On March 29 2014, Honors: Inventing the Past by Prof. Hayse and the Sixties class by John o’hara went on a trip to the Washington D.C. to explore The Mall. It was an educational trip to see the monuments that had been discussed in both the classes. The trip would have been more interesting and worthwhile ii it wasn’t raining in D.C. the whole day.

Both the classes along with Lorraine O’Flaherty,  Education Assistant of the Honors program boarded the bus from the campus at 8:30 am. Prof. Hayse and Prof. John boarded the bus at our first halt, about one hour and thirty minutes away from Stockton. Prof. Hayse bought donuts for everyone, which boosted everyone up. From there it was straight to Union Station in D.C. It took us about four hours to reach the Union Station at D.C. We had our lunch at the Union Station and then we left for the monuments.

It was pouring in D.C. We were in the bus for most of the time. And when we got off the bus to actually visit the monuments and memorials everyone was soaking wet. The students from my class (inventing the past) had small presentations for each of the memorials we were going to walk around. But as it was raining outside, some presentation had to be done in the bus itself. At the same time some students had to present outside too.

The memorial that amazed everyone was the Lincoln memorial, (not only because it provided shade from the rain)  but the monument was huge. Lincoln’s statue and his two famous speeches Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address. Also, as the monument is seen in some of the movies like Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian and  X-Men: First Class. The grandiosity and popularity of the monument exited everyone.

Finally, after covering most of the memorials  at The Mall, we finally departed from D.C. for Stockton at about 4:00 pm. Everyone was  very exhausted by the 8 hour bus travel and the walking around  D.C. in pouring rain.  The trip could have been better if more than an hour and half was spent walking around looking at memorials and the rain was not the ruining factor.