Day 12-San Francisco

Day 12: San Francisco

As we woke up a little later than usual at 7:15, which felt so luxurious, we were then pleasantly surprised by the delicious smell of nutella and croissants. Before we knew it, breakfast was basically over and we were cheerfully urged to put a pep in our step. We poured onto the vehicles with our croissants in mouth and headed for a short stop to Sutro Bath. BUT of course, we had to celebrate the birthday girl, CAROLINE STACEY!!!!!  We celebrated with an off tempo singing (as usual) of happy birthday by the cliffs :)

Our foggy drive up the windy streets ended at a parking lot, to then us being informed that we might need our hiking shoes. While the wind picked up, so did our pace as we quickly headed down to see the breathtaking view of the Sutro Baths where the ocean meets the rocky shore. As Caleb led us down the hidden cave path, telling us to trust him, we quickly understood why the journey was worth the while as the view transported us to a new world. Caleb proposed a challenge, he offered to pay for the dinner of  the first person to make it up the hill. Davis was quick to take on the challenge and took first place, (little did he know TWB would offer to pay for all of our dinners anyways.)

An amazing tourist attraction that we got to visit today was Pier 39 and the Fishermans Wharf. The view led straight to the prison on Alcatraz and we could almost hear the screams of the prisoners calling for help (not really, don’t worry parents). Then we tasted the world famous bread bowls from Boudins and feasted on clam chowder and other soups. We visited many of the shops and Hannah Cali had an oreo churro that she thought was great. 

     

 When we got set free from the grasps of our counselors and got to hit the city. We threw money at everything we saw and will be back with a looootttt of souvenirs. We saw the beautiful Ghirardelli Square and tried the best chocolate. While all the locals laughed at our matching outfits, we even got asked if we were UCLA students. We learned that we needed to figure out how to read maps, and were successful in finding our way to our group dinner.

 We were overjoyed to get to share some real food as we gathered at a Far East Cafe, a restaurant in Chinatown. We made new friends as the counselors counted us off to sit at dinner and got to have our meal family style.The food food food . The way we ate had an interesting buffet style of food, we didn't know what we were eating before, and sometimes we didn't know what we were eating even after we were staring at it… it was very new to us… afterward we used our new map reading navigating skills to make our way back to the bus and luckily none of us needed to use the help line this time. Everyone was sad to be leaving but afterward we took a walk of friendship on the Golden Gate Bridge and held hands to cement our friendship for the rest of our lives. We were told a story about two friends solidifying their bond with holding hands for 23 steps, and we too did the same. 

Unfortunately the sleepy’s are signing off from the blogging community. That concludes our time as bloggers. With love - Abby, Isabella, Hannah-Cali, Margot, Caleb, Annie, Bridgett, Maddy, Bekah, Rhianna, Jake, Morgan, Jack, and our amazing group leader Tobias Carter Brink.

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*The photos are a bit out of order, they will be organized later when we have better service!

DAY 11: HIGHWAY 1

There was no snooze button for us this morning as we were up and at'em at 5:45 a.m and saddling up before we were even. We feasted on a very nutritious meal of Great Value Pop Tarts and YooHoos for some extra protein. Our cooks (the Bashfuls once again) decided it would be a good day for some portion control, giving one pop tart per person. As we left the beautiful lake scenery anticipating a delightful sunrise, the majority of us slept through the morning drive. The few that remained saw the amazing sunrise which consisted solely of grey fog.

When we finally rolled into our long-awaited pit stop, while the slumbering bus was awakened by the serenading sound of bagpipes, Carolina Girl heard the call of No Sleep Till’ Brooklyn by the Beastie Boys. We got to admire one of the most breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean at Ragged Point on Highway 1. With the views came the sweet serenade of the local seals. Naturally, we captured the gorgeous scenery with many selfies and pictures with our new TWB besties.

We finally got to see the legendary ‘TWB Rock’ today. When we arrived, it felt like our fairy grandmothers had already been there, with tarps laid out in preparation for our sing along. As we shared a beautiful moment together, looking out at the picturesque scenery of the coast of Highway 1, we ended our sing-along with a sweet acoustic rendition of Today. (The seals joined and were almost as off key as we were.) Grant gave us the time to be vulnerable with our new family and made sure to remind us how grateful he is for us and how lucky we are to be sharing this journey together. The saddest thing we were reminded of was that we had reached the halfway mark of our trip. Time flies when you’re on a one-in-a-lifetime trip and having fun exploring our magnificent country and making lifelong friends along the way!

Since many of us needed to sparkle, the boys and girls gathered behind SEPARATE trees for a quick nature pee. We then piled back into the vehicles as we finished wiping the tears from our eyes. Lunch was quickly served, chicken caesar wraps with some scrumptious buttered rounds and Kool-Aid Jammers. We quickly fell asleep with our stomachs full, when the vehicles were awoken by unpredictable songs. As we pulled up to a Flying Js, we saw the glorious glow of the Cinnabon Cinnabon, but they were not prepared for TWB to come and wipe their stock clean. After that brief stop, we had a quick dinner on the road and were greeted by the fog rolling towards us, an indication that we were near San Francisco.