Whitman College Volleyball

Boardwalk-ing

Sunny So-Cal

"That house is how much?"

As promised, here are pictures from our recent venture south. We started the day early (5:30am to be exact) and ended the day late, but we squeezed in fun all along the way. Coach Jon found a delicious restaurant in Santa Monica where Kelsie discovered she loved Hummus and several girls decided they would be purchasing their own Magic Bullet to make tabouli every night. If you're ever in the area, eat at Sham, on Santa Monica Blvd.

Being tourists, we didn't realize how close we were to the water, so after lunch we jumped back in the vans (everyone except Rachel, who sauntered off to the bathroom) and headed off to the beach...which turned out to be three blocks away. We enjoyed oogling the million dollar houses before embarking across nearly a quarter mile of beautiful, white sand. Shoes in hand, Olivia nearly skipped her way to the water. We could almost hear her repeating in her head, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home." (Only without the longing that Dorthy had.)

After some time in the water, (about which time our camera battery died) we headed up to the Santa Monica Pier to watch some anti-climactic trapeze artists. Although not entirely exciting, our 5:30am flight was catching up with us and the girls were happy standing and staring off into the horizon. So, back to the vans we headed (this time Rachel was with us).

Coach navigated the LA freeways with ease and we got a driving tour of the north LA. Sunset Blvd. UCLA. The Getty. None of which we stopped at, but all of which we (those who were awake saw).

Dinner. Shower. Bed. Zzzzzzzzz.

Day 2

Since there aren't any more pictures to post (the camera battery is dead, remember?) and the Friday was spent mostly in the gym. We'll skip ahead to Saturday.

Day 3

A win against CMS followed by a trip to Malibu! Again, most of the girls slept through the beautiful drive through the hills, missing the 9/11 tribute that was set up on the bluffs, but once they knew dinner was close at hand, they perked right up. Again, Coach Jon found a local hot spot to eat at - Coogies Beach Cafe. This time we knew the beach was not within walking, and the storm rolling inspired us to move quickly, so we headed down to Zuma Beach. Again, our Alaskan girls had their toes in the water while everyone else huddled on the shore, bracing themselves against the winds. The drive back was dark, not much to see, so everyone slept. Let me clarify, the coaches (aka drivers) were awake :)

Another late night. Another early morning. Another preseason in the books.

Opening weekend is just two days away...