NYSB-RussPope

Illustration by Russ Pope for Chopper Dave

After a full week in Arizona and a day in Vegas we’re back home in good ol’ New York! AZ was dope with it’s full variety of skate parks, skate spots and skate shops (Cowtown reprezent)! It’s a great vacation and doesn’t cost that much if you split amongst a few homies. Weather this time of year wasn’t so hot either and there’s less humidity so you hardly sweat (if you skate during the day). Night time is perfect and all the parks are nicely lit.

So here’s what went down in AZ! Our trip began on Saturday (4/6) and we pretty much lurked at the hotel as the Vans crew returned from the first day of Phoenix AM. At night we set out to Rio Vista Skate Park and enjoyed a perfect AZ night sesh (some of us anyway, others had too much of the hot tub & beers that day). After the session we hit up Filiberto’s on foot as the Vans van didn’t clear the drive through height limit – total memory. The burrito put us down and we called it a night.

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Sunday (4/7) was the final day of Phoenix AM so we woke up early and caught a ride with the Birdhouse crew (thanks Clive Dixon) making a stop at Jaws’s house where we picked up two of his boys. Hit the highway and travelled alongside some serious military vehicles and ended up at Phoenix AM. Phoenix AM is Arizona’s largest contest all year and takes place at Desert West Skate Park giving AM’s from all over a chance to claim #1. Adriano Lachovski got 1st, Tyson Bowerbank hit 2nd and Dashawn Jordan placed 3rd… dudes ripped! After the contest we headed back to the hotel, chilled some more with the Vans crew and skipped the after-party to go skate Tempe Skate Park.

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Vegas was our destination on Monday (4/8) for our good friend – Chopper Dave’s bachelor party. We packed into the Vans RV around 9AM and drove 6 hours up to Las Vegas where we met more of the Vans fam including Steve Van Doren. Everyone set out to gamble and as they say “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”!

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Tuesday AM (4/9) we headed back, this time with Steve Van Doren in the drivers seat of the Vans RV. The trip again was about 6 hours and after arriving back at our hotel in Phoenix we set out to skate Glendale Skate Park. At Glendale we met up with special guest Drake Jones (Real OG & smoothest tre-flip ever) and grabbed some In-N-Out Burger post sesh. The hotel’s hot tub felt perfect that night as we killed a few beers and listened to some of Drake’s stories. (Drake’s big on the Golf tip these days if you didn’t know but still skates/rips when he wants to)

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Wednesday and Thursday were another mix of skate parks, coffee shops and Mexican food. I think we hit up The Wedge, Pecos and lastly El Mirage before we caught our flight back to New York late Thursday night completely drained.

Overall we had an amazing time with the crew and our local homies Moe & Sick Nick. Big thanks to Chopper Dave for getting us out to the desert again this year and to Steve Van Doren & Vans for everything in Vegas. For more photos check our Instagram.

NYSkateboarding-Phoenix-Vegas