Personal Narrative: My First Alaskan Cruise

During the summer of 2012, I was going on vacation to Clearwater, Florida, where we would hang out at the beach; go on mini trips during the main trip, while staying at the Magnuson Hotel for a week.

Have you ever been on a vacation? Although I have not been on an enormous amount of vacations, but I have been on a few. Of the four to five vacations I have been on, the most favorable trip I have ever been on was when I was seven years old and my family went to Colorado. There, we explored the nearby towns, went dirt-biking, went on a train, and had some mishaps. We also stopped at some amazing places on the way there, including a huge museum in Kansas City.

Well lets just start by saying that basically I had to do this project twice due to the fact that lost my picture for my first story, but hey on the bright side more practice for me. Well this picture was from about five or six years ago when me and my family went to Lake Tahoe during winter break, I was around 8 or 9 back then and it was pretty much the first time ever seen snow in real life (I seen hail a few years before that, but hail isn't exactly snow xD). Anyways the trip lasted around 3 days long which meant that we really only spend one day and two nights at Lake Tahoe. I still remember the road trip there took us around like 8 hours, mostly because driving up in a snowstorm at high speed isn't the exactly consider safe. To be honest, it wasn't a small family trip, my three cousins,

I'm back! This past summer was a whirlwind of working all the time. Raft guiding is a 24/7 job, even when you're only doing three trips a day. The internet at the boathouse was not the best and I was always getting off work after the library closed. I know, what a rough life, spending all my time on Clear Creek...it did make doing chores a bit of a challenge though. To summarize my summer in one post would take too much time and I wouldn't be able to find the words to describe all the wonderful people I met and the amazing experiences I had. I will say that living out of the back of my little green Subaru Outback was an experience in itself and has made me appreciate beds all the more. I can't wait to go back next summer though. The Creek has truly captured my heart for the time being.

The fresh air flushed into my lungs, as I took a deep breath of the soothing, calm air…

Every year, the 7th graders at Wayland Middle School embark on a journey to Cape Cod. Since this was a school trip, I thought we would have to do a lot of school work such as writing and science with the animals. But, we only had to do ten minutes of work every day and the rest of the day was hanging out and playing with your friends, and opportunities to get closer with people who you didn’t know that well.

I used to be the type of person that needed my life planned out; I needed a routine or a schedule. I was going on an amazing trip to Catalina Island with my closest friends. We had a plan; take a bus to LA and get on a boat that would take us to Catalina from there. When we arrived to LA the weather was so bad we couldn't get on the boat. We had to wait until the next day. Having to go off schedule we ended up making more memories, we went to a huge aquarium and spent the night on a boat. After that trip I realized things happen and you need to be willing to make the best of things or you will not have the opportunity for new experiences.

My dad took me and my brother to key west over the summer. He wanted to take us in the trailer he bought, but it was cheap and often broke down, so instead we went on a plane from Des Moines to chicago, and then to Miami. When we got to key west, it was excruciatingly hot. We got off and had to wait for our bags at the bagage claim. My dad had to find a bus to take us to the car rental shop, so me and my brother waited with our bags at the front of the airport.

Ever since I found out my softball team could make it to California for Nationals I knew this would be our goal for the summer. Now here is where the challenging part came in, we only had three chances to make it to California. We made it, we were lucky enough to make our goal in the third chance.

My adventures did not start on the cruise. The first new experience I faced was riding in an airplane. This was terrifying to me; so much so, I almost did not want to go on the cruise. But I decided to step out of my comfort zone and gave the plane a chance. While on the plane I received my wings because I was a first time flyer. Also the entire ride was filled with laughter and joke between my family. Had I not been adventurous I would not have been able to enjoy the plane ride. I would not have never received my wings. And my step sisters and I would not have had any new inside jokes. If I was not brave enough to face the plane, I would never know that I love flying.

Canada is a country I want to visit for the amazing cities and outdoors. Many of the cities such as “Montreal is known for being an island and for education” (“Murry” 1) are islands. I first heard about Canada since I was around 7 or 8 years old. I have never been to Canada before but I wish to go there. The only person I know that has been to Canada is my dad when he was in the army. I haven’t ever been somewhere similar to Canada. Canada is appealing to me because it has a large amount of snow and very nice people.

Vacation is something many people love and look forward to. The ability to put our daily tasks on hold for a short amount of time in order to clear our minds and reinvigorate ourselves is something that all people need from time to time. In fact, we all seem to have those times in our life were we get a week or two off to have the time of our lives. One particular experience that I had impacted me in two primary ways. This experience was when I took a Royal Caribbean Cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. Strangely enough, this experience impacted me in two completely opposite, and nearly paradoxical, ways. Truthfully, what I took away from my Royal Caribbean Cruise would be considered by many to be the opposite of what they would expect.

I sighed, the cool ocean breeze was caressing my hair as my summer dress was flowing and the sound of the ocean waves were padding up against the cruise. I know that today was the last night I would spend with the friends I made here, forever. Compared to all of them I lived in a more obscure state than where we all were now, in the Caribbean heading back to Florida. All of us were strolling down the pool deck talking about how we were going to miss each other, to talking about the colossal strawberry ice cream cone we all made.

Trying to find memories is like looking for treasure. You look at the surface and see something mediocre, but you dig deep and find something cool, pretty, and meaningful. It took a while to think of a fond memory, but once I thought of some, it was hard to choose a favorite. Growing up I have had many great experiences in the form of vacations. Between going to Disney World, owning a vacation home, hanging out with my grandparents in Arizona, traveling to Canada and more. They all make amazing memories that I will forever cherish. The vacation spot we go to the most, though, is Wisconsin Dells. A few times I have been allowed to invite friends to come with. When I am allowed to bring friends, it is always a ginormous amount of fun. We goof off in the hotel room, play in the arcades, and swim in the water parks.

Like it was yesterday I remember my first vacation on a cruise. My Dad and I went on a three- day long cruise to The Bahamas. I had never been on a cruise, so it was a new experience for me. We needed to be in Tampa for our departure, so we drove the two hours from Orlando, Florida to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My Dad and I used this time to talk, make plans for the trip and think about our upcoming adventures on the cruise.