Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, New York City & Boston

• United States Capitol Building
• Supreme Court
• Library of Congress
• Night Illumination Tour of the national monuments and memorials (Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, MLK, Jr., World War II, Vietnam and Korean War)
• Smithsonian Museums
• Ford's Theater and the Petersen House
• Arlington National Cemetery
• Gettysburg National Historical Park
• Gettysburg National Historical Park Visitors Center
• Guided Battlefied Tour
• Cyclorama
• Amish Countryside Tour
• Amish Farm Stop
• The Amish Experience - theater
• Amish family-style meal
• Amish House Tour
• Sight and Sound Theater - based on ticket price/availability
• Liberty Bell Pavilion
• Independence Hall Tour
• Congress Hall
• The Constitution Center - "Freedom Rising."
• Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• Time on Fifth Avenue and at Rockefeller Center
• Observation Deck of the Empire State Building or the Top of the Rock
• Broadway Play (additional expense)
• 9/11 Memorial and Museum
• Tour of Freedom Trail including a picture stop of Paul Revere's house, The Old North Church, and the USS Constitution.
• Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall
• Other select stops along the Freedom Trail
• Top of the Prudential Building
• Stop at Harvard University
• Lexington Green and Concord - The Old North Bridge, Orchard House, and Walden Pond.
• A visit to Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower II in Plymouth, Massachusetts
   
• Trips of moderate length will also typically include:
• The National Archives
• George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate
• White House Photo Stop
  
  Trips of optimal length might also add the following:
• Full visit of the Holocaust Museum or the International Spy Museum
• White House Tour - (dependent on approval of request)
• National Cathedral Tour
• NBC Studio Tour
• Madison Square Garden Tour
• United Nations Tour
• Visits to various NYC museums and galleries.

• Standing 180 feet under the dome of the United State's Capitol in the Rotunda.
• Watching the Changing of the Guard Ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery.
• Standing on the top of Little Round Top and looking out on the battlefields below.
• Walking through Gettysburg National Cemetery and quoting the Gettysburg Address
• standing alongside the road and seeing and hearing an Amish horse-drawn buggy pass.
• Seeing the Liberty Bell up-close and personal
• Standing in the Assembly Room of Independence Hall - (From 1775 to 1783 this was the meeting place for the Second Continental Congress. It was in the Assembly Room of this building that George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. In the same room the design of the American flag was agreed upon in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1781, and the U. S. Constitution was drafted in 1787.)
• Getting up close to the Statue of Liberty.  At this time it is difficult to get into the Statue, but just seeing her close is a treat!
• Going to the top of the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock and seeing the city below.
• Seeing a Broadway Show
• Touring Boston's Freedom Trail.  This 2.5 mile trail from Beacon Hill to Bunker Hill is a red painted or red brick line that takes a person through Boston and along its very historic sites.  The Old North Church, Paul Revere's House, The USS Constitution, and the site of the Boston Massacre are favorites.
• Seeing the Old North Church and hearing the story of Paul Revere.
• Looking down at Plymouth Rock and hearing its story then looking up at the soaring 150 foot tall National Monument to the Forefathers - the tallest granite monument in the world honoring the faith and ideals of the Pigrims.

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939, Columbia Pictures.
• National Treasure,  2004, Touchstone Pictures.
• Gettysburg, 1993, Turner Pictures.
• Friendly Persuasion, 1956, Allied Artists - released on DVD 2000, Warner Studios. 
• This movie is a story based on the Quakers during the Civil War.  Although the Quakers and Amish are different in beliefs - there are similarities in their style of plain living and pacifistic beliefs.  The idea here is that our country allows for different religious groups to practice their religion without persecution.
• 1776,  1972, DVD or VHS  Directed by: Peter H. Hunt    Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• This is a historical musical comedy about the events of 1776.
• Here is a link to a virtual reality panoramic photo from the top of the Empire State Building.
• Johnny Tremain, 1957, Walt Disney (VHS released 2003)
• Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure, 2012, Kirk Cameron
   

• Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 of the United States Constitution.  This is where the Constitution establishes a district that will later be known as the District of Columbia - the capital of our nation.
• Killer Angels, Michael Shaara; 1987, Ballantine Books
• Memorize the Gettysburg Address.
• The Riddle of Amish Culture, Donald Kraybill, 1989, ISBN 0-8018-3682-4
• It answers many of those difficult questions about why the Amish do what they do.
• The Amish in their Own Words, compiled by Brad Igou, 1999, Herald Press
• Short readings and stories show the Amish as people; one of the few books actually written by the Amish themselves.
• The Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution.
• The New Colossus - a poem by Emma Lazarus about the Statue of Liberty.
• The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1860 - a classic American poem.
• Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1647 by William Bradford
   

• Patriotic marches;
• President's Inaugural Addresses;
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech;
• Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial.
• Civil War music. 
• Listen to a sample of an Amish hymn being sung from the Ausbund, the Amish hymnal.
• Listen to a sample of an Amish Bishop preaching
• "Gonna Fly Now" - Bill Conti/Carol Connors.  The song, from the Rocky movie, became part of American Popular Culture after main character Rocky Balboa completed his daily training regimen while the song plays. The song finishes as Rocky completes his famous run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and raises his arms in a victory pose. The song is also often played at sporting events.
• New York, New York - Fred Ebb/John Kander,  famous song about New York - normally found being sung by Frank Sinatra.
• Dropping  "R"s after "A"s, like the infamous "Pawhk the Cawh." (park the car)
  The "R"s also can get lost after other vowels as well, especially "ee" sounds, as in "He stee-id the cawh into the ditch." (he steered the car into the ditch)
  These missing "R"s do get used eventually, usually by adding them to places like onto the end of "uh" sounds. A good example of this would be, "I was driving in my cawh when I got a wicked idea-r.
  Also, one-syllable words with long "I" sounds, such as "fine," often turn into two-syllable words like, "I feel f-eye-in today so I think I'll go to the pawhk!"

• Being a capital city, Washington, D.C. is home to people from all over the world.  Be adventurous and try some ethnic food.
• Also Washington is close to the Chesapeake Bay.  There is good seafood around Washington.  We recommend the clam chowder at the Fish Market in Alexandria.
• Bake some Hardtack or some Southern Johnnie Cakes.
• The Amish are wonderful cooks and bakers.  If you stop at an Amish bakeshop on your tour, we would recommend the whoopie pies - little cakes with icing between them.
• Pretzels are another Amish Country favorite.  They come in many flavors with many types of dipping sauces.
• If your tour is eating at one of the Amish family-style restaurants - be adventurous!  Try the dried corn or the shoo-fly pie.
• A Philly Cheesesteak sandwich, a hoagie or a soft pretzel.
• Bagels with cream cheese
• New York-style pizza
• Hot dog, pretzels, or roasted nuts from a street vendor.
• Boston has wonderful seafood - try some clam chowder.  Or if seafood is not your thing, try the Yankee Pot Roast.  Don't forget some Boston creme pie.
   

• The Amish enjoy birch beer (like root beer) and lemonade.
• If you can, find a water ice or Italian ice.  Yum!
• Hires Root Beer - created in Philadelphi in 1876
• Starbucks.  It seems like there is a Starbucks on almost every other corner in New York City.  
• Tea! - in Boston.
• And, of course, water.  Keep hydrated!

Awake!

• The Capitol dome remains the tallest building in Washington, D.C., due to a rule within the building codes. The only exception to this rule is the Washington Monument, but this structure is not considered a building.
• Seeing how large the memorials are in real life, especially the Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima).
• Finding out that the Smithsonian Institution consists of 17 separate museums and one zoo in Washington, D.C. – plus two more museums in New York City!
• Independence Hall seems so small compared to the large, tall buildings of the rest of downtown Philadelphia.
• The the statue of William Penn (Philadelphia's Founder) on the top of Philadelphia's City Hall is 37 feet tall.  It is the tallest statue to stand atop any building in the world.
• In New York City, over 800 languages are spoken by a significant portion of the population - making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world.
• How the height of the Statue of Liberty - once the the tallest structure in New York City at 305 feet tall - compares with all of the tall buildings today (many over 1,000 feet tall).
• Finding out that there over sixty colleges including Harvard University that call Boston home.
• The tea that was thrown over by the mob at the Boston tea party, could have made over 24 million cups of tea and was worth $1.7 million in today's standards.
• In the Boston Massacre, 5 Bostonians were killed by British soldiers.

• Washington, D.C. - Monumental.
• Lancaster County - Simple.
• Philadelphia - Independence.
• New York City - Awake!
• Boston - Freedom!
• Lexington/Concord - Revolution.
• Plymouth - Thankful.