I’ve been out of high school for nearly ten years. Looking back I would say I was neutral about my high school experience, but back then leaving those walls gave me similar feelings to having my chest stomped on by a 2 ton black bear.
Hearing the song “graduation” by Vitamin C made me cry like a big ol’ baby when I was 18. Ohh to be young. I’m not even sure why I was sad, perhaps because the idea of “being a grown up” was frightening, but as I’ve learned in my 27 years on this earth we never really grow up. We just evolve and hopefully become better people.
My beautiful younger sister Renae just graduated from high school, and I was fortunate enough to fly down to Arizona and attend the party. As with any trip to Arizona there are a handful of highlights I’d like to share.
I left the lush green trees of Washington and attempted to trail run at 12pm during Arizona spring time. Not nearly as bad as Arizona summer time, but I made it a whopping 3.5 miles in the 90 degree weather before calling for back up.
DAAADD save me, I’m covered in tiny spiky balls.
The remainder of my runs were done before 8 am. I didn’t dare repeat this rookie mistake and melt to the side of a cactus. In fact every type of physical activity was done before 8 am. This included a handful of 7 am runs, a 5:45 am kayak adventure, and a 6:30 am hike.
I made a friend in the mountains, I called him Frank.
No. not him. He looked more like a Bill.
FRANK THE TANK!
For our kayak adventure we used inflatable kayaks and practiced in the pool first. Heaven forbid we sink like the Titanic if one had a hole in it.
I searched high and lo (aka Googled) for places that served nitrogen infused cold brew iced coffee, and I found one place close to where we hiked. Got some goodness at Songbird Coffee and Tea house in Phoenix.
I fulfilled my dream of wearing a hair net once again by volunteering at Feed My Starving Children, an Arizona tradition.
Visited a vegan restaurant per my dads suggestion. Those words he uttered were like glitter covered unicorns, I think I’ll keep him. We ate at Green Vegetarian Restaurant in Phoenix and gave a universal verdict of: OHMYGAHYESYESYES.
Chili fries, fried brussels sprouts, and “buffalo wings”
Best part of this meal: the owners also own a dessert shop called Nami just a hop, skip, OR, a jump away. Literally 10 ft from each other.
I ordered a vanilla soft serve “tsoynami” with pretzels, chocolate, marshmallow fluff, and coco cereal. I then proceeded to understand the meaning of life. So.Good.
Just in case anyone was curious where I get my dashing good looks from…
Time with family is always a great recharge for me. I came home full of love, and with eighteen mosquito bites – a good prep for summers in the mountains.
Q: What were your final days of high school like?
Blissfulbritt 
67 thoughts on “As We Go on”
geezer94
Awesome … what a grand adventure …
Brittany
’twas grand indeed! 😄
Adam
Ha! I couldn’t wait to become a “grown-up,” though admittedly, I’m still waiting.
Brittany
Precisely my point, we never really grown UP. I like to think we grow IN to new mindsets and hopefully make more mature decisions. 😂😝
anotherwisemonkey
This is a really lovely post! That dessert looks unbelievable. I love the sound of your wholesome early-morning adventures; not sure I could regularly get out to bed that early if I didn’t have to work, though.
Brittany
My internal clock wakes me up at 6 am naturally, which is sleeping in compared to 330 am for work. 🙈 Otherwise I’d totally be with you on that!
anotherwisemonkey
330 am for work?! What do you do?
Brittany
I work at Starbucks. 🙈 I have to help everyone else wake up by being at work before a humane hour. Haha.
anotherwisemonkey
A noble calling!
Will
Love your photos!
Brittany
Thank you!
Rachael @ Catch Me If You Can
dude…noon run in arizona, you crazy! great idea practicing with the kayak in the pool i never would have thought of that. Im not a fan of coffee, but what is nitrogen infused…is it better?
Brittany
Ohh man, the nitrogen gives the coffee this beer like foam that is so smooth and creamy tasting. If done right it gives a silky mouthfeel like that of heavy cream. I had one at the Starbucks roastery that tasted like chocolate milk.
Heather
What a fun trip. Spending time with family always rejuvenates me, too ❤ I feel like I'd have such a fun time with your family. As always, your food consumption looks delish, your climbs and runs are awesome AND you volunteered. Seems like a pretty great (adult) life 🙂
PS I have a kid and I still don't feel like an adult. Todd went out of town for 9 days and I spent 6 of those days with my parents, haha.
Brittany
It was great, can’t wait for the next one!
Angela
So much fun!!! I left high school 15 years ago and I have no idea how it has been so long!!! What happened to last 15years?!?
Brittany
My thoughts exactly!!! 😱
50statecanuck
Haha – you and your dad are both hams!! Of the soy variety, of course! 😉
I loved high school…some of my closest friends to this day are my high school besties. But, unlike some people, I have grown from my high school days and adventured far and wide…but will always look back on high school with happy eyes and momentarily wish I was back there…until I quickly remember that that includes school, exams and always some level of worry about “fitting in”…I do NOT miss any of that! lol
Brittany
I don’t miss any of that either! I don’t talk to a single person I went to HS with. I’ve also changed a lot, like total 180. Which is why I don’t talk to most of my old buddies. 😝
rootchopper
I thought I’d reinvent myself in college and be done. I succeeded but, boy, was I surprised to find out that change was never going to stop!
Here I am at 60. Still learning. Still geoeing. Still changing. You might as well accept it because it’s gonna happen anyway.
Brittany
Amen! Once we realize this life becomes just a bit easier. 😝
fionajarrett
I remember feeling similarly on leaving school, sad because I think I knew things would never be the same again but super excited for the next part of my life. Scary to think that was 10 years ago! Fair play to you for running in that heat, it looks seriously hot out there but think it must have definitely been worth it to meet Frank 😉
Brittany
The hike was great, it was in the 70’s because we went early enough. I think that’s why Frank came out to play.
Jade
I was just realizing today that I spent so many years looking forward to my high school graduation and now it’s 4 years in the past. Running in the heat is not a good idea but people do it. I would see people running at noon in the summer in my desert of a college town. They were crazy.
Brittany
Haha crazy indeed. I’ve run many times in the heat, but was NOT prepared to jump into AZ heat like that. Whoops.
Ellie
Wow what a great vacation! What was the ice cream made out of? It looks amazing!! My last days of high school were really easy because all exams were done and we all wanted out. It was fun to just sort of “be”. Not studying or anything, but being with my classmates.
Brittany
Soy soft serve! It was so good.
Josh dV
I can’t understand you Britt, you keep coming to the desert and somehow you keep leaving…. When will you figure out the desert IS the place to be?
High school? I had a good time in HS but I was a little disconnected from reality. Not too much, but just enough to avoid the things I wanted to avoid.
Brittany
I could never leave my beloved PNW green trees, but I shall continue to visit the desert! Your high school experience sounds a bit like mine. 😂
Josh dV
I imagine our xp is not unique or even unusual. I can say that for myself at least I spent HS isolated from the world, as much as I could in order to avoid a lot of pain that lingered beneath the surface.
I was Hiding in Plain Sight. That’s the best way I can describe it.
GiGi Eats Celebrities
Maybe I told you this. Maybe I didn’t. I didn’t have final days of high school. I actually left high school early cause this bitch needed OUTTTTT! I can tell you the full story VIA text. Don’t need my past to be posted on the INTERWEBS. ha!
And um. Trust me. You and I both know… We will never grow up. Poophead.
Brittany
😂 poophead indeed. I think you may have told me…but I’ll need a refresher.
An Unrefined Vegan
Ah, now I see where you got your lovable goofiness ;-)! High school…who can remember that far back?! I was glad to leave, but cried leaving my three closest friends – they got me through.
Brittany
I live in a family full of goofs, I love it.
Kristy @ Southern In Law
I feel like every school had Graduation by Vitamin C on their graduation playlist, haha! I left my primary school gates for the first time to that song (under an arch made up of every kid in the school’s arms interlocked – primary school = elementary school in the US so that meant sixth graders crawling under kindergarteners right through to the fifth grade :P) and then they played the same song at my high school graduation buttttttttttttt girl chose to ditch the graduation ceremony because I had something better on, haha!
I’d actually finished high school enrolled in “distance education” and my actual high school (it was complicated but I had to be enrolled in both as D.E didn’t offer photography as a course) which is basically homeschooling only you have teachers who send you the work/you send the work back to and you have to do exams and field trips and all that school-y stuff. When I finished I was technically supposed to graduate twice but I skipped both ceremonies because I was just happy to be done with school! (And as for why I left regular school – I started my own business and D.E let me run that whilst getting all my school work done for the week on a monday morning :P)
It looks like you had the best time at home!
Brittany
Wow, how cool! You’re proof that we are never too young to chase after our dreams. Well done. 👏🏻
Rach @ This Italian Family
Aww congrats to your sis! I’m so glad you got to spend some great time with family! And Frank too. Frank looks fun. 😉
Brittany
Thank you, family is the best! Frank was pretty cool too. 😝
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy
Fried brussells sprouts and ice cream. I am liking this very much!
Brittany
I want round two!
Amy @ A Desert Girl
I think it’s awesome that you have family in the PNW and in the desert. Two extremes to experience all the best of both! Happy family time!
Brittany
Yes! Perfect balance!
Allie Zottola
Nitrogen infused cold brew?! Tell me all about it!! I’m glad you had a nice time in Arizona and were able to hike and kayak and run a lot. That’s the best! Love the picture of your dad and congrats to your sister!!
Brittany
YES! The coffee is amazing, so smooth like full fat milk. They infuse it just as it sounds with nitrogen and the result is a foamy frothy coffee almost beer like, but with a rich flavor! When done right of course… 😉
Allie Zottola
Ahhh, that sounds amazing!
kathy @ more coffee, less talky
what a great trip back home! my end of highschool days…jeez i can’t even remember that far back (i graduated in ’94).
Brittany
I wouldn’t go back to HS. I’m glad it’s long over.
Meghan@CleanEatsFastFeets
I love it. It looks like you had an awesome time and what a great way to recharge those batteries, minus the midday run, you crazy thing. I bet the kayaking was a blast; I want to try my hand at it too. You can rent them here; it’s always a good time, especially when you can barely make it past the current. Really, it’s a good time.
That ice cream. Those Brussels sprouts. Yes, I want them both. Surely this can’t be surprising anymore.
Brittany
You would have LOVED those brussels. Oh me, oh my.
Heather Patton at Afternoon Glow
My final days of high school were busy! I was only going to classes in the mornings (thanks to taking afternoon college classes), but I was roped into playing the lead in a community theatre play 2 weeks before it opened, which meant I spent my last days of high school frantically trying to memorize Shakespeare! I also remember sneaking back into the high school for lunch with my friends, usually bringing in contraband waffle fries from one of my favorite local haunts, Mr. Spots!
Brittany
HA! I love it, your friends surely appreciated those waffle fries.
Heather Patton at Afternoon Glow
They sure did…though I think they would regret now how much they whined when I asked them to kick in a few bucks extra for gas (this was back when gas was like $0.98/gal)!
Kadee Cramer
Frank! What a cutie! 🙂 I’ve yet to even see one vegan restaurant in my life. It would be like a bonafide unicorn here in Oklahoma. :p
Brittany
Oh man, you must get to the northwest. 😉
P
I don’t dare do any running in LA after 9am…just no, haha! I love putting pictures to what you told me about your Arizona trip!
And Frank looks more friendly than Bill for sure, haha!
Brittany
Truth, that heat struggle is REAL!
stateeats
OMG your dad is too funny! Isn’t FOSC the best? Have done it several times here. Good works, good people. -Kat
Brittany
Yes! It’s so amazing, this was our third time. I love it.
Amanda @ .running with spoons.
I actually really enjoyed high school, and while I wasn’t sad at graduation, I definitely look back at it now and get all sentimental… especially in September when everyone is going to school and I’m not 😥
Brittany
You’re never too old to go back for more….but it will never be like high school haha.
Josie @ Literature Mistress
I couldn’t wait for it to be over. The last couple of months were especially stressful and I wish I could go back and tell my younger self how little those grades I was worrying so much about matter in the end.
Brittany
Well, this is true, BUT it probably taught you a kind of discipline you’ve carried with you! 👍🏻
Josie @ Literature Mistress
Huh. That’s an interesting idea! However…most of the time I just find myself wondering where I got all the energy from tbh. =D
dave379
My favorite line, smile and laugh-inducing: I then proceeded to understand the meaning of life. And brussels sprouts! 🙂
Brittany
Haaahaha. 😝
Yerpappy
What do u get if u put that mountain squirrel in a beer mug? Frankenstein. Ha ha ha. !
Brittany
I just laughed out loud hard. Very hard.