Author: Luke Tevebaugh

Last Day…Best Day…D.C….

Plenty of rest Thursday night. The weather was perfect Friday. We had TWO scheduled snacks between breakfast and lunch. And we got to see some of the most meaningful reminders of Love, Sacrifice, and Justice in modern history. But first, we skipped to the bus!

While celebrating two birthdays!

And helping relieve some sore muscles!

The National Mall is rich in beauty and memory and hope.

And a good place for a well-timed jump-shot.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial and the war memorials were solemn and striking reminders that some things are worth fighting and dying for.

And, it came time to say goodbye to D.C. and our week-long home away from home. I’m sure that every one of the students, chaperones, and staff are looking forward to their next visit to our nation’s capital!

Rain-Dampened Shoes, not Spirits

God saw fit to add rain to our DC agenda, so we embraced the adventure set before us and had a lot of fun, not in spite of the rain, but with the rain. Each depression in the sidewalk was a moat to skirt and the busses nearing the edge of the road could cause a chill geyser to spout forth unexpectedly.

In between rainy strolls and attempts to catch raindrops on the tongue, we visited the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and National Air and Space Museum. Casually visiting both museums in a day could lead one to think of the works of nature as God’s work and the works of technology and engineering as Man’s work. But from Col 1:17 we know “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” God’s creation of us means he gives us a capacity to create, too. We see this every day of course, but being up close to a lunar module, that we made, that has landed on the moon, is a great reminder of how remarkably we are created in God’s image.

National Museum of Natural History

National Air and Space Museum

At the beginning of the day Dr. Clark played some guitar.

We aren’t going to remember how to use a seatbelt after all this public transportation!

We walked some more in the rain…

Wouldn’t be a DC blog post without some escalator photos!

And we wrapped up the day with pizza and some games at the hostel. Friday’s forecast shows no rain and a chance to see some memorials! Stay tuned…

by Luke Tevebaugh, parent blogger

Wednesday Around the Capital

After a hearty continental breakfast, we hit the road again Wednesday for day two of the Geneva School’s 6th Grade D.C. visit.

The Library of Congress and the Capitol Building were first on the agenda. The architectural beauty of this city and our country’s most historic buildings continue to amaze everyone on the trip.

Our students, though, (and the apparent passion for education behind their teachers and parents) are as remarkable as the things seen and facts heard on this trip. Their effortless interaction with the docents made this parent proud. Their knowledge of our country’s history and its application to why our government runs the way it does surprised more than a couple of our tour guides. (One even honorarily pre-advanced the class to the 7th grade. Much to their chagrin, however, they were told they would have to “honorarily” finish out the year as 6th graders.)

There was more walking and an unscheduled, brief but pleasant, interaction with a person exercising their First Amendment rights on the lawn of the Capitol Building…

A few of the students were particularly enthusiastic about a future career in law, and they especially perked up during the lecture in the courtroom of the Supreme Court.

The Botanical Gardens was a good opportunity to “walk around briskly” and enjoy some unstructured time in the beauty of God’s creation, seeing representative plant species from around the world.

Like was said yesterday, the journeying is almost as much fun as the sites and sights. Escalators and the Metro haven’t gotten old, yet!

To wrap up a long, exertion-and-wonder-filled day, we played games and then slept hard. We’re all excited to see what DC has for us on Thursday!

by Luke Tevebaugh, parent blogger