We had an amazing 15th birthday celebration for Ethan in Vegas, complete with decorating the bus with streamers and surprising him in his room with delicious cake and cookies! After a great buffet lunch, we explored the Venetian and made our way down the strip to watch the famous fountain show outside the Bellagio. Following the fountain spectacle, we made our way inside the hotel to see the world’s largest chocolate fountain. On our second day in Vegas, we rode thrilling rides located at the top of the Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower, followed by some down time poolside, before finishing the day on the exhilarating New York New York roller coaster.
We then set out to Zion National Park, where we hiked a magnificent trail before setting off to Kanab, Utah. We introduced a friendly competition that day and our first event took place at our cowboy dinner. After line dancing, in their best country western costumes, the two teams showed off their best catwalk! A special shoutout to Ryan, who was definitely the best dressed of the night! The fun challenges continued later when the trip members partook in the Apache relay race. They sped through tasks such as running with an egg on a spoon, naming the 50 states and a blindfolded skittle sorting challenge. We were very impressed by Jordyn’s hidden talent of reciting the alphabet backwards in all of 5 seconds! The next day, we headed off to Flagstaff and stopped at Bryce Canyon for an exquisite hike through the incredible red rocks. Chloe said, “it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” We enjoyed a delicious Greek family dinner, before surprising the trip members with an ice cream treat from Dairy Queen for dessert. For our evening program, everyone battled it out in their final color war event: a song writing competition! Everyone helped come up with creative songs reminiscing about their time thus far.
The next day was one many of us had been looking forward to for a while: visiting Sedona and taking a ride in the famous pink jeeps. We had a blast exploring the rocks and stopping to take photos in front of the incredible landscape. After eating lunch in Sedona, we played a game called Trade Up, where the trip members started off with a pen and were sent off to trade their pen with local store owners. They continued making trades with the hopes of being the team that ended up with the most valuable item. The groups were successfully able to trade up their pens for bracelets, an angel statue, an amethyst crystal and even a diamond infused face mask!
The next day we set off for Scottsdale, the final destination on our journey together. Along the way, we stopped to hike one of the seven natural wonders of the world: The Grand Canyon! As anticipated, the views were absolutely incredible.
Our friends have turned into family and we are so thankful for the memories and laughs we’ve shared. We know for our trip members that this is not goodbye, but rather see you soon!
The Westcoast Blogger
Do you want to go on desert adventures next summer? Read more about our 21-day Ultimate California trip!