So this year, the Dearborn High Marching Band was invited to Washington D.C. to march in their national memorial day parade. We were the only band from Michigan to be invited. The first day was miserable because we had driven for 10 hours and by the time we got there it was noon on saturday, so we still had a whole day ahead of us. After sleepwalking from monument to monument, we finally got back to our hotel around 11 and just passed out. Sunday was a better day, because we were all well rested and fed. We toured some more monuments and then went to the National Orchestra Concert in front of the Capital Building. They were announcing the celebrities that were going to be there that night and Hannah and I were ready to scream our heads off. The announcer said "from the hit series, 'Smallville'" and naturally we expected Tom Welling to be there, which was enough for our hearts to skip a beat and to stop breathing. But it wasn't Tom, it was Jon Sneider who plays Jonathon Kent. We were still very excited and were shocked to find that Jon Sneider can sing really well. Overall, it was a very fun night. The band was hitting around a beach ball, which got very intense (if you could imagine beach balling getting intense ;)
Then that night, after we went back to the hotel, I forgot that I had Colton's wallet in my purse so I was going to go return it to him. But, the parents said we weren't allowed to leave our rooms after 11, so my roommate, Stephanie and I attempted to sneak past them and get to the 5th floor without them noticing. So we leave the room and head to the elevators, but as we turn the corner we hear band parents at the elevators saying "yes, the students are not allowed to be out of their rooms now.." so we sprinted down the hallway to avoid being caught. We get to a dead end and are terrified that we were going to be found soon. Then, we heard band parents coming down the hallway toward us, so we ducked around a little corner at the end and are literally holding our breaths, praying that the parents don't come around the corner. Luckily, their rooms were right before the corner. So the parents are chilling in the hallway, about 4 feet from us around the corner. But finally they go into their rooms and stephanie and I sprint back down the hallway to the elevators. We hopped in one, sprinted down to colton's room and back without getting caught. it was a very terrifying and sneaky night.
Then on Monday, we got dressed into our uniforms and went to the parade site on Constitution Ave. around 1:30 and just stood around untill 3:30 because our band was near the end. This parade was even more special for our band because our trumpet players were selected to play Taps for the entire parade. Hannah is a trumpet player and she was really nervous to go to her playing site at 14th street. She had to play in front of thousands of people all by herself. But, I was very proud of her because she played it so perfectly that my mom cried a little. Then the trumpets returned and we all got in our parade block. The route is only about a mile and a half long, but it was almost 80 degrees outside and we were wearing polliester uniforms. The parade went very well though. There were rumors that our band was the best band there, we looked and sounded like a military band...etc. We did have 2 students drop out of the parade because of dehydration. Then we went to visit the gravesite of John Phillip Sousa. We layed a wreath and performed The Washington Post March there. Our last stop was the Smithsonian Museum. My group toured around the Natural History Museum and saw the Hope Diamond. I bought growing crystals hehe. Then we headed home for another 10 hour drive. We arrived back in Dearborn around 3 a.m. Overall, it was a fun trip and great experience.