Day 5- Painted Desert

Day 5: Painted Desert and Petrified Forrest 

Ayeeeee, back at it again with the shacka gang, we know y'all missed us!!!

We woke up at a crisp 5 this morning and packed up to head out of NMMI. We got on the bus and headed across open plains towards Arizona.

During this long drive, we saw millions of bushes, all the same species. As we passed through Albuquerque, New Mexico, it looked straight out of Star Wars with exquisite architecture. For breakfast, we had bagels with cream cheese and very refreshing crunchy grapes, which were absolutely amazing.

After driving through the desert for what felt like an eternity. The Grumpys blessed us with REAL bacon bits, chicken, ham, and cheese. We devoured it and left no crumbs. 

As we pulled up to Arizona, we were petrified at the sight of the forest! After our group photo, we made our way to the top of the mountain to see the beautiful view of the Painted Desert. We learned that the trees turned into stone after millions of years of being in Arizona! We took many photos! (too many maybe) Afterwards, we were informed about our recent locations! We gained Einstein-level knowledge from our research presentations today. We learned that Ozzy Osborn got arrested for public urination at the Alamo in Texas. We also found out that the Carlsbad Cavern can fit 12 football fields in the Big Room! "If you think waiting for your food to heat up in the microwave takes forever, imagine waiting 225 million years to turn into a rock." - our very own Leah.

After driving through the petrified heat, we were hungry and got served chicken salad sandwiches with chips and grapes. This delicious meal fueled us as we approached the Grand Canyon.

We arrived at the beautiful Grand Canyon lookout and embraced the amazing views of the eye-catching canyon. We split into many groups and took pictures and looked over the edge to see just how deep the canyon was. The breathtaking views cannot be captured by pictures alone, but by experiencing and appreciating the gorgeous view.

We walked back to the park to get our things and set up camp, and then we walked a mile and a half as we made our way to the beautiful scenery of the canyon to watch the sunset. Many photos were taken, and many jaws dropped enjoying the views. On our walk back, we saw a big family of elk with four fawns and two mamas.

Eventually, we made it back to the campsite, and we began to pack our bags for the morning. The Grumpys provided us with breakfast, lunch, and snacks for our treacherous hike in the morning.

Even in the cold, we are all very, very excited to wake up before the butt crack of dawn to gather our hiking materials and head out for the once-in-a-lifetime hike in the Grand Canyon. Goodnight and peace out from the Dopest group, the Dopeys. 

— LOVE: Reid Reagan Bynum Karleigh Owen Quinn AC Leah Taylen Amanda Emma Patrick Ella G and Emory

Day 4- Carlsbad Caverns

           Day 4: Carlsbad Caverns 

What's up, it's the Dopest group, we are the best!! We might lose the competitions but we win in heart <3

The happiest part of today was the extra ten minutes of sleep. Soon woken up by Vickey. Some people who didn't sleep under the pillow they had an eerie light on them the entire night, and got bitten. For yogurt, we ran out of spoons; some people got some, but most did not. Reid used his student ID card to eat his yogurt, some used plastic knives, alongside the yogurt, we had granola to go with it. 

After getting on the bus and sleeping for a while, we ended up in the desert and crossed state lines going into a new timeline. We saw tumbleweeds, cactus, and a lot of aliens in New Mexico. Before leaving Texas, we saw how 50% of American oil is made in Texas by oil rigs. Alongside the oil rigs there was wind turbines. One of the most memorable things we did was drive in a straight line for about 100 miles. Sadly.

Shoutout, Grumpys are still not better than the Dopeys; they had the best lunch for us. They gave us croissants and oranges, turkey with added water that ended up spilling on the bus. Shoutout to Isaac for holding up the cheese sticks and dripping all the water everywhere. We had lots of sugar cookies; some ended up on the bus floor. 

After everyone got depromoted (yes that’s what we meant), except Caleb (Owen), Fire-ant (Issac) , Air Conditioning (AC) , and Alani (Alannah) we flew down 750 ft. We became one with the bats as we toured the caverns with our group. We saw stalagmites, stalagmites, drippy stones, and high ceilings, a really cool pond, dark holes, but no bats. The temperature was 56 degrees, and we had to whisper the whole time, but Quinn wore his flip-flops and could be heard for miles. We soaked up the coldness to use it later. When we came out of the caverns, the park rangers showed us a gigantic centipede outside of the women's bathrooms. After 15 minutes of taking pictures, we proceeded on our trip towards Roswell, the home of Aliens, and to Walmart to get to our sleeping place for the night. 

As Mrs. America and Carolina Girl were fueling up, we continued to make our way to Wally World. Our cooks went in and got stuff for dinner while the rest of us bought snacks, pillows, clothes, and many other things. After that, we headed to the New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) where we'll stay for the night. 

After safely arriving at the New Mexico Military Institute, the grumps cooked up tacos even though it wasn't Taco Tuesday. We, Dopeys, got promoted from bus packers to bloggers to bless your feed. We stay on the lawn at the NMMI and hope to not get rained on by the sprinklers and also not get abducted by aliens. 

We jingled our way through the Dixie Land Delight Competition with each group performing a dance that they created. It doesn't matter that we didn't win because we had the best energy and effort. The happy’s won even though they were the cooks and had the least amount of time to rehearse their dance. 

As we sleep with the Dixie Land Delight song stuck in our heads and the aliens above us, dreaming about how we will head into the Petrified Forest from Harry Potter as we escape he who must not be named but aka Voldemort, because we don't give a crap and we thug it out.

Signing off for now, your favorite group: Reid, Reagan Bynum, Karley, Owen, Quinn, Marin, AC, Leah,  Amanda, Emma, Taylen, Emory, Patrick, and Ella G!!

#Shakagang🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼