“Hey!” My brother, Srikar, exclaimed one fine morning, “We should partake in a road trip to Niagara Falls, then from there, we can include a self-guided tour of Washington D. C.” I supported that idea because I portrayed it as the best, most logical, but my parents, good lord, they had different ideas. “How about we go to D. C, then to Pittsburgh, PA, then to Niagara, and then back to our lodging,” stated my mom. “Or,” my dad said, “We can go St. Louis, then go on the road trip.” We couldn’t really arrive at a conclusion, but we did agree on one thing for sure. We had to avoid the big cities on July 4th. Our family, in the end, decided to take my brother’s route, but add Pittsburgh and Chicago as places to stay. So, one week later, on June …show more content…
Since there was no parking at the restaurant, we had to walk there, which was quite relaxing in my opinion. Once we got there, the service was great. They made sure everything was to perfection and we enjoyed our thirty minutes there. Once we got back from the restaurant, we sat and watched some soccer because that was the only channel the TV could pick up. And then we went to bed, awaiting our time to tour the city. Once our time came, we woke really early, checked out of the hotel, and we headed for D.C. It was a ten minute drive from our hotel and once we got there, the scavenger hunt began. We went around the city and saw a couple of attractions like the World War II memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. But, the real prize was inside the Lincoln Memorial. This memorial probably had the most people, but that didn’t halt me from marveling at the statue of Abraham Lincoln. Afterwards, we speculated some of the enticing work at the Smithsonian Museums, and then, we were about to leave until we saw the National Spy Museum. Now that was something I had to check out. The line there was big and once got to the counter, something strange had
Between study group, debate, and chess tournaments there wasn’t much of a social scene around Winchester University in Omaha, Nebraska. The school year at this college was year round, but the students were given a 30 day summer vacation in July. The majority of the students went back home to visit their families during this time. But as juniors at the University Charles, Fredrick, and Stanley, all childhood buddies, decided it was time for a change and that they needed a little more spice in their life. Realizing that they were almost twenty-one and had never breached their comfort zone, they knew a road trip was in store.
To me, the drive felt like forever even though it was only 35 miles from Petoskey to Mackinaw City. As 10-year-old me sat in the back seat of my mom’s car, I remember repeatedly asking the question most parents dread to hear, “are we almost there?” Every time I asked she would shake her head in bemused frustration and respond, “you’ll know when we get there”. At the time, I was not sure what I was most excited for: the ride on the ferry, the big horses, the historical fort, the inevitable delicious ice cream; it all sounded whimsically amazing and I could not be more excited to arrive on Mackinac Island.
We began with the typical touristy attractions; the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Soho, Central Park, and shopping. We had been planning this trip for months and had poured over every detail. From the time the plane landed, we were living by a minute-to-minute schedule. This was a well organized trip and The Great White Way was not on the agenda. Or so we thought.
Occupying the centre of a vast array of paintings, postcards, books and plays, Niagara Falls has become a national icon. Since American independence, Niagara Falls has “assumed nationalistic meaning as the search for cultural/national symbols fixed on nature for America’s identity” (Irwin, xiv). Those select few who had the opportunity to view the falls in the eighteenth century pointed to its majestic beauty and transcendental nature as proof of America’s greatness. It was not until the construction of railroads in the middle of the nineteenth century however, that the majority of Americans were able to experience the falls first hand. At this time, the quest to find meaning in this natural wonder came to a climax. Niagara Falls became a battleground on which Americans sought to interpret the message they knew that Mother Nature had left for them to discover. As a result, Niagara Falls came to symbolize the importance of marriage, spirituality, and technological advancement in the construction of an American identity.
Washington, DC is a spectacular place. This being my first time in DC, I was in awe of everything and all the historical places I encountered. The presence of the monuments and history is what made the capitol so magnificent. Having only read about the Lincoln memorial, I never had the chance to experience the sensation of being inside such an honorable place of importance. The imposing white marble walls of the memorial and the many people surrounding it could be seen from afar. Arriving at the location, an unknown feeling came over me. I was experiencing history in a whole different level. When I think about a memorial, the term remembrance comes to mind. Seeing the statue of Abraham Lincoln brought pieces of memories from history class and evoked thoughts of what it might have felt like to be in his shoes. I was astonished by the statue’s enormousness and how grand Abraham Lincoln looked in his chair. The size of the statue compared to pictures from books and elsewhere was surreal. Abraham Lincoln was a very “powerful and prominent individual” in the history of our nation, the statue’s design and size reflected upon that. Looking around me, I wanted to know what the others thoughts were on seeing his statue and how they felt in that building. I finally had the courage to ask one or two people what they thought; they all had the same appreciation as me. Hearing about an important person or learning about them in a history book gives you vast knowledge but it doesn’t evoke the feeling of utter appreciation as the memorial does. When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, many people wanted to build a memorial in honor of him. They wanted to be able to show how important he was to shaping our nation and to “honor his existence”. Ce...
The Grand Canyon, it’s truly is grand. The animals, the plant life, and the canyon’s history is something my father and I have been interested in for a long time. My dad, Erik, shows me plant specimens and fossils of animals i’ve never seen before. He once told me there was a type of vulture that are so close to extinction there are only 20 left alive in the world. We visited Arizona to see the Grand Canyon once dad got enough money to go on a roadtrip. I’m so excited to see my friends there, too. I brought so much snacks, maybe too much, and my backpack is kind of heavy for the hiking trip, but I’ll live through it.
You know the feeling when everything’s perfect, and suddenly your heart just stops? The 1 hour 48 minute drive to Lake Ontario was just like any other. Movie playing, siblings arguing, music blasting. My family hosts our annual 4th of July party up by Cape Vincent. With the warm air filled with the scent of the grill, and the sounds of laughter and music,that weekend was turning out to be just like the rest. Or at least that’s what we thought. 1311 Failing Shores Lane was never quiet during any of the previous events, but for some reason a dead silence draped over the lot.
It was a couple of sunny spring days in Washington DC. All of the cherry blossoms were glaring in the sun. When I traveled to Washington DC over last spring break it was a good time. I traveled to Virginia with my family, grandparents, and cousin. We stayed in one of our relative’s home in Virginia who was on vacation in Florida. We were amazed by all of the historic monuments across the whole city and along the Potomac River, as well as the history behind each monument and building. The most impactful spots in the city were the Lincoln Memorial with the waterway in the front, the Monuments representing historic people, and the Arlington National Cemetery.
This museum seeks to tell, in the words of the eminent historian John Hope Franklin, “the unvarnished truth” that will help our visitors to remember and better understand what has often been erased and forgotten.“
The Eisenhower Museum was one of my favorites. It had many things that I did not know about president Eisenhower. I learned that his nickname was Ike and when he was elected he won by many votes. He even had his own song about him! Eisenhower was a very important general in the war. I learned about lots of old guns and about some of the clothes they wore back
When we got there I was pleased to be out of the car. We went to my grandma and grandpa’s house because we didn't have a house yet. My mom
stood upon, was frightening. The only was to go was down. I took a deep
bad as I expected it to be. The queue seemed to flow by. Like fish in
How amazing it would feel when you don’t have to plan anything for a trip beforehand like booking tickets, booking hotels and other stuff, and all you do is just pack your bags and set out on the roads for an unpredictable journey, full of surprises to a destination least known to you. Isn’t it adventurous in itself ? Such unplanned trips are so enthralling that you will find routes more mesmerizing than the destination itself. Such trips make a lifetime’s worth of memories, by tracing each and every corner of the route to the destination, enjoying endless conversation with your friends, meeting the localites and knowing their culture. Getting down of the car to have the taste of every cuisine you find in the way,
“To some, simply getting on a plane and flying cross country to visit family and friends is an