We left on Friday after a full day of clearing a herring run across the bridge. The herring are just now starting to arrive, so I'm looking forward to visiting some of the runs we've worked on when they are in full force.
Our first stop was Philadelphia. We stayed with Aleia and spent a day in the city - all the necessary tourist stops (Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross house, etc...). One of my friends and I made a stopover at the Mutter Museum of Medical Oddities, after which we rejoined the rest of the crew at the art museum to have our very own Rocky moment. After an exhausting day of walking, we met Aleia and Matt for dinner and then headed home.
The next day we got an early start and had our longest day of driving. We headed all the way down to Atlanta on Sunday, with a short stopover in Chapel Hill, NC to visit one of my housemates' friends.
The next day we spent in Atlanta. Our big goal for the trip was the Georgia Aquarium - we spent most of the day there, and it was worth the trip! It was an amazing aquarium, complete with whale sharks and a walk-through tank.
After the aquarium, we walked around for a bit to enjoy the beautiful southern weather. We went to the Martin Luther King historical site and saw his tomb and birth home (though we missed the last tour going inside the home by 10 minutes!)
We had planned on finding some delicious soul food for dinner, but waited too late and had trouble finding something open... so settled on a Southern classic: Waffle House.
The next day we packed up and headed back to North Carolina, this time to the Outer Banks. We spent a little more than a day there. Climbed up the huge sand dunes and watched hang gliders at Jockey's Ridge, went to see the Wright Brothers flight site at Kitty Hawk, and a lighthouse at the National Seashore. At the end of the day we went to see my housemate Jenny's friend near Virginia Beach.
Our last stop was DC - we had a couple days there. Crammed in a lot since I've never been. Probably the highlight was our private tour of the Capitol - one of the girls in my house has a friend from college who works for Nevada Senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, so some of his interns gave the five of us a tour. We had tickets to the House and Senate galleries, but unfortunately they weren't in session. We made a trip to the National Cemetary, pretty much all of the major monumets (some at night, it was gorgeous!) I would have loved to have a whole week at the Smithsonians, but I managed to do the American History museum and the Air and Space Museum.
Our last day in DC was the first day of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, and also the Smithsonian National Kite Festival! We got to fly some kites on the Mall, and see the blossoms starting to bloom.
It was a lot of driving, but worth it! We've had some fun service since we've been back - more herring runs, some work at the seashore, and this week is Blitz Week. We're spending all week out at a place called Thompson's Field in Harwich - clearing invasives, doing fire fuel reduction, and doing education programs with volunteers and students. The field is town owned conservation land and used as a dog park, and this is the eight year AmeriCorps has done Blitz Week to help manage it.
This weekend I helped throw an Easter Party at Children's Cove, a child advocacy center we volunteer at for some special events. We all hid eggs and helped the kids with Easter crafts, and one of my friends even had the job of wearing the bunny suit!
Even though my birthday isn't until Friday, I've had multiple celebrations already (the joy of working somewhere different every day and having 13 roommates!) My Tuesday placement made me a cake and had a celebration yesterday, and today I was treated to yet another cake at house dinner (I'm getting spoiled!) Probably the best part was a scavenger hunt two of my housemates set up for me today... I had to go all around town to our favorite places (my gym, the coffee shop, where we play trivia, the movie theater, and our favorite sunset beach) to collect clues and solve puzzles!
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