Hometown Boogy tune~ Sherman

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Well! Last California Expedition is OVER!

…Yay?

Yes, …Yay? Indeed, why: …Yay? Indeed? Well I’ll tell you why!

BECAUSE THIS EX FREAKING SUUUCKKKED.

Why, because it-never-stopped-raining.

The back-country in Big Sur was ok though I was a little turd-face and kept getting into arguments with staff, mainly ANN. A-N-N, WITHOUT an E, NO E. JUST A. N. N. NO. E.

J

Kind of felt bad on how I treated staff this ex, and I’m surprised they haven’t skinned me alive and used my hide as a rain tarp, but that may come later.

On the last day we built a fort!

THEN BURNED IT DOWN.

J

I won’t BS, This EX was not as good as I wanted it to be, and yes, I did sort of feel entitled since I was back in my hometown, but still, it really freaking sucked when we went to San-Fran, it was like we were in a 3D real-Life-Demo:

‘Here at soar we can show you the amazing things you could be doing if you were not in Soar!’

Yeah, something like that.

So all in all, this Ex hasn’t been the worst, or the greatest. But I take heart in the fact that I only have less than five weeks left in this TRIANGLE OF NOT-FUN-NESS.

All’s well, that ends well.

-Sherman.

miles

Blog                soar spring  Sw       3/26/12

We arrived in San Francisco and went to Wal-Mart to go grab some food, then went to our camp to start packing for the backcountry. The next day we arrive at the trailhead, not too excited about the coming three days. But we find that all the Red Wood trees and banana slugs are pretty cool.

 We went searching for wood, and so I went searching up this hill. I found a lot of it, then I slid down the hill on my butt and it hurt. After a vigorous hike out we made it back to the van absolutely thrilled to be back.

 We went to our campsite and did school and had fun just hanging out, then we went to the aquarium and saw lots of cool fish and penguins and what not. Afterwards we went to a kayaking place and kayaked. We saw lots of birds, seals, sea lions, and my favorite otters.

 After that we headed to our last campsite right on the beach. We stayed there for four days and on day 3 we went to go exploring around San Francisco and saw lots of cool people and places. Then we headed back to North Carolina.

Mitchell Harrison Expedition 4 :)

On this expedition we went to California for two weeks. One of the days we went in the backcountry for a few days. One of the days we got to go kayaking and saw a lot of different kinds of animals that were living in the ocean. On different day of the expedition we got to the aquarium that they had there. One a different day we got to walk around San Francisco and we got some treats that the staff got us. On a different day on the expedition it was raining a lot and it wasn’t fun to sleep in a tent when it is raining outside. One of the days, we got to clean the black box and the trailer. On another day we got to play on the beach. One day on the expedition we got to eat out that a Chinese Buffet. One of the days we got to do school in the library because it was too windy to work outside. Once on the expedition my sleeping bag got so wet that I couldn’t sleep at all at night. I had a fun time on this expedition because this is one of my favorites that I want to visit again very soon.

Andrew Sanchez 4th expedition

This expedition was a mix of fun and misery. The fun happened when we were out, and there were sunny skies. The misery happened when it rained. As always, we woke up at about 2:00 AM and, as always, we took a sleepless (at least for me) 4 hour ride to the Atlanta airport. 

When the plane landed in “NorCal” we got off the Plane, bought the food, and drove. We then arrived at our campsite (A State Redwood Forest) and packed our bags. The next day, we were hiking with our homes on our backs into the “Ventana Wilderness”.

After the 6 mile trek to our campsite, we set up 3 tents, and our “sleeping stuff” (sleeping bag, Thermarest, stuff sacs, and electronics like iPods that we wanted to keep dry). The next day, we hiked to the natural sulfur hot spring and obviously, went in them.

The next day, our group decided that it wanted to build a fort, so we did. The fort ended up looking more like a tepee than a cabin, but that doesn’t matter. After the fort was finished, we all played UNO inside of it. The next day, was the day we left, and we set up camp at the same campsite as the one we were at before.

The next night was the worst night so far. Drenched and depressed, we all gathered our belongings and went to a local laundro-mat. The dryers were all used while we were there, filled with jackets, and sleeping bags. They came out looking good as new, neigh better than when they were new.

After this glorious redemption of gear, we drove to Half moon bay. Our second day there, we went kayaking. Then on Thursday, we went to San Francisco and walked around for about 2 hours. Saturday at 4 am, we woke up and took down camp. We then drove to the airport, and went back to NC.

Expedition 4: Northern California By Evan Harr

This expedition was pretty cool. We started out with hiking in a pretty cool area near Big Sur, and right next to Pfeiffer State Park called the Ventana Wilderness. It was a really cool place to hike in. There were so many banana slugs and a few hot springs. There were also people that seemed like they live there, and that was very interesting. It was a very cool place to be, and I haven’t really been to an actual wilderness before, so that was cool, and I really enjoyed hiking there.

            After we got out and had a lot more rain, we headed down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a really big aquarium with a lot of cool exhibits like the sea horse exhibit, the kelp exhibit, and more. We even got to see them feeding the penguins and there was a giant tank full of large fish and two really awesome sea turtles. I really enjoyed the aquarium a lot, and I learned a lot there.

            In that area, there was also a really fun playground that we got to mess around on and a lot of shops that we looked around in. After we were done with having fun and hanging out, we went to a campsite in Half Moon Bay. It was a nice little place to hang out in and enjoy the other people that mainly camped in trailers or RV’s. While we were there, we got to go kayaking up in Greenhorn Slue. We got to see some really cool animals like sea otters and seals enjoying themselves while we kayaked by them. There was also a part where we saw a really big sea anemone and a starfish. We even raced in the water.

            After that was all done, we got to cruise around the city of San Francisco, and we had a lot of fun there. We enjoyed some ice cream, sight seeing, street performers, and the City Lights Bookstore. We also went to fisherman’s wharf and saw some seals on pear 31.
            Overall, it was a great expedition, and I enjoyed it a lot. I have never really ventured as much in Northern California, and it was a cool experience!

Nor-Cal. TK

Experiences

When I return home I will have so many experiences that I have taken from Soar to share with my friends and family.  I have done so many amazing things like surfing, hiking, backpacking, kayaking, and living in the wilderness, flying all around the US, rock climbing, swimming, and learning to live minimally.

With hiking and backpacking, I have hiked the Grand Canyon, Big Bend, mountains in Northern California, parts of the Channel Islands, and to the highest point of Texas.

I have rock climbed in Red Rocks in Vegas and in Southern California. I have swam to Mexico and relaxed in natural hot springs in Texas and Northern California. I have flown to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and El Paso.

I have surfed in Southern California. I have kayaked around the Channel Islands and in a harbor of Northern California.

I have survived through the elements. I have survived and conquered wind, rain, sand, heat, and soon I will add snow. I have explored much of the southwest in a van called the Big Black Beast; this of course is a 4X4 van, which has been set up on extremely high suspension. But the most impressive of all is the accomplishment of learning to live with 9 other people who do not exactly share the same views on topics as I do. I have traveled and I have grown.

This expedition was an ok one

This expedition we went to Northern California.

It rained a lot so that sucked and it was cold there a lot which was not good because all of us wanted hot weather. It rained the whole backpacking trip and all of our stuff got all wet and smelly, so we got to clean our sleeping bags and clothes. It was great to have clean clothes and smell good for once.

 We got to go to San Francisco for a day and do some cool things like go the Fisherman’s Wharf and try some good food and good sites.  We also went to the aquarium. It was the best and the coolest one I have ever seen. It had penguins and seahorses and lots of cool things like them.

So overall, it was a very good time.

2nd california expedition blog by PJ Perlitz

Both the team and myself as an individual learned a lot this expedition.

I learned a lot of lessons during this expedition that will help better myself as an individual. This expedition I had a lot of school work and I was overwhelmed with it. I learned that it is best to take things one step at a time so that you don't get as overwhelmed. I also wanted to buy a rhyming dictionary and I did not have enough money. We had worked on an initiative as a group and I did really well, so staff staff said I would be rewarded. I decided not to get the dictionary and staff bought it for me because of my hard work. I learned that hard work pays off and that you should trust your instincts.

There is one major thing that comes to mind when talking about group lessons. We had planned on a day split up in the city and there ended up being a change of plans. A lot of people decided to have a bad attitude about the day because of the change. The lesson learned was to make the best out of situations and in the end everyone had a good day.

It is easy to say that some major lessons were learned this expedition.

impartial musings from a timid observer~ Sherman

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                ~ Just got back from the first California Expedition, and what a surprise! It was painful!

We spent the majority of the time there in a half-arsed-camp-ground next to a busy railway and car-route with rowdy neighbors and dogs. I was lucky to even get a chance to close my eyes before a train came by, so, naturally, I got almost no sleep whatsoever. Ontop of that, we of course ran every morning, so I resembled some malformed idiot Zombie kid from the night of the living dead, but instead of shooting this Zombie in the head with a 12-Gauge you had to have a feelings  circle with me as I tore off your arm in enraged undead hunger.

A few days later after some ‘school’ and ‘life-skills’ crap we hopped on a ferry to run-amok on the channel islands. About a 1 hour trip there, I enjoyed the ride, a nice, calm, early –morning, foggy, ride over the open ocean.

Channel Islands! We arrived! Not much really happened while we were there, we did a very painful 14/15 mile long day hike all over the island, before we got back to camp wondering what it was like to not feel agonizing pain, we had some nice photo opportunities.

Ann was very sick during the entire escapade on the Channel Islands; (no surprises there.) so she was a bit testy during the trip, easily angered, you know, the usual.

We did some kayaking off the coast of the CI’s, (I WAS HORRIFIED.) It was nice, (A SEAL TRIED TO JUMP INTO MY KAYAK.) a very pleasant experience, (I NEVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN.)

Unfortunately we had to leave the Channel Islands early, due to a storm front blowing in, in record time we packed up in 9-minutes, but before we left, we made a new unit of measurement!

To travel 14 miles was to us: 8-lectures from staff. 4 miles was to travel: 2-lectures from staff.

Of course, F-staff wasn’t too happy about this, but what are they goanna do? Take away our vocal cords?  ;)

It was an hour ride back to the mainland and we got to see whales on the way, I was to depressed to care after getting thoroughly screamed at, so I didn’t get a chance to see them much, that, and I was murderously homesick.

So, we got back to camp, same spot in the same crappy camp, with the same crappy train being crappy.

Yeah, I didn’t sleep at all last night.

That and we had to sleep in tents, four to a tent.

Well, you see, I shift when I sleep, so I woke up bruised everywhere on my arms and legs from my tent-mates viciously elbowing me away from them, at one point I woke up I think and slammed my elbow into Even after he hit me a bit too hard.

I can only remember good dreams after that point J

As it turned out we were assigned to tents because our team was lacking something stupid, like: Group-compassion, and, empathy.

So making us sleep in tents, effectively making us spend MORE time with the people we already have to spend time with TWENTYFOUR HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

(If that’s even possible.)

I honestly think the problem is that field staff are way too uptight and strict, I swear- their freaking drill sergeants. They push us too freaking hard, for too-freaking-long~!

I swear, man, if I have to listen to those two one-more-time I think I’ll snap.

coley is the best

Blog three x

This trip was a lot of fun. We got to do a lot of fun things like surfing and hiking and stuff like that. Surfing was a lot of fun. I got up on my first time. I am a professional. The water was cold. It was like 52 degrees. It was good with a wet suit on. The waves were ok the first day. It was windy and the waves we’re crashing on each other.  The 2nd day it was a lot more fun with the waves. The best part was going to Evan’s home. It was the best. I got to see my mom which was great until she had to leave then it sucked. We slept on the floor of Evan’s home which was a nice change, no tents or sleeping pads over this entire x was a lot of fun. Next x will be a lot of fun too. We will get to go surfing and a lot of things like that.  

Thomas Kelly California 1

What I have learned on my expedition to California

On my first expedition to California I learned many new skills and things about myself.  First off I learned that my skills in rock climbing are far greater than I first imagined.  I was able to scale the climbs with ease and speed.  I had forgotten how much fun rock climbing was and how thrilling the feeling was. 

To add onto things I learned about that fall under a physical area, I learned that our group as a whole could hike 14-15 miles in under 6 hours with minimal stops and with little effort.  The day after our long group hike we went sea kayaking around the Channel Islands. This was a new experience for me due to the fact that I had never been to the Channel Islands nor had I ever been sea kayaking.

The same day that we went kayaking, we were suddenly informed that we were going to have to evacuate the island do to possible dangerous weather. This was a dilemma that our whole team came together and united to break down camp in less than 8 minutes and then make the hike out to the last ferry to leave the island for the day.  This was a great confidence boost for our team and helped bring us together to realize how capable we are.

After we returned to our home away from home in Carpentaria, we relaxed on the beaches and finished up our schoolwork.  I learned that despite the amount of time between which I last studied Calculus and now, that I still understood the concepts and equations. 

As we began to become distracted by the beach, I decided the water was too cold and would rather layout on the sand and attempt to tan. Despite the taunts and jests of the others saying that I would burn and that I was incapable of tanning, I learned that I could, in fact, tan.

California Blog PJ Perlitz

I learned a lot about life skills and about school this expedition.

I will start off talking about the things I learned in school. I learned a lot about scientific notation and logarithms. I also learned about all the places that I went to and Joshua Tree. I liked learning about Minerva Hoyt and how she helped make Joshua Tree a national park. It was also really cool learning about all the animals and plants in the areas.

I will next talk about all the life skills that I learned. I learned how to rock climb and a lot of techniques behind rock climbing. I learned that you are supposed to use a lot of body strength when climbing. I learned a lot about hiking as well and I learned about hiking off trail. My favorite part was learning how to surf. We learned the technique behind getting up on the board and getting out in the water. We also learned how to stay aware of our surroundings in the water.

I learned to cope with frustration when I'm hiking or doing anything else that gets me really upset. I then learned about compromising when a situation came up about buying an item at the store. I then learned about positive communication and how to use it even when your frustrated at someone. The whole group needed to work on this and I think we are really starting to improve.

In the end, I learned a lot this expedition and I can't wait to go on the next one.

Mitchell Harrison Blog

MITCHELL HARRISON Blog 3/5/12
I learned many things on this past expedition.
I learned about how to pack the trailer so that things will not fall out. I also learned how to surf in the ocean. I also learned how to hike off the trail and that was not fun to do. I also learned how to packup in eight minutes so that we could get to the boat so that we could get back to the mainland. I also learned how to pack the black box so all of the gear could fit in the box.  I also learned how to work in school very hard at school time.  I also learned how to rock climb at the rock, and how to pack my big hiking bag. I also learned that is not fun sleeping in a tent on expedition. I also learned not to go over the spending proposal. I also learned how to spend all of my budget money when we go to places.

3rd ex miles gibson

We arrived in Los Angles California still pretty early in the day about 12 1 o’clock and it was a pretty amazing place. There was a huge beach that went on for miles and the sand was a very pretty yellow orange color. There were huge waves and palm trees which I don’t see too often and I think they’re pretty sweet.

After that we went to a Wal-Mart and got food for the next 4 days. Then we got a camp site in a state park across from the Channel Islands National Park.

After a few days of doing school on the beach and swimming, we went to the Channel Islands were we had an awesome off trail hike, and a sweet kayak ride. Unfortunately we had to leave early because of bad weather rolling in.

Due to our salad going bad we got to go to In-N-out-Burger and eat like fifty burgers. Honestly I think the rotten salad would have been better for us but I’m not complaining.

Afterwards we came back to our camp site and did a few days of surfing bro and it was freaking awesome. This was one of the coolest expeditions ever.

Expedition Three- Southern California by Evan Harr

            Over the expedition in Southern California, we spent a lot of time near the beach. We had a base camp at Carpenteria State Beach for most of the time. The area that it was in was a very interesting location. There was a farmer’s market nearby sometimes right in front of Vons. There was also a preserved salt marsh close by that we did a couple science notebooks on.

            We did many things over the expedition like rock climbing with Jeremy and Cooke, eating out at Rusty’s Pizza and In-N-Out, and more. We also got to surf for a couple days. One of those days, we were going to go fishing, but it got cancelled due to the high winds from a storm. That was probably also why it was so windy on our first day of surfing.

            We also went to the Channel Islands and got to go on a 14 mile hike in one day around the island, which was pretty long, but cool. We also go to go sea cave kayaking, which was pretty fun also. There was a time when we tried to surf some waves and it didn’t work too well. We were going to stay for quite a few days, but we had to leave early due to a storm.

            At the end, we got to go to my house. I loved that because a lot of my family came over and I got to see my dog also. We had some delicious food and drinks at my house and had a wonderful experience! It was a cool expedition, and I really enjoyed it!