Like many people my age, I like and appreciate traveling. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to do very much of it in my lifetime, although things like band trips help. Then you get to leave the 48 contiguous United States for the first time and vacation on a tropical island with your family, the marching band.
Shocking fact (for some of you): I have never been outside something like an 800-mile radius from where I live. That encompasses pretty much the west coast of the U.S. and nothing else. However, there are a lot of good things to see within that area and I've been to a lot of them. Here are some that I recommend to any traveling family:
McCall, Idaho
What it is: a small vacation/resort town built around beautiful and big Payette Lake, which accommodates motorboats, sailboats, and has a large, tidy marina. They also have a nice sandy beach area for swimmers. You can only go out about 8 yards into the water- the rest of the lake is for boats- but it feels nice in the summer. The lake's surrounded by montane forest with nicely smoky air in the summer. There are a few big mountain ranges around, but right near the lake you're in a nice valley with some rolling hills instead.
Where it is: Idaho, USA, about 100 miles above Boise
What's nice about it: The lake is really beautiful and it's a hopping resort town in the summer, so it's fun to roam around town and meet the other people that are vacationing there. There are a good few lakeside condos for rent right on the lake's shores (although those are ALWAYS reserved), and it's nicely designed to be a tourist destination. If you can't get one of the lakeside condos, there are also campgrounds for both tents and trailers just out of town, or there are nice vacation homes for rent. There are also a multitude of good restaurants and cafés. If you go over 4th of July weekend, be sure to get down to the beach on the night of July 4th to watch the huge fireworks display they do. Additionally, there's no shortage of rentals available, including but not limited to kayaks, canoes, mountain bikes, horses for trail rides, etc. There are also plenty of hiking trails outside the more built-up part of town. In short, you won't be bored here.
What's no so great: As most resort towns do, it gets super packed around the 4th of July and you have to drive awhile to get there. I believe it took us about 4 or 5 hours to get there from Boise, with several stops for gas along the way. It kind of depends on how fast you drive and how often you stop. Be prepared to wait in restaurants and cafés, especially during the evening rush, and always have a back-up plan in case something you want to do gets booked out before you get there or something else comes up. Also: CAUTION, boat owners! On the weekend of the 4th it gets pretty rough out there on the lake, and the lake police tow in many, many boats with unruly drivers. WATCH. YOUR. SURROUNDINGS. Resort town + crazy holiday = caution. That goes for anyone, really, be it with fireworks, boats, or televisions (more later on that).
How my trip went: It was really great, other than the fact that we were sharing a four-bedroom, three-bathroom, too-small vacation home with about 16 other people. It was for a family reunion with my dad's side of the family. That being said, that vacation home was very nice and would have been really great without all the people in it. We weren't very organized, so we spent a good amount of our time sitting in various spots around the kitchen finishing breakfast and debating what to do. Also, we were the last ones of the family to get there and since our family all drove separately the garage was given to the first people to get there. We had to park in the street. I also have complaints about the mud room. I brought about 3 pairs of shoes on this trip- like everyone else- and the mud room was literally five feet square, and there wasn't a shoe rack. There was no point putting my shoes in the garage mudroom/washroom, because our car wasn't in there. Much to my dismay, the shoes in the front mudroom got mixed up and scrambled every time someone decided to come in or out, plus my cousins aren't very tidy due to their young ages. I ended up keeping all 3 pairs of shoes in my duffel bag, which was my whole suitcase during the trip. Also, the bathroom use was unevenly distributed: 5 people had the upstairs one, 4 people had the back downstairs one, and the other 9 of us rotated between the remaining main bathroom. But it was fun other than that! We would go do stuff around town in the morning hours and then come back for lunch and the afternoon. Some of the stuff we did in the mornings included a trip down to the lake beach to swim and a hike on a trail right outside of town. On 4th of July night we went to see the huge fireworks display. In the afternoons we kids would watch movies on the TV (be careful with how much you watch), play foosball on the table upstairs, and play outside in the backyard or in the spot next to the house on the mini-playground thing. For dinner we'd eat on the back patio (it was nice and warm well into the night), serve dessert, and then either go back inside or make liberal use of the hot tub on the patio. We were lucky with the weather too.
What to learn from my trip:
Get a space big enough for your whole group.
Be prepared for delays, backed-up stuff, etc. especially if you go over a holiday.
Have a pretty solid plan.
Schedule in time for driving.
Have fun with it!
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| Some of the beautiful scenery you'll see outside of town. Creds to my dad for taking this photo. |
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| The waterfront + marina. |
I have been to all five of these, although I don't remember going to Canyonlands because I was really young- like, 2 or 3.
The one I remember best is Bryce Canyon because we've taken several camping trips there in the recent past. This one's pretty well known, as it's a photographer's heaven and it's one of the things people go see when they do the one-four-day-weekend-all-five-national-parks tour thingy. (Hint hint: I don't recommend doing that because you'll only have a tiny bit of time to spend at each park. NOT a good idea.)
Where it is: Southern Utah. I think it's about 5 or 6 hours from Salt Lake City.
What's nice about it: The entire park, of course, is cool for it's interesting displays of geology! But in terms of traveling there, the facilities are nice. The campgrounds accommodate both tents and trailers with a 10:00 pm no-generators time. There are bathrooms (not showers, those are elsewhere) in the campgrounds and it's pretty quiet, somewhat sheltered by huge pine trees. Each campsite has a picnic table, fire pit, and space for 1 or 2 4-person tents. Given that it's also close to the other 5 national parks you could easily go visit the other parks on the way in or on the way back.
What's not so great: You have to drive to one of the lodges for the showers, and a lot of the trails in the canyon itself are also super steep and difficult to hike if you're not an advanced hiker. Also, some people leave lights and stuff like their radios on for most of the night, so be prepared to be bothered by that. Additionally: DO NOT take a trip here during the monsoon season, which is early August! You'll get rained out every night when you go outside to cook dinner over the fire 'cause the rain hits around 4 or 5 every evening. I'd recommend July or June instead- then it wouldn't be as ridiculously hot either. The only other not-so-great thing is that in the summer it's always thronged with foreigners- meaning not Americans- and they try to ask you questions and of course since I don't speak Chinese-French-Spanish-Korean-WHATEVER, it gets a bit bothersome. Just try your best to help your fellow campers out as much as you can.
How my trip(s) went: I've taken several different trips here, all of them camping in a tent, and it was fun. Other than that one year when we managed to catch the monsoon rains and everything was pretty much permanently soaked, all our trips have been great. It's a bit cold in the morning, but that's to be expected. Nice red rocks down there. Very pretty, geologically speaking.
What to learn from my trip:
Always have a road map, especially if you haven't driven there before. (GPS's DO NOT COUNT!!! They'll take you on the longer route than is necessary.)
Go in the middle of the summer, when it's not raining all the time.
Don't try to hike all the trails unless you're a high-intensity trail runner or something; and also, don't try to see all 5 parks in one weekend.
Be ready for foreigners, campfires, noisy generators, lots of people, etc.
If you've never been camping before, practice in your yard first and get advice from an experienced camper. (that really goes for any camping trip but whatever.) Also know how to set up your tent before you go. :)
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| Looking out/into the canyon. |
Where it is: Central/Northern/Western Colorado (I'm not sure exactly. Look on a map.)
What's nice about it: As the capital of Colorado, Denver and the surrounding areas (ex. Colorado Springs) have been built up pretty intensely but they have a lot of nice green space too. They have a nice downtown in Denver with offices for things like the Denver Post, shops and stores, a semi open-air mall, and more parking space than you could ever need. There's also a very nice street in front of the semi-open air mall that's open only to pedestrians and public transit, so you can walk and shop without having to be concerned about traffic and getting hit by cars while you carry your purchases back to your car! The other nice thing is the Park Meadows Center, in Lone Tree, which is a big, very nicely put together mall that has 2 of my favorite stores in it- Lego and American Girl! I highly recommend this mall to anyone looking to shop, or even just look around at clothes and Legos and stuff. Good restaurants there, too. I've been to Denver for the same dance competition for the past 2 years, and both times we went to this mall to shop and look at stuff. I think it's my favorite attraction of the Denver metro area. The other stuff I can recommend in Colorado is elsewhere. First I'd say, go ride the Pike's Peak Cog Railway. It takes you up the mountain to about 14,000 feet. They have a nice gift shop both at the bottom and the top, the trains are nice, and you can see all the way to Kansas once you get to the top. It's a long ride, so plan ahead, and it's expensive. Book your tickets well in advance because every train gets full. If you finance your trip, both in time and money, you'll be fine. If you do go, go in the summer because it's closed in the winter due to all the snow. And there's some snow on the summit year round, so don't wear summer clothes up there no matter how summery it may seem at the base. There are also a lot of good restaurants, most of them at the previously-mentioned mall, but my favorite one other than there is a small (emphasis on the small factor) pizzeria outside of Denver, in Old Colorado City (an outer part of Colorado Springs), called Pizzeria Rustica. It's very small and narrow, just a little shop in a row. It gets busy at dinner time and there aren't many tables, but it's worth waiting for because their pizza and appetizers are authentic and amazingly good. We also found a little independent Mexican place in Colorado Springs in a tiny strip mall that was actually surprisingly good because it was run by a Mexican family. Keep an eye out for things like that on any trip you take- you may strike gold!
What's not so nice: There are a TON of people and cars in the urban areas of Denver, causing a lot of clogs and congestion especially at rush hour, as with most urban areas. There aren't many super nice hotels outside of downtown, which are expensive, so create an account on Trip Advisor and look up other places you can stay (this past summer, we stayed in an apartment-thingy that these people had built off their house). Parking in downtown is also TERRIBLE. Get everywhere early so you can get the best space possible. The area's crowded. Etc. It IS a city, after all.
How my trip went: Both years that we went, I had a great time. It was fun for me, both for the dance competition, the shopping, and the fact that it was travel, which we hardly ever do. Overall it was just the kind of thing you can only describe with the word, "Great".
What to learn from my trip: Pack and plan efficiently. Be ready for changes and/or delays due to weather, traffic, or other weird factors. Look for unexpected good things (ex. hidden restaurants).
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| The downtown Denver cityscape. |
- the British Isles
- France
- Hawaii
- Monaco
- Morocco
- California
- Kentucky
- Australia
- New Zealand
- the Caribbean
- Italy
- Maldives
- Dubai
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| Downtown Dublin |
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| Countryside Ireland |
Someday I will get to these places. As you may have guessed from the pictures of Ireland, the British Isles are one of my first priorities, because they fascinate me. Plus I can do a pretty good Irish accent, so I'd probably fit right in.
Dubai and Monaco follow as the next places I want to go.
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| High-rises of Dubai |
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| Monaco + expensive yachts |
I wish for summer.
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