Yellowstone National Park

Our day visiting Yellowstone National Park was quite an adventure! (Everything that occurred happened throughout the day, not just at Yellowstone.)

First it started off with us staying the night in Montana, to travel to Yellowstone (Wyoming) for the day, back to Montana to spend the night and finally go back to Wyoming on the next day. Also, I was still not feeling well with a sore throat. I was given some disgusting red throat soother thing that worked wonders on some other people who had been sick as well.

Old Faithful erupting

Next, the bus started beeping and stuttering to a stop in pretty much the middle of nowhere. However, there was a gas station and a small laundromat where we got to use the bathroom and wait until the bus was fixed. It was a temporary fix and we continued on our way, but the bus came to a stop close to 20 times throughout the day. It got very annoying quickly. As the day progressed, we began to groan when the bus began to beep. 

Yellowstone was beautiful! We started our visit by checking out some of the hot springs. They were pretty cool! Next, we drove the two hours to Old Faithful. I had no idea how big Yellowstone actually was. Based on our previous luck, we probably weren't going to make the closest eruption of Old Faithful, but we made it in time to watch it instead of having to wait another hour or so! It was really cool to watch it erupt! I also bought some good ice cream at Yellowstone that definitely hit the spot!

After Yellowstone, we took a short drive up to the Buffalo Bill Dam to daven Mincha (say the afternoon service). The dam was next to a tunnel which was super cool! The wind blew hard, but as we started to recite the Amidah (leads up to silent meditation) the wind picked up even more. A rainbow appeared above the water and water from the dam sprayed us. The wind was so strong it pushed us back. I still felt awful and was freezing even in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. The girl leading the service was crying after we got back on the bus because it was so beautiful. Somebody believed that God was watching us pray and that his presence came through the wind. I missed out on fully embracing another bus bonding moment because I was wasn't feeling well and shivering. I wished to get back on the bus asap!

Overall, I give my adventure at Yellowstone and throughout Wyoming and Montana a 7/10. 

Assortment of teens + 6 and half weeks = family

It's amazing how 40 teenagers who are mostly strangers to you become some of your closest friends in only 6 and half weeks. I only knew 3 other teens before my trip started and I didn't even know them that well. I also knew Louis who was one of my staff members. (Fun Fact: Louis went to WJ.)

First day photo! (Louis is the guy in the bright blue t-shirt in sitting on the floor)

I was so excited to spend the summer with Louis! I was nervous at first to meet my companions and later my new friends. Orientation was very awkward for me with lots of the other teens knowing each other from either school, a previous USY Summer Program or just brought a friend with them.

The room where we first met was decorated with posters, streamers, papers that resembled luggage tags of all of our names and giant map of the United States with our route drawn on it. It was slightly overwhelming with a bunch of new faces and the teens on other buses. We did tons of ice breakers to get to know each other which kind of got boring after awhile.

USY on Wheels alumni always say that their bus becomes a family! I think we truly became a family through our creation inside jokes, Shabbuddy gifts, trivia to get called up for dinner and countless memories we formed along the way. (If you are interested in reading about Bus B 2018's inside jokes and Shabbuddy gifts comment that.)

Last Shabbat/weekend together

On the last night, we watched a montage of our adventure together that Louis prepared for us. At the end, there were photos from the first day. We all couldn't believe how much we have changed and grown in only 6 and half weeks. It seemed much longer than 6 and half weeks. It was amazing to see how tight of a community we formed with each other. (I was slightly afraid that I changed so much my parents and friends wouldn't recognize me. However, everyone remembered me!) I didn't want the trip to end because my USY "bubble" popped. Even though all 40 of us live all over the country we will forever be a family.

Sweet Treats

The best part of traveling around the country is eating a variety of food including deserts that are special to a city or state! 

Beignets

1. Beignets: are classic food unique to New Orleans that can only be eaten at Cafe Du Monde. Beignets are hot doughnuts covered in powder sugar and were a delicious snack and are definitely worth it!
2. Voodoo Doughnuts: our staff surprised us with some Voodoo doughnuts in Portland for dessert! Voodoo doughnuts aren't just regular doughnuts, but are covered with unique toppings like M&Ms, Captain Crunch Berries, Fruit Loops, and Oreo's. The doughnut with the Captain Crunch Berries was surprisingly good! I wish I got more than a half! (Note: There is a Voodoo doughnut store inside Universal Studios if you want to try them!)  

3. 

   A Voodoo doughnut with Captain Crunch Pieces

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   LA Kosher Pizza: LA had the best Kosher Pizza I have ever had! (New York's Kosher pizza is probably good as well.) If you keep Kosher, I totally recommend going to LA just for the pizza! (Because this was a Conservative Jewish trip we had to keep Kosher. Kosher just means eating food that has a certain symbol on it.) It was the first pizza and so called real food I ate in almost 3 weeks and was delicious. (Most of our dinners were catered. We ate cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch.) 
4. Diddy Riese: is an ice cream shop similar to the Bake Bear here and was in LA. I believe I got 2 cookies with M&Ms and I don't remember what flavor of ice cream. It was special because our whole bus was treated to ice cream! All I remember was that it was very messy.

2 Hotels; Haunted and a Bar Exam

On Wheels we pretty much always stayed at hotels. It was very fun being in hotel room with friends without my parents night after night! Our bus had two interesting experiences at two hotels we stayed at!

Rapid City, South Dakota:
Hotel Alex Johnson wasn't any ordinary hotel. Supposedly, it is haunted. Rumor has it that a female ghost referred to as the lady in "Lady in White" haunts the 8th floor especially Room 812. The woman frequently stayed at the hotel and supposedly jumped from a window in her room to her death. Some people believe it was a suicide, but others believe it was a murder. Many people on our bus began to freak out that we were going to stay in a haunted hotel. Our staff repeatedly told us that the hotel wasn't haunted, but we continued to persist. Some of us even downloaded ghost hunter apps to see if we could find some ghosts. We did a Lip Sync Battle Competition that night and another group made a skit using the Ghostbusters theme song which was very funny! (My group performed Let it Go.) Fortunately, we only stayed there for one night and I don't think any of us stayed on the 8th floor or saw any ghosts.

Portland, Oregon:
If you really know me, you would know that I'm very loud and talkative. Keeping my mouth shut is definitely a challenge for me. I was forced to be quiet for the entire night with my friends in my room and also in the morning while eating breakfast and repacking the bus. It was a challenge for me. Coincidentally, we stayed in a Red Lion Hotel the night before the Oregon Bar Exam. I remember going on the balcony to talk to my friends in another room next door. A woman scolded us to be quiet kind of rudely. I'm just trying to have fun with my friends. However, we got to pray Shacharit (the morning service outside) and got to see this cool view! Also, our staff told us that like 1/3 of people taking the Bar Exam end up failing anyways. 

Siddur and Stickers

Stickers are not just for kids anymore! Nowadays, people cover their water bottles, laptop covers, suitcases, notebooks etc. with stickers! I bet you have never seen a siddur covered in stickers before? (A siddur is the Jewish prayer book.) Did you know you different places may have free stickers if you ask?

Everyone on a USY summer trip gets their own personal siddur you can decorate however you want! (We have to pray at least 2 times a day.😥) One of the uniquest parts of USY on Wheels or any USY trip is decorating the cover or outside of your siddur in stickers from all or as many places as possible you visited to remember your trip! Some museums, ice cream shops or places may have free stickers if you just ask at the information desk or cashiers. However, I bought the majority of my stickers.

I really loved collecting stickers. I have stickers from the Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, Yellowstone, NASA, the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, New Orleans, Cabbage Patch Kids, Sedona, Mount Rushmore (which was very over priced), Chicago, CNN, etc. I also still have some stickers that I didn't put on my siddur.

My favorite sticker is the one, I bought in New Orleans because it is a beignet. The beignet has a little face drawn on it. I also like the rocket sticker from NASA because it is a very unique shape and a good shape to use for the spine. I also love my big circle sticker from Sedona because it is very colorful with shades of purple, pink, and green. The stickers I bought previously were lacking in colors and shows the red rocks that are unique to Sedona.

My Wheels siddur is very special to me because it isn't an ordinary siddur. It's a colorful one with stickers on the outside, sticky notes I wrote reflecting on a prayer or life and Dove wrappers that hold inspirational quotes. (I still need to decorate the edges of the pages when the siddur is closed.) I bring it with me to most times when I go to services on Saturday.

I'm really proud of how my siddur turned out!

The front cover of my siddur

The back cover of my siddur

                    

Worst Around the Country

A few weeks ago I wrote about some of the best sights and highlights of my trip! Of course on a 6 and half week trip there are always going to be the low-lights and disappointments.

Warning: Not all of these places are big disappointments or boring! Some of them are disappointments because we spent too much time their, weather, etc.

Some of my friends and I at Corn Palace.

1. The Golden Gate Bridge-The day we were in downtown San Francisco it was very cloudy and overcast. We had cool opportunity to pray at a spot overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. The only problem was that we couldn't see a thing! (The cool part was that we were praying and standing inside a cloud.) It was very upsetting to not see the iconic bridge up close. We drove across it, but it wasn't' the same. 
2. Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Museum-Didn't meet my expectations! When I learned that Albuquerque was the host of the largest Hot Air Balloon Festival, I thought we would see some of the cool and colorful balloons that flew in the festival, but no, the museum described the history of hot air balloons which was very boring. 
3. The International Banana Museum in California-Part of Wheels is stopping at quirky attractions that you may not visit because they are in the middle of nowhere. The other two buses visited many quirky places and our bus hadn't stopped at that many. I was very excited to stop at the International Banana Museum. When our staff got back on the bus they told us that we wouldn't be getting off because the guy working there was very rude. (Plus our bus became inhabited by flies for a short time. But, we made a stop at Coachella to use the bathroom.) 
4. Corn Palace in South Dakota-Another quirky stop that was way over-hyped by our staff. The Corn Palace is a place that displays art made of corn. New themes are created out of corn that cover the outside every year or so. I thought the Corn Palace was going to show all of the unique artwork, but there wasn't. The Corn Palace is also a local basketball arena. 
5.  Los Angeles-LA marks the halfway point of Wheels. All of the buses meet in LA for 3-4 days. I found LA to be a bit overrated. I really enjoyed visiting the Hollywood Sign, Disney Land, Santa Monica Pier and the Walk of Fame, but LA wasn't like I expected it to be. (I totally recommend getting Kosher pizza. It was delicious!)
6. Bear Country USA in South Dakota-Bear Country USA is a place where you drive your vehicle through and look at bears and other cute animals. The only problem was that it started to pour shortly after we began and it was hard to see the animals. 
7. Crater Lake in Oregon-Crater Lake was formed by a big super volcano. We only spent a good hour or so actually looking at the lake and scenery. (We slept in a cabin on the property, but arrived at Crater Lake at around 10 pm.) It was slightly cloudy and the water wasn't as blue as it could be.
8. Phoenix-I have been to Phoenix a handful of times to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins usually for family functions. I never really did anything touristy in Phoenix before and I thought we would be doing something fun! In reality we did a scavenger hunt at a local mall and went ice skating. (I do love scavenger hunts though.) I rather of sight-seeded then doing activities we can do back home.
   
   
   
   

Home?

On USY on Wheels there is no such thing as a home. For the most part each, night, we stayed at a new hotel or host home when a synagogue was hosting us. Our staff told us on our first bus ride that our "home" for the next 6 and half weeks would be our Coach USA Bus!

The bus was packed strategically to fit all of the supplies we needed for our journey. All of the overhead bins are filled with snacks, plates, napkins, silverware, condiments for sandwiches, etc. The cereal was stored in the bathroom. Every possible seat was taken. (Each staff member had a row to themselves, the water cooler had a row and the back row of seats was used for storage.) Each person's single suitcase and coolers were stored under the bus. The only space for our personal belongings was under our seat.

Our days were filled with hours on the bus. Our bus rides almost always started with Quiet Hours. (The only time we didn't have quiet hours was when we were sightseeing in a city for an entire day.) Quiet Hours allowed us time to take a nap and catch up on our sleep. I don't really take naps, so I spent my time writing in my journal, trying to catch up, using my phone and looking out the window. I always loved looking out for the signs that said we have entered a new state!

After Quiet Hours ended, we talked with one another. Occasionally we would watch a movie, play music or a game. Sometimes we even had dance parties on the bus which were very fun! My favorite parts about our bus rides was being able to move freely across the bus whenever we wanted, except when we were in traffic.

One of my favorite and funniest memories from our bus rides was when someone requested to play the song "The Wheels on the Bus." Vince, our bus driver, started to do the motions when the song was playing. It was very funny and a memorable moment.

A special tradition on USY on Wheels is decorating the bus whenever there was a birthday. Our bus had lots of birthdays! For each birthday, the ceiling of the bus was decorated with streamers and some signs covered parts of the windows. The bus always looked special and festive when we had a birthday. (Unfortunately my birthday is in September.)

I think our bus truly became a home to me. Unfortunately, I probably will never ride the same bus again. 😢