Me and Andy woke up to a puddle in our tent but quickly got ready and had breakfast before making the trip into Washington. The rain was still poring and wouldn't stop for the whole day, but we still went to the sites. We saw the White House first which was cool to get a quick picture of. We then wanted to make the most of the Smithsonian Museum so firstly we went to the Natural History Museum.
We had breakfast together before our mini group split up. I've always loved museums but prefer going around at my own pace, so that's exactly what I did! I saw the brilliant dinosaurs, the ocean hall, Egyptian exhibition, the really cool insect zoo and most importantly saw the incredibly impressive photography section, which shows the best and most amazing photos of nature!
The team then regrouped at the van after lunch and we got taken to Arlington cemetery. This was really impressive, even in the rain. The thousands of graves of those who have served was something I'm glad I saw. We saw the grave of JFK and the Pentagon but the reason we went there was to see the tomb of the unknown soldier. This is a memorial that remembers all those soldiers who have died but not been identified. There is a guard there at all times, marching and pausing. As at home there is a ceremony for changing the guard which took place as we were there. Seeing this in the poring rain really added to the atmosphere of the whole thing. Seeing the reefs being changed after the last post was played was really moving.
We then went back to the city but only had a few hours left so ended up having to run to the Air and Space museum! It was worth it though. We didn't have time to see much of the air section but we did all of the space section. Including Apollo 11, the space shuttle and the Big Bang sections.
We made it back to the van just in time for our trip to the Georgetown suburb, this is the student area of DC but was very nice! We had a nice meal and ice cream before returning to camp to enjoy the hot pool again until we got kicked out.
We got back to find everyone else in bed, so had no choice but to return to our puddle.