Personal Narrative: A Trip To California

My close friend was going on a trip to California to get his senior pictures taken. He asked me to go and of course I said yes. The flight took off in Grand Rapids and landed in Texas. We got onto a different plane there and we were on our way to Cali. The first night we were there it was really late, so we just went to bed. The next day we walked down to the kitchen and were introduced to everyone in the house. Another family that I didn’t know about and I met them. The oldest was Turner, who became a really good friend after this adventure, and Carmen who was younger.
The house we stayed in was in an extremely nice neighborhood, and had a lot of bedrooms and bathrooms. With 3 stories, a big front yard, a backyard pool, and a hot tub, it

was safe to say this house has it all. Me and my friend that I flew in with stayed in the downstairs bedroom, while the rest of the people slept upstairs. One night everyone was hanging around outside by the pool and the hot tub and i’m not sure how it happened, but all the kids went to the top floor and took turns jumping off the balcony into the pool. It was a really fun experience and I think it helped us all bond together. The next day we made a plan to go to the beach and learn how to surfboard. Everyone hopped into the big van bus with 4th row seats, and awaited our arrival. Myself never coming in contact with the ocean or a surfboard was a bit sceptical at first. “I don’t know if i’m gunna be able to do this.” I thought to myself. But I don’t want to look like a goof, so I go ahead and follow the group into the water. One girl there was really good at this kind of stuff, so she basically taught us all how to do it. The waves weren’t that big, so we couldn’t get going very far or fast, but it was enough to stand up on the board and feel like you’re doing it. It took a few tries and a few wipeouts. But after a while, I could finally do it. My favorite part of the squad trip to the beach was that the beach and the town around it was really cool looking and it was cool to just walk around and see the different views. We stayed late enough to see the sunset, and it was a lot different seeing it set over the ocean. The time we went to Hollywood was also filled with a ton of different and unique views as well.
The day started off like any other, we woke up, ate breakfast as a big happy family, and lounged around the house for a while.

We we’re on the subject of Hollywood movies, and one of the parents suggested that we go see what’s up in Hollywood. Once again we piled into the van and headed for the highway for a long trip to Hollywood. We arrived and parked the van by the big mall in the center of the area we were in. We began walking down the Hollywood walk of fame. which is the street with all the famous people’s names inside a star on each individual section of the sidewalk. which was cool, and then after that we went and browsed around some stores that were selling basically anything you would need for really cheap prices. One of the stores had a lot of Longboards for sale and Turner was considering buying one, which he did end up doing. And when I told him I was unsure about buying one, he said: “Buy a Longboard or i’ll beat you up.” Which was good enough convincing for me, so I purchased it. We headed for the huge outdoor and indoor mall. we went up a few levels to about the top to a gigantic chocolate store. They had all sorts of candy and toys, and best of all. Fudge. We got to try a ton of free samples to see which flavor we liked the best, then we got a piece of it for the road. Right outside of that store was a huge glass bridge that on one side, looked over the city which looked really nice, and on the other side was the Hollywood sign in the distance. Which was the

spot for a lot of cool pictures and views. It was a really fun experience with many cool views, but not as cool as the senior pictures.
The senior pictures were taken at Laguna Beach, which is also where he got his baby pictures taken.

So it had a pretty big significance. I can’t even begin to describe what the setting looked like for the pictures. There was a really nice resort on the beach with green grass that turned right into ocean front sand. There were green bushes and tall trees in the background, we took a few pictures in that area some with just himself, and others with people joining him. Then we headed down the staircase to the beach. A little ways out there were these large rocks that you could walk out onto and some on the beach as well. In one of his baby pictures he was sitting on one of the rocks looking out into the ocean, so we looked for that exact rock and recreated the picture of him now. It turned out really good and overall the trip was a huge success.
Over the course of the trip to Cali, it really opened my eyes to the world outside of Michigan because I have only been out of state a handful of times, and most of them weren’t to such a breathtaking place like California. I can truly say that traveling to a different place has really made me think about my future and made me understand that traveling is good for you and can open your eyes to different parts of the

world.