California Love

You might not know this, but my family is a bunch of high achievers. My dad climbed Mt. McKinley to earn money for children suffering from cancer and now works on the cutting edge of oil drilling technology, in demand all over the world; my mom runs the most successful weight management clinic in all of Alaska, a business she built from the ground up with no prior medical knowledge; my sister Lindy hangs out with Shaq, Jordin Sparks, and the Texas Rangers as a star photographer while getting published in elite medical research for her science writing; my sister Melissa writes a weekly column in ASU’s newspaper and has been recruited to write for national college publications; and this past weekend my sister Casey rowed her team to an NCAA National Title and was selected as Honor Student of the Year in Chemistry for Western Washington University. Yeah, we’re cool.

So I flew out to Rancho Cordova, California Thursday night to watch the races, and met up with Dad & Lindy. The first race for WWU was their 8 boat, and they won by 16+ seconds, a huge margin, and the largest one of the day…thus far. You can see here how their boat has long passed the finish line, and the other two boats in the race are still working their way there.

Casey races in the 4 boat, and their race was even more of a domination than their teammates’ race had been. They won by nearly 19 seconds, which is a lifetime in this sport. After their excellent performance, we celebrated with a picnic. Dad & Lindy and I took the long way there, attempting to bypass security and sneak into the athletes-only area. In the process, we found abandoned mailboxes, wild turkeys, and barbed wire, but were eventually successful in our subterfuge.

We showed off our impressive Mapes-ism to the other WWU rowers and their family, by being first in line for everything food-related. Every time. The ducks and geese decided to follow our lead and also be ravenous. In fact, they kind of took over for awhile. Probably didn’t help that Lindy was feeding them.

Saturday I got to spend the afternoon with Joyanne and her friend Kathleen, and we went to Old Town Sacramento to tour the Railroad Museum and the old school house. Saturday evening was picnic #2 for the team, and another day of feeding ducks. This little girl just wanted to step in their poop. Daddy said no, but she couldn’t resist...

Woo! Sunday! Finals day! Dad and Lindy and I wore our Viking hats proudly, and threw up our Westside gang signs to intimidate the competition. Casey’s race was first, and it wasn’t long until they had pulled into open water and had cemented their win. The Varsity 8 boat raced 20 minutes later, and their win ensured a team victory! My sister is an NCAA Champion! Now we could relax and watch the rest of the races.

The awards ceremony was short and sweet (it was too hot for long speeches!) and every rower on the WWU team walked away with a personal trophy and a gold watch. They showed off their guns for the group pic…intimidating, much? They celebrated by throwing their coxswains in the water and then it was off to the airport for the goodbyes. Can’t wait until next year!

Here are alllllllll the photos: