Blogs
January 17th, 2009 - 7:50pm
January 18th, 2009 - 2:05 am
January 18th, 2009 - 9:40 pm
January 20th, 2009 - 3:00 AM
January 21st, 2009 - 11:30 PM
January 22nd, 2009 - 2:00 AM
January 22nd, 2009

January 17th, 2009 - 7:50pm

Hello All – My name is Justin Veillon, and I am a senior at Sam Houston State University. I will graduate in August with a double major in Political Science and Criminal Justice. I am a Vice President of the Political Science Junior Fellows, and I am currently interning with the City of Huntsville’s Planning Department. My interests are in law and local government.
We began the day right. We’ve been blessed with strong community support and one of our more generous community supporters sent us off with thoughtful care packages just before we left. About two and a half hours later, we were passing through my home town of Orange, TX (Hi Mom, Dad, and Family!) and then through the Lousiana border.
Our first stop was Baton Rouge, where we ate Chelsea’s Café and toured the capitol building. For three of the five on the trip, this was our second tour of the capitol in the past three months. In November, we stopped in Baton Rouge on the way to help Senator Mary Landrieu in her reelection campaign. This time, however, we added a couple of sites to our itinerary. We checked out the Governor’s Mansion and the Magnolia Mound Plantation, the latter of which was built in 1791.

Currently, it is 7:50 P.M. and we are headed toward Mobile. Entering Alabama was a bit more interesting for me than perhaps for most. I was born twenty-one years ago, but I have only been in two states: Texas and Louisiana. By the end of the night, I will have been in five states, and by the end of the trip, I will have been in ten states and Washington, DC. I planned things well, sleeping through much of Texas and Louisiana. Now, rested and fueled with coffee, the rest of the night should be interesting.

-Justin

January 18, 2009 – 2:05 am

We have just recently left Alabama and are headed for Atlanta, Georgia. In Alabama we ate at the Wintzell’s Oyster House where we shared oysters, crab claws, and gumbo. As an organization, we try to choose restaurants that specialize in regional foods. Mobile is a gulf town, so we ate seafood.
We also stopped by the Hank Williams, Sr. Museum, the capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, the first Confederate White House, and the Civil Rights Memorial. Although it was late and the buildings were closed for tours, we were able to walk the grounds and look inside these historic sites. The architectural designs of these establishments were intriguing, mostly Colonial or Classical in design. An interesting site at the Capitol Building in Alabama is the freedom flame located near the rear of the building, as well as the fifty state flags arranged in a semi circle on the north side of the capitol grounds.

It was a good start to what promises to be an even better trip.

-Justin

January 18, 2009 - 9:40 pm
Charlotte, North Carolina

Well, we did not get checked into our hotel this morning until six A.M. We were up a few hours later to sight see and head for Richmond, VA. It’s been a long thirty-six hours, but we are still enthusiastic and excited.

Today we met up with Mr. and Mrs. Howard, at South City Kitchen for a brunch. I ordered the South City Breakfast and it was delicious. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Howard!

After eating we drove to the Martin Luther King, Jr. gravesite and Historical Museum. The museum had artifacts from Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Gandhi, and Rosa Parks. This museum was a nice place to visit and pay respects to a great leader, especially with Martin Luther King Jr. Day being tomorrow.

We also toured the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library which was both educational and interesting. After we completed the tour, we walked around the surrounding gardens and took pictures. Our president, Megan Bryant, has many great skills. Unfortunately, climbing rocks is not one of them. She’ll have to work hard on those law school applications.

Finally, while in Atlanta, GA we walked the grounds of the capitol. After seeing Alabama’s Capitol in the early morning today, Georgia’s is not as impressive but still had great architecture and the statues on the grounds were unique.

After a few more hours on the road, we stopped at Jaipur, an Indian cuisine restaurant located in Charlotte, NC. It’s not necessarily the food I would pick, but it is nice to try to different things. I am not sure exactly what I ate but I think am fine with not knowing!

We are now headed to Richmond, VA and should arrive there around 2 AM this morning. The agenda for tomorrow is to sight-see in Virginia and go to Mount Vernon, which after seeing National Treasure 2, I am excited to be able to see in person.

Daily state count: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and soon to be Virginia. Eight states and counting!

January 20, 2009 – 3:00 AM
Crowne Plaza Hotel – Richmond, VA

For lunch today, we went to Crab Louie’s. The restaurant is located in the “Sycamore Home,” a structure built in the 1700s. After eating we walked around the small businesses and took a picture in front of a ski center that had artificial snow. It looked real, however, as the picture attests.

We then had the opportunity to go to Mount Vernon. I have seen pictures of the home before, but I didn’t know until today that it was originally a modest four-room, center-passage home. Since that time it has grown to more than twenty rooms, quintupling in size. Historic homes in general are more interesting to me since I have been working on a local history project for the Political Science Junior Fellows.

After touring Mount Vernon we made our way to Old Town Alexandria, where we ate at a Thai Restaurant. I have to say the food was much better than the Indian food we had last night. Moreover, we were accompanied by Ademide Alexandra, the former President of the Political Science Junior Fellows. She now works on Capitol Hill.

We are all excited about the inauguration tomorrow, but I’ll have to stop here so that I can prepare for tomorrow’s historic event.

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 – 11:30 PM
Virginia


The inaugural ceremonies occurred just as scheduled, but the smooth choreography on television was a far cry from the chaos off the presidential scaffold.

Our long journey started Tuesday morning. Challenges were met in our 1.5 hour wait at the Metro station and our 1.5 hour Metro ride. Unfortunately, we could not overcome the chaos of the mall area. Entire sections were closed and there was no clear path to our ticket gate. We walked for miles trying to gain entry, getting separated into three groups along the way. After the swearing in and speech, we were able to reunite at the base of the Washington monument.
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Although we may have not been in the desired place to view the inauguration, just being there to experience history was remarkable and truly a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. We discussed this fact for a few moments, before the practical issues of warmth, food, and departure took precedence. We walked to the historic Watergate Hotel, where we ate and strategized an “exit strategy”—hoping it would be more successful than our inauguration “entry strategy.” It was. We found a cab, which spared us the time and trouble associated with the Metro. Once we got back to our car, we drove the final two hours to our hotel, arriving around eight PM.

With an early arrival at our hotel and only an incidental itinerary for the next day, we could sleep a full night. It was much needed.



Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Wytheville, VA

Following a wonderful night’s rest, we awoke and headed for the Ashlawn-Highland Home, where President James Monroe lived. The home is located on a 535 acre estate and it is interesting to note that President Monroe held more major offices than any other president.

We ate lunch at Michie Tavern, an historic tavern which now doubles as a tourist stop and restaurant. The business was established in 1784 and claims to have served as “the social center for the community.” The waiters were dressed in period attire.


After eating we toured Monticello, the home of President Thomas Jefferson. The home was in great condition and the tour was in depth. The most interesting thing to me about this house was that Jefferson was an avid collector of clocks. The most interesting clock was located in the main entrance room. It operated using gravity to exert pressure on a system of weights which would, in turn, indicate the day of the week.

Update: We just stopped in Wytheville, VA to take pictures in the snow and tour historic homes. Depressingly, our GPS device reads our next destination of Birmingham, AL will be reached at 6:20 AM.

My state count will soon be updated to nine, as soon as we cross the Tennessee border.

January 22nd, 2009
Mississippi

January 22, 2009  –  “All good things must come to an end.”

We are now headed back home to Huntsville, Texas with our journey slowly coming to an end. We have experienced and learned many things on this trip including things about each other. We have seen state capitol buildings, historic homes including those of presidents, museums of all sorts, and the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States.

The final stretch of our trip began this morning with a stop in Birmingham, Alabama. We ate at a soul food restaurant where we met a Mrs. Washington was was also at the inauguration. We shared stories and had a great meal. After eating we went to Vulcan Park, which doesn’t get a lot of press, but was impressive. The “Vulcan” museum was very informational and included key points about the background of Birmingham and its major industry: steel.
The last capitol included on the tour of the Southeast states was in Jackson, Mississippi. This capitol was similar to the structure of the Alabama Capitol, which included a dome center piece and wings on either side.

This trip was enjoyable not only because we saw history in the making, but also because we were able to see the homes of our founding fathers—men who established a framework for freedom and equality that would, more than two hundred years later, accommodate the first-ever African-American President.