Chaperone Adventures

Don't ask me how this happened, but I allowed myself to be talked into chaperoning my 8th grade son's 3 day school trip to Washington D.C. A few parents backed out at the last minute so how could I say no especially if it meant a solid 5 hours of bus knitting and a private room.

When I told the 8th grader, I thought he was gonna die.

I reminded him that mothers always have the last word

Meanwhile all of his friends (boys and girls) CHEERED when they learned that I'd be going. So while my son was embarrassed to know me, nearly 200 other kids appreciated my "coolness" and the child that I nursed until he was 4 years old and who is also responsible for everything that sags on my body, sulked. He also lobbied the principal to be on a separate bus. So, I baked cookies and bought boxes of the best donuts for my bus. I made the sulky child a bologna sandwich (my last word).

But as you all know, life (especially mine) is full of surprises...

THIS

AND THIS

FOLLOWED BY THIS totally screwed up the day.

Of course I would be on the bus that broke down. The only consolation was I got to see a black and tiny female state trooper. Ok, for all of you Non-Jerseyites, New Jersey State Troopers have a dubious history. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I would have never believed my eyes when this very petite trooper with a giant trooper hat was for real. After I adjusted my eyes, and my camera, I realized that she was issuing instructions to the bus driver to get our bus off the highway, pronto, by getting it towed - WITH US ALL ON BOARD!!

The tow truck started to hitch our bus 'cause trooper girlfriend don't play, we had to scurry to get the kids back on the bus.

Then our very Irish tour guide who for obvious historical reasons that I don't need to recount to you all, matched attitude for attitude with trooper girlfriend and said that we were all going to sit and wait until our replacement bus shows up and if we were going to get towed it would be to Washington, D.C.!!

Trooper girlfriend left in a huff!

So, we waited

And waited...

And waited some more...

And started to lose all hope

I started getting bored and began taking pictures of traffic... Then I spot a bus!

Oops, wrong bus!

Help finally arrived 2 hours later and then we had to transfer stuff from the dead bus to the other (sans cookies and donuts - long ago devoured)

The rest of the trip went as most school trips go, you spend most of the time on the bus and enjoy drive by history -

Mount Vernon

Don't ask

The requisite Starbucks

Evidence of unending war esthetically displayed at Arlington National Cemetery

Evidence of national pride - baseball stadiums - we build these better than schools

Lord, we sure need him again

We were able to de-bus at the Capitol Building for a photo op (yes "they" still let us lowly citizens climb the capitol steps)

There were some museum stops (no pictures allowed) and a fabulous dinner cruise around the Potomac. We were also treated to a zany guided tour of Old Towne Alexandria, Virginia.

I found a 1792 Apothecary but tragically no yarn store

But I did find the chance to have a cup of java with Obama!