D.C. Trip July 22-25th

****Warning: This post is very long!****

My wonderful husband is extremely involved in Scouts. All kinds... Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, even Explorer Post. This is similar to a job shadowing deal for high school aged girls and boys. Greg, of course, worked with this group at the hospital. This involved meetings, tours, you name it. Of course it wraps up with a national conference. That's why I don't complain, you see, we always need a male and female chaperon, and guess who gets picked!? That's right, little old me. If you recall, dear followers of my blog, last year's conference was in Chicago. This year? Our nation's capitol. You bet your boots I was going! So we arranged for our kids to stay with my parents, packed up our one and only Explorer, and drove up to Phoenix. Raul was a very quiet well-behaved young man, so it was pretty much like a vacation. We did have to attend some lectures and tours, but it was all very educational and we had some time to sight see. We even made some out-of-state friends. It was a whirlwind trip and I hope to go again!
The first evening we checked into the hotel, had a little orientation, then dashed off for some dinner and touring. We saw a few monuments and museums and the White House.






Our favorite way to travel...the metro!

The panel discussions and breakout sessions were held at the National Institute for Health (We even had the Director of the NIH speak to us!) This was two days long.

But we got to have some field trips too!


Looking down into the lobby of the M.O. Hatfield Center where the NIH does it's clinical trials.

The last night of the conference we had some awards (we got 3rd place in the Heath/Science Challenge Bowl) and a dance.
Go Post 8002!

Raul teaching those Midwesterners how to dance like a cholo!

You know you HAVE to do the Electric Slide, it's, like, mandatory! ;)

Our final day in DC began with a bus ride to Pennsylvania Ave. We hit a lot of places, and I only added my favorite pictures, otherwise we'd be here all day! Our tiny group was combined with another smallish post from Wisconsin and we hung out with them for most of the weekend. Our touring was no exception..
A beautiful cathedral

Some neat looking foreign consolate buildings


Raul, Greg, and I at the President's house.

The Capitol Building

The spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech.

So awe-inspiring! The Lincoln Memorial.


The Washington Monument. I'll bet I'm the first one to do that!

Korean War Memorial


Vietnam Memorial


Part of the "Night at the Museum 2" set.

We ate lunch in the food court at the old post office building..photo op!

A hallowed place..


The National Archives


Heading toward the old Smithsonian Museum

We joined a protest! "What do we want? DEMOCRACY! When do we want it? NOW!"

Air and Space Museum


On the subway after a LONG day!

We finished out the night with delicious pizza and a huge gooey cookie from Uno's.

Thanks Derek, Laura, Adelina, and Maya for making the trip that much funner!
We flew back to Phoenix the next morning and drove home exhausted. We'll see what next year brings...