May 27 Air and Space Museum/Pentagon/Metro

Diane & Bruce looking up at Space Capule

Alex & Bruce


Cheyenna

Jordyn

Lunar Module

Entrance to Air & Space Museum

We headed to the Air & Space Museum where we had 2 hours to eat and explore the Museum. Good thing we ate first, as the food line had grown exponentially when we exited for the museum. The students were challenged to find the Apollo exhibit and the Wright Brothers exhibit. Definitely a museum to return to. Did you know that the spacesuits from Apollo 11 were 13 layers thick, weighed 250 pounds and cost just short of $13 Million. How many millions per layer is that?

On to the Pentagon for 3Pm where we lined up in ABC order for a strict security check. The young serviceman led us through the "Mall" & hallways & courtyard while walking backward (even down the escalator) and reciting a slew of statistics. For example

1. 23000 people work at the Pentagon; 16000 military personnel & 7000 civilians
2. Communication wires would go around the world 4 1/2 times
3. 3084 people died on 9/11/01
4. The Pentagon was repaired in 8 months, under budget

The 6th graders were encouraged to ask questions and they did!

We were led to the Sept. 11 Memorial through halls lined with quilts from around the country, crafted by young students, church groups and skilled quilters. The entrance we came through had 2 beautiful tributes to those that died in 9/11. One with photos of each victim and one with blocks for each victim with stars to represent fallen emergency service people and for military personnel.

We were led through the area that was damaged on 9/11 and on to the Chapel that honors those that lost their lives, military & civilian. Military personnel were awarded the Purple Medal and Civilian victims were award the Medal of Freedom. It was a beautiful and touching site.

After we exited the building and waited for Mrs. Looman to retrieve the metro tickets, our guides left the building in their civilian clothes. We gave them an appreciative round of applause.

To Mrs. Looman's relief we all boarded the Metro at once, in one train and departed also as a group. We were delayed in getting out of the ticket station. Mrs. Tower reflected "We were hobos for about 3 minutes". One of Virginia's finest metro workers let us pass through the gate so other passengers could get to where they needed to go. Whew!

Sadly, we did not have the time to make it back into the city to go to the Holocaust Museum. However, we have all been flexible travelers, and after the disappointment, the kids were excited to hear that our next stop was the pool!