Typical Day
Chatty Showintell's up early this morning at 5:00AM. She's up at this ridiculous hour to make sure she's on time to meet the students and their chaperones at their hotel. She didn't get much sleep last night because, in addition to having to get up early, she was up pretty late going over the day's itinerary.
As she brushes her teeth and eats her breakfast (not at the same time), she reflects on her life as a tour guide. Chatty's been giving tours of Washington, D.C., for about thirteen years. She works for a company that specializes in educational group tours of landmarks and other historically significant sites. This includes a lot of class trips, which unsurprisingly includes a lot of children.
Needless to say, Chatty puts on some comfortable shoes.
Today Chatty will be escorting the students around the beautiful and historic National Mall area. It's a great tour, all on foot, and after the kids get past the fact that there's no Gap or Old Navy, they usually enjoy it a lot. There's something cool about being in the center of everything in the country (governmentally speaking, that is; the center of the country is in Lebanon, Kansas—but there's a lot less to do there).
Having met the bus right on time at 8:00AM, Chatty's giving the kids the basic info-tainment about their surroundings on the way to the National Mall, the place where our country puts its biggest and best statues and monuments. They pass the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, among other attractions.
Chatty's a pro and is used to answering silly questions with a straight face, but getting asked if they have any ships from Star Wars makes that a challenge even for her.
Around 8:50AM, their bus drops them off near the first stop of the day— the Lincoln Memorial. The group congregates on the steps and listens to Chatty talk about the architect, Henry Bacon, and how he chose certain aspects of the design. For example, there are thirty-six columns around the Memorial, she explains, each one representing a state in the Union when Lincoln died (source).
Chatty asks if anyone knows which two speeches are inscribed on the walls inside. Most correctly guess the Gettysburg Address, but no one knew that the other is his second inaugural address. Once they actually enter the memorial, one student gasps loudly.
Chatty asks, "What's wrong?" The girl looks up and asks, "Was he actually that big?"
Around 10:00AM, the group heads to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This one sobers the students up a little bit as they read over all of the names—the experience seems to rob most of them of words for a few minutes. Some ask Chatty thoughtful questions, which she answers with a dignified smile.
She makes sure to draw their attention to the Vietnam Women's Memorial nearby. None of them even knew it existed.
Chatty knew they'd say that. They all say that.
Chatty takes them around to the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the World War II Memorial before the first leg of the tour is over, around 12:00PM. With the kids growing noticeably cranky, it's time to bus them to Lunchtown (not an actual place—they're getting fast food, obviously).
Finally, after lunch, Chatty takes them on a surprise visit she organized with the kids' teacher two days before. As the bus pulls up to the White House, the students start cheering. It has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with getting to see a famous person's house.
After finishing their tour with a class picture in the front of the building (technically the driveway, but you'll take what you can get), the kids giggle like schoolchildren (because that's what they are) as they board the bus at 2:00PM.
On the ride back out of Washington, the kids spend the trip singing American folk songs and treating Chatty like a quasi-superhero. Chatty basks in the glory; not every field trip ends like this, but the ones that do give her the strength to keep answering every Laser Lincoln question she's asked on the other days.