Okay...so let me begin by saying that this trip to camp, for the most part, was amazing. I'm pretty sure that the last time I had this much fun at camp was when I went for my very first time. I had a blast! With that being said, getting to and from camp was terrible. I will never, EVER take a greyhound bus from Arizona to California again. So many delays, horrible customer service, so many gross smells, uncomfortable seats and the list goes on. Definitely an experience, never doing it again.
Anyway..before I started working at the pizza place I work at now, I told them I'd be taking off for a week or so to go out to California. I didn't know if it would happen for sure but I wanted to have the option of going. They were totally cool with it and told me they wanted me trained before I left, so that I would be ready to start working once I got back. Super stoked they were that cool about it and that was what ultimately made me decide to take the job. I thought about the trip, the pros and cons, kept looking at flights out, and in a moment of either complete bravery or insanity decided to go for it. I booked my ticket to Arizona and decided to figure out the California part when I got closer to the date I wanted to be at camp.
My friends and future roomies, Laila and Chrissie, picked me up from the airport and took me straight to Venezia's. During the few days I spent in Arizona, I had the chance to go to school and talk with people there about admissions stuff, go cliff jumping in Prescott with new friends, hang out in Flagstaff, and just hang at the Concorda Cottage. Every time I get to visit Arizona, I instantly feel at home.
Chrissie and I bought our tickets the day before we left and had high hopes for the trip. Our bus was scheduled to leave around 8 but left around 9. The lady that checked our baggage was kinda sorta rude. Uh-oh. I think by this point we started worrying a little. Turns out the bus has bathrooms. And these bathrooms smell horrid. Like week old piss. Imagine the subway, in New York, three times worse and for seven hours straight. Thats what we had to deal with. It was terrible. By the end of the trip, I sorta felt like crying. I was so tired and I couldn't sleep well because of the smell. Whenever I'd start to doze off, I'd catch a whiff and was instantly awoken. Fortunately, we got a ride from LA to camp from an old camp friend and it didn't smell like piss. We were covered in dog hair, but dog hair is much preferred to piss.
Like I said previously, camp was so freaking good. I got to skate (as much as I can without annihilating the rest of my ACL), eat camp food, play pool, hang out with the girls that were there for girl's week, see and hang out with old friends, play in the talent show (only took five years..), eat s'mores, and just enjoy camp life. I never wanted it to end. I think that if I ever get the chance to go to camp again to work, I'll try to be an OSI. The week really reminded me of my first summer, where I was just there to enjoy camp. Sure I had to work a bit here and there and wasn't getting paid, but I didn't have to worry about all the stuff you have to worry about when you get paid. Even when I worked there, I noticed that the people that got paid were more stressed than those that didn't. But yeah, camp was a blast. Bawled like a baby as soon as I said goodbye to the last person. Felt like crap as soon as I left. If I get to visit again, I'll go for two weeks. I didn't even get to go to Denny's!!
The trip back to Arizona was brutal. You'd think it can't get worse than smelling piss for seven hours, right? Wrong! So wrong! Try having to wait at the Bakersfield station for six hours on a Friday night, getting stuck in traffic and then having a four hour delay in Los Angeles at three in the morning. We left Bakersfield around midnight, were scheduled to get into Phoenix at 9:30 am and ended up getting there at 2:30 pm. Thankfully, Laila greeted us at the bus station with donuts from Bosa, a trip to Joe's italian ices and a dinner party for that night.
Then I got on a plane at 11 pm that night to get to Florida at 8 am Sunday morning...
I like saying that I'll never do it again, but if the only way to go to camp was to do this all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
Okay, enough story time. I know you guys just come for the pictures..
Aren't they just the coolest looking roommates you've ever laid eyes on?!
We went to the mall in Scottsdale. They were giving out treats in Anthropologie. Chrissie doesn't know what to do about the macaroons!
They were delicious! I believe the hype!
On Friday morning, we went to ASU to figure out admissiony stuff and found this chalk wall.
On Saturday, Laila, a couple dudes I'd never met before and I headed up to Prescott, grabbed lunch and went kayaking and cliff jumping.
Here's the back of Sean's head. I got to sit in the middle of the kayak and just relax while the boys did all the work. Being a girl is nice..
Pretty!! I don't actually think we were allowed to swim. We did anyway.
Here we are before deciding where we would jump. Kyle is wearing a t-shirt. Jon isn't...
Just lounging in the coffee shop!
Let the camp fun begin!! Notice how I didn't include pictures of the bus travel? You would've cried with me. (Not that I actually cried...)
I promised I wouldn't but my roommate is a total babe! Just look at that pose! Such style!
Buzzy!
Deer! Or should I say 'Doe'!?
Cool kids on bugs.
On Chase's day off we headed to Bakersfield/town for a day of Freddy's, laundry, mall walking, board buying, skateshop lurking, pizza eating, mountain sitting, and bug driving. It was fun.
I helped Chrissie and Chase pick out boards at Zumies. Yeah...I said zumies. I'm a chump. Feel free to unfriend me.
We ate pizza on a mountain. On the side of a mountain? We didn't actually hike. We just drove up there.
Chrissie measures her tattoos in coins. I kid. She wanted to see if she had enough for a soda. I just thought it was a funny way to count coins.
Beautiful Tehachapi sunsets. Oh how I miss you..
If you sit here at night, you can see the stars. I love it. I wish I would've spent more time enjoying it. I'm telling you, one week is NOT enough time!
"I went to camp and all I got was this swelbow!"Around the second or third day I got pretty comfortable skating again. Obviously not to the point where I was trying hard new things but to where I was able to try silly things. I was stoked on this. It made me feel like a skateboarder again. Corny..I know. Swelbows don't make you a skateboarder. Duh! But I missed them. I named him Ralph.
Guess what movie this is from!!
Angela!!! This little girl is super rad. She's all sponsed by the Pink Helmet Posse and plays the drums like nobody's business. I hope to be as cool as her one day...
And then we left...
Look at those beautiful faces!! Take me back to caaaamp! I have a feeling I won't be missing camp again for many summers to come. (As long as I get hired, obvi!) I just miss it way too much. The kids are rad, most of the people that work there are rad, the environment is rad. Buhhh! Can I go back now?!
This was in Blythe on a 30 minute pit stop on our way back to Arizona. It was my last time skating until August. I left my board in Arizona. Part of my decision serves as motivation to go back for it and part of it was laziness to have to lug it through the airport.
Mom/head roomie/Laila greeted us at the bus stop in Phx with donuts from Bosa. I am 105% positive we looked pretty rough when she first saw us. Definitely served as a pick me up before heading to Joe's to get italian ices.
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