Lucky13: 2013

Last Post: Lucky13

This was a great trip and I was honored to be part of both the whole tour, but also lucky to get to know six exceptional young women.

Reflections: "..Stand a Little Taller"

...Doesn't mean I am lonely when I am alone......"

These girls have seen a lot in seven days and experienced the highs and lows of travel and come out shining in the other end.

The modern day equivalent of Mary Poppin's carpet bag, Hermione's bag carried a lot including: tissues, antibacterial wipes, pens, sharpies, nail file, ibuprophen, Dramamine, gum - peppermint and spearmint, fig newtons, emergency ration of high quality dark chocolate, two water bottles, secret group leader itinerary, ipad, iPhone, Mophie charger, cords, cheater glasses, passport (never know when it will come in handy), Chapstick, lipstick, bandaids, Neosporin, magic rocks, earphone, girl stuff, Red Badge of Courage, emergency rain ponchos, back up camera, and Bach's Stress Relief Pastilles......which was probably more of a placebos....but even placebos are important.

Reflections: Mirror Messages

This trip is designed intentionally so that we all arrive in the hotels late at night. It maximizes the sights we can see and minimizes the room visits between genders. Enough said. But, it is hard to remember wake up calls, chores, etc when you are told late at night.....so we started making mirror messages on our team.....every room had a tall mirror outside the bathroom...so that is a where Jen's reminders were posted.

The girls never missed a breakfast, never lost a wallet or a a piece of electronics, were never the last on the bus, tried hard to never miss an opportunity to drink water or hit a bathroom.

Reflections: Keep Calm and Carry On

Now that the trip is over and the kids are all nestled back home with their parents, it is ok to say that some of our journey was caught up in the drama of several terrorist acts of the week. We were in Arlington Cemetery at JFK's tomb when we received a text about the Boston Marathon bombing. The next day we were going up to the Lincoln Memorial when it was suddenly shut down by the National Park Police. Ricin was delivered to the President and a Senator on the second day in DC. We were eating on the banks of the tidal pool when suspicious packages were delivered to the Hart and Russel buildings of our representatives and low flying helicopters kept passing over us and some spotted Haz Mat trucks passing by. And on Day Six the town of West, TX was leveled by a fertilizer explosion.

The kids were very good throughout this heightened tension and comforted each other when they were sad. There was a sense of relief with some adults when we finally boarded the bus in NYC to go home....and a stronger sense of relief that we were home on Friday when Boston was shut down to find the Marathon bombers. Through it all, we stressed that safety was our primary concern and although unnerving, I felt very safe with the amount of security each city provided.

National Park Police leave the Lincoln Memorial after clearing it for half and hour.

Washington Monument flags fly at half mast the day after the Boston Marathon bombing.

The Last March

Time to go home. Here is the last march to the buses which are parked at Bryant Park (upper right) which is behind the famous New York Public Library.

Hard Rock Cafe for Lunch

Forever 21

Cool shoes. Please don't buy them!

Hershey's Next

M&M Store

Nothing's Free

"Tip please!"

We Made It to Times Square!!!!

We finally made it to Times Square. The first thing we did was to climb the big platform to take a look around. And a couple of us made it onto the large screen in the back. Check it out!

Diamond District

Located on 47th Street between 5th and 6th, the Diamond District in New York City, is a primary center of the global diamond exchange. Located in lower Manhatten earlier on, this street became even more important when the Nazis invaded Netherlands and Belgium and forced Orthodox Jews to emigrate to New York City. We were able to see some Orthadox Jews as we cut through the street to get to Times Square.