San Fran and The End

I admit that I am cheating a bit, since I am writing this post from my couch in New Jersey, but the last few days were incredibly hectic, so I had to push back writing for a bit.

From Lake Tahoe we went to San Francisco, stopping at Old Sacremento on the way. Once we made it to San Francisco, our tour company rented out a local (but crappy) club for our tour and one of the other groups. The girls got decked out in their working girl-esque gear for one last hurrah.

Clearly so excited to head to da club.

The majority of the time in San Francisco I sang the theme song from Full House. Our hotel was right near the wharf, so on our first full day we walked around there, and then went to Alcatraz.

The audio tour that we took of Alcatraz was surprisingly upbeat, given the fact that the place was a prison, and once housed criminals like the Bird Man and Al Capone. A poster on the wall described the place best: "When you break the rules, you go to prison; when you break the prison rules, you go to Alcatraz." Going non-stop until nighttime, we took a trolley ride home--a real San Francisco treat (har har).

Hanging out the side of the trolley.

The trolley was so sweet, and one of my favorite things we did in the city. Our final day of the tour was jam-packed as well--Lombard Street,

Hello zig-zag! Good thing we didn't have to drive the Penske down this!

Salsolito,

View of Salsolito from the Golden Gate Bridge

a walk over the Golden Gate Bridge,

and Six Flags Marine World.

By the time we made it to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, I was completely cracked out--and then we stayed up all night, waiting to leave for the airport at 4 a.m. The whole tour hung out in the conference room of our hotel, and the kids put on skits, the counselors gave out paper plate awards, and the kids gave their confessions. The worst thing the kids did all summer was sneak out of their rooms to hook up with each other, which is pretty good given the trouble they could have gotten into. Clearly my favorite confession was that one of the boys said he had a crush on me at the beginning of the trip.

In conclusion (can you think of a cheesier ending line?), I have to say that I am so happy that I did this trip. I definitely got what I wanted out of it, which was mainly to see the sights in the country. That said, the kids were awesome; I was actually shocked several times at how well behaved they were, and many of the places we went complimented them (even the guards at the Canadian-U.S. border). I also loved the female staff on our trip, and I'm sure that we'll keep in touch. Definitely a great summer; it's going to be difficult to return to the real world, which is always the mark of an amazing summer.

Lake Tahoe? Let's Go!

Well I have officially decided that I'm moving to Lake Tahoe--or at least having a summer home there. It is truly the most beautiful place I've been in a long time. The water at the lake is so blue and cold, it kind of reminded me of Cool Mint Listerene (yeah dentistry). We spent the entire day there, and then I had to go to the hospital with yet another sick camper (this was a lot less sketchy than when I had to take the cab ride in Mexico).

We were staying at the Village at Squaw Valley,

The Village at Squaw Valley

and so we had to take the kids to the supermarket to buy food for their condos. Letting forty-five kids loose in a supermarket is a good way to insight terror in the locals; finding them in the "family planning" aisle is a good way to frighten the counselors. In Squaw Valley we also took a cable car ride up to the top of the mountain to High Camp.

Tobaganning at High Camp, clearly.

Someone thought it would be a good idea to build a roller rink there, so we doned skates and helmets (how very safe, and very SpEd of us).

Safety first!

And now the last stop is San Francisco...

It's the final countdown

Things I'm looking forward to when I get home:

-A pedicure
-Chloe
-Catching up on Project Runway
-A real bagel (and the end of fried food at every meal)
-More than six hours of sleep in a night

If it's not clear, the countdown is on...

SoCal? So cool.

At yet another arcade, I find that these places are not the kind that grow on you. Couple the beeping and flashing lights with supreme tiredness, and you see where I'm at. Thus, the perfect time to post what's been going on. By the way, the exhaustion is so severe that I keep having to ask our director what we've done these past few days, as my short term memory is failing me--I can only hope that it returns when the semester begins.

We first stayed at Newport Beach for two nights. The hotel was really nice, and there were rumors that John Mayer's band was also there, since there was some summer jazz festival going on at the hotel. A quick aside for a story that I wish happened to me, purely because it is so freakin funny. Every night when we get back to the hotel we do room checks to make sure all of the kids are in their rooms and happy and everything. One counselor has her Room Radiers routine, where she busts into the room and pretends to abduct the kids, like they do in the MTV show. Well the first night in Newport, she instead barges into the room of two Asian women. Without looking at who she was grabbing, the counselor puts the woman who answered the door in a headlock. As the counselor described, both of the women had "take whatever you want" faces. Once the counselor realized who she was "abducting" she tried to calm the women down; I'm sure she did the best she could, given that neither of the women spoke English. Definitely one of the funnier things that has happened on the trip. The first full day in California we went up to Huntington Beach, and the kids had a surf lesson. Apparently my one-time previous surf experience in Costa Rica did not help me whatsoever this time around.

Surfs up, dude!

The best part of the day was seeing my super-cool Cali friends, and here is photographic proof:

Nicola, McEachin, me, and Trevor!

That night we went to Disneyland!

My last Disney experience was at about age seven, and all I remember about that is puking on the Disney Big Red Boat (I never realized how Cornelian that sounded until now). We went on Space Mountain, ate way too much at Mexicoworld (I can't be sure of what the restaurant was really called, but it was likely located in Frontierland or Never Neverville), ate more at the candy store on Main Street,

These Rice Krispie Treat bricks looked a lot better than they tasted...and we ate them anyway...

got shut out of the Indiana Jones ride (part of a new pattern that began in Park City), and then rolled out of the park.

The next few days days we hit up the major SoCal sites: Venice Beach (where we caught some of our kids trying to buy a piece in a head shop),

Skaters and some pictures from the Indian festival from the day that we visited.

Rodeo Drive,

Perhaps the most touristy picture from the whole trip (and appropriately taken by Asian tourists)

an Angels game,

Outside of the Angels' stadium in Aneheim, California; and then up in the stands

Graman's Chinese Theater,

and Universal Studios.

On the Jurassic Park ride, getting soaked

One evening highlight was going to the Improv show in downtown L.A. Several comedians performed, and all of them felt awkward about doing their material for a group under-18. Two of the comedians targeted the chaperone table. The first took one look at our table and laughed that our motley crew was actually in charge. The second called the men of the group pedophiles, since we were hanging out with a bunch of jailbait for the summer (sometimes I wonder how far from the truth this actually is). We've been staying at the UCLA dorms, which remind me much more of college than the University of Calgary did.

UCLA!

There is a U.S. Tennis tournament going on here, so we are hoping to see Andy Roddick, though I doubt he is next to us in the Saxon Suites.

Ok, a girl from our trip just started bawling in the middle of the go-cart race track, and I should go tend to her.

Sin City & Ship Happens

It has certainly been a long couple of days!

In Las Vegas we stayed at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino right on the Strip. Like the restaurants, every room had tons of movie memorabilia. My room was The Predator-themed, which was fine except for the prop hand on the coffee table--pretty creepy. As you can imagine, there wasn't too much to do in Las Vegas for the under-21 set, though we did get to go to M&M World--fun for all ages!

Better than the Wegman's candy wall

While caravaning down the Strip, there are men who hand you stacks and stacks of nudie photos for call girls. One of my campers and I had a competition one night as to who could collect the most advertisements. We each had a handicap--mine being a female, and his being that he was far too young to patronize such a business. I won, which I guess demonstrates that Las Vegas is all about equal opportunities for the sexes. One evening after the kiddies went to bed, a couple of the counselors and I spotted Jeremy Piven (you know, Ari Gold from Entourage) in the casino of our hotel. Predictably surrounded by women and likely coked up, he refused to let us take a picture with him--that is, until one of my co-counselors told him that her (non-existant) boyfriend was a huge fan. Suddenly, Mr. Piven was all about a picture. That's the second celebrity sighting this trip, and I haven't even gotten to California yet! That night we hung out in the club in our hotel, which is called Prive, and apparently is a pretty cool place to be--unbeknownst to us, and so we were certainly not dressed to impress (but still managed to have a good time).

After Las Vegas we drove to Long Beach, California to board the beautiful Carnival Paradise cruise ship. And by beautiful, I mean deliciously tacky--we're talking neon lights, cruise staff dressed in grass skirts, a "lido deck", and photographers with cheesy backdrops at every turn. The moment I steped on, I wanted to back right off. Yet we were trapped for four days, with stops in Catalina and Ensenada, Mexico, and a "FUNSHIP" day at sea.

Catalina island, where I sadly did not see Vicki from The Real Housewives of Orange County

We were on the cruise with other trips from our tour company, so it was nice to see some fresh faces. I had one of the sketchiest moments of my life on the way to the beach in Ensenada. One of the campers was not feeling well, and by the time she was up and about, the group had left. So we took a 45-minute taxi ride to the beach. Never again--and Mom, I'm sorry for disregarding everything you've ever taught me about safety. Captain's night on the ship was actually fun, and it was cute to see all of our campers decked out.

Counselors looking like real people.

Later that night we had kareoke, and the campers sang "Five o'Clock Somewhere", which has become our bus anthem--and we totally showed up the other trips.

Counselors from all trips jammin' to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"

One enigma I was stuck with was that for some reason many of the "real people" on the ship found it appropriate to walk around the boat wearing the terry cloth towels from their rooms--I'm sorry, but that is something that I just am not interested in seeing when I am partaking in the 24-hour buffet. Friday could not come soon enough, as three of us were crammed into one of those tiny cabins and were all sick of the towels our steward folded into animals nightly (though I will admit I was impressed by the chimp he hung from the light fixture) and the music videos played on repeat on the 4-channel television.

Next up is California!

Iron, Lion, Zion

And here we are again! It's been a while since I last posted because we were camping most of that time, and I faced heavy competition for outlets to charge my phone (apparently hair irons and itouch players take precedence)

We were in Utah for a few days, namely in Salt Lake City and Park City. To be honest, for part of this trip it seems like we were visiting all of the once and future North American Olympic venues. In Park City we went to a terrain park, where they have an alpine slide, alpine coaster, and North America's longest zip line. We got to the top of the mountain first, excited to take the zip line down, only to be stranded up there due to inclimate weather. So we settled to take the alpine slide; as soon as I sat down, the slide was closed down. So I rode down the mountain in the back of a Suburban-- so much for the promise of extreme fun with which the day began.

Before the slide closed.

Next we went to Zion Canyon national park in southern Utah for our last leg of camping. The drive to Zion was my last time driving the Penske truck. Despite how much I liked the peace and quiet offered by the truck, I can certainly say it was a nuisance to have around, and we were all glad to be rid of it.

Last time in the Penske. Note the smudge above the RV in the picture, which indicates a smushed bug on the windsheild.

Oh and also, somewhere in Utah our cook managed to gash the side of the truck, though no one knows how or when. The campsite was below some absolutlely beautiful red mountains. And it was unbearably hot; it is outrageous how the heat sucks all energy out of you. Our bus driver Bill took over the cooking one night and so we were all treated to at least one great camping meal this summer.

On the way to the next campsite, we visited the Grand Canyon. I had been told that it would not be as impressive as I expected--well that was not true at all, because it was INCREDIBLE.

The GRAND Canyon

Later that night we went to an Imax about the Grand Canyon. I expected it to be kind of scientific, about how many millions of years it took to form or whatever. Instead, the major theme of the movie was that the mysterious forces of the heavens created the Grand Canyon. Spirituality snuck its way in I guess. Which reminds me of a picture I forgot to post earlier:

The "Inspiration Center" at Wal-Mart in Cody, Wyoming

Speaking of things that make me uncomfortable, I also found these at one of our many rest stops:

For the redneck teeny bopper in you!

After our very last night of camping (the kids are happy it's over, but I actually enjoyed it), we went to Sedona.

Sedona!

This is probably the only thing on our entire tour that I had done before, but the national park there is so beautiful it was worth the repeat.

Pink Jeep Tour in Sedona, Arizona

The past few days were very relaxing, as we spent them recouperating at a resort in Phoenix, Arizona. It was also here where we said goodbye to our crazy cook, since he had to leave for "personal reasons" (I will let you infer what that means). I think most of us were relieved.

We are now en route to Las Vegas. More to come!

Adventures in Canada (Part Two)

And here we are for Canada part duex!

Whistler was incredible. I was captain of the blue team for the scavenger hunt that I mentioned in the last post.
The Blue Team. At least we had spirit...

Unfortunately, we lost. By a lot. My co-counselor likes to remind me that if you aren't first, you're last. And we were fourth--out of six. And I have not run that much in a very long time. We were sprinting around the town in circles, and I swear people were planted just to give us incorrect directions. The next day the group split up for various outdoor activities. And yours truly got to chaperon the skiing group! We had to take two chairlifts, a bus, and another chairlift to get to the top of the mountain where there was still snow around, which was a mile up from the base of the mountain. I can tell you that the ride was totally worth it.

On the way up to summer skiing!

Lots of ski teams come to Whistler to train for the summer, so we got to see some kids do some crazy tricks and "catch some sick air". The skiers and boarders up there had some of the coolest snow gear I've seen, so I tried to fit in:

Totally sweet.

Today was another travel day, and tonight we are back in the USA--Seattle to be precise. I took some great pictures at Pike's Pier and at the Experience Music Project, which I hope to post here once I get the film developed (you all remember film, right?). Pike's Pier is the place in Seattle where you see the guys throwing the fish to each other. It's a really cool place with tons of hippies, musicians, little crafty stores--and most importantly the world's first Starbucks! The Experience Music Project is a museum that was originally created to honor Jimi Hendrix, since he was from Seattle (like his band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. See the connection?) On the bus we found out some pretty sobering news: one of the other buses was in an accident. They are on the same trip we are, just a few days in fast forward. Everyone is fine, and they've all been discharged from the hospital. I know it has been on the news on the east coast, and it's some pretty scary stuff. So everything is fine and under control.

I am now watching the kids play Whirly Ball, which is a cross between bumper cars, lacrosse, and basketball. I'm thinking of opening a branch in NYC, as the game's stupidity screams franchise opportunity.

EXTREME!!!

Next we fly to Salt Lake City, Utah. I'm hoping to run into many a Mormon.