Travels With Teens: Take Two “I Can Organize This Trip in My Sleep!”BC Dee in DC Roti & Fini p. 40

[natebenma]

He'll have time to adjust to real life by living in a dorm. They will have food for him to eat.

We got to sample the food in one of the dining halls during our tour last Saturday. It was good and there was plenty of variety. I know he will be fed.

Funny story highlighting "It's a Small World After All"

When we were at the dining hall, I went to return our trays and I heard someone call out my name. It was the dad of a friend of Nate's who will also be at UNH next year, in the Life Sciences college they will both be attending. Not too surprising since this was Accepted Students Day. But when I went to get some dessert I heard my name again. It was the son of my manager at the farm. "You work with my mom!" He is a freshman this year.

This is a pretty big school, I think the incoming freshman class is around 3,000 students.

 

[natebenma]

Hi! I am just joining in! I am only on page 16. I am a middle school teacher and have been very impressed with your planning and execution of this school trip! I am picking up pointers. No school trips planned but I am reading your report to see if in deed it can be done and not lose one's sanity!

Like you, I often wake at 3 am and find myself unable to go back to sleep.


I also have another thing in common with you and that is that I have never been on Dumbo before and I am almost 52 and my reasons for never riding it are similar to yours. Perhaps on my next trip I will make it on the ride.

to the report!

I appreciate you reading along.

First off, I will say to you the thing I say whenever I "meet" a middle school teacher. Bless you for what you do! And if you are a 7th grade teacher, double blessings!



As I have said, I am really impressed with how this trip has been run all these years. We are getting close to the time we can make Fast Passes for this years' trip. I haven't been very involved this year since I no longer have a student at the middle school, but I will help out with that process.

That's funny about Dumbo. I have felt a little like the odd-one-out because I had never been on this Disney classic.

This was a good opportunity for me to do it. It was "bonus" time for me, and I had nobody to answer to with how I chose to spend that morning.

 

[natebenma]

OOPS!

Double Post

 

[natebenma]

BC Dee in DC
Washington DC
Monday April 18-Thurs April 21


This just in!

We interrupt our frequent vacations to Disney and Universal to bring you a trip to the US Capitol, Washington DC.

We had a fantastic trip 5 years ago, in October 2010 over a 4 day weekend.

We stayed at the JW Marriott on Pennsylvania Avenue, 3 blocks from the White House. Great weather, low crowds and lots of walking. We had a tour of the White House, the National Archives, 2 ascents to the top of the Washington Monument (one scheduled, one stand-by), the bell tower at the Old Post Office building (similar to Washington Monument, but closed for renovations this year) and visits to the Smithsonian Castle, Air & Space Museum, Museum of Natural History, American History Museum and walking tours of the monuments. The boys were at great ages (12 and 9) to spend the morning at the interactive International Spy Museum.


THEN:

This year’s trip was Monday April 18-Thursday April 21.

We returned for a stay at the JW Marriott because we loved the location, walking distance to most of the things we wanted to see and close to a Metro stop for places that were further away.


As always, I was juggling multiple cameras on this trip with varying degrees of success.


The camera on my phone (or I should say phone on my camera) has become my primary tool for taking pictures. It is a 45 mega-pixel Lumia. For the longest time I kept forgetting my smart phone even had a camera and I would get “that look” from my DH when we would be out and I would say “I wish I had my camera with me”


My main back up is my Fuji XP point & shoot. I love this one for the simplicity and because it is waterproof. My go-to on the beach, in pools or in the rain.


Finally, I brought along my “Big Girl Camera”, a Canon EoS Rebel. It is a starter DSLR and I still don’t know how the heck to operate it properly. I don’t usually bother to bring it on theme park trips because I don’t want to carry it around and I am worried about it getting wet on rides or if the weather is bad. I took it out exactly once on our two-week-long trip to Disneyland and Hawaii. The last time I used it was in August 2014 on our family trip to Yellowstone. The pictures came out pretty well, except for when we were in Mammoth Hot Springs and I had some sort of setting that turned all of my pictures blue.




Scheduled itinerary:

As with all of our trips, we had a pretty ambitious schedule. We try to reserve as many things as we can in advance, either by booking ourselves or asking our Massachusetts State Representative Seth Moulton for assistance.


Monday April 18

Flight from 6:00 to 7:30 am, DCA Reagan National

8:45 am Bureau of Engraving & Printing (arranged by Seth Moulton’s tour scheduler)

National Zoo, walk-up

Lunch

Ford’s Theatre, walk-up

Dinner

Rest up from travel day


Tuesday April 19 (ADR Day)

Touring Monuments by foot/Museums

Lunch

1:00 pm White House Tour (arranged by SM tour scheduler)

2:30 Washington Monument (arranged by SM tour scheduler) (you can book this 3 months out yourself, but we missed it, so the office was able to arrange tickets 1 month out)

3:30 Museums

5:00 DISMeet!


Wednesday April 20

9:45 National Archives (We booked a guided tour ourselves, $6 total fee, highly recommend this!!!)

Museums

Afternoon: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Space Museum- This is out in Virginia and displays the Discovery Space Shuttle, the Enola Gay and about a gazillion other planes, helicopters and other air/space displays

Night: Tour of Monuments after dark


Thursday April 21

8:50 US Capitol (We arranged this tour ourselves. There were plenty of times available and walk-ups were welcomed as well)

10:00 Museums

Lunch, then proceed to airport

3:15 Flight Home


NOW:

Next Up: Arrival


*CONTEST*


I am going to be joining the latest, greatest Contest fad. When I complete the updates from each day, I will have a step count guess. I'll recap the day and then you can guess how far we walked.


1) How many family pictures, with all 4 of us, do I have from this trip?
10 points, answers accepted until the end of the Tuesday update.
You may change your answer once.
Hint: fewer than we have from the 2010 trip


2) What two items in Ben’s carry-on backpack triggered an extensive TSA bag check? 10 points each
(Hint: one of these things was the subject of trip report banter in this Travels with Teens report)


3) Our plane was scheduled to land at 7:30 am. We have a tour scheduled at 8:45 at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. After taking a taxi from the airport, checking in to the JW Marriott and walking 6 blocks to the BEP, will we make it in time for our tour? 10 points

4) Is our room ready? 5 points

At the Zoo-

5) What thing (action) did we witness that I declared to be the coolest thing I have ever seen at a zoo?
For example: “Two flamingos getting it on” which we did actually see happening during a past Sea World visit.
20 points, partial credit will be awarded based on how close your answer is

6) What is the coolest thing YOU have seen at a zoo?
10 points for sharing a story

7) Big Girl Camera Fail- Why don’t I have many pictures from my Canon DSLR pictures at the zoo? 10 points


Good Luck!

.

Contest Clarifications...

No need to guess the step count until after I have updated to the end of the day and recap what we have done

We flew into DCA/Reagan National Airport

Bonus points- sharing a cool story- yes, Animal Kingdom counts.

Sorry for not being clear on those details.



Table of Contents

Intro- see above

Monday April 18, 2016
Arrival
Smithsonian National Zoo, Part 1
Smithsonian National Zoo, Part 2
The Big Drool, Y'all!

Tuesday April 19
Monuments Men, Part 1
Monuments Men, Part 2
Smithsonian Castle
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
White House
Washington Monument
Smithsonian Museum of American History, DISmeet with Missy & Franklin

Nate's Graduation, June 3 2016

Happy 30th Anniversary

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Am I 1st? I'm never 1st
Can't wait to hear all

 

[rteetz]

I've never been to DC so I'm interested to hear all about it. Seems like it was an adventure based on what you've said so far.

How many pictures with all four of you? I'm going to say 5.

Two items, I got nothing... Maybe a gaming device and some type of food.

Yes you make to the tour with just a few minutes to spare.

No your room isn't ready yet.

I'm going to say it has to do with pandas but I don't know what.

Coolest thing I've seen at a zoo is probably some monkeys getting it on which I don't know if that classifies as cool but oh well. I guess I could also say getting some awesome close ups of animals on the safari at animal kingdom my past trip that's always cool. There were a lot of babies on the safari as well.

You forgot to charge the battery.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Great start Dee and I'm loving the then and now photos

Ok I'm going to kick off the competition but bear in mind I've never been to Washington so any knowledge I have is from watching The West Wing and they didn't visit the zoo

Step count for day 1 =9872
1) 3 photos of all 4 of you
2) Guide book - Touring DC as a party of 1 ( was he intending to ditch you all) and Swiss army
Knife by mistake
3) Yes
4) No
5) Baby elephant's 1st public appearance
6) the face of the school kid I'd lost 10 minutes earlier
7)you forgot to charge it and forgot to bring charger :0

 

[pas130]

I always enjoy then and now pics, your sons are so handsome, and totally grown up. Bittersweet

The only question I will answer, because I am a bad guesser...ok I'll answer two.
One family photo
Coolest thing I've seen at a zoo was at AK I saw the baby gorilla at a week or so old

 

[HockeyMomR]

Here and ready to read about your trip. The Dis does not have a Panda emoji....I love The DC zoo and happy to hear you got out to see the Space Shuttle.

 

[Wood Nymph]

1) How many family pictures, with all 4 of us, do I have from this trip?
10 points, answers accepted until the end of the Tuesday update.
You may change your answer once.
Hint: fewer than we have from the 2010 trip

I am going to guess zero.

2) What two items in Ben’s carry-on backpack triggered an extensive TSA bag check? 10 points each
(Hint: one of these things was the subject of trip report banter in this Travels with Teens report)

a small pen knife and an item of food

3) Our plane was scheduled to land at 7:30 am. We have a tour scheduled at 8:45 at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. After taking a taxi from the airport, checking in to the JW Marriott and walking 6 blocks to the BEP, will we make it in time for our tour? 10 points

Since it seems impossible to make an 8:45am tour when you land at 7:30 and have to walk six blocks, the logical side of me says no way Jose. But since you asked the question it makes me wonder if this is a trick question and the real answer is yes. But then maybe you would think that we would think it is a trick question and answer no. So my answer is that I'm immune to the effects of iocane powder - wait - wrong quiz. I'll say yes, you make it.

4) Is our room ready? 5 points

No, but that does't matter since you probably didn't expect it to be.

5) What thing (action) did we witness that I declared to be the coolest thing I have ever seen at a zoo?
For example: “Two flamingos getting it on” which we did actually see happening during a past Sea World visit.
20 points, partial credit will be awarded based on how close your answer is

you saw a baby animal being born.

6) What is the coolest thing YOU have seen at a zoo?

The coolest thing that I can think of was the way the two baby gorillas at Animal Kingdom were playing. It was adorable.

7) Big Girl Camera Fail- Why don’t I have many pictures from my Canon DSLR pictures at the zoo? 10 points

The battery died.

 

[jwwi]

Washington DC! no time for rest in that schedule, I can't wait to read your TR. The night tour was a highlight for us, I hope you enjoyed it too!

 

[afwdwfan]

It is a 45 mega-pixel Lumia. For the longest time I kept forgetting my smart phone even had a camera and I would get “that look” from my DH when we would be out and I would say “I wish I had my camera with me”

Finally, I brought along my “Big Girl Camera”, a Canon EoS Rebel. It is a starter DSLR and I still don’t know how the heck to operate it properly.

Who does???

Night: Tour of Monuments after dark

That is awesome!!! I don't get to DC often, but I always try to slip that night tour in if I can.

Sadly, I do get to go to DC once every few years, but I'm often too busy to get to do much of the tourist stuff during the day. I've had countless tours of the Captiol building, and with some great access really, because I've been led around either with the staff of a Congressman or Senator. Once my Congressman actually took about 6 of us and gave us the tour himself. But really, that's about it. Never been up in Washington Monument. Never been on a White House tour. Usually about the only Smithsonian museum I get a chance to visit is Air & Space because it is about a 30 second walk from the hotel I'm usually staying in and I can get there when I have a spare hour or 2.

1) How many family pictures, with all 4 of us, do I have from this trip?

0

2) What two items in Ben’s carry-on backpack triggered an extensive TSA bag check? 10 points each
(Hint: one of these things was the subject of trip report banter in this Travels with Teens report)

Sunscreen and shampoo.

3) Our plane was scheduled to land at 7:30 am. We have a tour scheduled at 8:45 at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. After taking a taxi from the airport, checking in to the JW Marriott and walking 6 blocks to the BEP, will we make it in time for our tour? 10 points

Um... no.

4) Is our room ready? 5 points

Yes

5) What thing (action) did we witness that I declared to be the coolest thing I have ever seen at a zoo?
For example: “Two flamingos getting it on” which we did actually see happening during a past Sea World visit.
20 points, partial credit will be awarded based on how close your answer is

A panda playing and eating bamboo. Because really, where else have you ever seen a panda?

6) What is the coolest thing YOU have seen at a zoo?
10 points for sharing a story

Well, DW's cousin is a zookeeper at the Indianapolis zoo and he works with the elephants. He took us backstage for an up close and personal visit with a couple of the elephants. So there's that.

7) Big Girl Camera Fail- Why don’t I have many pictures from my Canon DSLR pictures at the zoo? 10 points

Because you forgot to take the lens cap off.

 

[SarahDisney]

Yay DC! I haven't been to DC in a while, so I'm excited to see/read all about your trip!

1) How many family pictures, with all 4 of us, do I have from this trip?

Three.

2) What two items in Ben’s carry-on backpack triggered an extensive TSA bag check? 10 points each

Based on my brother's TSA experiences, I'm going to go with a book and some food.

3) Our plane was scheduled to land at 7:30 am. We have a tour scheduled at 8:45 at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. After taking a taxi from the airport, checking in to the JW Marriott and walking 6 blocks to the BEP, will we make it in time for our tour? 10 points

Hmm... this is tough without knowing which airport you flew into. I'll go with yes.

4) Is our room ready? 5 points

No.

5) What thing (action) did we witness that I declared to be the coolest thing I have ever seen at a zoo?

A baby panda! Just being a baby panda. It doesn't have to do more than that.

6) What is the coolest thing YOU have seen at a zoo?

I've never been a big zoo person, so I'm just gonna go with ... I've fed goats. At a petting zoo.

7) Big Girl Camera Fail- Why don’t I have many pictures from my Canon DSLR pictures at the zoo? 10 points

You brought the wrong lens.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Colonel Mustard in the library with the candelabra.

What did I win?

~NM

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Colonel Mustard in the library with the candelabra.

What did I win?

~NM

You won Professor Peacock in a mankini

 

[Ninja Mom]

You won Professor Peacock in a mankini

THAT was EXCELLENT!
~NM

 

[JanetMom]

Oh yay! Another adventure with Dee's family!

I'd love to visit Washington someday, so I'll be following along with great interest.

Can't believe how much your boys have grown up!

 

[hill6]

My guesses

1. Family pictures: 1

3. Late by 10 minutes but able to join next tour.

4. Room not ready till 6 pm.

7. Didn't charge battery.

 

[annie170]

Sounds like a great trip! I've only been to DC once and it was brief, but I've always wanted to go back.

I'll play along.

1. 2 family photos

2. The 2 items in the backpack were a pocket knife and a food item, possibly the gross jelly beans from the school trip.

3. If you flew into Dulles, that seems like you would be cutting it pretty tight, so I'll guess you were a little late.

4. No, the room was not ready that early when you got there.

5. Coolest thing you saw at the zoo was the baby panda.

6. I don't know if it's the coolest, but one of the funniest things I've witnessed at the zoo was a monkey flinging his poop at the visitors. Gross, but pretty funny.

7. I've got to go with the dead camera battery answer.

 

[natebenma]

Contest Clarifications...

No need to guess the step count until after I have updated to the end of the day and recap what we have done

We flew into DCA/Reagan National Airport

Bonus points- sharing a cool story- yes, Animal Kingdom counts.

Sorry for not being clear on those details.