T+7 days: Saturday - Wrapping it Up (Well, Really Sunday)

As you may have guessed, this is my last blog post. *sigh* We went to the airport yesterday and flew home to Indianapolis, where Kirkpatrick Express Taxi Service was waiting to pick us up. Now we're home and all that. Some things before I sign off, though.


No pictures for this post (we didn't have any good ones). Also, my two picks in the Bee (for those who didn't watch the finals) finished 2nd and tied for 3rd, and I never actually set foot on Hoosier soil yesterday (only pavement). That's pretty much all my extra information.


If I make it to the Bee next year, this will (probably) be my blog then too. I doubt I will post much till then - well, spelling season in general. I will update you on my progress in the 2012 Bee, from classroom to the Nationals. Wish me luck, thank you everyone, and goodbye!

T+6 days: Friday

Whoa. Busy day - and we're not even done! Today was originally supposed to be our pre-arranged, tour-guided tour of D.C., but because they were first off going to tour the Capitol, which we had already done, we left them to go out on our own. Before we left them, we did take these photos in front of the Capitol, however.

A statue of Ulysses S. Grant - the second-largest horse statue in the world

The Capitol

The first place "The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung

 Then, at the Museum of Crime and Punishment, we got locked in a pillory...

Me in a pillory

Elli in a pillory

 ...and then, 800 years later, got put in the Cochise County Jail.

Me in jail

Elli in jail

Then, in another exhibit, we learned about the CSI process - here's the crime scene.

The crime scene

Then, we went to the National Museum of American Art/National Portrait Gallery to eat and explore a bit.

The ballroom/rotunda where Lincoln had his inaugural ball

An interpretive art piece

 Then, we went to the Capitol and met Representative Mike Pence.

Elli, me, and Representative Pence (and a rare sighting of Dad in a picture)

Rep. Pence and me

Then, on the way back to the hotel, we saw this sign.

Taxation Without Representation Street

I'm about to go off to the Awards Banquet, so there will be more pictures and information...well...in the next paragraph.

- About 5 hours later -

As promised, in the next paragraph, here is Awards Banquet information. So we, after arriving back at the hotel, got changed really quickly and headed to the banquet. Here are some photos and comments.

Elli and me in our banquet garb

 The spellers sit at separate tables than the parents and family.

Me at my table at the Banquet

Elli and Dad at their table

 After an opening speech, the presentation of colors by the United States Joint Armed Forces Color Guard, and the national anthem by the United States Marine Band Brass Quintet, we ate and then Ken Jennings, famous Jeopardy! player, gave the keynote speech.

Ken Jennings speaking

 Then the finalists were honored and given their prizes.

The 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion, Sukanya Roy and her trophy

One last photo of the Spelling Bee stage

The Spelling Bee after-party

At the after-party, cookies and punch were served and I got (drumroll, please) a signed copy of Ken Jennings' Trivia Almanac!

So now it's late on Friday night, our last full day in our nation's capital. I'll set foot on Hoosier soil tomorrow. That's about all. Catch you on the flip side!

T+5 days: Thursday

Today, after some storms rolled in last night, the temperature cooled off. (Hallelujah!) We visited a lot of places today and took a lot of pictures (312), but first, some minor items.


Both of my picks to win the 2011 Bee are still in the competition as of 5:50pm Thursday. I also realized today that I actually did better this year than last year, due to other spellers' performances. Last year I got 49th, and this year, in a wacky decision in accordance with rule 4, I got 42nd. Also, here is a link to the Herald Bulletin story (on me) that came out yesterday.

First thing today, we went to Arlington National Cemetery and went on a tour. Here are some a lot of photos.

Row upon row of gravesites - it's like this all over the 300-some acres

The Arlington House (Robert E. Lee's old plantation, FYI)

The eternal flame by the Kennedys' graves

JFK's grave

Thurgood Marshall - first African-American Supreme Court justice

 Me being the space buff that I am, I had to get these pictures.

Colombia memorial

Challenger memorial

The mast of the USS Maine - learn more about the ship here

A guard on patrol at the Tomb of the Unknowns

The Changing of the Guard

Korean War deaths

After that, we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. No pictures allowed, but here's this.

Elli outside the museum

Then, on our way to the National Archives, we stopped in at the Museum of Natural History.

Us by the elephant in the rotunda

No pictures in the Archives either, so here's us by the entrance.

Us by the entrance

That's pretty much it for today. (I will, however, spare you from the rapidly-growing-tedious au revoir!) Goodbye until tomorrow! Catch you on the flip side! (FYI, that's a term astronauts use when they are orbiting the moon and have to travel to the dark side, where they can't communicate with Houston.)

T+4 days: Wednesday

These are today's stats. Today we had Rounds 2 and 3, one word apiece with each word worth three points. Needless to say, I didn't do too well. (Worse than last year, in fact!) Here are some neat photos, however.

The ESPN3 set

The Spelling Bee set (minus spellers)

Me with 1/4 of the the other spellers (I'm the 3rd row down, 4th from the left)

Me spelling in Round 2 (behind me is #75, Byoul "Star" Han; Dr. Bailly, the pronouncer, in on the bottom right; to his left is associate pronouncer Dr. Sietsema)

Me and my picture on a wall of 2011 speller pictures

That's about all we did today, other than stopping at CVS for some provisions, but that's not worth mentioning. (Oh, wait, I just did. Oh well.)  No more Bee for me now, but that's okay. My picks for the win are either #24: Laura Newcombe or #206 Joanna Ye. See you tomorrow with more info. Au revoir!

Oh, By the Way...

Rounds 2 and 3 today will be streamed live on espn3.com at 8:00 this morning and 1:15 this afternoon. Click here to view the stream, live or recorded. Hopefully you read this before it's too late. Au revoir! (Until we meet again, FYI)

T+3 days: Tuesday - Part 2

Did I leave you in suspense? Good. So, to recap, we...
-Had Round 1

Me at the Round 1 table

Elli and I after Round 1 (Check out my quill pen! Kidding.)

-Met Senator Lugar
-Went to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
-And toured the Capitol
Our tour guide at the Capitol told us that the Capitol Visitors' Center was built to house the Senators and Representatives in the event of a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack, "but it also doubles as a visitors' center!" Guess what? You get more ornate photos!

The Old Capitol rotunda (the chandelier was NOT stolen from the Titanic)

A ceiling

I also have some weird interesting pictures, too.

No public Senators allowed!

Supposedly the center of Washington, D.C. If you rub your foot on it, it brings good luck.

And some neat, unrelated ones.

A plaque marking Abraham Lincoln's desk from when he was a representative in the Old House Chamber

The Washington Monument as seen (basically) from the Capitol

The Supreme Court

The Library of Congress

That pretty much concludes the long-awaited second part of my post. Tonight I will give you my score on Rounds 1, 2 and 3, as well as whether or not I get to the Semifinals. Wish me luck, and au revoir!