Cali Trip Day #4: In, On, and Around the Ocean!

Well, SOME of us played IN the ocean anyways...

This was my favorite day of the entire trip. We woke up, had another continental breakfast, loaded the buses, and headed to the "beach".



We spent the morning hiking along the shore at Dana Point. At first we thought we wouldn't see much because the tide was on its way in, but boy did we see all kinds of things!



Sea Anemone's,



Crabs,



Keyhole Limpits,



Sea Hares,





and Starfish!





Here is where the IN the ocean comes in to play. Tide came in, and lots of people were out on a bit of a rock. Some found a safe way,



while others went swimming. A few scrapes, bumps, and soaked cell phones but for the most part we made it back in one piece.

We got to play around the harbor while we ate a quick lunch- some cool tall ships sitting there.





After lunch we walked over to the Ocean Institute and got to take turns going out on the ocean and going through different modules on shore. I got to go on the boat first!



Right off the bat we saw sea lions at the edge of the harbor.



The water was a bit choppy at first and the boat was throwing a pretty good spray up every time it crashed down into a wave. Me and one of the other counselors went up on top to the lee side of the tower thinking we would be safe... Not so. We hit a rouge wave or something because all of the sudden we were DRENCHED. Like, someone just poured a 5 gallon bucket of sea water over my head drenched. You should have heard the kids scream at that one!

Just a little spray:



After a bit of a cruise we found some bottle nose dolphins!









Funny story (not really), we managed to break the boat. After following the dolphins for a while, they decided to try and do a sample of some kind for the kids to see. They dropped the thingy (real technical, eh?) over and it promptly got snagged on something, then the boat shifted and in the process the cable went over one of the crew's heads and jerked tight across the back of his neck. I guess it pinned him down and they had to pull the cable up and slide him out. He ended up being okay, but the cable then got tangled in one of the propellers and snapped off. I think we went all the way back to the harbor on just one screw. When we got back the captain dove in and checked it out, I guess it was okay because the next group got to go out!

Trying to dry everyones jackets out back at the institute after getting drenched on the boat.



The modules at the institute were pretty interesting. Students got to look at different types of sea animals, dissect a fish (as soon as I get a copy of Mr. Tayson Neff dissecting his fish, it will be right HERE!!!), measure water, and a few other things. Tayson about lost his lunch, but he tried so hard to be macho for the ladies in his group.



One group was working on testing the salinity of water... We'll leave names out to protect the innocent. Here's the story as I heard it. They had a water sample and were supposed to ad some other stuff to it until it changed colors. They kept adding, and adding, and adding, but nothing would happened. Their instructor had them get another sample of water and try it again. Still nothing. She finally came over and added the other stuff for them, and viola! It worked! The 3 students were sitting there with a disgusted look on their faces, having given up. One of our chaperones tried to get them going again but they were done. When asked why, the student said, "You know why it didn't work, right? BECAUSE WE WERE JUST ADDING MORE WATER.". They hadn't been adding the other chemical!

Much funnier to hear Ms. Pattee tell it.

Anways, after all of the fun and games at the beach we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and walk down the street to Mid Evil Times!

This. Was. AWESOME. You have no idea how much fun this can be until you go with a huge group of psychotic middle school students. I screamed myself hoarse cheering for our night!







You can just barely see our poor night in the middle, being mobbed by the students.



The dangerous part- souvenirs here were of the pointy variety.



And of course, almost EVERYONE bought one. It did, however, make for one of THE BEST ALL TIME videos I have ever seen.



Yes, that was all 110 students CHARGING across the road. What the video missed was the "RED! RED! RED! RED!" chanting for a solid 1/2 hour as we exited and made our way out to the road.

The best part? About half of them could hardly speak the next day. :)

Cali Trip Day #3:Like Herding Ducks, at the Zoo.

Have you ever tried to herd a flock of ducks!? Chasing 13 and 14 year olds through a zoo feels a lot like that...

We started the day off with a quick "continental" breakfast in the parking lot by the buses while rooms were checked and keys turned in. Once everything was good, we headed to the San Diego Zoo.

My flock of "ducks"...



Pretty cool zoo. We started out at the reptile house and things went downhill from there. Got to see all kinds of things.

Yawning pythons,





Turtles?! Not sure I want to know whats going on here...



Even got to see Momma Panda and her baby!





There was a bit of uphill as well, which the "ducks" were quick to take advantage of the free ride.



Thankfully, after all the downhill, we could ride the tram back to the top!





While we were all milling around getting ready to do the behind the scenes bus tour, guess who shows up!? A few players from the NFL Chargers!





The girls swooned, the guys... Well, lets just say the first words out of one of my ducks was "OOOOO, WHERE ARE THE CHEERLEADERS!!!?!?!" No joke.

Behind the scenes tour was cool, saw all kinds of things like a giant sleepy kitty,



(from the tour guide: why does he sleep upside down? because he CAN!)

Elephants,



More kittys,





and all sorts of other things. I also found THE COOLEST souvenir of the entire trip: A propeller hat!



Seemed like a long day but we actually left the zoo late afternoon for a couple hour bus ride to our new hotel. Got there without incident, got settled in, and had some pool time!





After the short break we loaded back up to eat at Shakey's.



Kinda funny- I think their capacity seating is like 130. We brought 123, and the 30 or so people that were in there sure cleared out in a hurry! Not bad food and a nice break from the days activities. EVERYONE slept well that night!

Cali Trip Day #2- Getting Wet.

So after a lllaaaaattteeee start from the Mcdonalds, we trundled off toward California. We were running a few hours behind so we were late for our next stop- Sea World!

First stop once we got there was to check and make sure I was tall enough for all of the rides.



Pretty sure I'm good.

I should mention here that our bad luck continued through the night... 2 of our students had siezures of some kind while on the bus. One was fairly severe but she seemed to be doing great. We kept her with us throughout the day in a wheelchair. One good thing did come of this- as her helpers we got to cut to the front of most of the lines. First ride we went on- Atlantis.

"Oh, you'll only get a little wet"...



We got VERY wet. Thanks a lot, Bonnie... Just remember that what goes around comes around.

Spent the rest of the afternoon trying rides and taking in the shows. The dolphin show was incredible and so was Shamu!



So many things to see- polar bears, sharks, penguins, dolphins, orcas, and on and on. Great place to visit, but plan on spending more time!

We stayed a little later than we had planned on because we were late getting there. Once it was time to go we loaded up and went a few blocks to Belmont Park to ride the 100 year old wooden roller coaster. Lotsa fun!

Thoroughly cooled after the roller coaster:



Pretty amazing feat to watch- we managed to get 110 kids OFF the buses in 90 seconds flat, all of them rode the coaster, and loaded back on the bus in I'm guessing under 1/2 an hour. Guess they were hungry! We at that night at a lovely restaurant called Ricky's just up the road from our hotel. Finally, we got to sleep in a REAL bed!

Cali Trip Day #1- Dead Dino's and Deader Busses.

So I got to tag along on this years 8th grade California Science trip...  Meaning I chased 12 of the 110 students that rode a bus from Blackfoot, Idaho, to San Diego, California, see all of the sites, and then ride all the way back.

What. An. Experience.  It was a ton of fun with many, many memories made along the way.

So day one.  Whats more fun than waking up at 5 a.m., loading all your crap up on the bike, and riding off to meet the bus?  Well, sleeping in comes to mind, but that wasn't an option.



We got everyone checked in, loaded all of the luggage, and trundled off down the freeway. We had THREE buses- 2 full size MCI's and a Ford Superduty "Truck Bus". After only an hour or two we started having some overheating issues with our bus, which after a few freeway roadside stops it was decided the temp gauge was off so we continued on our way. Hmmm....

One of the bus-fulls of kids:



First stop was the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Ut.  Cool stuff!





Of course, our boys had more fun in the little kid play area...



After a few hours there we loaded up, got some new drivers, and headed down the road again.

New drivers... Wow. Our buses were a little new to them and shifting turned out to be quite a challenge. ESPECIALLY on the crazy road up through Panguitch, Ut, to get to our next stop: Bryce Canyon.

Originally, we had planned on doing the Queens Garden hike but because of SEVERAL stops to check the overheating bus and reeallly slow going up all the switchbacks, we ended up doing the Navajo Loop trail, which was incredible!

How do you get 110 13 year olds through a canyon!? Very carefully!!!















Beautiful place. I'm going to have to go back there and do some more exploring! SO- now it's getting later, 7 or 8 in the evening. Load 'em all back up and trundle off to the next stop- Mcdonalds for dinner. Our bus made it in decent time... but the OTHER big bus blew a rad hose. We unloaded our boys and sent our bus back for the other bus. Spent the next FIVE HOURS at Mcdonalds waiting for the bus to get fixed. Ug. What to do at Mcdonalds for 5 hours....

Juggle basketballs?



Sit around? Charge your cell phone?



Lay down on the bus once it got back from rescuing stranded students and try and sleep?



Sure, why not.

Note to self- Don't let the students sleep on the lawn next time... When the sprinklers kick on they aren't happy when you laugh at them. Or maybe that note should read: Be sure to have the video camera ready next time.

They finally got the other bus fixed. Of course, then the good bus had a DEAD BATTERY. We finally ended up getting out of there at 3 a.m. and picked up some fuel and new drivers again in St. George, Ut.

What a loooonnnnngggggg day. Hope it gets better from here on out!