March 4--Abbott

This morning started off chaotically, as those—Madie—that had not finished their packing scrambled to collect all their belongings and stuff them into their bags. Digging through all the cabinets in the RV, we frantically tried to clean out the vehicle. We then made our way to Las Vegas, where we were astounded by bluntness of the city. Within the first five minutes of entering Vegas we counted seven wedding chapels---we even saw the one from the movie What Happens In Vegas. After this, we finally arrived at our hotel. We were finally let free to roam the roads of Vegas, where we encountered many interesting beings. While walking, we were tempted with many offers that we were quick to deny. When we arrived back at the hotel, we were then surprised with a limo ride. During the ride, we listened to the same songs over and over and over again. They took us to a light show that spanned the length of a street and saw more interesting people, some standing and others on the ground. After a long tour of the city, we ended the ride at the Las Vegas sign, where we took a picture. Finally, we arrived back at the hotel, where we quickly tried to spit out an interesting blog. Thank Howard!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010--Anasazi (Abbott RV)

This morning started off early for me when I was woken up at 5:20 a.m. by my alarm I had set the night before. As I wiped the sleep from my eyes and cautiously made my way around the RV, I collected all of my shower essentials. I dragged myself to the showers, where I anxiously awaited the arrival of a Navajo employee, who kindly unlocked the shower door for me. After my shower, I then headed back to my cozy bed in the RV, where I slept until I was awoken by Mrs. Dickinson at 7:50. She asked me to come outside and informed me that my decision to shower early that morning had been catalysis for a series of events that lead to everyone accidently going into the wrong shower room: the employee showers. Though I was slightly confused as to how I had been the one who erroneously sent everyone to the employee showers, when the night before my RV as a whole was notified by a teacher where the showers were, I accepted the blame. After this, I attempted to return to my slumber, but even the thought of sleeping was fruitless as the entire RV was in a state of consciousness at this point. My RV then ate a hearty breakfast complete with sausage biscuits and healthy cereal that helped stimulate ourselves for the drive to the Grand Canyon. While on the way to the Canyon, I kept myself entertained by keeping up a conversation with Ms. Abbott about the Native American rap we were listening to on the radio. Our favorite song was Sounds of Reality, where a young man and a woman used their vocal chords to produce a strange new earthy genre. As soon as we arrived into the Canyon, we headed over to the visitors’ center to check out the sights and to see a historic watchtower where I bought a book on people dying in the Grand Canyon. After this excursion, we finally made our way into the RV Park where we were staying at for the night. There we were told that we had free time up until 7 pm, so we could take the shuttle and explore. I instantaneously made my way to the shuttle stop with Lilia, Emily, Lucy and Shelby so we could investigate the sights in the Grand Canyon and walk around the rim. Unfortunately though, it was biter cold on the rim and Lucy and Shelby soon left to return to the campground. After gazing at the humbling canyons for a while longer, we then determined that it was time to head back to the RV Park, where as we strolled, we caught a glimpse of the sunsets breathtaking beauty. This day, though not starting off too well, turned out to be strangely relaxing which I believe was contributed by the magnificence of the Grand Canyon. And so, it was a good day.

Mrs. Dickinson's RV

Our trip has come to an end! I'm sitting here in the Las Vegas Airport making use of the WiFi - the fastest I've had the whole trip. All in all, it was nice to feel more disconnected than usual from the real world for these past two weeks. Yesterday we woke up early, straightened up the RVs, and were on the road by 7:30. We stopped at a couple of gas stations and also the Route 66 Museum, a tribute to the hugely famous highway. It was pretty tourist-y but interesting to read all of the famous people who have made stops along the way and also how Route 66 came about. We had been planning to hike the Grand Canyon yesterday morning and also stop at the Hoover Dam, but both of those plans were thwarted by ice. The 19 students and a couple of teachers were dropped off at the Paris Las Vegas while the other teachers went to return the RVs. We all did our own thing until about 8:30 - showered, napped, went out on the town, went to dinner, saw the sights. At 8:30, we all piled into two stretch limos and went to see a light show featuring Don McLean's American Pie, and then drove all around Las Vegas while jamming out to obnoxiously loud music. Hopefully most people made it to bed by midnight, because we woke up at 4:30 this morning. Not fun.

This has really been a fantastic experience and I'm so glad that I chose to do this Minimester trip. I couldn't have asked for a better time! I'd like to say thank you to all of the chaperones and my fellow travelers for making this an unforgettable experience.

-Lucy Eckman '11

Cowgirls: day 9

Frebruary 2nd
By: Paloma Quintanal.

Today was a really tiring day. We woke up like at 8:30. We couldn't take a shower, so we all smelled bad. We went to take some pictures to different landscapes like the spider rock. We also went on a 3 miles hike. That was horrible, at the end everyone was sweating so bad. We were so tired. After that, we went to ride horses, that was a lot of fun. We rode them like two and a half hours, so a lot of the girls finished with their bodies aching. When we finished, we went to "Burger King" to eat dinner.Two hours later we arrived to the RV park, and we all went to sleep.

Cowgirls: Lilia, Paloma, Andrea, Shelbi, and Ale.

Today, our RV set out at about 9:00 AM for the petrified forest. At the Petrified forest we saw wood that was blended with minerals to make beautiful shining rocks. After watching a threatening video about stealing the rocks, we were allowed to wander freely around the park. While walking the scenic path we realized this trail practicly resembled scenes from the Lion King, which was enjoyed by all involved. After eating a tasty lunch of sandwhichs and diet coke, we set off on a mile hike through the painted desert. On this hike we got to experience a mountain side view which we will all never forget. Concluding the day with the Navaho Indian trading post, it ended up being an all together wonderful day.
- Shelbi

Sunday, February 28

This morning we woke up at about 8 and ate some breakfest. We started to drive for about 2 hours to go on a hike at a national park. The hike was very narrow and uphill. The sight was beautiful, it was a little cold outside but we all could handle it. We spilt in two groups and went on 2 seperate trails and then switched. When we finished we went back to the RV, and most RV's made lunch. We then headed off to the Meteor Crater, there we watched a movie and visited the crater. It was so interesting, we then headed to the RV park there we made dinner and went to sleep for another adventurious day.

Tuesday, March 2 (RV Abbott)

We survived the night and woke up peacefully to the thought of Howard no longer being in our presence. After we woke up and got ready we all headed over to the Visitors Center. We then split into two groups, and my group went on a hike around Canyon De Chelly first. The hike was very beautiful and at nearly every stop there were Indians who were selling jewelry or rocks that were painted on and had very special meanings. The hike took longer than we thought and we were late to get to the horse trail, but it was okay because they were not back yet. I was concidered a more experienced rider and was thinking to myself that I had no idea what I was doing. When we first started our ride we were going too slowly. I wanted to canter and not walk. Ana and I had to switch horses because she could not control her horse and she thought that I would be able to. I then rode on her horse and found that her horse was out of control. I then switched with some Indian man, but found that his horse was just as stubborn as Ana's. On the way back they guide in the back led Ana, Andy, Madie and I go on a different trail so that we could run the whole time. It was so wonderful to see the horses run so quickly. I then had to wait for the guide to catch up. While I was waiting my horse was so stubborn and would not stop; he had to be moving and walking forward. The only way I could get him to stop was to get off of him and I had to do that while he was walking. After I would get off him, he would get behind me and push me forward with his head because he knew that we were not supposed to be stopping. After we got to the end of the trail, Ms. Haney and our RV went to a trading post. We then went to a grocery store, where Ms. Abbott and Madie were getting very odd looks because they were the only non-Indians in sight. We drove for what seemed like forever and ended up at a RV camp where the showers do not open until 5:30 AM and we have to pay $1.50 to take a shower. Although tomorrow morning is not going to be that great because we have to start early and drive a lot, I am looking forward to every day to come! :)