I vividly remember sitting on the big green raft on the Colorado River. It was the last day of the honors trip, and I was ready to take a shower but not ready to go back to school. Mr. Farmer was rowing and let the rest of us sit and talk on the raft.
Mr. Farmer told us his life story, while we ate the remaining camping snacks- M&M’s, yogurt, and gummy worms. Below the raft, the water was a bright blue-green, and cliffs surrounded us on the left and right. There were no man-made structures in sight, just rock; no school or stress, just water and a cool breeze. There was nothing to do and I loved it. The sun shone above, warming our faces. We sat on a large foam sleeping pad, and I could hear the steady sound of the oars hitting the water. This was one of those moments, I thought, that I wish I could live in forever.
Crested Butte, Colorado. The best place to ski during the winters and get bitten by ants in the summer.
The duration of my vacation was about two weeks and it started with driving to TacoTime. The closest TacoTime was at a Vegas truck stop, the food made my stomach hurt. After eating the deep fried burritos, we started driving to St. George, Utah.
The view was spectacular and the climate was hot, like once I stepped outside the car I felt as though I was going to die from heatstroke. My sister and I swam in the pool, she tried to drown me. The next day we went on a hike on the outskirts of Zion National Park. The hike was called Spring Creek and it was in a slot, the different colors of the rocks were breathtaking.
After the long hike we explored St. George. We went to a couple of thrift shops, we did not find anything cool enough to buy, and visited Brigham Young’s winter home. We learned all about the Mormon church and were even approached to join, but we didn’t convert.
The next day we went on a small walk to Dixie rock and drove up Kolob Canyon. We made a couple of pit stops because pictures or it didn’t happen. Eventually we made it to our one mile hike to a lookout spot. While walking back to the car we heard a rattle, we almost got attacked by a rattlesnake.
After a couple of hours, more like nine hours, and a McDonald’s pitstop we made it to Grand Junction, Colorado. I tried Dairy Queen the first time, not worth the hype. We finally made it to Gunnison.
Our trip consisted of hiking, hiking, and more hiking. We hiked down the entirety of Crested Butte Mountain during a lightning and thunderstorm. The weather was bipolar, either too hot or too rainy and stormy. I toured my first college, Western Colorado University. The campus was gorgeous and the school had lots to offer, but Gunnison is the most boring town in existence.
My mom, sister, and I all went rafting. Every time we are in Colorado during the summer we go rafting, and get the craziest photos. Our family met us in Colorado and we went to an insanely late dinner, our reservation was at 9 O’clock pm. We went to a place called Slogars, they specialize in fried chicken.
Overall the trip to Colorado was amazing, but it was time to head back home. We drove to Bryce Canyon, Utah. It was two Best Westerns and that was basically the town. The food was not good, like LAUSD’s cafeteria food was more edible. In the morning we went to hike the Peekaboo Loop trail. It turns out that since there were mudslides before the trail was closed we illegally hiked a trail.
My mom found a nice restaurant in the town over, and the food was actually edible. We ordered pork chops, burrata, bread (OMG the bread was to die for), crab mac and cheese, french onion soup and a carrot salad. We could not leave without getting dessert, so we got three different options: chocolate bourbon mousse, cheesecake, and a rhubarb crumble.
The next day it was time for us to head home, we drove and drove and drove until we home. The trip was amazing but being home and sleeping in my own bed was exhilarating.
My Grandfather who lives in Illinois gave me his truck, so my Dad and I went back to his farm to pick it up. It is a three seat truck, and with three people, there’s a tight squeeze. We decided to bring him back with us on the trip. This was the third time we have all done this together .
You would expect it to be really fun. But it was really uncomfortable. We went to two baseball games because my Dad loves baseball so much. Then when we hit Colorado we had some problems. The truck broke down. We were stuck in a small town all day. I was actually kind of glad because it was an uncomfortable car ride. Plus, the situation could have been much worse. We could have been in Kansas. It’s the only place the whole way back that isn’t pretty.
Once everything was fixed we went back out on the road. Sadly we ended up back in the shop the next day. I was disappointed then because we needed to get home and we where going to have to skip the one place I wanted to go to, Bryce Canyon.
As we got closer to Bryce the weather was getting really bad. I haven’t seen that much rain in years, and we had to stop. We got the hotel closest to Bryce and I was able to go. The weather cleared up enough to go on trails and explore the amazing canyons. The rocks are bright red, and it looks different every time you go. The weather couldn’t have been better and the scenery was amazing. The wait to get there was definitely worth it.
OVS Journalism Blog 
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