GPicturama: 05.06.2009

DATE ADDED: MAY 5, 2009.

PAGE 1 • PAGE 2 • PAGE 3 • PAGE 4

GARETT'S 1999 TRIP TO WASHINGTON D.C.! ( PAGE 3 OF 4! )

As Geocities is shutting down and I'm trying to preserve a preexisting site, I've [hopefully] transferred all of the pics from this decade-old event to this new site, where it would only make sense for them to end up at. Since the images are from an older site, they are not up to par with the quality of more recent pages on here; that may change in the future, but I was more focused in preserving them, not improving them. I've tried to arrange them in the order they were on the initial site, including as many of the original photo descriptions as possible. Grayscale photos were shot in B&W. Enjoy!

Photographers: Garett Thomas, Danielle Belli, Mr. Mueller (video stills).

INTRODUCTION

This web site is an online scrapbook of Central Middle School's 8th Grade trip to D.C. from June 18th to 24th of 1999. Pictures, descriptions, etc. are posted here. See the pictures below, in a near-chronologically-accurate order of events/locations that were visited/seen. The locations that lack pictures are not shown below, but are still documented in the list at the page's top.

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETARY

A vast landscape of tombstones and more are here, most with national significance, usually via the military. Here are some of the moments I photographed.

Here, we witnessed the changing of the guard. This event, if I remember correctly, apparently happens every half hour, and the guard must have a waistline of no more than 28 inches! Anyhow, 4 students laid a wreath at stage center, out of the shot.

Within this building is a memorial to remember the women who have helped in the force.

All of the soldiers who died in honor that were not identified in battle are memorialized here at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Eternal Flame sits behind the tombstones of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Onassis.

Opposite the eternal flame lies this engraved quote:

And so my fellow Americans
Ask not what your country can do for you
Ask what you can do for your country
My fellow citizens of the world, ask not
What America will do for you, but what together
We can do for the freedom of man

space

At left is the Challenger Memorial, which remembers the 1970's NASA disaster that included a school teacher. At right is the tombstone of Joe Louis, the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949.

SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM

Actually a series of museums, we attended at least five: The Natural History Museum, The American History Museum, The American Art Museum, The Air and Space Museum, and the Postal Museum. These few pics don't do it justice, and are barely a glimpse indoors. I do remember randomly that "Space Dots" were being sold outside one of them (probably Air & Space?), which are "Dippin' Dots" for the East Coast, and sold in way more flavors!

Unfortunately, this picture was out of focus. It is of the Hope Diamond, and is found in the Natural History Museum.

This is the skull of a carnivorous dinosaur. I did not read the text with the picture, so the identity of it is uncertain. It could be a Tyrannosaurus Rex, an Allosaur, or something of that genre. It, too, is in the Natural History Museum.

I don't know its name, but I recognized this statue in the Art Museum.

Pictured are the actual ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz." They are inside the American History Museum.

Excuse the brightness and contrast of this picture, which I did after I scanned this, because the exposure time was way off. It's the lunar lander, in the Air and Space Museum.

NATIONAL CATHEDRAL

This building was founded in 1907, but took 85 years to complete in construction. It's quite amazing, though to have a "national" cathedral kind of defeats having a separation of church and state... Nonetheless, it's quite spectacular.

Wow! It's HUGE!

Did I say it's HUGE?!

The inside of the building was even more amazing. The ceilings were probably about 9 or 10 stories high.

The colors of every window were so fibrant; it seemed as if the windows were on fire! I found being in the building quite exhilarating, especially due to the fact that the whole thing was funded for through donations only!

ONWARD HO TO PAGE 4!