The best theme for this trip may be summed up as "learning happens". Classrooms are great places to talk about the outside world but there is nothing quite like stepping into the places we talk about and experiencing them. Standing in the place where Pickett's division prepared to make their deadly charge, shooting hoops on the same court Jim Thorpe played, walking among the crowds listening to an array of languages in New York, sitting in the front row at a Broadway play, and riding subways in Washington and New York all bring forth learning in a way that will last so much longer than anything we read in a textbook.

This trip was also about seeing possibilities and making things happen. My role in this journey was to plan events, coordinate reservations, manage the budget, and keep everyone safe. The class came up with the idea, raised the money and convinced those that needed convinced that we should do this. They gave up a Senior Trip. Although, knowing this group, they may go back into fund raising mode and still manage a Senior trip next year. In 20 years of teaching, I haven't known many groups who could organize themselves and pull something like this off. Their behavior on the entire trip was exemplary and their ability to put aside their individual wants and needs and focus on the group needs was both remarkable and part of what made our experience a success.

To all of you who made this journey and to all who followed us in spirit, it is my hope that you see this not as the trip of a lifetime but the beginning of a lifetime of trips. On behalf of the group, I want to thank everyone who helped make this adventure possible. I also want to publicly thank Barbara Landis of the Cumberland County Historical Society for the great tour of the Carlisle Indian School campus as well as for her work keeping this part of our history alive.
-Mr. Lang-

WE ARE HOME!
The trip went well and we all made it with all of our luggage and souvenirs.
We had a little difficulty in Baltimore when we found out that snow globes have too much water in them to take on the plane. We had to talk security into taking them out of the garbage and then we talked the airline into checking in a backpack with snow globes wrapped in tee shirts and then we had to get back through security. Luckily we had arrived with enough time for this. The plane ride to Minneapolis was very bumpy as we were flying through a large storm front. The rest of the ride was smooth sailing. Janna and various other relatives and friends met us at the airport for the last leg home. Thank you all for your support. We enjoyed the comments left on our blog. Mrs.L.

Welcome to Donovan's peepzone again.
Since today was Friday and practically the last day of the Jr. trip I would like to say that it has been a GREAT week and that I had most definitely had fun. Also I would like to say that I would like to come back here to the East again sometime in my life. Well anyway for Friday I thought it was a good way to end the whole trip because it was a little easy. We didn't have to look at the clock constantly for a planned event, and we didn't do much walking. It's hard to believe that just last week that we all took the A.P. U.S. History Exam and that a couple months ago we talked about doing this trip. To whoever is reading this I hope you at least enjoyed reading the blogs we made....personally I wouldn't blame you if you were bored but at least you took the time to read the blogs we made. Donovan (Picture taken at the Fredricksburg Cemetery. Mrs. L.)

Well it's the end of our very fun trip. It was definitely a fun experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. Today we woke up ate breakfast and headed to "The Awakening" (a statue in the sand at National Harbor) which was very cool. I did break my camera there, sorry grandma. Next we went to Fredricksburg which was another civil war battlefield. It was cool because they had a house that still had bullet holes from the battle. One thing that really caught my eye was the graveyard. There were graves that they berried up to six bodies in one and there were a thousand plus graves and most held from one to six bodies. After that we went to Stonewall Jackson's shrine which was the house where Stonewall Jackson died. They still had the blanket, bed frame, and the clock that was there when Stonewall died. Then we went to one more spot where there was a rock that showed where Stonewall Jackson was first wounded before he died. After that we hit the road and tomorrow we will be catching a plane back home. Dallas

Last night, the 14th, we all caught the subway near our motel in DC. When we got off the subway station we went on the longest escalator in America to get up to street level. Then we went out to eat at the same place that President Obama ate, but when we got there, it had a big line so we decided to go to another place down the street. That place ended up being out of the budget since the pizza cost around 14 dollars for each person so we had to leave from there as well. We went to Dominoes across the street. But while we were waiting for the pizza it started raining, but it was warm, which that weather was new to me. The pizza was good but very greasy. We ate it out on the sidewalk in front of a Quiznos that had some metal chairs and tables. Some other people in the class didn't like the rain that much until it started to thunder and lighting. It was awesome. So when we all got done eating we headed back to the subway station to go back to the hotel. While we were walking all of us got soaked. But we didn't mind much since we all had a good night. And none of us were complaining anymore and just wanted to go and get some rest for the 15th. And if anyone was wondering about the picture on the right it was taken when the class was in Gettysburg. Judy

When my mom was 16 she went to D.C. and she went to the statue "The Awakening". Now, 24 years later I'm in D.C., and got to go to the same statue. When I left for out trip she told me we needed to go to this statue, so Mr. and Mrs. L. took us. I've seen pictures of my mom in the statue's mouth and I thought that it was bigger, but I forgot that she was a 80 lb 16 year old and I'm far from that, so the statue doesn't look as big when I'm next to it. Last night when I was talking to my mom, she was all excited about me going to the same place she was when she was my age, So she sent me a picture of her in the statues mouth, and said I have to take one just like hers. When I got to the statue I realized I was too big to be inside its mouth like my moms picture. The mouth was full of water from the storm the night before, so my picture is different, my feet are inside the mouth just far enough so they don't get soaked, and I had to sit on the lips. 24 years ago my mom took a picture inside "The Awakening" mouth, and today so did I, and I can't wait to show it to her :) Nikki (The statue had been moved from the National Mall to National Harbor and we had to look it up on the internet to find it. Mrs. L)

Boy were our feet tired after a day of visiting monuments and two museums. The Vietnam Memorial, "The Wall", was very moving. My favorite part of the day was the Lincoln exhibit at the Smithsonian. His top hat was there. He must have really stood out at 6 foot 4 with a top hat. Mary Todd Lincoln was a full foot shorter than Abe. They had in common intense, moody, and ambitious personalities and an abiding love for their family. That must have been interesting. Mrs. L.

I'm sorry this pic really sucks...lol...today I and the guys woke up to Mrs. L. banging on the door. We woke up got ready and ate breakfast. I left my cell phone on the table but I got it back. We got to the metro station and caught a train to the Washington monument. We went from there to the Abe Lincoln memorial that was pretty cool. It wasn't as big as I thought it was. Anyways after that we went to Vietnam war memorial and found Kathy D's uncle and we also found my favorite teacher Mr. Herg's uncle. Sorry about the loss sir. After that we went to check out the White House which you can tell by the picture. After seeing the White House we went to the SmithsonianMuseum of American History and I spent most of my time there in the American wars floor which had some very cool things. My personal favorite was they had these two pieces of metal from the 70th floor of one of the two twin towers and a melted cone from one of the planes. After that we were on our way to the Holocaust museum which really made me feel bad because there wuz so many things there that these thoughts in your head about what the Jewish people went through. For example they had this area full of shoes from concentration camps and they had these video displays that showed a lot of graphic footage of dead Jews and children it was just horrible. It was a fun and educational day. DALLAS

Welcome to Donovans peepzone (blog)
Ok since I FINALLY get to make a blog I would like to say that I had fun at Baltimore, Antietam, West Virginia, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and New York. The traveling wasn't too bad...if you don't mind being somewhat bored during the ride. My favorite part of Manhattan was when we went into the museum of natural science, and we got to see how much we weighed on a Neutron Star, a Red Star and other planets. I don't know what else to share that would be "funny" so bare with me if I share something that's not interesting to you. So far I think the trip is fun. Although the hotels we stay in always have their pools closed but it's not really a big deal...to me anyways and we never seem to have a good high view of the city in the hotel either. One of the things I noticed is that wherever we seem to go you would hear rap/hip-hop music unlike the West area where you hear country/classical music at places like stores and restuarants. It's cool in New York because you get to cross the street almost at anytime (jaywalk) and the police do absolutley nothing about it. I'll admit I was schocked that I did not see a street performer, you know where you see a guy with a guitar with his case on the ground and people throwing money in his case. Well I was kinda hoping to see one and take 1 dollar out of his case and say to his ear "I think your music sucks". Well
I'll consider that as a lost oppurtunity. Anyway that's all I could think of now for this. To whoever is reading this I hope you have a good immediate future and may your day have an unexpecting and yet a positive surprised.

Captain's log 5/13/09
Today was our day to have another long drive to visit Maryland. We went to Maryland to get ready to visit DC. Everything was going fine until

exaggerated story: I decided to call my mom (bank) because I missed her very much (checking my account), I got nothing, but ringing so I hung up. Then a few minutes this big security asked me why I called the emergency line. I tried to explain I had to use 9+1 to get the call through being in a hotel. Being still scared white I had to let one of my friends help explain. Then the big man knocked me down with his night stick (not really) and he left to consult my teachers. Everything was fine for I Ace Attorney Kyle justified my doings.

Other then that I had a good time and am excited for tomorrow.
-Mother missing son, Kyle

These are our vans. They drive like a dream and hold all of our stuff, although with all the buying going on I do not know how long that will be true. The white one has New Hampshire plates and the tan one has Texas plates so we call them the north and the south and make civil war jokes about them. Today we made it through Manhattan traffic, Linclon tunnel, New Jersy turnpike, Pensylvania turnpike, traffic in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and the Washington beltway. We are safe in our hotel room in DC. Mrs. L.

The Trip That's a Trip

After arrival in Baltimore on Saturday we have been going through many states which are new to me and most of the other students. So far we have been to see the museum of American Indians, as well as roam New York City and go to see the Statue of Liberty. The museum of American Indians had some interesting items such as weapons, tools, and regalia of different people of the tribes. Also they showed some beading techniques of the Native Americans, and how to say some words in a native tongue. The city of New York wuz very new and interesting to me because I have never been around so many people and it is on the other side of the country from where I live. Also the Statue of Liberty was an interesting sight because not very many people who live where I c0me from have had the opportunity to see the statue in person. Michael

The first day on our trip we flew into Baltimore and didn't really do much of anything except eat and then went to the motel and chilled in our rooms. the second day we went to Gettysburg and Anteitem which was pretty sweet cause we got to stand on major battle fields where a bunch of soldiers lost their lives. The day after that we went to the Carlisle Indian School and that was a sweet experience for me because I was interested in going there and learning more about it. I learned about a Colville member that played football with Jim Thorpe and I also learned a lot about Jim Thorpe. Before we went to the Carlisle Indian school we went into Harper's ferry so we could say we went into West Virgina. That night we went into New York and got our rooms and ate and went to an off Broadway show called "The Toxic Avenger". That all yesterday, and today we went to ground zero and then we went to the American Indian museum. I didn't really like the museum though. I was hoping it would be better than it really was. Then Mr Lang got us some tickets to go on a taxi boat and got a little tour and got some good pics of the statue of liberty. Then one half of the group went to another museum and the other half went back to the motel. Each group ate and met up later and everyone got time to go shopping and get souvenirs for family and friends. Now were all in our rooms getting our things ready for tomorrow. I'm having fun so far and I plan on coming back to New York. Jesse

Today we went to the museum of American Indians which wasn't very good compared to the museum of natural history which was four floors that had everything more native American artifacts and human origins, ocean life, mammals from Africa and the Americas which was a lot better than this little crappy museum that didn't really have all that much. There were some dresses of how they dressed for war, ones that the men made and the women and ones for the children but over all it didn't explain very much. We saw the Statue of Liberty, and got our pictures taken with it which was really cool. Did a little shopping got some New York sweat shirts. But glad that we didn't really do all that much today because we did a lot of walking at Gettysburg. Gettysburg was a lot of fun. I got to go up and climb on the rocks and I thought that was a lot of fun also got some pic sitting on the rocks at big round top. Taylor

One of the things we did today was take a boat tour of the Hudson River, NY Harbor, and The East River. We got a close look at Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as the Manhattan and Brooklyn skylines. The weather has been beautiful and not too hot or cold.

We Made It to NY!

Do we look happier?

This morning I woke up to the delightful sound of Mr. Lang pounding on my door a 7:45am. Once everyone was ready to go, we headed to the Carlisle Military base and toured the remains of what used to be The Carlisle Indian School. The site was really interesting and our tour guide knew a lot about the history of the School. The most interesting part to me was the information about all star athlete Jim Thorpe. Once the tour was over, we hit the road. This time our destination was THE BIG APPLE. We drove through Pennsylvania and New Jersey before we finally arrived to New York City. It was about 5:00 o'clock when we entered the the city limits which meant one thing..........RUSH HOUR!!!! Once we made it through the hectic traffic and the endless waves of people, we settled into our motel and we walked through Manhattan to catch an Off-Broadway show called "The Toxic Avenger". The show was very entertaining and funny. Tony

Captain's log 5/10/09
Today was the first day of our official trip to the Civil War battles. We met many people from a variety of states that shared the same interests. I was able t0 get a Union souvenir hat, which I was able to sport today while we visited a large amount of memorials. What I liked the most was all the states we went through in such a short time span. Finally enjoyed mingling with our classmates while we endured the long car rides and trying to find where to go.
-Kyle

Today we all woke up around 8:30am and we headed out to see Harper's Ferry. We stoped there for a few minutes and one thing that caught my eye was this old pulp factory from way back in the day. After that we hit the road and went to Antietam battlefields and that wuz really amazing. We went to bloody lane (sunken road) which during civil war wuz a death trap for the confederates. Then we went to burnside bridge and if you looked closely you could see old bullet holes from the war. After we left Antietam we were on our way to Gettysurg, another famous civil war battlefield. There we got to Pickets charge which I really liked along with little round top. Today was just the beginning of our trip. Tomorrow we are on our way to Carlisle Indian School which we have tour. When we are done we are headin to New York which I am really excited for. Dallas

Here we are at Antietam reinacting the Civil War in front of Dunker Church. We added three new states to our experience and visited three battle sites. Harper's Ferry was our first stop and we were all very impressed with the old houses and stores. At Antietam we listened to a very good speaker tell the story of the battle. We spent the afternoon and evening at Gettysburg. What a full day. We are staying in Carlisle Pennsylvania tonight.

When we left the school we went to mr. and mrs. lang's house. It was a lot of fun...everyone went in their hot tub and stayed up all night. When we arrived at the airport we went through security and got to see mr. lang get cought by security for his titanium knee. When we left Spokane we went to Minneapolis, then to Baltimore. To end the day we left our hotel and ate at a diner and saw fireworks outside afterwards. -Josie Zacherle

We made it through a middle of the night drive to the airport, two flights, and into our rental vans with all of our luggage. What a day! We had a fun dinner at a diner. Even though it is 3 hours later here, most of us are ready for bed, especially Mr. and Mrs. L. Thank you to the Moms who got us to the airport!

For seven of the students, the trip started with an overnight stay at the home of Mr. and Mrs. L. We ate lasagna, hung out on the porch, and enjoyed the hot tub. We have to get up at 2:30 in the morning load up the school van, and head off to the airport

The members of Junior Class of Inchelium High School who are traveling to NY, DC, and civil war battle fields.
I think that we are more excited than we look. Early, early Saturday morning we are boarding an airplane in Spokane and by afternoon we will be in Baltimore.