This year, Claudia and I had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. and New York City with her 7th and 8th grade class. It was a whirlwind of a trip, 5 days total, 3 plane rides, 35 miles walked, 19 National Park/Museum/Historical Site passport stamps collected, countless monuments and museums, not a lot of sleep and a whole lot of memories. I take zero responsibility in the planning of this trip, it was all done by Claudia’s teacher and the tour company World Strides.

Our trip began from the school parking lot at 3:15 in the morning. We traveled by bus up to the airport where our plane departed at 6:45. After a quick connection in Chicago at the famous O’Hare, we made it to DC and started touring immediately.

Our first stop was at District Taco in Alexandria, Virginia. We realized they host tours like ours often, as they had slips of paper ready for the kids to order from and had our dinner ready quickly.

It was then on to the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon. I remember some news coverage about this part of the 9/11 tragedy, but also remember so much more coverage about the Twin Towers. I wasn’t expecting this memorial to be as moving as it was. Every little detail was thought out and had meaning. Each person that passed away was represented by a bench with their name on it and water running under the bench. The direction of the bench represented whether the person perished in the plane or in the building and they were arranged by age of the victim. It was a very somber, yet peaceful memorial.

We then traveled over to ‘The District’, and saw the World War II Memorial and the National Monument. The WWII Memorial, like the Pentagon Memorial, had so many intricate details. Every bit of it had meaning. There were a lot of people milling around and it was beginning to get dark at this point. Afterwards, it was back to the hotel to get the kids to bed and then grab cocktails in the bar with the chaperones.

The next morning, we had breakfast in the hotel and were on the bus by 8:00 to start the day. Our first stop was at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., aka The White House. Like everyone says, it’s much smaller in person. Across the street is Lafayette Square (yeah, Hamilton!), kitty corner is the Blair House where all the important visitors to the White House stay, and on one side is the U.S. Treasury Department and on the other is the Eisenhower Executive Office Building where the Vice President works out of.

We then stopped for Dunkin’ Donuts coffee (not impressed) and souvenirs before heading over to Ford’s Theater and the Petersen House where President Lincoln was shot and then passed away. After that, it was a quick spin through the US Naval Museum before making our way into the National Archives Museum where we were able to view the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence among other things. Those three documents are kept in a very dark rotunda in large glass enclosures. Over the years, they’ve deteriorated to the point that they’re very hard to read. Because of that, there are no photographs allowed at all within this building.

After lunch in an overcrowded mall food court, we headed over to Arlington National Cemetery. The expansiveness of this is unfathomable. The tombstones stretch for hundreds of acres, over 600 to be exact. We were able to watch the Changing of the Guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In the warmer, summer months they change guards every 30 minutes. It was a very quiet and respected ceremony. We were also able to see the tombstones of John F. Kennedy, Jackie O., and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

We then made a quick pit stop to Old Town Alexandria for a quick ice cream snack and a walk down to the water before heading over to Basic Burger for dinner. It was then on to the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Vietnam Women’s Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. There were so many people around all of these exhibits, but we were still able to see them all.

Our next day took us to the U.S. Capitol, which unlike the White House, was much larger in person that I could have imagined. We were dropped off on the back side of the building and walked up the hill and around to the entrance. We were able to score a guided tour which was amazing. Our tour guide was so passionate and energetic about the building and that made the tour even more enjoyable. The most beautiful part we were able to see was the Rotunda. It was massive and beautiful.

On our way back to the bus, we went by the Supreme Court building and had a few minutes to explore. Our tour guide told us to try and walk up the stairs, sometimes the guards let you get all the way to the door. We tried, and failed. But they did say you can go around the side of the building, go inside and then come down the front stairs. So we did that. But didn’t realize we had to go through security to enter the building, which took a few minutes. As we were going through, Claudia and another mom were calling me saying it was time to go! We were able to get inside, take a super quick peek around and then back outside to descend the beautiful front marble steps. We made the group a little late to our next stop, but it was worth it!

Next up was the Air and Space Museum. Sort of interesting, but not having a lot of interest in that sort of thing, I wasn’t really into it. It didn’t help that it was also massively under construction, so a giant part of it wasn’t even accessible.

Our next stop was the Holocaust Museum. This museum was so well done, starting with the rise of Hitler and on through the Holocaust. It was quiet. It was dark. It was somber. It was emotional. And to think it was all less than 100 years ago. At the end, we were able to talk with two survivors. They come to the museum during the week to tell their stories, it was captivating. He told the young children ahead of us that love will always win over hate. I reminded Claudia that we have places like this to not only honor and remember the survivors, but also because if we don’t learn from our mistakes they will be repeated.

After the Holocaust Museum, we headed over to the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History, both Smithsonian Museums right next door to each other. We started at the American History one, but the girls I was with got bored quickly. So I told them the Hope Diamond was next door at the Natural History one and they were convinced to go look at that one. We were all glad we did. We could’ve spent hours in that museum. We saw the Gems and Stones exhibit and walked through the Sea Life exhibit. Both were very cool!

We then headed over to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial and the FDR Memorial. The Jefferson Memorial was similar to the Lincoln, lots of marble, a huge statue and some of his famous words inscribed in the walls. The MLK one was nice as well, a stone sculpture of him with quotes along the walk way leading up to the statue. My favorite of the three was the FDR memorial. It was a series of water features and quotes and statues that represented his time as president. It was a spread out memorial and easy for large groups to enjoy all at once. It was then dinner at We the Pizza, a fab pizza joint, and then back to the hotel for bed.

The morning alarms came early, we had to be on the bus by 7:00am to head to New York. We stopped at a rest stop half way there, grabbed more Dunkin’ coffee (still not impressed!) snapped our Delaware state sign photos, a group photo with the best bus driver ever, Carl, and then made it into the city. We came in via the Lincoln tunnel and then were dropped off near Columbus Circle on the SW corner of Central Park. We made a quick bathroom stop, grabbed lunch from food carts and then started a quick walking tour of the park.

We then made our way over to Rockefeller Plaza via Fifth Avenue, walking by stores like Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany’s, Prada and Bvlgari. We stopped at St. Patrick’s Cathedral first, which was jaw dropping and beautiful. The stained glass, ornate stone work and pure gravity of the entire cathedral was amazing. We then wandered around the plaza, going into FAO Schwartz, the American Girl store, and took photos outside the Rainbow Room at NBC Studios. We then walked over to Times Square, did some gift shopping and people watching before having dinner at Margaritaville.

We had plans to see the Lion King on Broadway, and the girls really wanted to dress up for the show. Having no time to go back to the hotel to change, these girls carried their dresses and heels in their backpacks all day to then change at the restaurant before the show. They all looked so cute! The boys cleaned up well, too! Our tour company scheduled a group photo in Times Square for us before then heading on to the show.

Lion King did not disappoint. The costumes alone were magnificent. The singing and dancing was amazing as well! Half of the show were recognizable Disney songs and the other half were Broadway original songs. It was soooo good and I only hope it makes all these kids want to explore theater more throughout their lives.

Traveling from the show to our bus at 10:00pm through Times Square was really the only tough part about traveling with 36 people. So thankful so many parents were able to come on the trip! We made it to the bus, and our driver was something else. You would’ve thought he was driving a Mazda Miata through the jam packed streets, but no it was a luxury tour bus. We made it to our hotel over in Brooklyn, unscathed thankfully!

We quickly got the kids into bed (the tour company provides security throughout the hotel hallways at night, so the parents are then off duty) and we found a cute bar a short Uber ride away called Elsa. The majority of the parents made it out. We were all tired and knew we’d be getting up early, but also knew we only had one night in New York so we made the most of it. This bar was an old diner turned vintage style bar with delicious drinks and fun atmosphere. So thankful we traveled with such a fun group of parents!

Our next morning was our first Subway experience, and our group nailed it! We got off near Battery Park and found a quick breakfast. We grabbed bagels from Liberty Bagel and ate them in a park right next to the famous Bull of Wall Street statue. We then boarded a ferry over to the Statue of Liberty where we were able to climb the 200+ stairs up to the pedestal level.

We then made the group decision to not get off the ferry at Ellis Island and instead go through the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Originally our trip only included a stop at the Memorial, but our tour guide was able to pull some strings (thanks Travis!) and get us all into the museum. So after a true New York pizza lunch (line out the door, hot and stuffy restaurant, but sooo good) and a stop at the firefighters memorial outside Station 10, we made our way to the museum. Like the Pentagon Memorial and the Holocaust Museum, this was dark, moving, somber and sad. Even though I was 18 and living 3,000 miles away when 9/11 happened, I still feel such a connection to that day. I, along with all the other parents we were with, will never forget where we were that day. I wish we could’ve had 2 more hours in the museum, it was very well done and I missed so much of it being on a time crunch. We were then able to see the 9/11 Memorial and the Survivor Tree outside.

It was then a subway ride back to the hotel, a bus ride to the airport through Brooklyn and a plane ride home. Wild to think we stood on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in the morning and slept in our own beds that night.

This was such an amazing experience. Not only seeing all the things we were able to see, but to spend this one on one time with Claudia. It’s not lost on me that she’s growing up so fast and this time with her will be a trip that I will always look back on so fondly and will never forget. Thanks to World Strides and Mrs. Flores for providing this amazing experience!!