Thursday – Day 298
Posted on 26th May 2013
Thursday we woke up nice and early again to pack our bags and go straight to Ashland High School where we performed our big show numbers for a crowd of screaming teenagers (predominantly girls). They particularly loved our Backstreet Boys medley however, as the newmen new it slightly less it was a somewhat disappointing finish for us. From there it was back on the bus to drive to our final destination state:
California. After a number of hours driving we arrived at the Redwood State Park, where we would be camping for the evening. But before we stopped the bus and unpacked our bags, we made a trip to the Walmart where we stocked up on food and camping goods. All in all, Glee Club massively overstocked for what would be just one night out in the forest.
I personally opted to buy a large orange sweater in XXL size to keep me warm instead of a sleeping bag. This would later prove to be a poor choice despite the low cost of the sweater.
Orange Sweater and a Tree
Next up was unpacking all the tents, choosing tent-mates and setting everything up. Our food had to be locked away in metallic safes called “bear lockers” to prevent roaming bears from invading our tents at the scent of food or deodorants. Apparently we were right in the center of bear country. 
After unpacking two groups set off on hikes. I set off with the smaller of the two hoping for a bit of a quieter walk amongst the redwoods. Unfortunately, my group had chosen the path with no view and a steep incline.
The Best View of the Hike
The hike was a bit short for my liking, just over an hour and a half, but given my lack of preparedness and a water bottle, that wasn’t a tragedy. As a result of the disappointing trail, we decided to walk down to the river off the path and chill for a few minutes. Luke Massaro, the Glee Club pianist, bent down to test the temperature of the water and, accidentally dropped his sunglasses in.
Luke Loses His Sunglasses
Thus, I stripped off some of my clothes and dipped in to fetch them out for them. The water was cool, clear, clean and fresh, and despite frustration at getting dirty when I got out, I was glad to have had a few minutes in the water.
From there we walked back to camp where a passer by snapped a photo of my entire hiking group in return for a few snapshots of her.
From Left: Shaanan Cohney, Andrew Wadley, Yueyi Zhou, Luke Massaro, Jon Ferrari, Theresa Breiner
After arriving back I took a nap till it was time to cook dinner over the campfire (veggie burgers for me) and gladly I felt satiated by the end. We sung for a few hours around the fire until the neighbors started yelling at us. Then Ben Freedman, Adam Parham, JHo and I tried singing some blue to Teddy Guenin on the harmonica. I wasn’t so fantastic at it but the others’ rhymes were fantastic. When I tired of that I headed to sleep for an uncomfortable night in the cold.