When you last left us, we had just discovered the elusive THON salon, the original goal of our adventure. Little did we know, we had just scratched the surface of what was really going on behind the scenes of THON. We left the salon in search of some good photo ops, so we continued onto the floor crowded with increasingly delirious dancers.

The floor was pretty quiet — no band was playing, no special activities were going on — just dancers doing their thing. Strangers were tossing beach balls back and forth, dancers were passing the time with arts and crafts on some of the high tables, and for a select few, it was breakfast time. Even when there’s nothing scheduled, there are always fun things set up on the floor, like bean bag tossing.

After a few minutes of aimless wandering, we headed to one of the side entrances, to take a look behind the scenes. Everywhere you looked was in a state of organized chaos. Committee members in shirts of all colors running around with a clear purpose and intent. It was a little overwhelming. Eventually we stumbled upon something interesting.

Hidden in the side alleys of backstage THON, is a video blog booth where anyone (dancers, committee members, and families) can all make their own videos — reality TV style — and upload them directly to YouTube. This is one of those small details of THON that goes a long way — especially for the emotionally exhausted dancers. After hours and hours of sleep deprivation, it’s nice to have someplace to vent. If you want to try to find a familiar face, check out the THON 2013 video blog YouTube playlist.

There were a few more things we wanted to check out in the halls of the BJC, but not before we played a game of pick up beach volleyball with our PR volunteers and some random strangers.

After we nearly hit someone’s grandpa in the head, we decided that the time for tomfoolery was over and continued farther down the hall. It was here that we found some inspirational wall art — the THON family trees. Each tree branch featured a different THON child, and included a mini biography, a list of their favorite things about THON, and pictures (including a mini Mario). The trees took up a large stretch of the hallway, changing seasons as they went.

How could anything top that?

Catie Simpson (@catiewitha_C_) and Zack Rutstein (@ZackRutstein) contributed to the writing of this post. If you missed it, click here for Part One. Check out Part Three here!