Lancaster County 4-H - CWF

Days 11 & 12

2008-06-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

It is bad when you have no idea how long you been gone...and have no clue what day of the week it is. My camera was out of commission for the past few days and we had functions going on until midnight - when I got back to the room I was too tired to blog.

On day 11 - we had a free day in Washington D.C. - we had a private tour of the National Archives - that was awesome butting in front of people lined up for hours. (thanks Karen W. for hooking us up with Dave) The kids also toured all the Smithsonians, including the Holocaust Museum. We also braved the Metro to and from the 4-H Center. I am pleased to inform you we started with 35 of us and ended with 35 of us. It was fun to see the kids excited and scared at the same time. It was a highlight of thr trip. We ended the night with a cultural experience by driving to Maryland for a dinner theatre production - All Shook Up! It was packed full of Elvis songs and the food was great - prime rib, shrimp,, and much more...yummmmmy

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Dillon & Emilia

Day 12 - we left DC and we are now in Virginia. Today we started out at a beach along the Chesapeake Bay. It was nice to soak up some sun, surf the waves and chase jelly fish and crabs back into the water. Tonight most of us are very red.

The 4-H'ers are trying to turn Tom into a beautiful mermaid - bikini and all! It was hilarious and he was such a good sport!

We ended the day touring Monticello - the weather couldn't have been more perfect!

Back view of Monticello - Look like the back of a nickel?

Alarm clock is set for 5 a.m. - going all the way to Evansville, Indiana tomorrow. No touring just driving!

Day 10 - Capitol Hill

2008-06-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today we started the day with the Nebraska Breakfast. We were able to meet and talk with Ben Nelson, Jeff Fortenberry, Lee Terry & Adrian Smith. We then took a tour of the Capitol and Nelson's office gave us tickets to the Gallery Chambers to watch debate in action.

After the Capitol Tour we went to the Library of Congress, the Botanical Gardens, the Native American Museum and the Air & Space Museum.

We ended the day with a military band performance called Twilight Tattoo.

Day 9 - Arlington, Iwo Jima, WWII and night tours

2008-06-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry my post is late - had to take a kid to the mergency room and it was a late night or early morning - whatever you want to call it. My blog will just be pictures for today

Iwo Jima

Arlington, Changing of the guards.

The Nebraska Tower at the WWII Memorial.

A view of the new WWII Memorial.

We also had night tours of the Wall, Korean Memorial, FDR Memorial, Jefferson & Lincoln Memorials & the Washington Monument. Since I was at the hospital, I was unable to go along to take photos.

Mount Vernon...Day 8

2008-06-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I am having technical difficulties tonight - there are bad storms in the area and we lost power - I am too tired to start over.

Today we spent the morning at Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. We toured his house, farm, barns, gardens, wharf, tomb and his new museum.

The picture above is of the main house on Mount Vernon.

Scroll down for more photos and commentary

The following two pictures are exhibits in the new museum. There were several real life replications of what George would have looked at different ages of his life. These were scientifically done from his measurements and photos. They were so real looking. I truly felt like I was standing there watching him get sworn in as President.

This picture is of the swearing in exhibit - you can see how real these "Statues" look. They are very detailed down to every
eyelash, etc.

This is another exhibit with one of the made to life casts. The horse was even real.

This final photo is a group of the 4-H'ers in front of the Potomic River - This is also the view out of George's back porch.

We just got done with our group meetings and workshops and are starting to settle in for the night. Sorry for the quick blog tonight, but I am almost in a sleep induced coma as I type.

One Week on the Road!.....Gettysburg & Maryland

2008-06-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

A little note for my regular readers......

HI CHRIS & LAUREN! I LOVE YOU & I MISS YOU!!

We made it to the National 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland! Today we started out touring the brand new Gettysburg Visitors Center and Museum. The group started out watching a film about the Civil War and slavery. We then toured the battle fields with a step on tour guide.

In this picture, the kids are looking at the view from Little Round Top. It is amazing how beautiful a place can be that was built upon death and the lives of thousands of soldiers.

After Gettysburg we traveled to a outlet mall for lunch. We had to waste some time because we couldn't arrive at the National 4-H Center before 3p.m. We are now there! We have already ate supper and attended the opening ceremonies. The kids are energized...along with 500 other 4-H members from Oklahoma, Florida, Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin & Ohio. I am sure I missed a few states but these are the bulk.

Here is a picture of the National 4-H Center
Sorry about the lighting but I was in full sun at the time I was able to take the photo.

Christina Mayer at Getysburg looking over the battlefield.

Philadelphia....Day 6

2008-06-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today was packed full of history and education. The day started out at Valley Forge where we had a step on tour guide. Our tour guide was full of lots of information. We were lucky enough to get a retired high school history teacher. I have been to Valley Forge six times now and I learned more today than all those years combined.

The tour guide led us through the Forge where we looked at the winter huts, the hills they baked bread in, Washington's headquarters, canons and a beautiful little church dedicated to Washington.

We then ate lunch at the Bourge in dowtown Philadelphia and then took an all day tour of the city seeing sights such as Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross's House and Benjamin Franklin's museum of inventions. I never realized how creative and smart he was. Despite the heat and humidity it was a great day -Remember those case loads of water we packed on the bus? We are now rationing it out - we are down to only 6 cases. The kids keep saying just go to Wal-Mart and buy some more...not realizing we are in the middle of no where and stores aren't a hop, skip and a jump away like in Nebraska.

We are now in Gettysburg - we ate supper at a Diner where vegetables and salads came with the meal - nobody went into shock for having food other than fried. We are now at the hotel and the kids have time to swim - so I am off to lifeguard!

Coryn and Sheryl Woodward standing in fron of Liberty Bell

The kids looking at Independence Hall

Inside Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

New York ....Take Two - Day 5

2008-06-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

Today we took a guided tour of New York City. We spent some time in Central Park. In this photo we are on the Alice in Wonderland statue by the Central Park pond. This is the place where the famous bird lady that is in all the movies hangs out. Unfortunately she wasn't out today.

We drove through the streets of Upper and Lower Manhattan, Little Italy, SoHo and the Village. We explored the sights and heard commentary on where famous people lived and died, how much it costs to buy a house - which is 4 to 5 million if you were wondering and observed the major hustle and bustle of the city.

The bus driver dropped us off on Times Square for lunch at Planet Hollywood. After lunch we had time to negotiate some bargains from the street vendors and posed for many pictures with the NAKED cowboy. If you know about him, did you know he now has a companion on the other side of 45th street...the NAKED cowgirl.

After Times Square, we then traveled on to the famous Chinatown. Please note.. there are no photos because I was too busy getting pulled into dark alleys to look at all the designer purses and man did I get some good deals.

All the kids are now styling with their designer purses, name brand sunglasses and the faux rolex's - we are now official New York tourists.

We are now on our way to the motel...I will leave you with a photo that explains how I feel.

New York - Day 4

2008-06-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry I didn't get this posted last night. We got into the hotel very late and the network was down. I am unable to get the long pictures reformatted - so you will have to look at the screen sideways.

Today we started the day by taking the Lincoln Tunnel into New York traveling by ground zero. We started at Battery Park and got on a ferry that took us to Liberty Park. We ate lunch while viewing the magnificant Statue of Liberty. After Liberty Park we aboarded the ferry again to travel on to Ellis Island. While we were there, the kids found out about thier family history and they watched an educational film to get a better understading of Ellis Island and its history. Our last ferry ride was back to battery park where we first watched all the street entertainment. There were dancers, musicians, artists, freaks, superman posing for pictures and live statues - they were all very cool to experience. We then met the bus to continue our journey to downtown New York for the sights and sounds of Times Square and Broadway.

We attended the Broadway musical Hairspray. It was very good and most of the kids liked it. A few of the boys fell asleep during it - not becuase they were bored, but becuase they were finally in air conditioning after a very long, hot day. Despite a can of sunscreen, we are all sun burnt.

After the musical, we boarded the bus once again to get a night view of the ever so bright and interesting Times Square. Off to New Jersey to get a short nights sleep.

Back to the States...Day 3

2008-06-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

This morning we went back to the Falls for a daytime view. We took a voyage on the Maid of the Mist boat. The Maid of the Mist is a boat ride that goes down into the falls. The mist is more like heavy rains. A feature of this ride is the complimentary rain coats - which are put to good use. The kids thought I was crazy making them get in line one hour before the ride even opened until.... four bus loads of Asian tourist starting getting in line. I was then the smartest women in the world!

Once we were done at the Falls we traveled to the town of Lake on Niagra where we toured Fort George. We looked at several canons, old buildings and watch a musket demonstration.

After our tour of Fort George, we traveled back to the states. The border was much harder to cross this time. We were in line waiting to get inspected for an hour. Once the border patrol cop entered our bus, she went through every passport and looked at each of us to make sure our visual look matched our passport photos. We also got to witness a drug car being stripped - it was a real experience.

We ended our day by going to the Corning Museum of glass were we watched a glass blowing demonstration. The vase the artist made was beautiful until he was attaching the last handle....then....kerplunk...it busted seconds before completion.

Out of the Country....Day 2

2008-06-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Driving, driving and more driving. We crossed the border with no problems at all - the border patrol did check every passport. Tonight we went to an IMAX presentation on Niagra Falls. Hopefully the kids didn't get any ideas from watching the Niagra dare devils film. If a school teacher with her cat can make it over in a barrel safely - why can't they? After the film we took a walking night tour of the falls. The lights on the falls and mist were breath taking. We ended the night with a pizza party - now going to bed so we can wake up a 6 a.m. (5 a.m. your time).

Sorry for the lack of pictures tonight. You can only take so many pictures of sleeping kids on a bus and rest stops.

Movies watched today - 4....total is now to 7.

The Journey Begins..Day 1

2008-06-09T21:07:00.001-07:00

Our journey began by loading the busses at 5:30 a.m. We had an action packed day of driving and more driving. We ate lunch at the World's Largest Truckstop and then ventured into Chicago. Despite a black cloud following us all day, we spent a beautiful day at Chicago's Navy Pier. We enjoyed the gorgeous scenery, the many shops, some freaky locals and even took a scenic boat ride down Lake Michigan. We ended the day by taking a sky deck view out of the famous Sear's Tower.

Movie count as of 10 p.m. - 3.

Welcome to the CWF Blog!

2008-05-27T10:55:00.003-07:00

This blog site was developed for 4-H youth, parents and friends to follow 37 Lancaster County 4-H'ers along their way to attend the National Citizenship Washington Focus Conference. The 4-H youth will be leaving for this adventure of a lifetime on June 9th, 2008. They will make stops in Chicago, Niagra Falls, New York, Philidelphia & Gettysburg - just to name a few. Make sure to check back June 9th through the 23rd for daily updates, comments and photos.

For more information on the National CWF program, check out their website at:
http://www.citizenshipwashingtonfocus.org/