Area students take part in trip to Washington, D.C. this past summer

This summer, students and families from Allamakee County experienced an educational and hands-on tour of Washington D.C., Gettysburg and Mount Vernon through Legacy Tour & Travel. Forty-two students, families and school chaperones left Waukon via Hawkeye Stages charter bus June 18 for a seven-day tour through seven Midwest and Eastern states.
Legacy Tour & Travel is holding an informational meeting for students and families interested in the Washington, D.C. Tour being planned for the summer of 2014. The meeting will be held in the Waukon Junior High Cafeteria Thursday, October 24 at 6:30 p.m. Further information can be obtained through Hawkeye Stages Legacy Tour & Travel in Decorah.
En route to D.C. on this past summer's trip, the group stopped in Chicago, IL to tour the Willis Tower with a viewing from the Sky Deck and a walking tour of Millennium Park. The day concluded with a tour of Notre Dame University Campus and layover in Perrysburg, OH. Tourists enjoyed the view of the Appalachian Mountains as they traveled to Gettysburg, PA, where the tour began at the Visitors’ Center and Cyclorama.
There, students enjoyed viewing the Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg painted by French artist Paul Philippoteaux in the late 1880s.  The canvas measures 377 feet in circumference and 42 feet high. In Gettysburg the group went on walking tours of the National Cemetery, Battlegrounds, and monuments. During the National Cemetery walk, student Zach Troendle, re-enacted Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Day three found the travelers heading to the historic town of Harpers Ferry, WV to view the junction of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and walk a path of the famous Appalachian Trail. The day concluded with an afternoon and night tour of the historic monuments in Washington, D.C. guided by Tom Spindler of Cresco and Cathy Krupa of Waukon. Students and families learned facts and stories behind the following monuments: Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial, Vietnam Wall, Korean War Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and World War II Memorial.
A guided tour of the U.S. Capitol was a highlight during the midst of the trip. Families also toured the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and finished the fourth night with an evening at the Kennedy Center, where they watched the theatrical performance of "Shear Madness," an interactive comedic murder mystery.  The night concluded with a deluxe dinner at Phillips Flagship Seafood Restaurant.
The group moved on to Mt. Vernon, VA to tour George and Martha Washington’s plantation, home and tomb.  Here, students and families interacted with guides dressed in authentic colonial clothing and recreated caretaking of the plantation. The day continued with a trip to Arlington National Cemetery, where the group witnessed the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Four students from the trip, Jacob and Heidi Dougherty, Austin Ede and Alice Laybourn, participated in the Wreath Laying Ceremony.  This night concluded with a dinner and dance cruise on the Potomac River aboard the riverboat "Nina’s Dandy." Students enjoyed meeting and dancing with students from two tour groups from Preston and Rushford, MN.
The last day of tours concluded with a White House sidewalk stroll and self-guided tour of the Holocaust Museum, Smithsonian American History Museum, and Natural History Museum. Students and families also enjoyed the experience of riding the Washington Metro.