Day Four

Friday morning arrived way too quickly! Students woke up promptly at 6:30am, breakfast buffet at 7:00, with bags packed, rooms cleaned, and ready to go. We left for Arlington National Cemetery, and upon arrival, was given some background information and points of interest by our Worldstrides tourguide. While at Arlington, students were dragging a little bit, this being the last day of the trip, and Arlington Cemetery, if you have never been there, is extremely hilly and large - 612 acres on the Potomac River in Virginia, opposite D.C.

While in Arlington, we saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard, which lasted about 15 minutes, but in complete silence and in pretty hot, humid weather. Our kids did not complain, and were troopers; what a neat scene to see, especially on Memorial Day weekend, of the Marines changing guard in front of the Tomb. We continued to the Challenger and Columbia Spaceshuttle Memorials, JFK's grave and the eternal flame, RFK's grave, and back to the coach buses, destined for the Pentagon City Mall for lunch in the food court. Students got a chance to have lunch and relax before departing for Medfield at around 11:30.

Our drive back was relatively easy, which very much surprised all! Most anticipated an arrival around midnight, but we were pleasantly surprised to hit virtually no traffic all the way up I-95 through Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York. Once we hit the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River, the traffic began, right at rush hour - around 5:15pm. We stopped on I-84 for dinner at the Danbury Mall, and eventually arrived at 10:45pm at Blake Middle School. A great, memorable time was had by all!

Thanks for reading my posts, and by all means, please feel free to give me some feedback for future trips' blogs at sguditus@medfield.mec.edu.