Spring Break at Washington DC

During my spring break last weekend, I went to Washington DC with my family. While we were there, we rode the duck, visited the White House, some museums, some memorials and National Zoo.

We drove three hours to get to DC. It was about 9 o'clock at night when we got there. We had a good night sleep in the hotel before we started our tour. On the first full day, right in the morning we rode the duck. How can you ride a duck? I didn't ride a real duck. The duck is an authentic, fully restored 1942 military vehicle that can drive on the land and swim in the water. This 90 minute tour took us through the city of DC before splashing down into the Potomac River. I rode a duck before in Philedalphia. But this time, I was still very excited to experience this thrill ride. At the end of the tour, each of us got a qauckers and we made a lot of loud quacks on the way back.

In the city, parking is very difficult. When we went to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, we ended up parking at the back of the White House. We spent more than two hours inside the Air and Space Museum. There are so many intersting things to see. We had to leave the museum because it was closed at 5:30PM. We also went to the National Museum of Natural History. We saw a giant skelton of the dianasours there. There are a lot of fascinating fossils. We also saw an exhibitions about mammals. I learned a great deal of science inside this museum.

The last day was the best. We went to the National Zoo. This park has three Giant Pandas Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Tai Shan. Mei Xiang is Tai Shan's Mom. Tian Tian is Tain Shan's Dad. Tai Shan was born on July 2005. He is just 2 and half years old. Those three Giant Pandas are so cute and I took a lot of pictures of them. Admission to this zoo is free. So besides the main gate, there are many entrances to the zoo. You can park the car to any parking lot (There is $12 charge for the parking) and enter the zoo from the nearby entrance.

Three days passed by very quickly. Since there are still a lot things to see in DC, I would like to visit again this Summer.

PA State Scholastic Championships

I did OK in the PA State Scholastic Championships held in Carlisle over the weekend. I played in the K-6 open section. The first two games are pretty easy to me. I was in a very good position in the third game. However I did not recognize that and accepted a draw offer from my opponent. The fourth round I played poorly. My opponent was in trouble in the opening. But she played well. I was in a hopeless position. However, I gambled on one move and she did not recognize that and missed mate. I luckily won the fourth round. The last round I did not do well at the beginning in a French opening. However, I turned the situation around. I was in a winning position for the King Pawns end game. But I made a mistake and lost the game. In this tournament I won the game that I should not win and lost the game I should not lose. I guess this is the chess. In the end I won a 7th place throphy and my club MYCC won the second place club trophy.