Day 6- The Grand Canyon

Day 6: Grand Canyon



Hey y’all it’s the Dopey’s- MG, Maggie S., Marin, Charlotte, TJ, Wriston, Brynn, Ethan, Stetson, and Merrily! Today we hiked the Grand Canyon and the beauty we saw is just indescribable. We woke up around 4:30 AM, got dressed very quickly and started our brisk walk down to the canyon led by Grant that was an extra 1-1.5 miles for a warm up! We are ready to get extra fit today! On our walk we saw some fat squirrels, elks, and mules leading those throughout the canyon. If we had to describe the sunrise in one word, it would be astonishing! Participants had the option of doing a 2 mile, 3 mile or 6 mile hike. This will be a day to remember in all of our lives as we had friends beside us who cheered us on when we felt like we couldn’t get back to the top. We all felt a sense of accomplishment when we reached the top and are so glad we got to experience this with our TWB family.

 

After our hike, everyone was free to do anything they would like such as: laundry, shower, riding the buses around the Canyon, visiting the general stores at the national park, calling home, napping, etc. For lunch we enjoyed the famous Deaton stew over delicious white bread- a perfect pairing. Everyone met up at 7 pm to close the day with a sing-along. Our favorite songs were Party in the USA, Cruise, and Dixieland Delight which we sang so loudly that it could be heard throughout the entire campground!


Tomorrow we will be heading to LAS VEGAS! We get to sleep in, and take our time getting all dressed up before we hit the town! We are so excited and cannot wait to see what all that Vegas has to offer!




Our 6 mile hikers enjoying their time at the bottom before making the climb back up!


Who can be tired when you get a view like this to wake you up!


One of our trail markers for hikers! This point signifies the 0.5 mark! 


Pictures do not do it justice! We are so blessed that we get to take in these views for 2 days!


Our 1.5 down, 1.5 up hikers! They are VERY happy to have stumbled across the bathroom!


Our participants cannot stop raving on how beautiful the GRAND Canyon is! 


Some of our 1 mile and 3 mile hikers! 


The famous Deaton stew being prepared by TWB legends Ms. V and Grant Deaton!


Our participants have a new favorite meal... DEATON STEW!


To finish off our big day of hiking, shopping, showering, laundry, and calling home, we were able to finish the day spending time together with a sing along! All of our beautiful voices were on display for all the surrounding campsites to enjoy! 








































Day 5- Painted Desert

Day 5: Painted Desert 


Dopey's here! We are Marin, Merrily, Brynn, Maggie, Charlotte, T.J., Wriston, Ethan, MG, and Stetson.

 

We woke up so early this morning that not even the cadets at the military institute were awake! We packed up our belongings and loaded the bus and van for another day of traveling from New Mexico to beautiful Arizona!


The bus riders passed time this morning by napping, eating, and having a bus aisle dance party to a variety of soundtracks. Our members on the van had a sing-a-long and practiced their unique skill of animal noises (Anna won the competition with her jack rabbit noises).

 

After driving through New Mexico, we stopped for a photo shoot at the Arizona Welcome Sign, getting to meet others awaiting for pictures at the sign as well from all over the United States! We got to see three National Parks during our adventures today. Our first of the day was the Painted Desert, where we listened to many participants share their invigorating research projects of the past couple stops that were very interesting and creative, including Charlotte's military style report! Next we traveled a few miles across the park to the petrified forest and took in the views and had some group pictures taken!

 

We trekked to Flagstaff, Arizona, along Route 66 and the van stopped to get the fender repaired! The TWB participants had two gourmet dinner options: McDonald’s and Safeway grocery store. Our favorite meal choices included the biggest sandwich ever seen, chosen by Sam, and delicious chocolate-dipped cheesecake. We also got front row seats to a dance battle between Anna and Merrily in the Starbucks lounge of Safeway.

 

After our brief dinner intermission, we completed our last drive of the day to our final destination, the Grand Canyon. Participants were in awe as we ran to the rim of the canyon, and we were also surprised by Grant’s reappearance on Trip 2! We’re heading to bed early tonight as we prepare to hike the Grand Canyon at 5 A.M. tomorrow. Participants will be hiking between 2 and 6 miles tomorrow which we are all so excited for!

 

We would also like to give a birthday shoutout to Charlie – Happy 17th Birthday! He was gifted a card signed by each of the participants, a specially picked sticker from the staff from Carlsbad Caverns, and an extra gift was the playing of ‘Danger Zone’ over the bus speakers per his request.


We will be spending some time getting to completely engulf ourselves in all the Grand Canyon has to offer before hitting the road again to see the fabulous Las Vegas! We are ecstatic to see what all the city has to offer before traveling to Cali!



Made it to the beautiful state of Arizona! 



We love the Petrified Forest National Park! We got to see two beautiful parts of the park and catch up on our fantastic presentations!


Charlotte's presentation of New Mexico Military Institute!


Maggie's presentation on San Antonios River Walk!


Harris' presentation of the state of Louisiana!


Emma's presentation of Bourbon Street!


MJ's presentation on the state of Texas!


Corbin's presentation on the Alamo!


Carson's presentation on Carlsbad Caverns National Park!


TJ's presentation the UFO's of Roswell, New Mexico!


Henry's presentation on the state of New Mexico!


Aiden's presentation on the Painted Desert!


Charlie's presentation on the Petrified Forest!


The Sneezys!


The Dopeys!


The Sleepys!


The Grumpys!


The Bashfuls!


The Happys!


We have arrived at the beautiful Grand Canyon! It sure is grand!

We are so excited that we are finally here that we had to run from the buses to see the Grand Canyon for ourselves!













Our cooks, the Grumpys, getting our snacks prepared for our hikes tomorrow!


Finally arrived at our campsite at the Grand Canyon! Off to bed soon so we can have the best hike ever tomorrow!






 

 





Day 4- Carlsbad Caverns

Day 4: Carlsbad Caverns


Dopeys here and we are Marin Cahill, Merrily Tew, Brynn Dodge, Maggie Simmons, Charlotte Crowell, T.J. Garner, Wriston Griffin, and Ethan Parkhurst, Stetson McDaniel. Today, we traveled from San Antonio, Texas to Roswell, New Mexico. Talk about a treacherous journey.

 

Waking up bright and early this fine morning in Kerrville Schreiner State Park, we quickly packed our things and headed out on our way to our destination for today – Carlsbad Caverns. Shortly after boarding the bus, the bus riders had the exclusive entertainment of Henry at the mic. While the bus riders were enjoying their entertainment, the van riders had an abrupt bump in the road- literally- when the right tire fender flew off the side of the van. When they finally noticed, Ms. V instructed them to turn around and look for the missing fender. We did not expect to already be traveling back east on Day 4! During the van’s unsuccessful attempt to locate the missing fender on the road, Evan decided to play ‘Danger Zone’ from Top Gun on repeat for hours.

 

The missing fender was unfortunately not the only roadblock of our day. As we continued our travels, we were reluctantly served a TWB delicacy: pizza wraps. However, many of our participants opted for Flying J’s pizza and chicken tenders instead. Our next roadblock was quite literal as we were stuck behind a severe traffic accident for over two hours. This sadly hindered our experience of seeing the Carlsbad Caverns. Instead of viewing the stalactites and stalagmites, we purchased overpriced postcards and stickers from the Carlsbad gift shop! At least we saw the beautiful mountain landscape while driving in the national park!

 

After this stop, we continued our long drive to Roswell, New Mexico. After viewing the unique alien paraphernalia of the town, as it is close to Area 51, we stocked up on essentials at Walmart. After buying food for the next few days, we headed to our home of the night, the New Mexico Military Institute. The Dopeys are concluding their night with writing the blog, eating delicious “walking tacos”, and sleeping on the practice field of the military institution.


We are so excited for all the new adventures that we come across tomorrow and ending our night in the GRAND CANYON!


Please be patient as we explore all the Grand Canyon has to offer us the next few days. Wifi is hard to come by so once we are back on the road the blog will be updated and displaying all sorts of beautiful canyon pictures taken by staff and participants!


Our sleeping beauties spotlight of the day...

Merrily making herself comfy on the van



And the participants think staff never sleeps...


MJ has the right idea! Looking very comfy







Talent Show on the bus put on by our great MC Henry!

Our first performance by our lovely TWB Boyband!



Anna putting her animal


Yummy lunch including pizza wraps and gas station pizza and salads!


Gas time!



Our rest stop providing us with all of the beautiful views that Texas has to offer!



Finally arriving at Carlsbad Cavern National Park! We are so happy to finally be here after a long day of travels!


The Happy group!


The Sleepy group!


The Grumpy group!


The Sneezy group!


The Dopey group!


The Bashful group!


The best staff in all the land! Missing our amazing bus driver Kevin!


Grant finding some New Mexico gear! We are sure his parents will love it :)


Grumpys getting our supplies for walking tacos and all of our snacks for the Grand Canyon!!


Dinner provided by the Grumpys! Walking tacos for the win after a long day of travels!