The Chronicles of John Trammell

     This was a day that a few of my best friends have been waiting for quite sometime.  The day that they successfully got me to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain.  For as long as I can remember, I have said that I hate roller coasters.  Why?  I am not quite sure.  Growing up, there were rides I would refuse to go on including roller coasters or high intense rides at theme parks like Disneyland.  I never was a person that searched for thrills.  I get my thrills in other ways like in public speaking.  My best friend, Scotty, is an adrenaline junky.  He enjoys thrills, and roller coasters has been one of his favorite thrill seeking things since childhood.  Ever since I first met him in 2003, he has tried to get me to go to Magic Mountain with him.  After ten years, I finally gave in.  Not quite sure what made me finally agree to going, but I figure it was one of those moments when you just say fuck it, ill do it. ...

     On the morning of July 24th, I left San Francisco (see last blog post) and drove out to the University of California, Davis, outside of Sacramento, for the 2013 California 4-H State Leadership Conference (July 25-28, 2013).  California 4-H was celebrating the 100 years of the state program, and was the main theme behind the conference.  I was at the conference as a member of the California 4-H Technology Leadership Team (TLT).  I worked on a few different projects, taught an educational session, and was in charge of all logistics towards the tech team at the conference (my leadership position is the Team Logistics Leader).  It was a great conference, and I am going to share the major highlights of the event.      The tech team met on campus the day before the conference, on the 24th, to have a face to face meeting.  The major purpose of the face to face meeting was to travel to Folsom to have a tour of the innovation...

     Emily Cox, one of my most epic best friends I met through my involvement at the national level of 4-H, traveled out to San Francisco to visit her boyfriend while he was there on a work trip.  There was no way that I was going to allow her to be in California and not hang out with me.  Especially since we have not seen each other in two years.  Last time she came out to visit, we went camping in the eastern Sierras ( see blog post ).  She just happened to be in San Francisco the same week as this years 4-H State Leadership Conference (SLC), which worked out great for me.  It was planned that I would drive up to hang out with Emily a few days before SLC.  From SF, I would drive out to UC Davis for the conference.  It was one amazing small trip, and this is how the trip went.  Not only did I get to hang out with Emily, but I also got to see another awesome old time friend I met from 4-H, Jess Falkenthal, who had just recently move...

     My oldest cousin on my dad's side of the family, Chase Ellis, had gotten married in Buffalo, New York, on June 22.  My parents, my sister, and I traveled to the east side of the country for the wedding.  We had choosen to make a 12 day vacation in Ontario, Canada, and New York State.  Our trip was from June 18 to 29.  It was a good trip.  It had its good moments, and its share of drama.  I have to say, during the trip I did miss my friends, because the trip would have been so different, and more amazing compared to being with my parents.      Alright, so originally, I was planning on writing an entire blog about this trip, in details.  As you realize when this blog was posted, much time has passed.  It would take forever to write that type of blog, and I don't quite have the time right now.  So, just to have a record of the trip, below is the list of places we saw in order on the trip.  If a...