Cowells Travels to DC, July 2007: 2007

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Fini

It was a terrific trip; so good, in fact, that it's really doing a number on my decision to turn it over to others from now on. Mrs. Weatherholt, Mrs. Dunk and I have already had one brainstorming session about how to improve the experience in future years. We welcome your ideas and feedback; hopefully at some point in the next few weeks you'll receive a survey that we hope you'll take the time to fill out. But you aren't tied to that -- kids and adults alike are welcome to email comments and suggestions.

Thanks to you guardians for funding the trip and trusting your kids to our care. And thanks to each and every one of you kids who brought such thoughtful questions (edible berries aside...), entertaining personalities, and good behavior. An ancient Sumerian (cuneiform!) proverb says, "Discomfort -- it is an expedition." That's a truth with which I wholeheartedly agree; I don't look forward to traveling and do so only by overriding my profound reluctance. But you thirty-seven kids were such a pleasure to be around that in retrospect even the discomfort of trying to sleep on a bus is only a fading memory. You kids made the trip what it was. Thank you.

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Penultimate post pics

Final thoughts from the kids, part iii

Final thoughts from the kids, part ii

Final thoughts from the kids, part i

One of my favorite bits from the trip is the vid I took right before sending the kids back on home to Elkhart, as they respond to my question of what parts of the trip were most meaningful.
It took me a week to figure out that I'd have to slice and dice the vid into three parts in order to clear YouTube's size maximum. Here's the first part:

Pics of places, taken by kids

As we travel from site to site, there's a predictable pattern of picture-taking: The kids busily shoot pictures of inanimate objects -- buildings, statues, etc -- while I scurry around trying to get pictures of the kids that don't simply involve them snapping their shots. Mostly I'm not interested in pictures that don't have our people front and center, but here's a taste of some of the better shots taken by Concord kids.

Tying up those loose ends/FDR Memorial pics

Posting about DC07 stalled out a bit after my return back to Elkhart last week, but I've got some good early-morning momentum going and hope to post the last few pics and vids today.

Scattered amongst the previous posts are pics from the FDR Memorial. Its size and style make it well-suited for picture taking. Here are a few more:

The "crazy lady" at the White House

A number of our kids were fascinated by Ms. Concepcion Picciotto, the woman who has been protesting outside the White House more-or-less continuously since 1981. Without commenting on the merits of her positions or her sanity or lack thereof, I think it's worth noting that one such as she can exist. Her dedication (some might say imbalance) would surely not be permitted in N. Korea, or Iran, nor in China or Venezuela or even Cuba. The United States is far from perfect, but we stand with other free nations across the globe as examples where free discourse and public opposition of the powers that be is celebrated. (Wikipedia article about Picciotto here, with links to several interesting sites.)

July 4th afternoon/evening

From my perspective, watching the DC fireworks during our trip is the proverbial maraschino cherry atop an ice cream Sunday. As the years go by, I expect our kids will increasingly value that experience. But it sure does add considerably to the unpredictability of the trip. Last year we were complete newbies, but our inexperience and torrential rains didn’t keep us from having a great night. This year, we assumed that we couldn’t count on storms to clear the Mall whilst we ate dinner, so we planned to arrive about 4PM, stake out some optimal-viewing ground, and then take the kids to dinner at Ben’s Chili Bowl in two shifts. So much for the best laid plans.

About 5PM, just as we reconvened to divide into two dinner groups, DC police began evacuating people off of the Mall into Smithsonian buildings because of impending storms. We ended up in the Air and Space building, where inside it was pretty much business as usual, so at least the kids were free to tour the exhibits and stay somewhat entertained. Outside, the weather wasn’t too bad — some rain and wind and occasional lightning, but nothing like the impressive hail storms which hit surrounding areas. Here's a vid of messages from the kids to folks back home soon after we entered the building:

After a while it occurred to us that if we were willing to run through the rain to a Metro stop a couple blocks away, we could head to dinner, thereby making good use of our evacuation time.
So that’s what we did. And a hop, skip and jump later saw us arriving at Ben’s Chili Bowl (wiki article here). Last year I chafed at how often Classic Tours sent us to mall food courts. I understand the logic: multiple places of affordable food allows just about every kid to find something appetizing. But I’m interested in giving the kids as many unique experiences as possible; visiting a mall food court is about as mundane and lame as it gets. So throughout the past year I kept trying to think of a place that could accommodate 40+ people at an affordable price and offer food most kids would enjoy. After a while it occurred to me that Ben’s meets each of those criteria, plus it’s a Washington landmark. It worked out splendidly. The food was decent, the experience authentic and we got back to the Mall in time to still nab a decent spot (the storms had long since passed).