BSC in the USA, Super Special #14

A little road trip mood music for you.

And in today's edition of improbable BSC vacations, we get the BSC RV road trip across the United States, East Coast to West Coast. How, you may ask? Well, dear reader, let's dive right in.

In the ever changing BSC timeline of 8th grade, we are in the summer after 8th grade, in which Dawn is living back in California and Abby is a member of the BSC. So...maybe the 4th or 5th summer after 8th grade. Mr. Schafer, Dawn's father, is driving an RV from New York to the California, as a favor for his art dealer friend, Mr. Choi, who is moving across the country. He plans to drive Dawn and Jeff, who have been visiting their mom in Stoneybrook, back to California with him, as a fun, family road trip. Dawn, naturally, freaks out about the carbon footprint of RVs. 

Dawn always gives me Sara Rue "Can't Hardly Wait" vibes

Watson Brewer finds out about this trip, and he decides that, of course, he too should rent an RV and do a cross country road trip with the Brewer-Thomas clan (not the first time he has had vacation inspiration from another BSC family member). And, somehow, of course, this naturally leads to the entire BSC being asked to join in this trip (I mean, sure, Watson and Elizabeth would probably like some babysitting for their clan, but why would Mr. Schafer want a bunch of 13 and 11 year old girls along for the ride? And why don't Karen, David Michael, Andrew, or Jeff get to invite any friends along? Like, ever?) So, we end up with 15 people between the 2 RVs. For 2 weeks. I'm getting claustrophobic just thinking about it. Anyway, everyone on the trip gets to pick one place to visit on the way, so the RVs end up being divided by a North trip and a South trip, with both meeting in Palo City, CA at the end of the two weeks.

So, the RVs are divided as follows:

The Schafer RV/Northbound route: Mr. Schafer, Dawn, Stacey, Mary Anne, Claudia, Jeff, and Kristy (she goes in this RV to balance the numbers. Or, maybe, she just wanted to escape her family for 2 weeks)

The Brewer RV/Southbound route: Watson, Elizabeth, Abby, Jessi, Mallory, David Michael, Karen, and Andrew (Kristy's older brothers, Charlie and Sam, were at camp during this trip)

Sigh...trying to muster the energy to do this...

Ok. Southbound RV. Let's break it down by city/adventure.

Oakley, NJ: This is not an official stop or pick, but since it is on the way, Watson stops here so Jessi can visit her family. They go to Grandpa and Grandma Ramsey's house for lunch, and all of Jessi's aunts/uncles/cousins come visit as well. Mallory seems withdrawn and uneasy initially, and Jessi is worried that Mallory is afraid of black people/other races. Her grandmother points out that Mallory is just nervous because she is Jessi's best friend and wants to make a good impression on everyone. By the end of the visit, Mallory is completely at ease and joking around with Jessi's cousins, and Jessi feels bad that she ever doubted her BFF. All the feels.

Chincoteague Island, Virginia: Mallory's pick, because we get told in every book how much Mallory loves horses and the books by Marguerite Henry. They find out that Chincoteague is basically a tourist trap (similar to Gatlinburg or Branson, from the description), and the original Misty, the horse that inspired the books, has been stuffed and is on display in a store. The RV gets rear-ended in the bad traffic, but of course Watson got the rental insurance so we don't really care. They drive out to the less populated Assateague Island, where the wild horses still roam and are occasionally seen, have a picnic, and of course, the horses walk right by their lunch table. 

Memphis:  Abby's pick, because she is obsessed with Elvis. Watson and Elizabeth drop all the kids off to tour Graceland and go off on their own (I completely understand, I have been stuck at home with 2 kids since March, I want a break too). Abby admits that she believes that Elvis is still alive out there somewhere, and Karen thinks that she spots him in a pink Cadillac. They follow the Cadillac to a motel, knock on his door (just, why? How is that a good idea, kids?), where they find out that there is an Elvis impersonator conference in town. I just can't.

Dalton, Mississippi: Jessi's pick, because some of her ancestors used to be enslaved at the Dalton Plantation. The plantation is now a museum, with a tour of the antebellum home and a separate exhibit in some of the preserved slave quarters. Jessi meets an older African-American couple there, and the woman also had ancestors who were slaves there and tells Jessi some of the history not included on the tour. 

Lester, Oklahoma: Watson's pick, since his college roommate from Baylor (we get no explanation on how a Connecticut guy ends up at Baylor) lives there. They have lunch, and his friends comment on how unseasonably cool it is (anyone want to guess what a sudden cool spell in the heat of summer can mean? Bueller? Bueller?) Abby gets goosebumps on her arms, looks outside, and sees strange, green-tinged clouds. College bro (sorry, I didn't write down their names, because, frankly, I didn't care enough), looks outside, immediately flips on the television, and that's right, there is a tornado warning for Lester. Everyone crowds into the bathroom (no basement/storm cellar in the house), and Mr. Roommate runs around opening windows to "equalize the air pressure" in the house. Now, we all know this is a myth these days, but, as someone who grew up in Dixie Alley (and now lives in Tornado Alley in Missouri), I distinctly remember being told this in elementary school as stated fact. They hear the tell-tale freight train sound, and David Michael jokes about seeing the Wicked Witch, cars, and even cows fly past the bathroom window.

However, they soon hear a large crash, and DM gets scared for real. It's soon over, no major damage to the house, just a tree down outside, and some roof damage in other homes in the neighborhood. They hear on the news that it was an F1 tornado, and Mr. Roommate explains the Fujita scale to Mallory. She then asks what an F5 would be like.

Ten Gallon, Texas:  After leaving the suck zone, they head to Texas because David Michael's pick was to see a rodeo. However, they don't stay in the stands to actually see anything because someone explains what calf-roping is, and they realize that they don't want to see animals getting hurt or mistreated. They all play in the arcade/boardwalk/midway area of the rodeo, where they play carnival style games and ride ponies and a mechanical bull.

Albuquerque: Not an official stop, just where they stop for a rest. They see a sign for a nearby town, and Mallory recognizes the name from a pen pal program SES had that her siblings were involved in. They detour to the town, which is the home and school for the Zuni tribe of Native Americans, and they meet some of the students who were involved in the program. Because of course. It turns out that the Zuni school had been damaged in a fire, and the children from Stoneybrook had raised money for it, so there is a plaque at the school dedicated to them. 

Four Corners: Karen's pick, because she wanted to stand in four states at once. And that's about it.

Grand Canyon: Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer's pick, and they also stop and see Ship Rock Pinnacle and Monument Valley on the way. Abby is dreading this stop, because this was the vacation her father was planning for the family right before he was killed in a car accident. She walks a little way apart from the group, and finally makes peace with her father's memory, and decides that she, Anna, and her mom need to plan a trip there together.

San Diego: Andrew's pick because he wants to go to the San Diego Zoo. There has been a running gag throughout this trip about continually running into the people who ran into their RV back in Chincoteague, and of course they see them at the zoo as well, and even tour the zoo with them for a bit, blah, blah, don't really care. 

Wow. This is way longer than I expected, and I haven't even done the Northbound RV yet. Ok, take a bathroom/water (or alcohol)/stretch break, and buckle up for part 2....

Cleveland, Ohio: Kristy wanted to visit as many MLB parks as possible, see games if the teams are home, and get a ball cap at each. This one irritated me a bit, because she basically gets multiple stops throughout the trip. But, as a baseball fan, seeing a game at every park has been a secret wish of mine too, so I will accept it this time. So, they visit Jacobs Field, see the Indians play the Red Sox (BoSox won, if you care), and Kristy gets her cap. We find out that Stacey and Claudia know as little about baseball as they do about basketball, but they manage to enjoy themselves somewhat, especially when Mr. Schafer decides to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while they are in Cleveland as well. 

Chicago: Claudia's pick, because she wants to visit the Art Institute of Chicago, where she is completely enraptured by the Impressionist collection they have on exhibit. They also stop by Wrigley Field so Kristy can buy a hat (no game), and we also find out that they stopped at Tigers Stadium in Detroit so Kristy could get that hat too. They eat at the original Pizzeria Uno, and the drama of the trip starts here, when Claudia is looking for her bag. She finds an unfamiliar notebook by her stuff, opens it, and realizes that it is Stacey's journal. At that very moment, of course, Stacey walks up and accuses Claudia of reading her diary. Claudia tries to deny it, but Stacey rushes away and proceeds to ignore Claudia the most of the trip.

Minneapolis/Bloomington, Minnesota: Mary Anne's original pick was to go to Maynard, Iowa to visit her maternal grandmother, but they end up meeting in Bloomington at the Mall of America instead. On the way, they stop in Milwaukee and Minneapolis to see the Brewers and Twins stadiums for Kristy. They enjoy the rides at Mall of America, do some shopping, and Dawn somehow convinces them to eat at some health food restaurant there. Claudia and Stacey still not talking.

Badlands, South Dakota: Not an official stop, but driving through on the way to their next destination. Mr. Schafer runs out of gas miles away from civilization, but a Jeep soon drives by and he hitches a ride to the next town, leaving the kids there. He is gone for several hours, and soon night falls, and no Mr. Schafer. The kids are freaking out, then they finally see headlights approaching. They immediately all rush out of the RV (apparently they have never seen any horror movies), and it is a policeman bringing Mr. Schafer back with gas. They drive into Wall, SD, home of the Wall Drug Store (apparently famous). There, Claudia wanders into an antique store and buys a sketch for $1 that reminds her of Georgia O'Keefe. She and Stacey are still not talking.

Yellowstone/Grand Tetons: Jeff's pick, because he wants to go rock climbing. They go hiking, where a bear walks through their picnic area (don't give the bears food, this is not Yogi Bear, kids). They see Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon (of Yellowstone, not that Grand Canyon), and the Upper Falls. They then head over to Grand Tetons National Park so that Jeff can finally go rock climbing/rappelling.

Buzzard Gulch, Idaho: Dawn's pick, because she wanted to visit an actual ghost town, but when they get there, it is very touristy/gimmicky. Dawn is initially embarrassed because she wanted to go somewhere authentic, but the whole group ends up having fun there. The great RV freeze out between Claud and Stacey continues.

Seattle: Stacey's pick because her current boyfriend, Ethan, is visiting there for the summer with his family. They have already arranged to meet at a cafe there, but of course Stacey only wrote down the main street, not the cross street as well, so there is this whole farce of them trying to locate the correct cafe. She finds it, meets up with Ethan, and Mr. Schafer drives off to take Kristy and the rest of the gang to a Mariners game. Ethan and Stacey walk to the Space Needle, go to the top, and the illustrators give us the most awkward rendering of a kiss that I have ever seen.

You're welcome.

After Mr. Schafer picks her back up, Stacey automatically starts to tell Claudia about her date before she realizes that she is supposed to be mad. They finally make up. Yay.

San Francisco: Mr. Schafer's pick, because he just really loves the city. They ride the cable cars, then go to a game at Candlestick Park, because of course everyone wants to go to another baseball game for Kristy. While there, Kristy just so happens to see her bio-dad on the Jumbotron. I...nope, I can't. Mary Anne saw him too, and Kristy decides she should go looking for him. She knows that he always preferred sitting on the first base side, and lo and behold, of course, she finds him. Of course. They have an awkward reunion, and he promises to write to her more often. 

After this, both RVs meet at the Schafer house in Palo City, where they have a big party, with the We Heart Kids club and Mr. Choi (remember him, from way back at the beginning? The owner of Mr. Schafer's RV?). Watson brings a platter of cold cuts, and Dawn is all offended that someone brought, and I quote, "processed dead pig slabs". Sigh... Meanwhile, Claudia is showing off her sketch from Wall, SD, and Mr. Choi looks it over, and said it is a pretty good imitation of Georgia O'Keefe's early work. While he is appraising it, Claudia and Stacey notice the signature on the back. That's right, you guessed it. It is an actual Georgia O'Keefe. Mr. Choi offers $500 for it, but Claudia decides not to sell it. 

They don't mention how everyone gets back to Stoneybrook, so I don't know if they all crowd into the Brewer RV or just fly back. I really hope they fly.

No fashion in this one. So I leave with you with some Cousin Eddie.

Babysitters' Island Adventure, Super Special #4

Shockingly, I somehow never read this one as a kid, even though I know I read every other of the first ten Super Specials. Just bizarre that I never read this one. By the way, notice the kid with the yellow and green outfit on the cover, I have a childhood picture of me in that exact outfit (almost): yellow sleeveless shirt, lime green shorts, yellow socks, and white Keds. And I believe my hair was in a Claudia-esque side ponytail, too. Too bad that photo is several states away at my parents' house. If I ever find it, I will try to retroactively add it to this post, just for kicks.

So, Claudia and Dawn decide to take sailing lessons from the Stoneybrook Community Center (for some reason I have never pictured Stoneybrook as being right on the water, this kind of threw me a bit). Apparently, Dawn sails in California with her dad and Jeff all the time, and Claudia sails on her family's vacation every summer (what the...? When has a BSC member ever gone on a family vacation that didn't somehow include the rest of the club? I'm calling you on these mystery vacations, AMM). Anyway, the class lasts two months, and Claudia and Dawn decide to race when they have their end of class certification runs. Dawn beats Claudia out to Greenpoint Island, the halfway point (Claudia seemed to be inhibited by her attire), but Claudia manages to catch up on the second leg, which ends in a tie (of course) back at the Community Center. So, naturally, a rematch is planned. Plus, the girls find out that they have now been certified to sail without supervision. Now, I didn't grow up on the coast, so I'm not sure how feasible this is - I mean, 13 year olds sailing in the ocean/bay/whatever without supervision of some kind? I could understand sailing on a lake, maybe, but not the ocean. Just...not believable. 

Anyway, SMS has a 3 day weekend approaching, and they decide to have the rematch then. Dawn's brother, Jeff, is in town for the long weekend, so he will go sailing with Dawn. Claudia asks Mallory to go with her, but she has other plans. Jessi convinces Claud to take her sister, Becca, instead. Becca is 8. Then, somehow, they get the bright idea to invite Haley Braddock (age 9), as well as Jamie Newton (age 4). What the...? As a parent, there is no way I would let my 8 year old, my 9 year old, and hell to the no on my 4 year old, to go sailing with 13 year old girls who are not related to me (well, not even if they were related, actually. 16 year olds? I would need a lot of convincing, but possibly. 13 year olds? Again, hell to the no). This just boggles my mind. I mean, yes, the BSC girls are always held up as "super responsible" for their age, but seriously, AMM? No parent will let their young child sail out on the ocean with 13 year old girls who have just been certified to sail alone. Pffft. In AMM's crazy, jacked up alternate universe, the parents are all delighted by the invitations and enthusiastically agree. Plus, Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey will actually be out of town for the weekend, but still agree to let Becca go sailing with Dawn and Claudia. That last sentence made me mad just typing it. You're killing me, Smalls!!

Anyway, Dawn and Claudia decide to pack lunches so that they can all have a picnic on Greenpoint Island before returning the Community Center. However, while they are sailing out to the island, a wicked squall (said in a Boston accent, because, why not?) blows in, and the girls soon lose their bearings. Dawn's ship starts to break up, the rudder snaps, and she realizes that they (Dawn, Jeff, and Haley) will have to bail out and swim to Claudia's boat. Claud's boat is too small to hold the additional people, so they just hang onto the side until she finds an island on which to land. Claudia immediately recognizes that this is not Greenpoint Island, and realizes that they are, indeed...

Back in Stoneybrook, everyone gets concerned when the boats don't return before the storm, and then after the storm passes and night hits, alarms are raised, and crisis hits the 'Brook.

Stoneybrook Adventures:

Kristy  - calls an emergency meeting (naturally) which is held at Mallory's house, cancels Krushers' practice to help with the search efforts, plus even cancels the upcoming game with the Bashers. Bart gets super pissed, calls her "irresponsible" for cancelling and claims that she is using the search as an excuse to cancel because she is scared of losing to his team. Kristy, of course, gives him a verbal b!tch-slap, and he eventually apologizes for being a jerk.

Mary Anne - she and Dawn had a huge fight right before the race, because Dawn forgot to give her a message from Logan about cancelling a library date. MA tells Dawn even tells Dawn that "she never wants to see her again" (that was way harsh, Tai). Mary Anne is devastated when she realizes that Dawn is missing and the last thing they did was fight. She spends the whole weekend at the community center, the hub of the search, and on separate occasions, when reporters ask both she and Sharon how they are feeling, they each snap, "How do you think I feel?" MA and Logan are also fighting through this, due to the missed date, but they eventually make up as well.

Stacey - is in NYC visiting her dad this weekend, and as soon as Kristy calls her with the news, she wants to come home and help with the search. Mr. McGill refuses, saying that the girls will probably be found within a few hours, and gets increasingly frustrated the more Stacey asks about leaving early. After another major fight, Stacey calls a cab to the train station and leaves Monday morning. She eventually writes her dad a letter about how upset he made her, and he apologizes. Stacey goes out with the Pike family on Monday to help with the search, and she locates some of the wreckage from Dawn's boat, which causes despair throughout the town.

Mallory - she and her family have a boat (of course they do, and of course it has never been mentioned before, and is never mentioned after...), and they spend the whole day Sunday and most of Monday out searching for the castaways. And that's about it.

Jessi - is in charge of watching her sister and brother while her parents are gone (because this is so believable, if her parents won't let her babysit at night for other families, why do they think she is responsible enough to watch her brother and sister for a whole weekend while they are out of town? I'm calling BS, AMM), and once she realizes that Claudia's boat with Becca did not return, she reluctantly calls her Aunt Cecilia, who lives in a neighboring town. Aunt C blames Jessi for the whole ordeal, even though Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey gave Becca permission to sail, and spends the whole time berating Jessi for being irresponsible (oh, and at one point, the book spelled her name "Jesse," and it bugged the crap out of me. What happened to proof-reading?). Even after the Ramseys return to town, Aunt Cecelia remains to "supervise," which is AMM's way of leading up to Auntie C moving in with the Ramseys in the near future.

On the island:

Dawn - Miss Independent basically falls apart on the island (although, for a 13 year old girl, she still did much better than to be expected), she is unable to contribute any ideas to the food/water/rescue situation. The picnic food that was able to be saved during the storm runs out by Sunday afternoon. Jeff manages to fashion a fishing pole and catch some fish for food. Dawn freaks out when she realizes that her watch has stopped working, but Jeff's watch is waterproof, and both times she asks him what time it is, both on Saturday night and on Sunday morning, he answers "9 o'clock," which becomes the unofficial name of the island. Jamie Newton gets really sick, is running a pretty major fever, and Dawn spends most of the time in the little cave they found on the island with him. She falls into a deeper funk when Sunday rolls into Monday and they still haven't been rescued.

Claudia - and Claudia is now the babysitter that I want with me in any emergency situation. Claudia manages to find the cave they use for shelter and gets the kids to gather wood for a fire. After she realizes that she forgot to properly beach her boat, which drifts away overnight, Claudia keeps a level head and takes immediate charge of the situation. Claudia has the idea to use the tarp that was originally on her boat to fashion a rain-catcher so that they can have drinkable water. She realizes that the survival kit included with the boat doesn't have any medicine, so she tells Dawn that will need to save as much of the water for Jamie to keep his fever down. Becca and Haley have the idea to write "HELP" on the sand with seashells, but since all of the shells are about the same color as the beach, Claudia tries to find alternate ways to signal for rescue. She finds a large piece of a broken mirror, and when they hear a plane flying near on Monday afternoon, she runs out on the beach and flashes the mirror. The plane sees them, and uses a bullhorn to ask if they need a doctor, and Claudia signals that the do. A Coast Guard ship soon arrives with all of the parents on board, and they are rescued.

All of the castaways are taken to the hospital to be checked out, and except for some mild dehydration and sunburn, everyone except Jamie is fine. Jeff does have a cut on his foot that is slightly infected, but he is released that night. Jamie, however, has strep throat and an ear infection, and has to stay in the hospital overnight. Dawn confesses to her mom about how she fell apart, and Sharon tells her that she can't always be the strong one, and that Claudia was able to learn that she could be strong, too, which was a pretty good response, I might have to steal that for my future kids. Jeff flies back to California on Tuesday afternoon, and on Wednesday the BSC cancels the meeting because there is a huge press conference at the community center.  Claudia teasingly challenges Dawn to a rematch, and Dawn's response is "no way."

BSC Life Lessons Learned:

Claudia - She never realized that she was smart until she was on the island.

Kristy - Standing up for what is right is important

Stacey - realizes the 'Brook is now definitely her home

Jessi - learns that adults in her family, especially Aunt Cecilia, don't trust her as much as she thought

Mallory - helping search made her feel in control during the crisis

Mary Anne - how much she loves Dawn

Dawn - "There's no place like home."


Island Fashion!!!

What Claudia Wore (first race): "So she'd put on a tank top and baggy drawstring pants. Over the top, she was wearing a button down shirt of her father's. The sleeves were rolled up, but none of the buttons were buttoned. She was also wearing big earrings that she had made herself."

Ok, so not a true version of Claudia's outfit (although Kerri Green's outfit is pretty close), but hey, this is one of the greatest movie sailing races of all time, people.


What Claudia Wore (second race): "That morning I'd dressed sensibly for our rematch. No jewelry at all (I was not about to lose on account of earrings), and a long sleeved jersey that I could tuck into my jeans. I even pulled my hair back and braided it so it wouldn't blow in my face."

Babysitters On Board!, Super Special #1

The Super Special that started it all....(by the way, Stacey looks weird on this cover, it seems the cover artists can never consistently figure out how she is supposed to look).

So, this takes place in the summer between 7th and 8th grade (you know, when time still moved in a linear fashion in Stoneybrook). Mr. Pike wins a contest at work (before he was laid off, anyway), and the prize is an all expenses paid vacation for his family (dang, that's expensive, with 8 kids...). The vacation includes a four day cruise around the Bahamas, and then three days at Disney World (yeah, Disney World with 8 kids, I bet his company is bankrupt after paying for this one.) The Pikes ask Stacey and Mary Anne to come along as mother's helpers (like they do in the Sea City books, which I haven't gotten to yet, sorry, this is what you get when you read out of order). Kristy is jealous of Stacey and Mary Anne getting to go on this trip, and when Watson finds out that Kristy has never even left the state of Connecticut, he decides to take the Thomas-Brewer clan on the same trip. Plus, he invites Dawn and Claudia, so they won't be the only BSCers left behind in the 'Brook (but they aren't babysitting on this trip, just coming as Kristy's guests. Sam and Charlie kind of get the shaft on these vacations, they never get to invite friends along).

Kristy - So this trip is Kristy's first time leaving Connecticut, her first plane ride, basically, a big time for Special K. Kristy is rooming with Claudia and Dawn while on the cruise ship, the Ocean Princess, and continually clashes with Dawn while on the cruise (basically, Kristy is a slob, and Dawn is neat freak. Surprisingly, even though Claudia is super-overpacker, they don't seem to have a problem with her in their room...). Kristy even deliberately leaves food wrappers and stuff laying around to antagonize Dawn (Claudia accuses her of "goating" Dawn. Oh, sweetie...). Plus, she insists on having BSC meetings every day of the trip, which exhausts MA and Stacey, since they are actually sitting on this trip (unlike Kristy, Dawn, and Claudia, who are basically getting a free vacation). However, Kristy starts to lighten up after befriending an older gentleman, named Rudy Staples, while at the pool. Mr. Staples' wife recently passed away, and he's all grumpy and depressed, just the crotchety old guy, and Kristy spends time with him, playing Ping Pong and inviting him to eat dinner with her family. While I think this is super sweet and all, I do wonder at Watson and Elizabeth letting Kristy hang out with the random, solitary old dude on the cruise ship, seems like this is how a lot of the "America's Most Wanted" stories start out... Anyway, good old Rudy cheers up, and he and Kristy become pen pals after the trip. So much feels...

Mary Anne - MA is along as a mother's helper for the Pike family, and she is rooming with Mallory and Vanessa Pike (this is before Mallory is a member of the club). On the first day of the cruise, Mary Anne meets Alexandra Carmody, a glamorous, sophisticated girl of mysterious origins. She alternately tells MA that she is an actress, an orphan, and the niece of a countess. Mary Anne is dazzled (not to mention extremely gullible). However, after Mallory tells Mary Anne that she spotted Alexandra at Disney World with her parents and brother, MA is furious, and confronts Alexandra at the hotel that night, basically calling her a lying whore (ok, maybe didn't use those words, but that would have been epic). Alexandra apologizes and tells MA that she lies because her parents are this famous married couple singing act (fictional Captain and Tennille!!! Score!!!) and she feels like she has to make up stories to distance herself from her parents (umm...has this girl already had therapy?). Alexandra gives MA her address, but Mary Anne decides not to write her, just can't deal with the drama.

Claudia - While not playing referee to Kristy and Dawn on the cruise, Claudia spends her time exploring the ship. While at breakfast on the cruise ship, someone mysteriously pays for Claudia's meal and sends her a note telling her it's courtesy of her "secret admirer." The whole rest of the cruise, like when they dock for a day trip in Nassau, Claudia keeps getting expensive gifts (like mother of pearl earrings, sheesh) and getting her meals and activities (like an aquarium ticket) paid for by this "secret admirer." She finally thinks she has caught him leaving the ice cream parlor one day, but when she stops a random guy outside to see if he saw anything, she meets Tim, and becomes buddy-buddy with him (you can see where this is going, right?). She and Tim make plans to spend a day together at Disney World, all the while she keeps getting gifts and notes from her mystery guy. Finally, while at the parade the last night at Disney, Tim confesses that he was the secret admirer, plus we find out that he is also Alexandra Carmody's brother, too (Claudia, might want to hang on to this one, he's got money). Anyway, they exchange letters after the trip, and then he is never mentioned again (maybe he got turned off by her atrocious spelling, hee hee).

Dawn - When Dawn is not fighting with Kristy about the cleanliness of the cruise ship/hotel room (seriously, girl has a complex, she even takes a few hours one day when Kristy is out having fun to clean the room. Issues...), she is exploring the ship and all it has to offer. Dawn sees a really cute guy when they first board the Ocean Princess, and she ends up meeting him the next day. Her vacay crush, Parker Harris, enters the ship's Ping Pong tournament with Dawn, where they beat Kristy and Mr. Staples to win it all. They have a romantic walk on the beach in Nassau, and they also plan to spend the first day at Disney World together (by the way, Dawn is super excited about Disney World, but since she has been to Disneyland so many times, this seems a bit unrealistic). Claudia helps Dawn choose her Disney date outfit, and Dawn wears her own antique heirloom gold bracelet. While at Disney, Parker buys her a unicorn charm to go on her bracelet, and she is sublimely happy (to quote Cher Horowitz). She almost gets sick on Space Mountain (apparently the one on Disney World is much better than the Disneyland version), but she manages to hold it together (we wouldn't want the carnival scene from "The Sandlot," would we?). However, at the end of the day, tragedy strikes - Dawn realizes that she has lost her bracelet somewhere in the park. However, because this is AMM's Stoneybrook fantasy universe, the Pike triplets manage to find the bracelet the next day at Disney (there is this whole subplot about the triplets hunting for buried treasure, pretty lame), and Dawn is sublimely happy again.

Stacey - One of the few Super Specials where Stacey doesn't fall in "LUV." Stacey is also a mother's helper for the Pike family, and while she is walking around the ship with Claire and Margo, she meets Marc, a 7 year old boy in a wheelchair. He explains that he can walk, but has major heart problems and can't overexert himself. His parents have taken the family on this once-in-a-lifetime vacation because Marc is having experimental heart surgery later that summer, and the doctor has given them no guarantees that Marc will even survive the procedure. Stacey feels heartbroken, and spends time with Marc on the cruise (she takes him, along with Claire and Margo, to the arcade and ice cream parlor), plus spends a day at Epcot with Marc and his family (so much for babysitting the Pikes...). She and Marc's family exchange addresses (because the whole pen pal thing is huge with the BSC), and Stacey later learns that Marc's surgery was successful, and that he is now allowed to frolic and play. Yay for happy endings.

Mallory - Mallory does this really boring thing where she decides to play "Harriet the Spy," and walks around the whole vacation with a notebook. She thinks she sees a famous rock star named Spider (wonder if AMM got her inspiration from Flea?), who is a part of the band The Insects (can't make this up. Well, I guess AMM could make this up). It turns out that it's not Spider (dashing Claudia's hopes, because she wanted Spider to be her secret admirer, cause...yeah...). Plus, she thinks she sees a stowaway, but it turns out to be Tim, Claudia's actual secret admirer. To give Mal credit, she is the one who discovers that Alexandra Carmody is a lying whore, I mean, overly dramatic. The most shocking thing about Mal's story line is that her parents decide that she is mature enough to wander around Disney World by herself. What the...? That's negligent parenting, Mr. and Mrs. Pike. In what world is an 11 year old girl mature enough to walk around Disney World without supervision? Haven't they ever watched "Unsolved Mysteries?" Seriously...


Fashion on Board!!

What Claudia Wore (Nassau edition): "I put on my new blue-and-white bikini and over that, a pink sundress with spaghetti straps at the shoulders and big blue buttons down the front. Then I accessorized. I tied a pink and blue scarf around my waist, knotting it in the middle, added my snake bracelet and feather earrings, wound my hair up on top of my head, and finally put on these white sandals with long laces that you crisscross up your legs and tie in a bow."

What Dawn Wore (Disney World edition): "This is the outfit Claudia helped me choose: a white tank top under lavender overalls, lavender push down socks, lavender high tops, and a beaded Indian belt, which we looped droopily twice around my middle. In my hair we put lavender and white clips that looked like birds."

Very young Carrie Bradshaw (of course, you need to reverse the color combo to get the full effect)

Baby-sitters' Fright Night, Super Mystery #3

Does anyone else picture this as an ABC Family original movie around Halloween? They need to jump on that one, pronto.

Oh, and Mallory and Stacey look weird on this cover. Like the illustrator never looked at any other BSC book before drawing the characters. Abby and Mary Anne look the same though. Weird. I have found out that the more books I read with Abby, the more I like her, she has a sense of humor, somewhat sarcastic/goofball, which isn't found elsewhere in the BSC.

Time Warp alert!! We are now celebrating Halloween in Stoneybrook, Halloween of the 8th grade year, and remember Dawn still lived in Stoneybrook that December and attended the Winter Wonderland Dance, but now we are back at Halloween, with Dawn living in Cali and Abby as a member of the BSC. You're making my head spin, AMM.

So SMS is taking another one of its fantastical field trips, this time to Salem, Mass, to research the history of the Salem Witch Trials (confession, I would have loved that trip in school, way to disappoint me again, TMS.) Students of all grades are attending, and they have to complete some type of research project about Salem while on the trip. Stacey's project is on the early economic history of Salem (yawn...). Anyway, Kristy, Abby, Stacey, Mary Anne, and Mallory are going - Claudia's parents won't let her go due to her bad grades, Logan has a football game, and Jessi is performing in Stoneybrook University's Halloween Dance performance. I'm imagining this:




Kristy gets all freaked out before they leave that there will be some babysitting crisis in the 'Brook over these four days and that Claudia, Logan, Shannon, and Jessi won't be able to handle it. Kristy makes them write down the number of the hotel in case they need to call her for, I don't know, a great idea or something. Special K is going to be a brutal micromanager whenever she migrates into the adult work force. Oh, and at this meeting, it is mentioned that Mallory carries a briefcase instead of a backpack. What the...? Isn't a sixth grader carrying around a briefcase at school just asking to be picked on? Why, AMM, why? And Mary Anne, in one of her chapters, says that Claudia's creativity is reflected in her spelling. MA, just say "Bless her heart," it sounds sweeter.

So, the SMS kids arrive at their hotel, the Salem Gables Inn, and Mallory immediately spots one of her favorite mystery authors (of course it's a mystery author...), Martha Kempner, who is conveniently staying at the hotel, too. Mal goes super fangirl, but suprisingly, Martha does not freak out or get a restraining order or anything, rather talks to Mallory about her new project, a mystery novel based on the Witch's Eye, a famous (and supposedly cursed) yellow egg-sized diamond on display at the local museum. I'm sure this won't be important to the story at all...

The next morning, the students break into groups to begin the first set of tours around Salem. Stacey and Mary Anne join the tour of the Trove House Museum, where the Witch's Eye is on display. While there, alarms go off, security guards and police converge, and chaos reigns. The Witch's Eye has been stolen. Stacey somehow wanders into the crime scene unnoticed, and finds a scrap of paper with a series of numbers written on it. She somehow manages to memorize the numbers because she's good at math (!?!), and then gives the slip of paper to the police. Meanwhile, Mary Anne and Abby discover a black wig, sunglasses, and a crumpled security guard uniform hidden in the bushes outside the inn. They go inside to report this to the front desk, and while they are waiting for the police, Abby goes into the gift shop, where she runs into Martha Kempner. Abby decides to buy an orange ceramic pumpkin, however there is no price tag, and the clerk doesn't recognize it (this isn't fishy at all, y'all...). Abby gives the clerk $2 for the pumpkin, and decides to name it Cornucopia and call it her pet.

Kristy immediately calls an emergency meeting of the Babysitters Club so that they can discuss the mystery the potential suspects (and Abby snarkily refers to K as "Agatha Kristy" - I like this girl):

Agatha Moorehouse - the rich old lady in a wheelchair who owns the diamond? Was she lying about not having insurance on the stone?

Harvey Hapgood - the man who attempted to buy the diamond from Mrs. Moorehouse before the theft, and who Stacey thinks is suspicious because he wore tennis shoes with his suit?

Martha Kempner - the author writing a novel based on the stone, wanting some publicity for her book, and was conveniently in the hotel gift shop steps away from where the disguise was located?

Sean Knowles - a guy who hid behind his newspaper at breakfast watching Mrs. Moorehouse, and who was at the museum at the time of the theft?

While they mull over the suspects, they continue to do tours of Salem, and attend the Halloween parade downtown. While there, someone dressed as a ghost steals Abby's "waist pack" in the midst of the crowd (hee, hee, Abby has a fanny pack.) When they get back to the hotel, Abby discovers that the room she shares with Stacey has been ransacked (the room key was in the fanny pack.) However, nothing was stolen (Stacey was frantic about her jewelry - would someone be that interested in a 13 year old girl's stash from Claire's?)

Mallory phones the 'Brook so that Jessi can send the mystery notebook up to Salem (there is this convoluted story where some teachers were coming to Salem a day or two later, really probable.) They run into Martha Kempner downstairs, and she tells the girls the history of the "curse" around the diamond and then offers to buy Abby's pumpkin, which is now on a keychain attached to her belt loop (again, not fishy at all, AMM). After they get the mystery notebook, they write down the history of the diamond and everything they have observed so far, and Stacey realizes that the numbers she found are the combo to one of the hotel room safes. And then the lights go out...

A bad storm hits, knocking out power to the inn, and the teachers hand out candles to the students (ummm...). The girls decide that since the hotel rooms are opened electronically, they can just walk into the rooms of the suspects and check to hotel safes (haven't these girls watched America's Most Wanted, or any Lifetime Original Movie - that is not a good idea.) They discover that the combo open's Martha Kempner's safe (alas, it is empty), and while in her room, Stacey declares that stiletto heels are "a bigger fashion bomb" than sneakers - oh, sweetie, wait about 5 years until you discover Sex & the City, then all your babysitting money will be going towards Mahnolos and Louboutins. 

Once they leave her room, they realize that are being followed by a shadowy figure, and wander into a wing of the hotel under renovation. Abby gets into a physical altercation with Harvey Hapgood, and Martha Kempner shows up and tries to snatch her pumpkin pet, which had the diamond hidden inside. Yep, it was Harvey and Martha, in the east wing, with the pumpkin. Abby uses her soccer slide tackle to take them both out (that's realistic) and then the police show up and everyone is safe. It turns out that Sean Knowles was an insurance investigator working with the police to protect the diamond.

Oh, and subplot, Kristy got into a prank war with Alan Gray and Cary Retlin, with Kristy and Alan teaming up to get revenge on Cary. Plus, Cokie Mason and her henchmen bully the sixth grade girl named Eileen rooming with Mallory, but then the BSC stands up to Cokie, accusing her of being just like the witch hunters in Salem. Somehow that makes Cokie back off, which is not really believable, in my opinion. Oh, and the BSC members stuck in Stoneybrook throw a Halloween parade for the kids (yeah, if only 4 out of a possible 9 babysitters are available to chaperone, I would totally let my kids march down the street in costume...).

Halloween Costumes:

Kristy - Sherlock Bones, wearing her signature collie cap, necklace of dog biscuits, and carrying a magnifying glass

Mary Anne - dressed as Tigger. I swear she dresses up as a cat every time Halloween rolls around in 8th grade

Stacey - Mother Time, wearing all black, with her face painted like a white clock (sounds like one of those last minute, "oh, crap, this is a costume party" looks)

Abby - Women's World Cup, with her soccer jersey, a plastic gold cup on one shoulder, and an inflatable globe on the other shoulder (actually pretty clever)

Mallory - Pumpkin Patch, with an orange sweatshirt, paper pumpkins pinned all over it with green yarn or something, and Abby's pet ceramic pumpkin attached to her waist

Fashion!!

What Claudia wore: "Last year, it was Doc Martens with pumpkin stickers, a hand-batiked shirt in orange and black, plus one orange sock and one black sock."

What Stacey wore: "Stacey had gone for almost total black: black jeans, black boots, black turtleneck, silver cropped top over that, black boots with silver side buttons, and silver X earrings." Umm...why is Stacey wearing 2 pairs of boots?

What Eileen wore: "She was wearing a huge purple dress, a puffy orange windbreaker, and these really clunky shoes. Her hair stuck out in spikes beneath a wool hat that had a pattern of white snowflakes on a red background. She was fashion challenged." This description came courtesy of Stacey - if Claudia had worn this outfit, Stacey would think it was "genius" and "dibbly fresh."

Rihanna thinks mixing purple, orange, and red is ok, Stacey, live a little.

Snowbound - Super Special #7

Another of my favorite Super Specials, and this one has a personal story attached.  I remember I took my copy of this to the salon to read while I was getting my first and only perm (rockin' the Stacey style).  This would have been 4th, maybe 5th grade.  This book kept me entertained during that long process.  However, unfortunately, when we left the salon, I managed to forget "Snowbound" as well.  By the time of my next visit, it had disappeared into oblivion.  This was a life-defining tragedy for me.


So, a heavy snowstorm is called for on Wednesday, which no one takes seriously because multiple snowfalls have been predicted and nothing ever materialized.  So school continues as usual, with the Winter Wonderland dance planned for Friday.  As Wednesday evening hits, the snow starts to fall.  It was a dark and stormy night...then the power goes out....

Stoneybrook Snowpocalypse Breakdown:

Mary Anne and Mallory:  They are babysitting for the Pike family overnight while the Pike parents escape to New York City (with 8 kids, I'd take every chance for an adult getaway while I could, too).  Of course, Mrs. Pike mentions before she leaves that there is hardly any food left, which I'm sure will have no bearing on the story whatsoever (yeah, right, we know AMM better than that).  So, the Pike parents get stuck in NYC, and the kids run out of food Thursday morning.  This always stuck me as such a crisis when I was younger, however it turns out there was actually plenty of food, just not food the kids liked (who wants to eat frozen broccoli?  Um, I do...).   Thursday afternoon, Logan, the knight in shining armor, cross country skis over to the Pike house with a backpack full of food, crisis averted.

Kristy:  invites Bart, her kinda-sorta boyfriend, over to watch movies (Uncle Buck and Back to the Future, I'm impressed that real movies are listed here) and to have dinner with her family.  Snow falls, Bart must sleep over at the McMansion (Kristy freaks out about Bart seeing her in her pajamas, that so would have been me at 13, too).  The next morning, Kristy sets her alarm for 5:30 so that she can get pretty (including curling her hair and putting on makeup) before Bart wakes up.  Kristy actually acts like a girly girl for once.

Claudia: babysitting for the Perkins (Myriah, Gabbie, and baby Laura), the Perkins adults get stuck at their friends' house overnight.  Biggest adventure here is that the dog, Chewbacca, gets shut in the basement overnight.

Dawn:  she and her mother make a white-knuckle drive to the airport to pick up Jeff from California, but his flight has been diverted to DC, so they must spend the night in the airport waiting for him to come the next morning.  His flight lands around lunchtime, everything is hunky-dory.

Jessi:  stuck at dance school rehearsing for "The Nutcracker" (she's the King of Mice).  Her romantic interest, Quint, was on the train from New York City to go to the school dance on Friday with her. Quint's train makes it to town, but Mr Ramsey isn't there to pick him up, so he walks to the dance studio (umm...what adult transit employee would let an 11 year old boy walk away in a blizzard, even if the dance studio is only a few blocks away?  As Cher Horowitz would say, "That's a lawsuit waiting to happen!!").  All of kids spend the night at the dance school, Jessi and Quint help babysit.

Stacey: she and her mom get caught in storm on the way back from the mall (Stace had to get a fresh perm for the dance, of course).  They get off the highway to avoid wrecks and get stuck on the back roads (ok, my Midwest winter driving tip here - don't get off the highways unless you have a four wheel drive, because the highways tend to get pretreated with salt and sand better, and tend to get plowed first.  Now you know, Mrs. McGill, and knowing is half the battle).  A stranger stops and invites them to spend the night with him and his wife.  Instead of Texas Chainsaw massacre, they get Norman Rockwell, aka the Schiavones.

After the blizzard, totaling 28 inches of snowfall, everyone is reunited with their families, school reopens on Friday, and the Winter Wonderland dance carries on as planned.


Winter Wonderland Dance:

Kristy - going with Bart Taylor, her on/off boyfriend and rival softball coach; when Kristy asks what Bart is wearing to the dance, he says his suit is "puce" - I don't even know if I knew what color that was at 13, so a 13 year old boy?  Doubtful.

Mary Anne - Logan Bruno, of course (ladies love Southern boys)

Claudia - going with Iri Mitsuhashi, someone we never hear about again

Dawn - Price Irving, whose fate in this series resembles Iri's

Stacey - Austin Bentley, who I think has been mentioned before

Jessi - Quint Walter, the ballet dancer she meets in the New York Super Special - BSC time warp alert: Jessi meets Quint over the summer vacation (after 6th grade), but now this is the winter of 6th grade again...it's like Stoneybrook Groundhog school year.

Mallory - Ben Hobart, the boy wonder from Down Under, her on/off boyfriend of the series

What Claudia wore:
"I'd bought this black velvet knicker outfit and was going to wear it with a lot of silver jewelry, including snowflake earrings."  I guess that's a knicker outfit?  Looks almost like Hammer pants (I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have had a red pair of Hammer pants in 4th grade.)

Other than Stacey's LBD (note the lack of curly hair, too), all the other dresses look like 80's bridesmaid dresses - I hope at least one of them has a butt bow.

California Girls! - Super Special #5

I was always a sucker for the Super Specials - I mean, you get a story for every character in one book, which rocked my 13 year old world back in the day.  So, for my first book on this journey, I figured I would start with one of my favorite Super Specials ever, "California Girls!" (the fact there is an exclamation point in the title just highlights the awesomeness of the Super Special).

Let me hit you with some plot - the BSC wins $10,000.00 in the state lottery (this is somehow legal because the girls got their parents to buy them tickets).  Ok, I remember being thirteen, and there is no way my parents would have bought lottery tickets for me and my friends, just not happening.  Plus, not to get all adult on this children's series, but there is no mention of tax liability, the girls literally split the $10,000.00 prize 7 ways.  That's going to be fun at tax time for the parents, let me tell you. 

Anyway, back in Stoneybrook, where logic need not apply, the girls invite themselves to Calfornia to visit Dawn's family for 2 weeks during school vacation (which school vacation is not specified, it seems to be Spring Break-ish, but 2 weeks?  Sign me up in that school district...).

Here's the character breakdown:

Stacey - takes up surfing with older teenagers, gets into a car accident.

Claudia - has a bicoastal romance with Terry, a male version of her sister, Janine (he's a thirteen year old boy who likes French restaurants and foreign language films.  Does that 13 year old boy exist in real life?)

Mary Anne - babysits for Stephie, a girl with asthma (and kept talking about her inhalator, I always called them inhalers, so that was really distracting).

Kristy - gets competitive over who has the best babysitting club, the BSC or the We Love Kids Club.  Admits that she may not know it all, kind of shocking, really.

Jessi - hangs out with Derek Masters, the child actor featured in several books, and is an extra on his television show.

Dawn - butts heads with her dad's girlfriend, Carol, who she thinks is way too old to act cool (Carol is 32.  Ouch.)

Mallory - spends all her money on a makeover and blonde hair dye.  Plus, Mallory uses the slang "dibbly fresh" at some point (Stop trying to make fetch happen, Mallory!!  It's not going to happen!!)

And, now for my favorite segment, BSC fashion presents:

What Claudia wore: "She was wearing a red shirt with Mexican hats (ok, even at 13, I knew the term sombreros) and cactus plants printed on it, and blue and white striped pants held up by polka-dot suspenders.  On her head was what looked like an engineer's cap (it matched her pants), and dangling from her ears were miniature cowboy boots, which she'd made herself."  This outfit is totally giving me a Clarissa Darling/Blossom Russo-style vibe.

                                                        I mean, am I right, or am I right?

What Stacey wore: "Stacey was wearing wide-legged cropped pants; her Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt (why is t-shirt capitalized here?); and high-topped running shoes."  Sounds like an early 90s LA Gear commercial.  Or maybe a Fly Girl from In Living Color.