After a canceled senior trip the year prior and a smaller Big Bear trip the year before that, this year’s graduating class wanted to put together an impactful and exciting trip to be remembered throughout the school. To make this happen, our Co-President Alex Bitton decided to take charge of a fundraising campaign in an effort to enhance our trip. On Purim, the entire class put in the effort, and, in the end, over $6,000 was raised. This support gave the class enough to plan an out-of-state trip to Arizona; all that was left for us to do was plan out the details and create an itinerary. Mr. Kleinman and Rabbi Grama were generous enough to help us with the logistics, from food and transportation to housing and activities. Also, Rabbi Stulburger joined the trip as a driver and as one of the chaperones, making the trip even better than it already was.

We began the trip bright and early by davening with a netz (sunrise) minyan at 5:50 AM. Students from the city went to Congregation Shuva Yisrael with Mr. Kleinman, while the valley kids went with Rabbi Stulberger to Chazaq. This early start to the trip helped to build anticipation for what was to come in the following three days. After enjoying a quick breakfast, we headed off to Phoenix, Arizona, on a quick one-hour flight. Upon arrival, everyone immediately felt the relaxing Arizona sun, and was more than excited to head out to lunch. Fortunately for us, we headed to La Bella Pizzeria, an Italian-style pizza restaurant known across Phoenix. After enjoying a tasty spread, we headed out to our first activity: Bam Kazam. As we entered the facility, we passed through many hallways and rooms, knowing that we were in for a blast. The building was divided into 10-12 mini escape rooms, each with a certain theme. There was a pirate room, a futuristic room, and even a game show room. We had unlimited access to all the rooms for 2 hours, and spent every second of it enjoying the rooms and solving their puzzles. After we wrapped up in Bam Kazam, our beautiful house in Scottsdale was revealed to us. With a glamorous and inviting entrance, it truly had everything that we could ask for. There were multiple indoor and outdoor seating areas to chill at. With air conditioning, ceiling fans, comfortable couches, a pool table, a beautiful gym, a backhouse with many arcade games, a podcasting room, a volleyball court, a basketball court, a pickleball arena (in which many competitive tournaments would be held), a patio, a grill, tons of open grassy area with cornhole, and, most importantly, a perfect swimming pool to where we cooled off after long days out in the sun. It was really all that we could ask for. The peace and quiet allowed for us to unwind until it was time for dinner. That night, we went out to Smash Grill, a burger spot with many mouth-watering options. I personally ordered the hangover burger, which came with a sunny-side-up egg and fake bacon, as well as a side of sweet potato fries. It was delicious, to say the least.

The next morning, we got ready for our jam-packed day. We began with Shacharit, followed by a d’var halacha from Rabbi Grama, and went inside for breakfast. As usual, the staff put together an incredible breakfast with many options and assortments such as cereal, bagels, pastries, and fruit. We then headed out on our 2-hour journey to Grasshopper Point. Upon arrival, we immediately understood what was so special about the place. The sight was very similar to the Grand Canyon, full with red rock and a lush stream of water passing through falls and caverns. Along the rock, there were multiple ledges and cliffs for us to jump into the water. We enjoyed these thrilling stunts while being cooled off in the freezing water. One of the highlights of the entire trip was the courage of our classmate, Benny Saelman, who is afraid of heights and isn’t the best swimmer. After being on the ledge for over 30 minutes, contemplating whether or not to jump, and listening to the crowd’s chants get larger and larger, he finally jumped, breathing a sigh of relief as he reached the shore. And it wasn’t only his boldness that was inspiring; it was that the entire grade was happy to see their friend succeed. Other highlights included the Baer twins doing backflips and double-flips, and my friend Moshe Kerendian launching himself off the highest point with no fear at all. We left the beautiful, natural park exhausted yet eager to see what was next. On our way back, we ate a deli lunch on the side of the road in front of a stunning view. We enjoyed the quick lunch and headed out to our final activity of the day, Paqua Park, a floating waterpark. It had an abundance of activities and obstacle courses for us to participate in, and they were all reserved for our group. We had wrestling matches at the center of the park, and even Mr. Kleinman joined in on the fun. A giant waterslide was the main attraction, and students would attempt to run down it before slipping and sliding all over the place. After an amazing day in the sun, we were all tuckered out and fell asleep on the long way home. We arrived home to the smell of barbecue, and all knew what was going down that night. As Shalev Mergi and Moshe Kerendian graciously volunteered to man the grill, others played in basketball and pickleball tournaments, each with ferocious intensity and competitiveness. We ended the night with some hot dogs and hamburgers grilled to perfection, ready for what was to come on the final day.

After a long day in the sun the previous day, we decided to take the morning a bit slower, since we were pretty tired and had a flight to catch that night. We pushed shacharit to 8:30 AM, and with breakfast and a d’var halacha, along with packing and cleaning up the house, it was nearly 11:00 AM. We said goodbye to our beautiful home and headed out on our way. First, we made a Walmart run, buying all sorts of snacks and goods to enjoy for the rest of the day. Mr. Kleinman generously bought us an assortment of ice creams and popsicles to enjoy in the sunny weather. We then headed on our way to the next destination, Sky Zone. Unfortunately, Rabbi Stulburger needed to depart early, so we said our goodbyes and thanked him for a wonderful trip. We then had a bit of downtime before our experience began. We had access to the entire park, which allowed us to tackle obstacle courses and trampoline basketball courts. We enjoyed the majority of the day at Sky Zone before departing for our final destination, Kitchen 18. With a diverse menu, each student ordered a meal of their choice, with select students who helped fundraise receiving a free meal from Mr. Kleinman. After the late lunch, we stopped for a quick mincha and headed to the airport. This trip ultimately was a major highlight of my four years in Valley Torah; I will never forget the many memories made with friends and peers not only in the desert sun.