Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The End!!

I'm currently writing this post from Colorado, which means that I survived the summer! 9 straight weeks of trips, and one rental group later, I made it through what may have been the craziest time of my short life! There was always something, but I'll try and capture the highlights of each trip

Williamsburg! 

We went to Busch Gardens, which was pretty cool! We also went to a water park and the Revolutionary City. One of the funniest travelers went on this trip, and he kept us laughing the entire time. My favorite memory from this trip was when this traveler went to the Revolutionary City, and asked a colonial lady (who was in full costume) if she knew who John Wilkes Booth was. The lady, not missing a beat, said that no, she hadn't heard of him. This wasn't a good enough answer for my traveler, so he went on and on about John Wilkes Booth. Finally, the lady said yes, she knew him, and started to tell us about him. My traveler kept on walking, not even bothering to listen to her. 


Virginia Beach

We went back to Virginia Beach, and while the first time there was fun, the second trip was difficult. We had a tough group of travelers, and on the last night, one of our travelers sat on the floor of the restaurant and would not move for 45 minutes. That was the low point of the summer, and I'm happy to report that from there, the rest of the summer went wonderfully. I guess it's times like these that remind you to always be on your toes. 
This is how much luggage we take on our trips. This week, I was the lucky one who got to haul all of this upstairs while everyone else went to dinner. Lucky me!

Carolina Beach Tour 

After one horrendous week, we took a tour of the Carolina Beaches. We started in the Outer Banks, made our way to Myrtle Beach, and then back to the Outer Banks. This amounted to us spending a lot of time in a bus, which the staff got to drive. (Oh boy!) It was a fun trip, but by the last day, I was done with driving! 

Myrtle beach was a lot of fun, and we spent about 45 minutes in the ocean, which, for Access Adventures, is a summer record. Another one of my favorite travelers went on this trip, and he was hilarious as always. The best part of this trip was on the last night when we went to a Mexican restaurant, and he ate a ton of food, then proceded to walk around the restaurant, asking everyone to look at his food baby. Inappropriate, yes, hilarious, absolutely! 

Ocean City!

Ocean City concluded the away trips for us, and it was another adventure, but it ended up being one of my favorites. We all finally had the routine down, and it was the last trip. The finish line was so close...just one more sprint and then we were done. 

The first thing I had ever heard about Ocean City is that it's often referred to as Ocean Sh****y because of the amount of clogged toilets AA was responsible for. Unfortunately, we experienced the same thing, but it was only on the last day.
Doris was another of my favorite travelers. She was always smiling, and rocked the floral print every day! She was just fantastic! 

Club Venture

One experience sums up my role of the whole summer. At the end of the last week, we had a lunch cruise around Washington DC. Everyone was going to get to go on it, and after a disastrous drive to DC  (I hate DC traffic soo much!) We were ready to get on the boat. I always go last at any activity, and, just as I was handing my ticket to the man, I hear a loud "No!" I instantly knew that was one of our travelers, and that that would conclude my lunch cruise. She wouldn't get on the boat, so we drove off to find the nearest McDonalds. I drove around for 45 minutes in a two block radius trying to find parking, then eventually gave up and settled for Quiznos. 

After everyone got back, and had a fabulous time (which was the whole point anyway) I had to go pay the bill. As I paid the bill and got off, the gates to the entrance were locked. I started panicking after I couldn't find anyone, and then finally found someone, who told me to push the glowing green button right by the exit. Ooops. 

That's not the only time I've had to sit out while everyone else had fun. In fact, that's part of my job. It's frustrating, sure, but as long as the travelers had fun, that's all that matters. We got to go back to camp and have a talent show that night, and it was there that I realized how much I love this job, even if I have to sit out of the lunch cruise. 

That's it for the summer! This past week has been full of good byes, and it's always sad saying goodbye to everyone. Camp is a weird place. We sleep, eat and work with each other all day for 9 weeks, and then say goodbye. It'll be weird to go back to such an empty place, but we have some very exciting trips planned for the fall. 

I'm spending the week in Colorado, spending my days watching netflix and napping. We're off to the Rockies game, because honestly, what good would a trip to Colorado be without a Rockies game, and I get to go visit my kiddos from my middle school job. I'm really looking forward to seeing them, and hoping that they remember me :) My grandparents are coming down to visit, and we're having a pre-birthday celebration for my Aunt and I. Then it's back to work I go. Since this time last year, my life has changed a lot. At this time last year, I was unemployed, and now, I've been able to work at two wonderful jobs. I've got to meet some wonderful people, and I've done a lot of growing up. Here's to another incredible year!