Day 17: Cody, Wyoming
Hello everyone! It’s
the moment you all have waited for…the Happy group is here to blog! This is Kaylee Warren, Macie Curlee, Victoria
Hamby, Samantha Bowen, Bailey Earls, Justin Crawford, Michael Punt, Julia
Brice, Zach Storms, Maximus Pavone, Cassidy Rodrigues, Mitchell Swicegood and
Anna Mason.
To start off our great adventure in Cody, Wyoming we arrived
at the Ponderosa campground at 12 am, only to find that our campsite was
already filled with some unplanned visitors. With last minute planning we were able to pack in like sardines and
settle down by 1:30 am. Despite this
slight mishap, we were able to sleep in till 6:30 which meant a whopping 5
hours of sleep!
our campsite at Ponderosa
We woke up sleepy eyed but excited to go on our white water
rafting adventure. We were picked up by
two white school buses to pick up life jackets and head to the Shoshone
River. We split up into groups of nine
and ten to grab our rafts. The girls
made googly eyes over the very cute raft tour guides. Along with their very good looks came even
better life stories. As we headed down
the river we realized it was not going to be a smooth ride. On our twelve mile
trek many dare devils decided to jump into the water, some even swore you had
to break the ice before getting into the water. Two of our groups had a water fight all the way down the river, as they
raced to the third raft to have a huge water war. Some participants were not as eager to get
wet. Our very own Victoria Hamby and
Mckinley Beaty were tricked by Joe the tour guide into going to the very edge
of the raft to look at “the hole” in the water. Before they knew it they were thrown back by the power of the wave and
soaked in the process. As one group
continued down the river Rick the tour guide decided to give the raft a joy
ride with seven 360s in a row. Finally,
drenched from head to toe, we made it to our final destination. Shivering and smiling, we hopped out of our
rafts and headed back to the campsite.
We arrived at the campsite to see Grant, V and counselor Matthew preparing a gourmet breakfast of eggs, sausage, grits and toast. Some say they forgot how good our REAL southern grits are. Bellies full and hearts happy, our very own Sleepy’s left for Wally World to prepare for our next few meals. Others split to wash our very STINKY clothes that probably could stand up on their own. As the day went on everyone decided to start getting ready for the Rodeo!! As the girls bathroom lines got longer, you could say we felt as if our greasy hair was turning grey as we waited. Once some of us finally made it through the make-up lines and bathroom lines, we got to take a nice cold shower because all of the hot water was gone after the first hour long showers where taken. Some people decided to lay out in the grass and take long nice breezy nap. As we got to have our free time some of us ran over to Dairy Queen to get some cool ice cream!! We also got to call our lovely families back home to tell them all about the amazing times we are having with the great new friends that we have made.
Kaylee W., Isabella T., Samantha B. and Victoria H. after rafting
Everyone getting life jackets on and ready to go!
Makayla J. is ready!
Landry F., Kaylee W., Isabella T. and Victoria H. are ready
Blaise S. helping Laura H. get ready
Jackets ready!
Before anyone knew how cold the water was
First boat off!
We arrived at the campsite to see Grant, V and counselor Matthew preparing a gourmet breakfast of eggs, sausage, grits and toast. Some say they forgot how good our REAL southern grits are. Bellies full and hearts happy, our very own Sleepy’s left for Wally World to prepare for our next few meals. Others split to wash our very STINKY clothes that probably could stand up on their own. As the day went on everyone decided to start getting ready for the Rodeo!! As the girls bathroom lines got longer, you could say we felt as if our greasy hair was turning grey as we waited. Once some of us finally made it through the make-up lines and bathroom lines, we got to take a nice cold shower because all of the hot water was gone after the first hour long showers where taken. Some people decided to lay out in the grass and take long nice breezy nap. As we got to have our free time some of us ran over to Dairy Queen to get some cool ice cream!! We also got to call our lovely families back home to tell them all about the amazing times we are having with the great new friends that we have made.
the big V and counselor Matthew making breakfast
The cooks tonight made us an awesome of hotdogs, beans and
mashed tater tots turned hashbrowns! Once everyone finished their delicious meals, complete with little umbrellas in our drinks (thanks to KS’s mom!!!!!!), we all prepared
ourselves to leave and get some shopping in before the rodeo.
Once we got
downtown, everyone ran to get their very own rodeo hats, embracing their inner
cowboy/cowgirl. The wait to grab a hat was long but definitely worth it! The 2 for $20
deal made it all the better as everyone is running out of money but could
easily find a “partner” (bun dum tssss) to make the hats cheaper for
themselves! We all spent some time on our own, checking out the street shootout
show and grabbing coffees before meeting back at the buses for the long
awaited rodeo.
We also sang happy birthday to Lauren S. who turned 17 today! We sung our hearts out while crossing a street in downtown Cody. Happy birthday Lauren!
Claire C. enjoying her dinner and drink umbrella
Parker M. ready for the rodeo
Carson C. ready for the rodeo
Audrey B. with her drink umbrella
Payton H. with her drink umbrella
Cooks!
Some helpful volunteers went with counselors Daisy and Matthew to wash our vans and trailers before the rodeo.
Hannah C. washing the trailer
Brandon M. and Jake I. washing the trailer
Sam B. washing the trailer
Monte/Kenny F. embracing his inner cowboy
counselor Matthew presenting Lauren S. with a birthday keychain
Everyone quickly loaded the buses and vans, and as we
arrived the girls immediately started admiring the handsome cowboys. Meanwhile,
the guys had one sole focus, the mechanical bulls. We all gathered together
before getting seated and took a group picture underneath the rodeo sign.
TWB at the rodeo!
Blaise S. presenting his research
Landry F. presenting her research
Once we found our seats, the show began. At the beginning,
the girls shed some tears at the cattle being caught but everyone was reassured
that no cattle were harmed. The tears turned to laughter quickly though as four
of our participants (Ava S., Ivy E., Ethan B. and Bailey E.) ran to join the 12 and under
children’s halftime race. After stretching, everyone prepared to chase cattle
in hopes of winning a free pizza. Ethan got a little “too” excited and accidentally tackled
a small child that was in his words “too slow” to race with the big kids.
some T-dubbers participating in the "12 and under" games
Once the race was over (none of our participants won), we
were greeted by a monsoon and typhoon and a hurricane all at once. It started
with lighting in the distance, but quickly escalated to massive amounts of rain.
Some people ran to bathrooms and some to the bus, but most stayed and faced it until the end of the show. It was all worth it in the end though, four girls got
a glove and autographs from a cowboy and everyone cheered on the bus when they
found out it didn’t rain at our campsite AT ALL. We are so thankful that we don't have another Grand Canyon rainstorm situation!
Carson G. riding the bull
Madalynn P. riding the bull
Ethan B. riding the bull
Monte F. riding the bull
Josh M. riding the bull
We arrived back to camp around 10pm and found dry clothes and dry
grass (thank goodness). We celebrated at Dairy Queen (second time of the day for some of us) and can’t wait to see what adventure tomorrow
brings.
Love,
The Happys
