She's back.

Veda - Desire On Repeat

"Is there anything left in this world that will satisfy me?"

Dear Spring Break,

You were the best, and you reminded me that there are still things to get excited about in the world, that there is still fun to be had, and that I haven't turned into a grumpy old prude - I just go to school in Vinton. Thank ye!

-Camille

As of 4:30 a.m. yesterday morning I am back in Iowa and let me tell you, I am not happy about it. Coming into this bleak, crummy, awful, backwards, sick and twisted little town after vacation is usually a little hard to take, but this time was especially hard. Compared to the mundane repetitive days of community college Spring Break *swoon* in California was like heaven.

We stayed in the Palm Springs/Indian Wells area, and besides a few abandoned properties it was gorgeous. Snowcapped mountains surrounded us and gorgeous palm trees lined the streets. Our condo had a really nice pool, and we spent many hours swimming and enjoying the sun. I have missed swimming so much! It is such a seasonal thing in Iowa.

We went to the Joshua Tree National Forest and although I had quite a few reservations about going it actually turned out to be a blast. The trees were okay (yay for having a U2 album named after you though!), but the thing we really had fun doing was climbing the rocks in the park. The camping area is surrounded by tons of huge sedentary rocks formations that visitors are allowed to climb. The siblings and I got quite adventurous and I only ended up with about a half a dozen minor cuts and bruises. Not bad compared to my other rock climbing experiences in the past.

We did quite a few other things in the area, shopping, botanical gardens, restaurants, etc. All were very nice and fun but none compared to the tennis tournament. The days we spent at the Pacific Life Open will forever be some of my favorite days in my life. We had such a good time, I can't even begin to describe how much fun I had. I was quite simply "giddy". I haven't been giddy in such a long time, it was sensational.

At the tournament we met all of our favorite players, got their autographs, and even had our pictures taken with some of them. It was so weird to see these people who we've watched on TV so many times in person. I think they had almost become immortal to my sisters and I, and to have them stop and talk to us and sign whatever we asked them to was just mind blowing. We went to the tournament four days, but by the end of the first day I had already seen everyone I had hoped to see.

Along with watching the pros practice and getting to meet them, we got to watch so many matches. One night a couple of us left the stadium to run to one of the stores to buy a sweatshirt and this uber rich lady stopped us. She said that she was leaving for the night and that she had court-side seats, three of them to be precise, and she wanted to know if we wanted them. Apparently she thought that we looked "Just charming." Court-side seats for a night match are next to impossible to get. You either have to be a member of the hosting club, or you have to pay thousands of dollars. So there we were, standing on a brilliantly clean sidewalk of the Pacific Life Open completely numb as a lady handed us thousands of dollars in tickets just because she thought we were cute. Don't tell anybody, but sometimes... I love rich people.

It was a great night match. The player who I have had a stupid girl crush on since this summer, Rafael Nadal of Spain and current #2 in the world, was playing one of Laura's favorite players - the mediocre but boyishly charming American Mardy Fish. Nadal defeated Fish in straight sets as was expected, but somehow Laura managed to have a good time. Along with that match we watched so many others over our days there that were fantastic and as Laura would say "Nail-biting fun!" (It's not funny though, the girl seriously has no nails left.)

I seriously cannot say enough about the Pacific Life Open. Every single day we spent there was just plain fun. The tournament grounds were gorgeous, just like everything else in Indian Wells is. It's all those dang rich people I tell you. If you were driving a Mercedes that was like more than a month old, well, let's just say you weren't going to be invited to join the club next year.

Ha ha okay maybe it wasn't that bad but it was still pretty bad. I have seriously never seen that many Mercedes condensed in such a small area before. Oh, and Mercedes is the #1 sponsor of the Pacific Life Open, so they had the brand new models on display all over the grounds. Between the landscape, the pros, and the cars, my eyes didn't know if they could handle any more georgous...ness.

Leaving the tournament the day before we left for Iowa was so awful. We left late at night and all the lights were on and the stadium and grounds that we had grown so attached to looked so beautiful. I had no idea that I could get attached to a place in such a short time, but I did. Somehow I managed to hold in the tears until I was back in my hotel bed that night, I'm quite the pathetic 19 year old aren't I?

The ride home was long, but very, very pretty. We drove through Nevada and Colorado and I must say I never realized how gorgeous Colorado is in places. Although the scenery was pretty, the whole way home I was missing California, the Pacific Life Open, and dreading having to go back to school once I got home. To comfort myself I put off doing homework that I really needed to do and listened to really good music. It was a good ride home aside from not actually wanting to reach our destination and knowing that I should have been writing my fiction paper.

In short - I loved my spring break. The tournament was a blast, California was warm and green with blue skies and soft breezes, and getting away from this wretched winter was exactly what I needed.

Epilogue - I did finish my fiction paper that was due the day after I got back (namely, today) and I sent it to my professor with 46 minutes to spare. I still miss California and cannot wait for this semester to be over so I can escape from this place again. I'll try to post pictures from my trip soon.