Author’s Note: Well, let’s just say that this was probably the best experience I’ve had all summer long. Seriously. Nothing like finding new friends who are now always there for you and for you to count on. That’s exactly what I did. I found true new friends who I can keep close for life. I wrote my experience about a basketball tournament in Minnesota because at this time, I had never been so happy to be here living my teenage years. It will just remind me of how much I want to stay that way. I want the readers to understand that it doesn’t take much to be happy, you just have to find your happy place with the people who make you the most happy. Also, you win some, you lose some. Although we didn’t do the best at our tournament, we still had a blast, and there’s always next year for more opportunities like this one.

It was about 10:00 on a summer Sunday morning when my mom and I were packing the car. The trunk of our Explorer was now completely full, and this was just for two people for three days. I guess you could say we like to pack more than needed, plus tasty snacks and drinks with a cooler for the duration of the mini-vacation.

My mom and I were headed to Minnesota for one of the last basketball tournaments of the summer, and I couldn’t be more excited to not only play basketball, but hang out with my team as well. All of the girls on my team go to different schools, so it kinda sucks that I won’t get to see them as often.

On our way up, my mom and I stopped at Cracker Barrel, our favorite place to eat brunch, especially when we’re on the road. When we walked in, the air smelled of smokey bacon and sweet, sugary syrup. Brunch was absolutely delicious. Going back on the road, we had about 3 hours left in our drive, but it felt like a lifetime.

Finally arriving to our hotel after what felt like 10 hours, I looked over and saw that the Mall of America was right across the street. We walked into the hotel with our infinite amount of stuff and loaded it onto the cart. Once we were checked in, we headed up the elevator. Walking into our room, it felt as warm as a sauna. I turned on the air conditioning. After all, it was summer. When that was done, I went back down to the lobby where my team was waiting to go to the mall.

Once into the enormous mall, my eager team thought it would be a good day to ride the rollercoasters. Although this was my third time here, I had never ridden the rollercoasters before, so I thought it would be fun. “Let’s call Trae and see where he’s at,” Emily said. Trae was our basketball coach, so we called him and he met up with us and went on rides. The malls’ rollercoasters were based on Nickelodeon, a channel on T.V. The names of the coasters we rode on were Spongebob Squarepants, Brainsurge, Pepsi Orange Streak, and the Fairly Odd coaster, which was the scariest. These coasters weren’t at all like Six Flag’s, those are much bigger. I found it humorous how Emily took a vlog on the Pepsi Orange coaster. “Crash!” This was what I thought would happen to her phone.. She was in the front, and I thought she was going to drop it. That unforgettable Sunday afternoon, we decided not to shop since they closed at 7. We were going to wait until we had more time on Monday or Tuesday.

                                          * * *

On Monday, we had 2 games in the morning/mid-afternoon. Unfortunately, we lost both. We knew this coming into this tournament, and our coaches said we were just here to compete and do our best, as this was mainly a learning experience for us. Then again the first team we played, Minnesota Fury, was ranked 4th in the country.

Tuesday was a new day, and probably the best one yet out of the four we were here. The team and parents went to a team bonding dinner to a place called Dick’s Last Resort. Although, this place wasn’t an ordinary restaurant. The employees here had a fun job, in my opinion. They got to be intrusive, insulting, inconsiderate, and impolite to the people eating here, which is primarily the opposite of how they should act as employees.

At dinner, our waitress made inappropriate yet insulting paper hats that were funny at the same time. My hat was kind of lame compared to others. It read, “The annoying one.” One of my favorite’s was undoubtedly Grace’s. Her had said, “Kissing me is like kissing a chainsaw.” She had braces, so this was the reason why she got this hat in particular. Hers consisted the least amount of inappropriateness. Gabbi’s was the most, and quite too troubled to explain. Another one of my favorite’s was Makenna’s that said, “I stuff my bra.” Emily’s was, “Always forgotten.” Gracie’s was a funny one, too. It read, “I have to pay these people to hang out with me.” This was clearly an untrue statement. “Haha!” I laughed at Gracie’s hat. The parents got hats that were even more inappropriate than ours, which is understandable. Emily got put into a “time out” for being seriously super sassy, talking smack with the waitress. If she talked smack to her, of course Emily would talk smack back. We all thought, nobody puts Emily in the corner. So you bet, we all took our chairs and faced the direction Emily was facing. The parents found this hysterical as we laughed as hard as they did. Once the waitress yelled at us, we involuntarily had to go back to our table. After she ate our food and insulted us, I had to say it was one heck of a fun night. At that point, it was one of the times where I was happiest than I’ve ever been, and it takes a lot to say that.

This fun tournament was probably the best experience I’ve had all summer. I created new and strong bonds with a couple of girls on my team, and I wish for these friendships to last forever. As they say, good friends are like four leaf clovers; hard to find and lucky to have. These girls are some of the most fun and sweet people I’ve ever met, and probably my new best friends. Not to mention, they are also as funny as clowns. Out of all basketball tournaments, this was by far my favorite one, and the one I am going to miss the most. The only downfall to this experience was what we were here for, basketball, and losing all games but one. But hey, we won one and that’s what counts. This tourney will forever be in my childhood memories, and it will just keep reminding me how much I don’t want to grow up, and just how much I want to stay a teenager.