Thank You - And Don't Forget Us!

Thank you to the student travelers, adult chaperones, & of course Ms MacGillis, for being great company on the recent Washington DC & Colonial Williamsburg tour.
With such as small group of travelers it meant very little time waiting on things & meant we could really maximize our time.  We squeezed a lot of great educational sightseeing & fun into just a few days!
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information on upcoming tours we post photos from past tours (maybe you'll see one of you!) & articles of interest 

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Best wishes & safe travels wherever you're summer takes you.

Declan & all at Global Explorers

Farewell to the East Coast

Sadly today was our last day but we still had plenty of time for exploring the Washington DC area.
We began with a visit to the Marine Corps Memorial, just a few minutes away from our hotel & an iconic DC sight.
From there we crossed into Arlington National Cemetery & made a walking tor of the cemetery.  Amongst the places we visited were the Tomb of the Unknowns (where we witnessed the awesome Changing of the Guard ceremony), the grave of Audy Murphy, the memorials to the Space Shuttle disasters, & the graves of President Kennedy & his brothers.
From Arlington we traveled out towards the airport & made our last visit to the National Air & Space Museum location near Dulles Airport.
Here they house the bigger places that can't be fitted into the National Mall museum & amongst the displays are a Blackbird spy plane, a Concorde, & one of the original Space Shuttles!  It was a great & fitting place to end our tour.
Finally it really was time to say goodbye, so we traveled the few miles to the airport, checked-in & said our farewells before the group passed through security & caught their flight home.

Return to DC - Mount Vernon & Washington

We made our earliest start to a day today, with wake-up calls at 6:30am & departure time at 8:00am.
We loaded & boarded our van, then began the long drive back towards Washington DC.  After around 2hrs 15minutes we arrived at our destination, Mount Vernon.
The family home of George Washington, Mount Vernon is still home to my of the original buildings that the first President knew, including his mansion.
Our visit began with a model of the house, & a movie introducing Washington's life...

Next we began exploring the estate grounds, then entered the mansion itself...

Having made good time this morning we had plenty of time to explore the grounds, visit the gift shop & have lunch.
Then we drove into Washington DC, with a short detour through Old Town Alexandria to see the cobbled streets & George Washington's 'town house'.
In DC we made a stop to see the White House...

...and with some extra time we decided to make a visit to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.

Next it was time for dinner, & another new experience for many - a Chinese feast in Washington's Chinatown.

We finished our day with an evening tour of some of the inspirational monuments to great Americans - veterans, Presidents, statesmen, etc - that surround the National Mall.
Amongst the monuments we visited we that honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr...

... & President Abraham Lincoln.

Finally we checked-in to our Arlington hotel for a one night stay.  Tomorrow we will end the tour with visits to Arlington National Cemetery, the Crime & Punishment Museum, & the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

Jamestown & Busch Gardens

We met up after breakfast this morning, ready for another great day of sightseeing in "Virginia's Historic Triangle".

Our morning visit was to Jamestown Settlement.  Located just a mile from the site of historic Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in the Americas, Jamestown Settlement features a museum section & many recreations - a native American village, the English fort, the three ships that the English colonists arrived on, etc.
We had a private tour & our excellent guide Lu Ann taught us about the way the different peoples dressed, ate, lived, etc.  A variety of re-enactors demonstrated their skills, & we had a chance to try some for ourselves...

From Jamestown Settlement we drove the short distance to Busch Gardens, the most scenic theme park in America.  The students spent the entire afternoon here, riding the roller coasters, enjoying the shows & the scenery, shopping, eating, etc.

We returned to the hotel & after time to freshen-up we regrouped for dinner - burgers or sandwiches, desserts, & Shirley Temples!  A nice end to another educational & fun day.