Newstalk 1050 KSIS intern Cortney Frazon recently visited Washington D.C. to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with a College Republicans group from the University of Central Missouri.  Courtney has written a review of her trip to the conference, including photos of her visit to D.C.

On Wednesday, Mar.  13, myself and seven other College Republicans from the University of Central Missouri left Kansas City airport and headed towards Washington D.C. After a short layover in Detroit, we arrived at the Reagan airport around 10:30 p.m. A shuttle (driven by a native African named “George”) took us to our hotel. This hotel is the same hotel where CPAC is held. At the convention, conservatives come together and talk about politics. Many big speakers were there this year including Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Newt Grinrich, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and many others.

A Tea Party news station agreed to sponsor our trip to D.C. if we assisted them at the conference.  The next morning, we all got up and headed down to the main lobby to meet with the Tea Partiers. They told us to pass out flyers and bracelets, and take photos.

Occasionally, a few of us would wonder off to see someone speak.  I saw Marco Rubio and Rand Paul speak the first day. Both were pretty motivating. Despite the exciting speakers, the first day was a bit crazy and chaotic. We did get a nice formal dinner provided though! Lee Greenwood entertained us while we ate and sang his famous song, 'God Bless the USA.'

Day two wasn’t as chaotic as day one. We were encouraged to tell people about Michele Bachmann speaking, so I wasn’t able to see Donald Trump speak. I was kind of upset, but as long as I saw my Paul Ryan that day, all would not be lost. Sure enough, I got to see Michele Bachman and Paul Ryan speak.

On the last day of our trip, things were way more organized in our group and tensions had fallen. I had seen the funny Steven Crowder, Arthur Davis, Sarah Palin, and Ted Cruz. All eight of us (plus one more we found) ordered pizza and watched the Big Bang Theory chilling in our room. By 10 p.m., we started to look at our party options. I and some others hit the hotel lounge at the top of the hotel and danced and were merry.

The next day we ran around to do all the sightseeing in D.C. We hit Arlington Cemetery, where we saw the ceremony of the unnamed soldier. It was completely daunting to see how many graves are there. Next, we went to the Smithsonian, while others in the group went to the Holocaust Museum. We saw the Star-Spangled Banner exhibit. They had the original flag that inspired Francis Scot Key to write the national anthem on display. So inspiring!

We also visited the Natural History museum where they had full taxidermies of lions, elephants, giraffes and tigers! Of course there was more, but those were my favorites. We went back to the hotel to take a break and then off to the White House.It was so incredibly powerful to stand in front of the house that, here in the Midwest, is only seen through movies and TV. We practically ran to the Lincoln Memorial since the Metro closed at midnight and it was 11 p.m.. It was another awe-inspiring moment. It made me want to live there so I could jog past it every day. This is assuming I am a jogger. We got back to our hotel just in time.

Monday morning, it was off to the capital building for a quick tour and then off to the airport. The capital is the most architecturally beautiful building I’ve ever seen in the United States. But then again, I live in Knob Noster, Mo. After a double delayed flight to Minneapolis, we arrived in MCI at 11ish Monday night.

It was a fun trip over all. I want to go again and maybe relax more instead of running everywhere.

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