divided into 2 to take a tour inside the Capitol itself.

From the Capitol the group walked along the National Mall, then past the FBI Headquarters to Ford's Theatre, site of Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

At Ford's Theatre we toured the museum, then enjoyed a performance of One Destiny, a play about the events of that fateful day. After free time for lunch we visited the Peterson House, an historic boarding house across the street from Ford's Theatre - it was here that the 16th President was carried after being shot & here that he died.

A short walk took us to the Smithsonian Museum of American History where we had an hour to pay a first visit to some of the both historic & fun exhibits.

Our final visit of the day was to the Holocaust Museum.  Never a fun experience, the Holocaust Museum is nevertheless a popular & important site for many groups to visit in DC.

Next we rode the metrorail to Union Station where we had free choice in the food court for dinner.  And finally we rode the metrorail one more time, just one stop to our hotel at the end of another long & packed day.