Washington DC

Like so many American kids, my first trip without my family was to Washington DC, the Nation's Capital.  Our bus ride was a long one from the Midwest... two full days.  It included a stop in some college town where we spent the night in college dormitories and, in general, got into innocent trouble.

(Of course there was the kid who also wandered away from the group, supposedly spent the night drinking, and was too late to catch his bus in the morning.  His mom was a chaperone for one of the groups and she stayed behind as the officials planned to drag the river.  I'm glad I wasn't him.  Of course, I'm glad I wasn't the mother either.)

So after a long, eventful trip out East, we were pulling into Washington DC.  Who could forget it... the freeway with 8 lanes in each direction.  Growing up where I did, most of my travel was on winding two-lane roads.  I had never seen anything like this expressway.  The leaders said that our first stop was at the Mall.

I was in the back of the bus and generally we weren't paying attention.  Some kid asked where we were going.  My friends and I said we were going shopping.

In our defense, we did come back to the bus loaded up with t-shirts, coffee cups and key chains.  The perfect holiday gifts.