Day 1
Our first day in San Diego started with
a nice breakfast at the hotel. Then we took off straight to Seaport Village. Talk about beautiful weather, 70’s with a
clear sky in late December! In Seaport Village we did some shopping which included things such as t-shirts and Star Wars cups. We had a great view of the ocean and we saw many ships docked by the bay. We also saw the making of a HUGE ramp for a motorcycle
to go down on New Year’s. It was all nice and warm except for the nasty little rats that flew all around us (aka PIGEONS). So then it was game time. We played Mission Prep and we lost but have a plan for tomorrow. We will come out strong and
restore our name. Our day ended with a delicious dinner at Chili’s, but a lesson learned, When you gotta go….GO! Till next time,
this is Taylor and Nikki signing off. -- Taylor Davis & Nikki Zaprazalka
Day 2
Our second day in San Diego began waking up “dark” and early to eat some breakfast and do a little sightseeing before our game, the weather was 70’s and sunny again! The sightseeing in the morning was quite interesting to say the least. As we were driving past a park, we witnessed a Samurai/Thai chi/sword/yoga class. This was like nothing we had ever seen and we were very intrigued. We especially wished we could be as skilled as the lady in the blue pants!! Let me tell you…she got low! Now it was onto our game. Everyone contributed to our 46-12 victory against the Rancho Bernardo Broncos. This win was a great way to start off our day. After the game, we stopped at the hotel, ate subway, and headed to the beach! When we got to the beach all of us were ready to tan, but little did we know that it was 10 degrees cooler with the ocean breeze! Although there was a slight chilly breeze, it did not stop us from going in the water. Connie, Amanda, Taylor, Becca and Nikki were the brave players to plunge in the water. What brave souls! Besides laying out and swimming in the ocean, the beach was filled with plenty of other entertainment like a surfing Santa and a bird pooping on Rachael's leg!! After taking numerous photo shots, looking for seashells, shopping around town, and watching the sunset, we finally picked up and left for dinner at Bucca di Beppo. After a delicioso Italiono dinner, we ended the night with some Cold Stone Icecream. What a day and night! So exhausting, but so worth it. Peace and blessings! -- Amanda Davis & Connie Dimick
Day 3
Our third day in San Diego started
off with a breakfast and a change of hotel rooms. After everyone got situated with their new roomies, we headed out to Westfield
Mall for a matinee. We saw We Bought A Zoo which was a very cute movie. We definitely give our thumbs up to this one,
and recommend it to everyone. After the movie we headed back to our hotel to get our stuff together for our game. We got
all dolled up and preceded to our first destination, Panera Bread. Our next stop after our pre-game meal was to stop at our
varsity boy’s game and watch them get another victory. Then we jumped in our vans pumped up for our game and ready to go! Our game was neck and neck, but we kept our composure and pulled out an exciting victory in overtime. We played our hearts out
tonight and left it all on the court. The Grossmont team walked out with their heads down and tears in their eyes. After
the game ended, we went for a celebratory meal at THE Jack in the Box. There we got a round of milkshakes and other post game
treats. Now it is time to hit the hay. We have more to come tomorrow and one more game for the Lady Mustangs to finish
strong. For now it is rest, over and out! -- Becca Woit and Emily Panitch
P.S. It was 70’s here today..and it’s winter!!
Day 4
Our fourth day in San Diego started off with a beautiful breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast, we had quite the team bonding experience while playing the great board game Quelf. Then it was time to take off to Balboa Park, which is an enormous beautiful area with many museums, arts, and other attractions. We went through magical adventures through the wilderness and took some great pictures. One highlight of today was when we got to hold the colorful Macauw named Lola. She was super cute, especially when she played with our hair and tried to chew it! After Balboa Park, we had a lovely pre-game meal at Coco’s. Our last game was at 6:30 pm against the Green Coronados. The game started off with a twelve point difference, with us trailing. By halftime, we closed the gap to six. After halftime, we closed the margin and tied the game at 32 in the first couple minutes. From then on it was a STRESSFUL back and forth battle, and with 10 seconds left, we were up uno. The other team got the ball and attempted a half-court shot. We thought we were in the clear as the shot slammed against the backboard, but they retrieved the offensive rebound with seconds to go. Then Becca Woit came flying out of No Where and blocked the ball while the girl tried to put back a second shot. This play nearly gave us all a heart attack, including Coach Evans and Coach Miller! When the buzzer went off, we all exploded with excitement. We WON, and prevailed once again! We celebrated our win with yummy pies! Now we are getting some sleep before the Zoo all day tomorrow, in the winter! What a wonderful couple games to end off the tournament.
-- Rachael Millner and Natalie Busscher
Day 5
Rise and shine, it’s breakfast time! Our fifth day in San Diego started off with breakfast at the hotel then off to the Zoo, with lots to see and lots to do! Beginning at the zoo we all rode a tour bus, and our guide’s name was a woman with the name Gus (actually Emily but that didn’t rhyme). She brought us behind the scenes to feed the giraffe, and the sight of the eating process made us all laugh. We explored all day seeing a variety of animals, we even saw the yogurt characters featured on Danimals! Let us tell you these animals can poo. You better watch where you stand, Coach Miller got bird poop all over her hand! We boarded the skyfari high up in the air, above the entire zoo, this view is quite rare. We left the zoo amazed at the sight, to return to the hotel and leave for a bight. We headed to Olive Garden for a great dinner, the food was delicious, making it a winner. Next it was game playing in our own little lobby, this is becoming one of our team’s favorite hobbies. Then it was off to bring in the New Year with boys, the noicemakers and horns sure made some loud noise! Happy New Year!P.S. Lesson of the day: Gum wrappers are recyclable.
Day 6
Our sixth day in San Diego started off with breakfast at the hotel which happened to be super frightening because there were no cinnamon rolls or pancakes! After finding some alternatives, we headed off for a long day at the beach in the 76 degree weather! Today we went to Coronado Island which has a beautiful white sanded beach. When we arrived, it was prime-time-tanning hours and all of us took full advantage. When we started to get hot, we all took breaks and went to the ocean to take some team pictures. When we got to the water the first time, a bunch of us decided we would go shoulder deep into the freezing ocean water. We all body surfed over the huge crashing waves. Once our bodies felt numb, we decided to go back and soak up some more sun. Once prime-time-tanning hours expired, we walked into town to enjoy a nice sit-down lunch at Panera with some DELICIOUS frozen yogurt to top it off. After our tummies were full, we knew we weren’t finished with the beach just yet, so we headed back for some more fun in the sun! We buried Amanda in the sand and her mermaid sand body was so believable it made a little boy cry when he walked by. After a few more pictures and watching the sunset, we decided to go back to the hotel and live it up in the hot tub. After team bonding the hot tub, we all decided to go grab some dinner. Half of us decided to go to McDonalds and the other half went to Pick Up Stix. The people at McDonalds witnessed an unpleasant fellow who walked in with his chew-wow-a in his jacket. After they got their food we all met at Pick Up Stix to eat with the whole group. After dinner, we returned back to the hotel tired from the 76 degree weather in the winter! Everyone turned in early to get a goodnights rest for Hollywood tomorrow!! We are ready to see some celebs and enjoy our final day in California!
--Nikki Zaprazalka and Rachael Millner
Day 7
Our seventh and final
day in California started off bright and early with breakfast at the hotel and then off to explore Los Angeles. The two hour
drive brought us to Hollywood Blvd! Hollywood was definitely interesting! One of the first impersonators we saw was dressed
up in little clothing holding snakes! We were not sure what to expect!! Besides a few creepy people, we saw some cool
places like the famous Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre, El Capiton, the Jimmy Kimmel Live theatre, and much more. We saw
stars carved in the ground like Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Temple, Harry Potter, and Twilight. The Harry Potter and Twilight
characters had just put handprints in the cement ground in the Chinese Theatre. After doing some sightseeing we walked
over to the California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. On the way there we ran across Harry Potter, Willy Wonka, and Jack Sparrow..the
many versions of Johhny Depp we saw! After many pictures we made our way to the luxurious Beverly Hills. We saw a lady
dressed in a tin foil wedding gown who made quite the impression! After walking Rodeo drive, we made our way to Santa Monica
Blvd. to Crumbs, the famous gourmet cupcake shop. There were so many choices and they left such an impression of good taste
on Emily that she wanted to bring one back to Illinois for her mom to share the deliciousness! After Beverly Hills, we made
out last trip to the ocean at Santa Monica Beach and pier to enjoy the sunset. We couldn’t stay long because Los Angeles has
terrible traffic so we had to get back on the road to head back to San Diego. Our final dinner was at Fuddruckers and it was
a great dinner with amazing shakes! After getting back to the hotel, we all recorded video excerpts on our favorite memories
and funny moments. This was quite the trip with many memorable and unforgettable experiences. We grew as a team and are
sad to leave tomorrow! Goodbye Cali, it’s been a trip!! -- Jessica Schultz and Kiana Suhling