Bonfires have been more or less an annual tradition in the southern California dance game and surrounding community since at least the early 2000s. This year, my longtime friend Christine Bladen spearheaded organizing it. <3
Day 1 - 7/20/19 (2019 Socal Bonfire):
I woke up 6am, so tired because I had had a kinda late night last night. Bonfire was important though so I got my ass moving. I finally managed to convince Sean, who hadn't wanted to put the effort into making the trek, to come with me and we were on the road by 8am.
We got gas at Arco down the road, dropped some packages that needed to be shipped out off at the post office across the street, and headed toward the freeway.
I put ITG Eurocup and Girlpocalypse songs on in the car the whole way in order to familiarize myself (since I'm too lazy to actually practice them on ITG like I should. XD)
In Barstow, we refueled and got free drinks using app deals at the Circle K just off the freeway on Main St.
3 minutes from Circle K, we cashed in some recycling we'd brought with us for $53.xx! (We definitely bought all of those bottles and cans in Cali during previous trips so no moral judgement, please. :p)
We got to Huntington Beach State Park, where this year's bonfire was taking place, around 1:30am. Our friends were south of the pier at a fire pit near Tower 9 so we found free parking a short-ish walk away in a neighborhood (cross streets: Bermuda Dr & Magnolia St) and walked over to find them.
It was such a chill atmosphere when we arrived! We and just about everyone else there had brought so many foods and beach and bonfire supplies we were pretty much all able to spend the day seeing how many pounds we could pack on. Stephen Russell, who'd driven down from Fresno with friends and whose birthday it was, had picked up some Jager I'd mentioned wanting on Facebook and others had a few festive beverages as well so we had some pretty fun times. As far as attendance at these things goes, it was a smaller turnout. There were good friends and friends of friends there though, both old and new, and we had an amazing time. People came and went all day but Sean and I stayed until 9pm. In addition to Christine and a good number of other wonderful people, some of the familiar faces we got to see were Stephen Russell, Ervin Ramos, Joann Phoukhao, Justin Kuret (JJK), Ian Morabito, and Jewel Rodriguez. Stephen brought his awesome friends Brittany Cavazos and Carlos Padilla from Fresno and we met Christine's friends and a few others too!
At one point, Sean and I joined friends in the ocean to catch some waves. Some people went out a few times but once was enough for me! Lol It seems I've gotten much less comfortable in the water over the years (especially after having to be rescued by Sean and lifeguards on numerous occasions x.x) but our awesome group of friends did opt to help me join them at a sand bar a little ways out in the water! Whew, that was pretty scary and I didnt stay long. Haha
Once most people had headed out for the day and the sun had set, Sean and I finally said final goodbyes and made out way back to the car. Our friend Jewel followed and we gave her a ride to Long Beach, where she was spending the night with family.
A short drive from there, Sean and I parked in our usual spot at the beach, watched Netflix for a bit, and fell asleep in the car.
Day 2 - 7/21/19 (Roadium swap meet):
We woke up again at 7am today. Rather than heading home though, we were planning to use today to go and get ALL THE DEALS. Lol We drove towards Roadium swap meet in Torrance, picking up more free Circle K drinks on the way, and then spent the first half of the day and ~$80 buying SO MUCH insanely inexpensive stuff including food, vitamins, household stuff, etc!
We were pretty pooped after swap meeting so we decided to head back towards Vegas.
Requiring caffeine, we got MORE free Circle K drinks on the way.
The car overheated about 40 minutes before Barstow but we let it cool off and were okay getting home afterward.
In Barstow, we stopped at Circle K yet again and got gas and MORE FREE DRINKS. XD We got food (including free tacos using deals!) at Taco Bell across the street.
We got more amazing food deals, such as $0.49 30oz spinach and mushroom pizzas, at Von's in Vegas on the way home.
The drive felt much longer than usual today and it was kinda late when we finally got back to our house. There, however, I found a nerdy, badass ITG shirt I'd ordered was waiting in the mail for me! We took the rest of the Jager to a warm bubble bath and relaxed. Mmmm.. Some food and Netflix later, it was time to pass tf out!
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