Quirky Stops

USY on Wheels allows us to visit famous sights as well as quirky places that you wouldn't of stopped at otherwise! Not all of them are strange, but some are unique places you wouldn't stop on a family vacation. 

The birth of a Cabbage Patch Kid

1. Babyland General Hospital (aka home to the Cabbage Patch Kid): On the way to Atlanta we stopped to visit BabyLand General Hospital where the Cabbage Patch dolls originated. There you could watch a birth of a Cabbage Patch Kid. It was very strange and hilarious at the same time. One of my staff members, found it in and was very excited to go. It was quite an interesting experience. If you are interested in watching a Cabbage Patch birth here is a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JyJp0ajrPY. (You might need to sign out of your school google account.)
2. Idaho Potato Museum: If you love potatoes you should definitely stop there. It's small museum all about potatoes and the history. They have display case containing a wide variety of Potato Head toys. They also had a cafe where you could eat a bunch of foods with potatoes. (I think they had potato flavored ice cream.) However, I'm not a fan of potatoes and didn't try anything. The cool part was that if you bought a souvenir, you got a mini potato bag to carry your purchases in. 
3. Stone Mountain: Near Atlanta, there is a mountain called Stone Mountain with an engraving of Confederate soldiers. However, it was weird to be in a Confederate monument. The quirky part was watching a laser show on the mountain. The laser show included music and artists originated from Atlanta, Star Wars puns, famous girl characters in entertainment and my personal favorite a cross country road trip! 

Shabbat, Shabbopping and Shabbuddies

Every Friday night and Saturday Jews around the world celebrate Shabbat. Shabbat is the day of rest. That means that we couldn't drive anywhere and do sightseeing, use the elevator or our phones among other things. (Although, we did use our phones in our rooms and did ride the elevator if the stairs weren't easily accessible.) Shabbat is always a great time to bond as a community!

We also participate in the classic USY summer trip traditions of shabbopping and shabbuddies. Every Friday we go shabbopping at either Walmart or Target to stock up on snacks, food for lunches, toiletries, etc.

In addition, everyone buys a small gift for our shabbuddy. Shabbuddies is similar to Secret Santa where everyone picks a stick with another person's name on it. The catch is that you have to give it too someone else to give it to your shabbuddy. The point is to try to get something meaningful or very funny!

Shabbuddies are revealed at the end of Shabbat and was one of my highlights of my week! I probably have never laughed so hard as I did then.

Top memories from Shabbat:

1. My Shabbudy gift from Louis (a staff member). I remember complaining that I haven't gotten my gift yet during free time on Saturday afternoon. Somebody handed me my gift when I was getting my medicine from Louis I opened my bag. I found a package of corn seeds, sugar packages, a cool little squishy Woody I would use as a fidget and some lip balm/gloss with a poop emoji on it! I couldn't stop laughing for a while. I showed off my gift to friends and admitting I was very confused on why. I learned that I was corny, sweet and Louis I hoped I would have a sh**ting time on Wheels which I totally did.
2. Playing the game Waa at lunch. Waa is a game where you pass a ball of energy to another person in the circle. When the energy is passed to you, you say Waa and put your hands together and bring them above your head. The other people next to you have to put their hands together to "cut" to the side of them. We were playing at lunch at seated at multiple tables. Half our bus was there. Whenever one girl got passed the energy she would always shout "Laaaarrrry Waa!" (Larry was another staff member.) Everyone joined in when the pattern was established. It was very funny and one of my favorite memories! 
3. Shabbuddy reveals! Many of the stories behind the gifts were very funny!

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

   .

   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