lThe PNA middle school made it to Washington, DC at 6 this morning (DC time) – safely and wide awake! A quick bus ride to the hotel had us settling in to our complimentary breakfast. We then had a bit of a wait, since our very early arrival meant that we did not have rooms ready. To say that the students handled the delay with patience would be an understatement; they barely noticed at all!

Just as we began to fade, two of our rooms became available. The 7 boys piled into one room, and the 13 – yikes!- girls piled into the other. Most managed to nap for a couple of hours, even piled up all over the room as they were!

After that brief break, everyone was ready to tackle the Metro and head to the Senate offices for our tour of the Capital. Senator Murkowski’s aide took us on a fascinating trip into the “underbelly” of the Senate buildings as we headed underground to the beautiful Capitol building. The building itself is incredible to see, but it was especially interesting to walk through the old Supreme Court and the old Senate where some of our country’s most important compromises were debated; our textbook readings seemed so much more real. The architecture and art were stunning, and sheer immensity of the building was almost overwhelming. Unfortunately the Senate was in recess until later in the evening, and we were just a bit too tired, footsore, and hungry to hang around to wait…

Dinner was at Union Station where we enjoyed our meal in the midst of the grandeur of one of the nation’s first great union railroad stations. Everyone seemed to revive a bit after eating, so we stopped into the National Portrait Gallery for a while to admire the amazing presidential portraits and many other beautiful works of art. Though the class was truly tired at this point, several pieces captured their attention. Their appreciation for history and art was clear.

We headed to the hotel after this visit and settled in for the evening. We are hoping that a nice long rest will have us ready to tackle several destinations tomorrow.

We’ve included just a handful of the pictures we captured on this long and interesting day of firsts for so many of us. DC is loud and big and busy, interesting at every turn. And this class, curious and engaged, seems already to feel right at home exploring it. We’ll catch up with you again tomorrow!