Bergjord Boarding

May 23-29, 2024

By: Luke

The day of 30,000 steps. We have jam packed day of seeing one of a kind things from documents to monuments. It hasn’t even been 6 months and my memory is blurring the finer details of our more busy days. Stick with me as we run down this day.

We started with the capitol. If you email your local politician in advance they can arrange a small tour of this building for you. We had about 90 people in our group including directors and chaperones so that was not an option for us.

We then popped over to the National Archives to get a good spot in line for when it opened. We were not the first tour group there and we waited between 30-60 minutes. There were very informative displays throughout and it all lead to this huge room where some of our nations most important documents are held.

After seeing The Constitution and The Bill of Rights we got to eat from a variety of food trucks right outside. We had chicken strips and boba tea. We then visited The Library of Congress. This had an even longer line without shade during the hottest part of the day. So we were less excited about books than we were about air conditioning. If you submit a form ahead of time you can get a library card and enter the library proper. None of us did that so we got a view from behind plexiglass.

We then wen to the Air and Space Museum. Samie and I were needing a boost at this point so we indulged in tropical fruit drinks, and chocolate croissant, and a diet coke. It absolutely hit the spot. The cafeteria was in the basement and we hit that first. We then walked around and saw so many cool things.

The Air and Space Museum also had the best gift shop by far. This was an escalator leading into it.

After exiting the museum, we packed up the busses and headed to We, The Pizza. This was a local slice shop that was very used to handling large groups. We got there as another group was still in there event space so we had to wait in a long single file line. With a quick turn around we got to pick two slices from a large variety. They also provided a side salad, drink, and a cookie.

On to our evening tour. We started with a stroll around the Jefferson Monument. This one is the most out of the way with it being on the other side of a small body of water.

We then parked the busses where we could see a handful of things in the same area. We started with old number 16. He was the most popular by far.

Very near is the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial.

At this point it had started raining. Our guides wanted us to hurry back to the bus and a number of students were reaching their breaking point. I myself was running on fumes. We paid silent respects and head to our hotel to end an incredibly full day. Seeing the full scope of United States history helped us appreciate what an honor it was to participate in the Memorial Day Parade.

Next time we revisit memorials we were rushed through and end the day with an incredibly concert!