Day 19: Colorado- Olympic and Paralympic Museum
Good mornin’ ya’ll. Today was a beautiful day for a long bus ride. We woke up at 6 am, and rolled out at 6:45. About an hour and a half in, our Sleepys served us scrumptious Wally-World pop tarts and Capri Suns. Unfortunately, one of our vans, Miss America, didn’t get to enjoy any Capri Suns. At our first stop of the day, some of us enjoyed the playground. Morgan, Sam B, Sam W, Brandon, Grayson, and others did flips on the monkey bars while Charlie, Ashton, Sanders, Thomas, and Gabe threw a Frisbee that they found left near the playground. Then, we hopped back on our vehicles and drove about two hours. Many people on the bus played card games like War, Rummy, and Poor Man’s Poker (*with quarters). For lunch, our Sleepys served the fan favorite Turkey Caesar Wraps, Cheese Puff balls, and frosted oatmeal cookies. We made it to our next stop, a Flying Jay. During our stop Grant and Michael met Jim Haswen, who’s not only the owner of Pilot and Flying Jay, but also the Cleveland Browns. Lots of people got cinnamon rolls and snacks. There were only 5 girls stalls available for 50 something of us and other customers, so many opted out of using the bathrooms at that stop, making the next two hours on the road especially trying. We got back onto the road and played more games. Kelly’s quarantine chess hobby came in handy as she beat everyone she played.
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| WEEEEEEEEE |
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| Recess time! |
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| Morgan or a bear? |
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| Van selfies, best selfies |
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| Lizzie working hard |
Finally, we rolled up to the Olympic/Paralympic museum around 2:30. A good 20 of us tried and succeeded to load onto the elevator… at first. We got to the 3rd floor before the elevator just stopped and it took about 5 minutes for us to realize there might actually be an issue. After sitting there clueless and slowly descending into madness, the elevator numbers started glitching and the whole thing started moving down painfully slow. The lucky survivors finally made it back to the bottom in one piece. Pretending like it didn’t happen, we all just continued up the stairs into the inspiring galleries. The exhibits were stunning and all shockingly high-tech. Asher’s favorite was the torch exhibit featuring torches from every year of the Olympics. Ashton’s favorite was the immersive 360 degree video of the opening ceremonies. Sam and KS got a little too emotional at the 10 minute movie showing many inspirational speeches and stories of unbelievable athletes. Sam is now determined to be an Olympic snowboarder. It was crazy to learn what Paralympic athletes can overcome to achieve their dreams. Of course, the tour of the museum ended in a stop through the gift shop with over-priced shirts. Almost everyone stopped to grab some grub at the food court- fries, pizza, and quesadillas, a favorite. We met a past participant, Virginia, and were fortunate enough to here about her experience in person. Then, we traveled to the Garden of the Gods were we saw breathtaking red rocks, beautiful mountains and luscious trees. After a quick picture, we headed to our campsite for the night. We ate an amazing dinner of french toast and sausage at the request of Dallas. No surprise there. After dinner, we showered and played at the arcade. Some of us won jewelry, tattoos, and stuffed animals. All of our leftover laundry quarters were put to good use. Before hitting the hay, we spent time chatting and reflecting on the trip of a lifetime. This is it from the Happys, thanks for reading our blog, see y’all in 4 days!
