TWB July 14th 2018 Experience: Day 8-Santa Monica, CA

Day 8: Santa Monica!!!

Coming to you live for the first time, the SLEEPY group! ROLL CALL: Harrison Parrott, Dallas Cobb, Sianna Gutschick, Hannah Sherman, Genevieve Fortier, Mary Lewis Johnson, Brandon Cool, Lauren Pollock, Madison Price, Makenzi Stiles, Gracie Hester, Ethan Oxendine, and Paige Hudson. We’ll try to stay awake long enough to tell you all about the next four days in the great state of California!

Our day started at midnight last night as we left Las Vegas. While some of us slept all night, others took the responsibility of keeping our lovely motor-coach operator, Joseph, and our counselors who drove the two vans, awake. The co-pilots did this by helping with navigation and keeping conversation alive! Shout-out to the amazing co-pilots - Brandon Cool, Aidan Spelbring, Casey Kellogg, Holly Skipper, Molly Church, Matthew Whalen, Virginia Griffin, Anna Mitchell, and Rachel Sealy. Thanks for keeping our drivers alert and entertained, guys! You rock!

We woke up to Katy Perry's "California Girls” blaring over the bus speakers as we caught our first glimpse of Santa Monica, California. As our very own Harrison Parrott once said, “It’s a mix of Myrtle Beach and Hawaii.” When we first stepped foot on the beach, we looked to the right and saw the mountains falling right into the coastline and to left we saw the famous Santa Monica Pier (what a bizarre feeling being able to see huge mountains and a beautiful beach at the same time... amazing!). Our first glance at the pier was consumed by the ginormous Ferris Wheel and yellow roller coaster (known as the West Coaster). As many of us began to sink our feet into the cold, seaweed filled water of the Pacific Ocean, our lovely cooks, the Bashful group, prepared us a YUMMY tummy-filling breakfast of French toast sticks and sausage along with watermelon and cantaloupe.

After this delicious breakfast we were set free to see all that Santa Monica has to offer! As some participants went to the pier, others went to explore the high-end luxury of Santa Monica. On the pier, several rode the attractions, shopped for souvenirs, had leather “TWB 2018” bracelets made, and bought coffee and ice-cream. Downtown Santa Monica offered many opportunities for TWB members to call home (via the Apple store and pay phones), shop, visit a local farmers market, eat, and listen to local artists perform covers and original songs. Back on the beach, people played soccer and football, swam through balls of seaweed, napped, and body surfed. At 12:30, the Bashfuls helped prepare peanut-butter bagels and sandwiches for lunch with chips and cookies for participants who chose to spend their money in other places during the day at the beach!

Some of our favorite stories of the day include Ethan Oxendine accidentally stepping on Dallas Godbold at 4:30 AM and later kicking a fish in the ocean. Later, Grant Berry, Hannon Herring, and Harrison Parrott bought flowers to make someone’s day. Harrison Parrott first gave his flower to an old lady in a walking group. Then, Hannon Herring found a married foreign couple vacationing and took pictures with them and the flower he had given them (the lady was slightly hesitant at first, but she came around!). Finally, Grant Berry attempted to give his flower to a group of teenage girls but was suddenly shut down by their counselor who claimed that Grant was a 30 year old man and should not be taking pictures with these girls (what??!?!?!) At 1:50, Hannah Sherman, Genevieve Fortier, Kendrick Messerich, Nadia Constantino, and Lily McGrath made a last minute stop to buy stickers, delaying their arrival to the bus. They then had to run back to the bus quickly before it left at 2:00. Thankfully, they arrived just in time, and we were able to start our journey toward Anaheim!

Once all three vehicles made it through busy L.A. traffic, they arrived at the RV Park and the Happy and the Grumpy groups began cleaning the inside and outside of the vans and trailers. The Bashfuls made a delicious dinner of chicken and cheese quesadillas, salad (with cucumbers, tomatoes, croutons, and cheese) with a side of chips, salsa and black beans. A pleasant surprise was the amazing dessert of cupcakes and assorted cookies! Wow, thanks cooks! After dinner, the Dopey group washed dishes as we all wrote in our journals, re-organized our bags, and spent time hanging out together. Brandon Cool amazed us with his awesome rap on California. Virginia Griffin enlightened us on the topic of Santa Monica Beach. Morgan Little informed us on the details of the Santa Monica Pier. Nicholas Mullis presented on the Pacific Ocean with a funny Nemo joke to wrap it up. After the presentations and announcements from our co-directors, we were all excited to watch our first set of Disneyland fireworks from our beds (sleeping bags... same thing right?!). It was an amazing firework show!!!

Goodnight from the Sleepys! STAY WOKE!