DC and Penn: Day One

Our trip started the Honolulu International Airport where we met our traveling companions (way too many kids, some parents, and some teachers) for the next week or so. It was chaotic. I, personally, would be concerned if I was a parent and I overheard one of the teachers say, "Oh, I don't know who I'm chaperoning." But then again, that's just me. Thankfully, the teachers figured out who all the kids in their groups were and we all moved over to the gate. At the gate, we saw another school group waiting. They were a school orchestra returning to the mainland from Hawaii. Glancing at the other people waiting at our gate, it was apparant that they were not happy to be stuck on an airplane with two school groups. Luckily for them, the other group was not on our flight.

We boarded the plane and I was surprised to discover that I was not sitting by my husband. Strange, but Lance managed to trade seats with another student, so it was all good. I met some of Lance's students, most of whom were friendly. I felt bad for one of his students, though. She was stuck at the end of the group with me and Lance.

After a long flight, we arrived in Houston. We flew in late and had no time to spare to catch our connecting flight to Maryland. We rushed off the airplane and hurried towards the gate. As we were speed walking, we heard them call for the final boarding. One of the teachers yelled, "run" and our group starting running towards the gate. We made it just in time to be greeted by snippy flight attendants. It was unclear if they were snippy because our relatively large group arrived as they were ready to shut the doors or if those were just their overall dispositions. Lance wasn't sitting next to me again and I realized why. We were sitting in alphabetical order and our last names are different. It suddenly occurred to be that perhaps this hyphenated last name could be a problem. As our plane took off, I fell asleep.After 12 hours of traveling (I forgot how unpleasant travelling to the east coast was), we arrived in Maryland. We met our tour guide, Bob, and finally got on our way.First off, we went to eat lunch at the Old Post Office. It was a neat place, with a food court, shops, and a museum. To enter, we had to pass through one of the many security areas of our trip. I don't think I've ever had to pass through so many security checkpoints in so little a time before in my life. Anyway, Lance and I ate lunch and then went to the top of the tower to look at the museum. This was the view from the top: