National Treasure Quest

Last full day in DC

2009-08-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day in DC. We finally found out what the National Treasure is but I think it's against Kyle's rules to tell you all. : ) We visited all the memorials today, it really made me think. freedom isn't free. all those innocent men and women died for all of us and we owe to them to use it to the best of our abilities. : ) So we all promised we will. : ) I can't wait to come home tomorrow!!!

Sonora

Today, our last full day of National Treasure was very fun. The White and Red teams went to Ford Theatre, I never thought I would see where Lincoln was assasinted. It was quite the expirence. We also went to the American History Museum, the White House Visitors Center, the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean Memorial, and the Rossevelt Memorial.

Then Kyle gave us the "National Treasure Final Speech" which explained what the National Treasure is. I can't believe that our Journey is almost over. This has been the best expirence I have ever had, I know I have never laughed so hard in my entire life.

Amber

Today was sooo much funn!! We had a great time we visited so many places like the Vietnam Memorial. I'm sure we are all gonna miss being here in the hotels (especially with the room service :) But we are all soo excited to get home we can't wait to see everyone and share all our great stories! Well gotta go to bed. Nighty night!! LOOOVE YOU!

Sam!

Dang!!! Washington D.C. is so freakin awesome. Today we had the oppurtunity to go to the Korean and Vietnam memorials. There is certain feeling about those places a holiness maybe? I felt so proud to be an American. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to be here and to experience the things I've experienced. I've always enjoyed studying about history and learning all about the founding fathers, but now that I've actually been here and seen it I have such a greater understanding and appreciation for the sacrfices and services that our country has made.

God Bless America.

Andrew

Today I saw both the Ford Theater and the Lincoln Memorial. For those of you who don't know what the Ford theater is, it is where Lincoln was assassinated. Although Abraham Lincoln did not live during the founding period, he was one of the greatest and most patriotic Americans to ever live. His courage and strength was what kept our great nation together. Not every great American has to come from the founding period. The people of this nation, the true patriots, those who understand and live the Founders' legacy will keep this nation together. Even if we, like Lincoln, have to seal our acts and our words with our blood.

Michael
Grey Team

These past two weeks have been so fun! We have had so much fun together and bonded as a big group. I love my team... we have gotten along perfectly! We all have a great time during lunch trying each other's food! Today we went to the Lincoln memorial, and its definately been one of my favorite places. I'm really sad to leave everybody here, but i hope we can all keep in touch. If your kid doesnt have a facebook make sure they get one! :D

Sam, thanks so much for all you've done to make this trip possible. This camp along with my summer has changed my life. I'll never be able to forget it. You are such a great person and I never got to thank you enough. Hope I'll see you and Bri soon!

Love you all! :D

Katelyn Tresner
Blue Team!!!!

Thanks to Sam for everything he did for this trip. Same goes to Kyle. This trip has been so amazing that I can't even explain it! I was missing two weeks of football for it and now I would miss two weeks of anything for it because I have had so much fun! I can't believe that we have to come home tomorrow it really stinks.

Brennan Cronquist,
Red Team!

National Treasure has been a great experience for me this summer. Being in the east is a whole new thing and I have learned so much about our country. Thank you Kyle and Sam and everybody else on this trip for making it so much fun for me.

Brian Shepherd
Blue Team yes yes yes
Journey Foundation

Travel Home info

2009-08-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

Parents,

Thought you might want to make plans for the airport pickup...

In case you don't have the travel information:
Our flight leaves from Reagan International on NW Flt #355 to Minneapolis at 5:55 pm Friday. After a two hour layover, we will fly to SLC on NW Flt#459 and arrive at 11:37 pm. You can meet us at baggage claim in terminal 2. (I'll send the Las Vegas info through text)

Call with questions...

Kyle

Clues and sites

2009-08-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Today we got clues another team devised for us. On Monday, each group had to prepare 4 clues for another team to have to try and figure out. So we went around to the sites and had to work together to make up a clue that would be challenging for another team. Well, today we all had to figure out those clues that came from another team. It turned out to be pretty easy!

Well, we're all pretty worn out after today. It wasn't as hot as previous days. It was overcast and threatened rain but no rain came and the clouds kept the sun off of us. That made it easier to do all the walking that DC requires and we all had a really, really GREAT day! We'll post pictures soon.

Aug 11 - Group Tour Day

2009-08-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

"Freedom" statue... A replica of what is on top of the Capitol dome.
Don't those Journey T-shirts look good on us?!

Capital rotunda with our tour guide Dan

Sept. 11th Memorial outside of the Pentagon. Each bench
has a victim's name and they are positioned to be in
the same trajectory as the plane. It entered on the second
floor of the building killing 184 people (total.)

HOLA from D.C.! We will be your guides, Wesley and David, speaking from humid, sunny, crowded, and just plain hot, Washington D.C.

It is amazing! An unforgettable experience!

Excuse this poor blog entry, you have to understand that writing in bed, at 11 PM, while watching The Office, makes it hard for us to write from our hotel room. ☺ This morning, at 7:00 AM (that’s right!), we left the hotel to take the metro to the Pentagon! It was…. I don’t remember…. Haha, just kidding! We had a blast! We got a private tour from the two best tour guides there! We shook the hand of a General. The Pentagon was spectacular! Truly a wonder of the times! We had the fantastic opportunity to learn a little more about some of the major military events that the U.S. has participated in and they tied it all back to the Founding Principles of our great country. The amazing part of the tour was being in the portion of the building that was dedicated to 9/11. It was a wonderful experience for all of us.
Shortly thereafter, amidst a long lunch at Union Station, we all got back together and met for a tour of the Capitol Building. Apparently Senator Orrin Hatch's office set it all up for us. We stopped by his office and left our bags so we could easily get through security and then went on the tour. The art inside was awesome and truly made it clear what this country is all about. We were able to see the Senate Gallery of the building as well. The House portion was being remodeled and was closed. Did you know there is a statue of Brigham Young in the Rotunda? We learned much about it, you may ask us later…

Following the Capitol, we went to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. We were able to watch Peter Lerman perform in a concert that celebrated musical tradition! We feel very enriched and enlightened by our new found happiness. I love him… I mean like him… I mean that I love his music! ☺ After the Kennedy Center, we ventured to the Tastee Diner! It's a little "hole in the wall" diner near our hotel. We all gained at least a few pounds... HEHE, maybe it was just me and Wes! ☺ I make my day… and yours! Once again, I would like to remind you that this blog entry was completed at night while we were trying to sleep… Thank you?

Love Wesley and David! ☺

Today I also went to the Capital building and took a tour of the rotunda, saw the Senator’s chamber, ate lunch at Union Station, etc... It has been an unforgettable experience and we will post again later. Thank you so much for reading the blog!

Love Zach

Mayor Billings & Journey National Treasure on TV!

2009-08-11T03:51:00.000-07:00

All--

Mayor Billings spoke to our group on our first night. It was filmed and will be on Provo's Channel 17 this week: M, W, F, and Sun 8:30 pm and T, Th, and Sat 9:30 am

If any of you know someone who gets that channel and can record it... that would be GREAT! They did say they will get us a dvd of it, but we all know how that goes sometimes.

Thanks!

Saturday & Sunday... Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Church and Arlington

2009-08-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

Mmmm... Philly Cheesesteaks. We had the REAL thing!

It seems like we are constantly eating.

Valley Forge

Aren't we a good lookin' group?!

George Washington's residence at Valley Forge

Gettysburg

The place of "Pickett's Charge" at Gettysburg. This was the place of a
huge turning point in the war in favor of the Union

National Cathedral

Changing of the guard at Arlington's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Sharlene Wells Hawkes teaching us about leadership, sacrifice
and what's made this country great. She talked about a soldier
who made the ultimate sacrifice and the cause he fought for... his grave
is not far behind where she is sitting. It turned out, this soldier
she told us about's mother was visiting his grave and we got
to tell her that her son has not been forgotten. It was a great experience.

The director of the WWII memorial made special time just
to give us a tour of it. He is a former Green Beret and knew
lots of stuff.

Our group photographer, Robbie Collett, took this picture.
Looks like a postcard, huh?! He's also the Grey team counselor.

From the top of the Washington Monument

8/10/09

2009-08-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hello my fellow Americans! D.C. is wet, and we’re having fun with the metro… even if some got lost on Sunday…. Anyway, it’s a completely different experience than Philly, because everything is farther apart, bigger, and it’s like GULPING WATER when we breathe. I have never produced so much sweat in a day before. Today we went to Senate Offices (where I’ll hopefully be in two years as a Page) and lots of other places.

As many of you know, I was beyond ecstatic to see the famous Library of Congress… I will now tell you that even though we are led to believe it is—in fact—a library, it is most definitely NOT. I will now point out, that you have to somehow obtain a “reading pass” to be able to go into a room—not with all the books, of course—and REQUEST a book that someone else will get by going into a separate building that is actually NOT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. The “Library” of Congress is really more accurately a Museum of Congress. The only books you can see is the Thomas Jefferson Library, and they are behind glass. Needless to say, I am not very happy with this turnout and Congress at the moment.

SARAH THE STUPENDOUS!!!

Hey everyone! I have loved this National Treasure Trip! I have never been to DC before, I’ve learned so much! I think I am going to miss the Metro when we go back home. One of my favorite places we went as a big group was Arlington. The changing of the guard was really cool. I am very thankful to all 300,000 veterans buried and to their families for protecting our country. Thank you guys for helping me get here, miss you guys! See ya on Friday!

Amber

Hey everybody! We are having such a great time here! I miss you guys sooo much but I know I will live. We got to go to the Arlington cemetery and we met a mom who lost her son in operation Iraqi it was really touching. We are having a great time here minus the crazy heat and humidity. We are all having a great time figuring out the clues and riding the metro everywhere! LOOOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Samantha

Wow…this trip has been awesome! Washington D.C. is very eye opening and exciting. Arlington cemetery was a humbling and emotional experience with me. We had the opportunity to speak with a mother who had lost her son in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Hearing her story and realizing the sacrifices of the hundreds of thousands of people that have served our country. The experience only further deepened my desire to serve our country. I LOVE YOU FAMILY!

Andrew

D. C. Is so fun and I’m so lucky to actually have this experience and it is totally amazing. It is really humbling to learn about what the founding fathers had to go through to give us our freedoms. The whole experience of hunting and answering these clues is a great way to learn and have fun at the same time. Thanks so much for this wonderful time! Go National Treasure!!!!

Matt

Hey dad, I’m in D.C. and you’re not! Just kidding. Anyway, Pennsylvania was awesome. We were able to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross’ home and many other historical sites. I am currently in Washington D.C. (as you know) and it is amazing. With the extreme heat mixed with the disgusting humidity, the weather is perfect, as long as you like the feeling of swimming without being in a pool. Today in D.C. we were able to see the Washington Monument, the World War II monument and the Lincoln Memorial. I miss you Dad, Mom, Chris, James, Emily, Michelle, Sam, Rachel and Tom. Say hi to Michael and Tyler for me. Bye for now,

Michael

Grey Team

2009-08-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today was another great day on the National Treasure Quest. We left the great city of Brotherly Love this morning around 9am on a charter bus. Our first stop was Valley Forge. There we learned about the revolutionary war. We saw how the soldiers lived, we saw where George Washington had his headquarters and we learned about the conditions and circumstances of wartime living in the late 1700s. We also learned about how Valley Forge was the turning point in the war and gained a better appreciation for the sacrifices that were made to make our country free.

Our second stop solidified those feelings as we saw with our own eyes the battle fields of Gettysburg. We actually walked on the grass at High Water Mark and saw where Lee's forces tried to break through the Union lines during the famous "Pickett's Charge." They were, as you know, unsuccessful and this marked a turning point in the Civil War. Walking on those grounds was an special experience, it was as if it required a quiet reverence to even stand in the place where those great men died for our freedom. When we met with Mayor Billings, he suggested that if we were able to go to Gettysburg that we take off our shoes because we would be walking on hallowed ground. That is exactly what it felt like. What a great sacrifice those men made to preserve and protect this American "experiment" of a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" that ensures we are free today. What continues to amaze me is that there are people like that today, that put themselves in harms way to protect our way of life.

After walking the fields of Gettysburg we walked over to the cemetery and had a small devotional where Abraham Lincoln gave the great Gettysburg address. It was neat to see the monument there and reflect on the great moments of our nation's history. Lincoln was truly a leader worth emulating. What a great man!

After we left Gettysburg we did some group team building activities on the bus and eventually arrived at the Crowne Plaza in Silver Springs. We are all going to bed now but we are excited for the adventures that lay in wait for us tomorrow.

Until then...

Pics from Philadelphia

2009-08-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

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Us at Independence Hall!!!

2009-08-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

Fifth Day!!!

2009-08-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hey friends and family! Today (August 7th) was our last full day in Philly! It has been a very exciting and eventful week, lots of bonding between teammates and leaders! Each team completed our treasure hunt successfully and now will move on to the final round in Washington D.C. By solving each set of clues, everyone of the teams got to experience the thrill of visiting almost every historical site in Philadelphia! The clues consisted of rhymes, crosswords, unscrambling, and even word searches, which definitely tested the knowledge and ability of each person here!

“Having a desire to learn about the Founding Fathers and our Country and what made this country so great has made all the difference in my learning and experiences here so far! I have for sure learned a lot and I am very grateful that I could have this opportunity! My favorite site that we went to so far in Philly, was the Declaration House. The reason that I enjoyed going to the Declaration House was because I had the opportunity to listen to Thomas Jefferson (one man was impersonating the real Thomas Jefferson) he actually taught me a lot of different things that I have never known…he was very entertaining and managed to make the whole audience laugh while he taught each of us about one of our great Founding Fathers!!!”
-Lacee Whiting (Grey Team)

“Today, August 7th, was my favorite day that I experienced in Philly! This morning we got a special challenge that said that while solving our clues we would have “disabilities” just like victims had during the Yellow Plague. Our team had to navigate through Philly with either our eyes shut and no talking. On one of the clues the guys in my team actually had to carry me to our next destination… What a fun and hard challenge! ☺”
-Robyn Litchfield (Grey Team)

“Each day spent here in Pennsylvania has been one of abundant learning, growing, bonding and having fun. My team has been very frugal with the money we have received so we had extra cash for today. We, being a group who loves good food and candy, decided to make a stop at the Oldest Candy Store: Shane’s. We worked on clues and had a delicious and expensive sit-down lunch. When we completed the final clue we used the rest of our extra money for Gelatos. By the time we joined the other groups for the evening we felt like kings and queens with very full stomachs. Not only has this “Journey” been fun, but it has also been educational for every individual. Each person is needed to decipher the clue. Thinking about others, patience, and teamwork are three of many leadership qualities we have learned and will continue to practice for the duration of the camp.”
~Erika Brown (Blue Team)

Fourth Day

2009-08-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today we where searching for clues again with our teams. Some of the places some of the groups visited, all the groups to the same day but, not all the groups will go to all the same places each day. Some of the places the groups went to where, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, First National Bank, Washington Square and saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (of the Revolutionary War), and a lot of other historic sights in Philly.

When the teams finished we ate dinner at a stand located in Franklin Square. We then went to National Constitution Center. They had Rock Band, "Statue People", a face painting booth, the Napoleon Exhibit, and a show about our nation.

I am really sorry, we have been trying to upload pictures, as soon as we can, we will put on pictures.

Second and Third Day

2009-08-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we left Provo at 8:30 am and drove to the SLC airport. Our flight to Atlanta took off and we flew for about 3 hours. Our Philly flight was delayed until 8:45 pm. At 12 am we reached our final destination, Crowne Plaza.

Today, we searched for clues with our separate groups for the first time. Each team was given their budget, their eight clues, and a subway token. Until 5 pm the National Treasure groups searched for their clues.

After the teams arrived in the meeting spot (behind Independence Hall), we walked to the restaurant, Rotten Ralph's for dinner. During dinner all the participants were excited about swimming, so as the final act of the day, most of our group went swimming.

First Day of our Quest

2009-08-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

The National Treasure participants definitely had an amazing first day! For about an hour we played get-to-know-you games. We also toured the Crandall Printing Museum in Provo, where we learned about the printing processes, the Gutenburg Movable type, and about Benjamin Franklin's life.

After dinner, we attended Provo City Center and met with Major Billings. While we where there we where given a chance to learn about how council members meet and make decisions by actually simulating in an abridged process. We also had an overview about American History. Major Billings also shared a valuable original document signed about George Washington, thanks to a local collector.

The National Treasure participants will have a very unique experience from the premier Journey National Treasure Quest.

Welcome!

2009-08-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

We are very excited to have a blog for our first National Treasure Quest so you, as parents can follow the activities your children do on their 14-day adventure from Independence Hall in Philadelphia to the Rotunda of the Capital Building in Washington D.C.!