Day 8: Santa Monica
WE MADE IT TO CALIFORNIA!!
Hi America! We are the SLEEPYS (don't sleep on sleepy) group and we are your new bloggers for the next few days! Our names are Sarah Esarove, Kathryn McRae, Makayla Stadler, Kyleigh Goodman, Jodi Hatcher, Eryn Faggart, Julia Jakubowski, Chloe O'Briant, Clay Gotte, Ashley Matheis, Jake Kepley, Ben Harris, Hannah Denson, and last but not least Ian Faulkner.
We arrived at Santa Monica this morning at 6:30 am. The experience of sleeping on the bus the night before arriving, was a wakeup call for everyone who thought they had a terrible night of sleep for the previous nights.
*Shoutout to Henry and the staff members for not falling asleep at the wheel*
After groggily waking up to the sound of a rattling window and the the view of palm trees and blue skies, we were welcomed to the Santa Monica Pier and beach by Ms. Beautiful- Vickie herself.
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| Iconic sign on the Santa Monica Pier |
Everyone stumbled out of the bus to change into their bathing suits and the cooks began to whip up some gourmet frozen french toast sticks, boxed sausage, and powdered eggs. Eventually, TWB made their way into a line across the shore, claiming their territory against hordes of people and legions of pigeons and seagulls that were later to come.
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The cooks making breakfast this morning! They made, eggs, french toast sticks and sausage! Not bad for a beach breakfast
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Michael photo-bombing the cooks during breakfast
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After most people put on their sunscreen, the first brave souls ran into the arctic, frigid conditions of the Pacific Ocean. About this time, breakfast became available and everyone pigged out on the scrumptious meal. People began to form games including volleyball, soccer, napping/tanning/burning, football, and swimming.
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Getting ready for a beach day!
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North entrance to the famed Santa Monica Pier
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Our counselor Josh revealed his hidden talents in football that he gained from watching so many Panther games. These games carried on for the duration of our visit to the beach, but we were also able to explore the "tourist trap" of a pier at Santa Monica. Everything you could want to see or experience, including an astronaut, a foreign tiki monkey man, tattooed European men in speedos, a ferris wheel, and a roller coaster could have been found at one place or another on the pier.
Lunchtime consisted of food made by the cooks (delicious chicken sandwiches, tater tots, and pink lemonade) and food from restaurants on the pier. These meals held us over for the rest of the time that we spent on the beach.
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Grubbin'
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Before we left the beach, we saw a surprise appearance by the man, the myth, the legend... HENRY!! Henry, Caitlin, Heather and about 20 TWB'ers went in head first against the waves and lost. Around 1:45, everyone started to head back to the bus and get changed out of their sandy outfits and into what would be their power nap clothes.
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| Pose! |
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| Sneezy figure catching some sun rays |
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| Posing for a picture at the Pier Burger restaurant |
The drive to the campground included seeing the California coast and part of the Los Angeles skyline. Our arrival prompted the unpacking of all of our sleeping and duffel bags into a space small enough to be a bedroom.
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| Camping tonight in Anaheim RV park, close to Disneyland here in California! |
RESEARCH!
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| Ashlyn with research on Nevada |
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| Elizabeth with research on Sin City |
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| Courtney with California research |
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| Grace with her Santa Monica research |
From then on out it was a little R&R for our group. For dinner tonight, we had hotdogs, watermelon, mac and cheese, tater tots and lemonade! We even had ice cream sandwiches for dessert!
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The grill masters (aka cooks) making hot dogs, mac and cheese
With a combination of people taking showers, playing cards, and listening to music played by our very own Jake Kepley. We are sitting here now telling our story of the day, and we will tune in tomorrow with our update of the TWB blog. Till next time!
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