Riding the “Apollo’s Chariot” roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. Back row: Chris Shockley, Tyson Ames, Stan Bush, and Clayton Harris; front row: Kristin Brown, Ashley Law, and Crystal Ackerman. Photos courtesy Class of 2002

A SHS senior’s swan song

Editor’s note: Earlier this month, prior to graduation, reporter Stan Bush and six classmates from the Class of 2002 spent 10 days in the Washington, D.C. area for their Close Up/Senior trip. This is their story.

By STAN BUSH

Day 1- Juneau to Washington
At the crack of dawn the alarm clock in our room released its hissing sound that echoed off the walls. Tyson and I slowly stumbled out of the beds to get packed up for the eight hours of flying that were ahead of us. Shockley lay like a slug on the bed at the Aspen Hotel. With four minutes until we are set to leave the hotel, Chris is still spun in his blanket cocoon like a caterpillar. Mr. V bustled into the room in a nervous fury. Shockley groaned and gave an assuring “I’ll be there.”
Out in the lobby we waited, growing fairly impatient. VanBronkhorst stood like a statue, trusting Chris’ word but anyone could see that he was ready to leap into the room and drag Chris to the airport whether he was clothed or not. When the tension seemed to reach its apex, Chris calmly waltzed out of the hallway and we thundered toward the airport.
When we got through the check-in and up to our gate I was searched, not once but twice. I was forced to remove my shoes, which I’m sure was pure torture for the entire security staff, and then was asked to stand still as they took their magnetic wand over my arms and legs. The wand made a mechanical whirring sound and I felt so violated as my classmates laughed in the background. Soon after, we were whisked off to Seattle. The plane ride took an eternity and we were not even halfway through the day’s traveling adventure.
Upon arrival at SeaTac, my classmates rushed to the C concourse to get in line for the massage bar. I, however, didn’t follow. The idea of someone whom I didn’t know caressing my back and kneading my flesh like dough for some reason just didn’t appeal to me. For 30 minutes I wandered the D concourse while checking in on the Mariners/ Yankees game at The Home Turf. The M’s were down 5-2 at the time but were slowly clawing their way back. As I wandered, I saw my coach Lee “Toogie” Hartson on his way home from a short vacation talking with Brian Saul from White Pass who was a team member of mine on the White Pass softball team last year. We talked shortly until I rushed back to the TV to see Jeff Cirillo’s at-bat. I got back just in time. With the score 5-4 Cirillo tattooed a first pitch hanging curve ball of El Duque to give Seattle the lead for good. The TV by now was surrounded by dozens of M’s fans who were ecstatic. They seemed like they had a new reason to live with the Cirillo blast.
Shortly after, we were reloaded onto an airplane and taken toward DC. I figured that a nap would shorten the trip tremendously. It worked for all of us. We each seemed to be able to shorten the trip by about two hours. And then in the blanket of the night we soared into the nation’s capital.
On the ground and going through the automatic doors of Reagan Airport we were shot with a wave of heat and humidity. We were clearly not in the north. It was pitch black at nine o’clock and it was still the hottest weather I’d been in all year. We loaded our bags and went to the Days Inn Crystal City, our home for the next seven days.
After a light dinner we went to our rooms and hung out for the rest of the night. It was absolutely impossible to sleep. Our bodies were still on Alaskan time. If that wasn’t enough to keep us up, then Clayton’s ‘disturbing’ tales certainly were. His stories were truly the stuff that nightmares are made of. I have to say that Tyson, Chris, and I probably had the most terrifying nightmares of our lives that very night. The images that he described to us will haunt me for the rest of my natural life. I’m just thankful that we had the famous over/under sheet rule in effect throughout the week, otherwise I might not have survived. However we were finally able to catch some sleep. I suppose the aroma of four guys in a small room with bad ventilation can act like nitrous oxide.

Day 2- Sunday- Free day in Washington
The group woke up fairly early considering everyone was still basically on Alaska time. In fact we were all up early considering our own Skagway standards.
We were all anxious to leave the hotel and head into the city. After breakfast we signed in at Close Up registration and decided it was time to get out of the hotel. With Ashley leading us, we headed toward the Metro Station. However we took the wrong instructions and exited the hotel the wrong way. After no less than 20 paces, we were lost. Totally lost with the hotel’s front door still in a stone’s throw. How embarrassing. After about two minutes of debate on the best way, we were safely on the right path toward the Metro. The bulk of the group had decided to go to Pentagon City, a humongous shopping center in Arlington. Mr. V, our chaperone (my mother), and I stayed on the train a little bit longer and went to the National Mall.
It was a bright day to say the least and we were ill-prepared for the swampy weather. We escaped the heat and visited the Air and Space Museum. The museum is an immaculately constructed building with space-age windows covering the building and historical airplanes hanging from the ceiling like models in your little brother’s room. The museum was filled with little league baseball players who were getting ready for the annual little league World Series regional tournament.
VanBronkhorst looked like he had seen a unicorn. His eyes were opened to their limit as if he was unable to take it all in at the normal viewing comfort. He admitted that if he could he would skip all of his Close Up workshops to spend the entire week on the mall. It really was amazing finally seeing things in person. that you can only read about in Skagway.
After wandering through the exhibits for close to two hours we watched a show in the Planetarium. It was the first time I had ever seen such a thing. Sitting in the reclined seats, a couple from India sat next to us. My mother said a greeting in Hindu to them and they sat next to Mr. V. The lights went dim and Lawrence Fishburne’s voice boomed through the theater. The show was a spectacle of light and sounds documenting how the universe moves. It was mind-boggling. For a minute I forgot that I was in a theater and I felt as though I was on a roller coaster as the scenes changed. When the show was over, the couple from India got up and said something to VanBronkhorst in Hindu. Lost in the foreign language he said, “OK you have a nice day!” When they were gone he turned to Veronica and jokingly said, “If you want to speak in a different language to people then you get to sit next to them.”
After a lunch at the ESPNZone we went to Pentagon City for an hour and met up with Shockley, Clayton and Tyson. They had been at the mall for more then five hours and still had 30 minutes until they were going to head back to the hotel.
In the evening we had the opening banquet of Close Up and were introduced to our workshop groups and new roommates. Clayton and I were partnered with a couple of kids from Newark, New Jersey and were put on a completely different bus than the other Skagway kids. Tyson and Chris, Ashley and Kristen also had paired up with some people from Jersey, and Crystal was left with a bunch of kids from American Samoa and Vermont. After an introductory workshop and dinner we had a couple hours until curfew. However we were not allowed to leave the hotel, even to go down the street to 7-Eleven, a battle that would rage between several of the Skagway kids and the Close Up staff the duration of the week.
So with everyone in the hotel, the hallways were lively. People just left their doors open so it was not uncommon for someone that you totally didn’t know to come walking through the door and just start talking to you. The hotel was alive at night: even after curfew, when the hallways were quiet, the party was still going on over the phone lines. I went to sleep that night overwhelmed with the thought of how much we would be doing in this week.

Ashley Law, Tyson Ames and Kristin Brown in front of the White House.

Day 3- Monday Close Up #1
At Close Up they had encouraged us to meet as many new people as possible in a short amount of time. In doing this they had requested that as participants we sit with new people at the next available opportunity. At breakfast each of us had basically stayed at a table with our lone Skagway roommate, but the rest of the people were completely new to us. We had a breakfast that was not very satisfying: the eggs were wet and slimy with a cheese that seemed to outnumber the eggs in quantity 2-1. After the food, the Close Up staff had separated the room by tables to take part in an activity imitating Congress and the passing of bills. The PI’s at Close Up acted as lobbyists, trying to sway our vote one way or the other. In the completion of this, one group passed a bill, a bill that would allow Washington, D.C. to have voting power in both Congress and the Senate, one was amended, and the rest were all subject to a veto.
After breakfast the entire group was taken in buses to the Jewish Community Center on 16th and L street. There they had a seminar with a man who was considered an insider in Washington. The man was riddled with questions until a girl from New Jersey had turned a question into a statement and then into an insult. The room seemed like a pack of hungry wolves had just been released into a prison cell with a wounded elk. A clamor rose amongst the room. The seminar had 15 minutes left but in reality it was all over. They tried to regain the attention of the group but it was to no avail.
The group was taken to lunch at the Natural History Museum, however it seemed that the real attention was on neither the food or the exhibits. What really caught everyone’s attention was a street vendor who was selling FOakleys. (For those of you whom are uninformed FOakleys are either a knock-off version of Oakley’s glasses or a stolen pair of Oakley’s that the perpetrator is quickly trying to jettison). Clayton was mesmerized by the fookie O’s, he bought two pairs. In fact it seemed like every member of Close Up was going to purchase a pair. It must have been a good day to be a street merchant. Upon boarding the bus we were able to see the poorish design of the glasses. Paint was already falling off the glasses and several people had already broken theirs.
Another seminar later and after a group picture, we were finally able to explore an interesting part of the city. Before dinner we went to the Jefferson Memorial. The humidity was unbelievable, the wind cutting through the marble columns was refreshing. Throughout the day we were attached with our workshop groups and had discussions with every step we took. We still were not done.
After dinner at the Days Inn we had our nightly group workshop before lights out. The workshops seemed to last an eternity. With 23 people in a small room without air-conditioning and a window that opens only three and a half inches I’m sure that you can imagine how ready we were for the workshops to end. Clayton and I were fortunate at least for a while. Our window opened to full capacity and thus giving us a little more breathing room.
When we retreated to the hallway after the group activities Shockley, Tyson, their roommate John, and I watched the Sacramento Kings demoralize the Dallas Mavericks. During one of the commercial breaks their roommate and I began to talk about all of the women that we had seen in the day. It was then that Chris and Tyson used a term that would stick with them the remainder of the trip.
“Burgers,” said Shockley, referring to the variety of attractive ladies roaming the hotel halls. “They’re all hamburgers and why go for burgers when you’ve got steak at home!”
It was something that they (Chris and Tyson) had talked about the previous night while checking in when another group from Alaska had entered the hotel. Needless to say, those of us who were not involved with girls at home (Clayton and I) were already scoping out the territory. That night Tyson replied saying. “Now I just don’t care if I act like a retard around other girls, the rest of them are just BURGERS!”
That was the end of what was the final quiet night in Washington.
To be continued in the June 14 issue.