Sunday, January 23, 2011

Going home....

Sitting here in the Tampa airport, boarding in about ten minutes for our flight to Newark, which will take us to Grand Rapids. It is really very sad, none of us want to leave and go back to the snow, or classes. Since I don't have much time, I'll recap yesterday really quick and if you want to read more, I highly recommend checking out calvincollegeamazingrace.blogspot.com    Those posts are usually more detailed and have pictures. But really quick, yesterday we went skydiving.  Nine people got to go skydiving before it got too windy and it got called off. This was too bad, Scott and I did not get to go, but a rescheduled skydive is in the works for sometime this spring. Our plane is about to board, but you should really check out the official Calvin blog, it is much better than ours. We'll be back in Grand Rapids in a few hours, and tomorrow is the final race!

Oh, we are in first place by a whopping 20 points!!!! Thanks for all the support

-Aaron

Friday, January 21, 2011

Yeah We Ballin'

This morning we woke up tired and sore. Last night we all slept in a Christian Reformed Church and the girls got all the air mattresses while the guys slept on the floor or in my case on the table...yup it was pretty much as soft as the floor ;). So we rolled up our sleeping bags and moved out to the vans. Once the vans were packed to capacity we drove about 45 min to Tampa where we met the Josh (this is the same man and company that put together the race around gas lamp quarters in San Diego). The majority of us were not excited at all to see him because 1. it meant we would have to be competitive. 2. we were all extremely tired. and 3. the last time we did a race like this there was some discrepancy in the final standings.
But, Aaron and i kept a positive outlook and decided to just walk it and try to get as many as possible. When we started out there was a light rain coming in spurts...But about ten minutes in the hard stuff started coming down. Aaron and I went from one clue to the next and after the second clue was completed our socks were saturated and our upper bodies drenched. We stuck it out and kept up positive attitudes and it all ended up working out. In order to get the answer to one of the clues one partner (me) had to navigate a maze - that was painted on the ground - with only our partners instructions to get us through. My eyes were covered but after ten minutes we made it through and were on our way to solve another.
Of course the rain backed off once we were ready to finish. We decided that it would be ok to run to the finish since we had walked pretty much everywhere all day. So we sprinted to the park and met up with Josh who told us we were team number 2!!!! so that was a second place finish for today.
Then we loaded up the vans again and took off toward Orlando... We drove by Disney, and Bush Gardens and all the amusement parks. Eventually our van guessed right - We were going to an Orlando Magic game - that's pretty swah!
We parked the vans in the parking garage and met up with Shelly. She is the activities coordinator (her real title is much more official sounding but this is what i will describe her as). She gave us all passes we had to wear since we were in the stadium early. First we went to our suite (yes a whole box to ourselves) and then we went down on the court to find out what our next challenge was going to be. Shelly told us that there were six envelopes spread out among the 15,000 seats and that the teams to find them would either get to do something where you spin around and then shoot a layup, or at the end of the fourth quarter throw tee-shirts into the crowd (both of these were on the court in front of everyone) So we raced all around and Aaron found an envelope and we were stoked! So Aaron and I got to do the dizzy shot! That was totally sweet! So we spun and spun and shot...but before i shot i managed to run and fall all the way out of bounds....
Later at half-time Mr. Vander Weide took us on a tour of the Orlando Magic offices. We saw the conference room, the "war room" where they all gather to do the NBA draft, Van Gundys' office, and some other important sweet offices and rooms.
Today turned out to be one of the best days on the trip. Not only because we solidified our spot in the final race (because we had two second place finishes today). But, also because Aaron has decided that what we did tonight is one of the top 3 favorite times in his life! I have to say that it was really something special and we owe a huge thank you to the Vander Weides.

-Scott

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Internet in Vegas was 12 dollars a day....

We decided to avoid the Tod Hostel this time around, which proved to be a GREAT decision for all involved, except that they charged way too much for internet so we are way behind on this blog. I'll try to give an abbreviated version of events. We arrived Monday and had a short challenge which was our only challenge during our time in Vegas. We struggled mightily, but thanks to help from some of our follows and supporters, we figured it out in time to still finish 8th. We ended up getting tickets to the Blue Man Group which was phenomenal and it was really cool that our buddy Grant got selected to be on stage with them during one of their skits. (Check out the official Calvin blog for Grant's take) The next day was totally free time. (It turns out Vegas really sucks if you aren't 21. There is seriously nothing you can legally do.) Scott and I wandered about a mile down the road from the Stratosphere where we were staying to Gold and Silver Pawn Shop where they film the History Channel's Pawn Stars. We had a good time seeing the shop but did not see any of the guys from the show. We did buy some souveniers and Scott's autographed Chumlee hat is probably the most popular clothing item among our group currently. The pool at the Stratosphere was on the 25th floor and we enjoyed sunbathing and playing volleyball. Amber has mentioned many times how much better we are than Calvin's team. To cap the night off we went to Mandalay Bay and checked out The Lion King and it was spectacular. I loved the music and seeing it acted it....seriously a must see. 

The next day we took the flight from Vegas to Houston, and from Houston to Tampa. Our flight to Tampa was eventful, as one of the guys from the TV show Entourage was on our plane, as were former Philadelphia Phillies Ricky Jordan and Mike Lieberthal. They were really nice guys and we got our picture taken with them. They also thought our class was super tight. We met up with the Calvin sailing interim after that for about 15 minutes, and they hated us. Apparently we are loud, wild, and obnoxious. We think they just don't know how to have a good time. In fact, everyone on that trip is really lame. (Abbie is on that trip. She is not lame, and it was great to see her.)

Finally, today. We woke up, went to a dive shop or something of the sort, and went swimming with wild manatees! They migrate to the hot springs of Florida at this time of year (72 degree water) and we had a good time petting the manatees (one hand only!) and not chasing them at all. Florida is super strict on these things and if you do one thing wrong it is a $10,000 fine so that is really not cool.  After that we took the hour and a half drive back to Tampa where we went sailing with the other Calvin students. It was relaxing and not that eventful. Once again, good to see Abbie and hang out for a bit even though it was only for an hour or so. Tonight we are at Bradenton Christian Reformed Church and it has been a good time so far. Tomorrow we have no idea what we are doing but we all have a feeling we will be ending up in Orlando. It's bed time for now, hopefully we will be able to update tomorrow!

-Aaron

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Santa Monica


            Today we loaded up the vans and headed out for the challenge. We were given instructions and a map with a perimeter drawn in and also they gave us 32 photographs. Today we had a picture scavenger hunt in the hills of LA right near the HOLLY WOOD sign. There were tons of stairs all up and down these hills because before there were cars people needed to be able to get anywhere and stairs made that easier (more of a workout but easier than just climbing an insane grade incline. Aaron and I made the decision to walk the whole time (except the end) because this would give us more time to be observant and we would get less tired throughout the day.
            So we wandered all around these neighborhoods and everything looks different here than it does in the mid-west or even the east coast. The people were friendly but some were not very helpful. We met one woman who said she had lived there her whole life but she didn’t know where one road was because she was so hung over…this was around noon. So we wandered and managed to find 21 of the photos. (This was the most of any team)
            So the time came to head back to the starting point and after trying my hardest to convince Aaron to run the last stretch with me we ran across the finish line. And it’s a good thing we did because in the event of a tie the team who had the better time would win. So we found out a little while later that we had finished in first place because the team we tied with was one of the teams we sprinted past in the last 200 meters.
            After this race aspect we took both of the vans to In and Out Burger and had lunch. I really like in and out because it is absolutely true to its name. We ordered and it was the shortest wait I have ever experienced with a fast food restaurant and it was definitely the best food too. I ordered one burger regular, and another in their “protein” style. This is without a bun and the burger is just wrapped in lettuce. And then I ordered Animal style fries, which were French fries covered in cheese and their special mystery sauce.
            Then we took a fifteen-minute drive to Santa Monica where we found our hostel and were given the rest of the night off (completely free)! The guys wandered around and found a cigar shop. We all bought cigars and later had a man night on the pier and smoked them together and had guy time.
             For dinner we broke up into smaller groups and went our separate ways. Nine of us ate at Yankee Doodles Sports bar. Where the food wasn’t the greates but we had fun just sitting around the table talking. And some of the others (Aaron included) went out for pizza at a really nice restaurant.
            We wandered the pier and beach and just had a grand time wandering around this new place together.








-Scott


 

Scotts Surfing

 
Today we woke up at our host families houses and drove the whopping 3 1/2  minutes to the Zondervans house where we all met up and split into the two fifteen passenger vans. We drove about 45 min though some light L.A. traffic and arrived a small inlet where there were kayaks lined up on the shore just waiting to be taken out! Curt and Amber staggered the start and handed all the teams a map. Aaron hopped in the back of the sit on top kayak and started paddling while I sat in the front and prepared to navigate the canals lined with million dollar houses and boats.
            We had four checkpoints along the way. At our first checkpoint we bad to carry the boat up to a wooden walkway and then go down a children’s slide and get our picture taken by Amber who was there waiting for the teams. Our next two places we had to visit were bridges. We had to go under these bridges and call out to people who were there waiting for the groups to arrive. Our final destination was possibly the most difficult. Mark Asma was in a kayak hidden in one of the side canals off of a larger canal… so yeah trial and error on that one.
            We raced back to the starting point, which is also where we started and we ended up coming in fourth. We were pleased with this because there had already been several teams that finished in front of us but due to the staggered start we beat out a few of them. The next challenge of today was not one for points but rather experience and fun in the sun!
            We traveled less than a mile to Huntington Beach and met up with some Valley Christian High School students who spent their Saturday morning bearing with surfing newbie college students. It was a ton of fun! I have decided that I would have loved to grow up closer to the ocean because surfing would have been my sport of preference.
            After about and hour in the water we switched so our partners could have the same awesome experience that we had. It was too much fun J After everyone had surfed for the say we just laid in the sun and talked amongst ourselves. It was a relaxing afternoon and the beginning of some color coming back into our faces! That night for dinner we went to the Huntington Beach pier. At the end of this pier is the diner Ruby’s. Classic burgers and shakes and it was sweet (also on this trip the word sweet is pronounced –sweat- I really don’t know why.) After dinner we walked the pier and wondered the streets around Huntington Beach. It is a really cool town and there is always something to do.
            Today was sweet we kayaked and surfed (which may just be the highlight of my trip). 
-Scott








Saturday, January 15, 2011

Surfin' in the USA

This morning we had a delicious breakfast at the Slager house with our host family, who are the nicest people in the world. Both taught in the Christian schools for over 40 years and are now retired and travel everywhere. Our first destination this morning was a set of channels full of boats and we had to navigate our tandem kayak through the channels, finding certain things. Scott and I did well, finishing fourth less than a minute behind first place. Being the heaviest team we felt like we moved pretty quickly, although we did get passed as we approached the finish (but they were more than 100 pounds lighter than us)

After our satisfying fourth place finish we took to Huntington Beach, where we would be surfing! Scott went first and got up a few times. I was really impressed with him (and even more so after I tried it myself). Actually, everyone in the group did pretty well.  I have to say that wetsuits are one of the top 10 inventions of all time. It made the ocean water bearable, which would have been freezing otherwise. My attempts at surfing involved a lot of salt water up my nose and in my mouth, but I did manage to get up onto my knees every time and got to my feet once (arguably twice).

We spent the rest of the afternoon laying on the beach exchanging stories with one another which was really enjoyable. As a group we are all getting pretty close and have gotten to know each other really well. After that we went to Ruby's which is on the pier, and we watched the sunset in the restaurant and it was so beautiful. After that we had a bit of time to shop, and I bought a crazy hat and some sunglasses which I really enjoy wearing. I'm sure pictures of that will surface soon.

Tomorrow we have church and then we will be racing in the hills of Hollywood, which sounds exhausting to me. Wish us luck!

Friday, January 14, 2011

From Bummin it on the beach to a race aorund lil India!

This morning we got to sleep in! wow all the way to 8 o'clock ;) But when we got up the hostel provided pancake batter for us and all we had to do was cook them up. I probably made about twenty pancakes for a bunch of people before I ate some myself but i really didn't mind it was a fun morning.
Then we all packed into the vans and rode about an hour and a half to Laguna Beach! where we were the crazy people from out of state who wore bathing suits and no shirts in the middle of January! We were completely comfortable and loving it while people passed us wearing boots and scarves... it was 75 out. We played Beach Volley ball for about two hours and then had to get on our way to Kara Zondervans' house where we were given our next challenge. We traveled to Little India and some Chinese part of town and there we were given instructions.
In Little India there were three things you had to do. 1-we had to choose either Dye it or Try it. I chose Dye it, and Aaron chose Try it. For try it Aaron had to try on the traditional Indian wedding apparel ( a tunic because they wouldn't let him try on a sari). Then for dye it I had to get a Henna Tattoo. Pretty cool and i lucked out because she didn't put any flowers in my tattoo :). After that we had to get our picture taken in front of some elephant statues. And then we had to go to a Dutch furniture store in lil India (postma's furniture). After that we returned to the pit stop to pick up our last clue. (sadly at this point we were in last!) So we got our last clue and headed towards the China section of town. We had to go into a local Chinese Grocery Store and once in there follow clues to find a particular kind of food that we then had to take outside and eat in front of Mark Asma. So Aaron and I by sheer luck of the roll had to eat jellyfish salad. It kind of looked like cole slaw except that it didn't taste anything like it and was quite slimy. I enjoyed it but it wasn't Aarons favorite part of the race...so as we proceeded along to the finish we were in 7th. However,  do to some minor issues and discrepancies they split the 11 groups in two so there were two 1st place teams, and two 2nd place teams etc.  So our 7th place finish turned into a 1st place victory!
We have had an amazing amount of fun so far on this trip and there is nothing that can compare to some of the things we have had to do or try. So i will be going to bed now... it's really only 11:10 here but the sun wore me out :) and i think tomorrow may be a surfing day... but we don't know yet.

pics will be here tomorrow

-Scott