AN UNFORGETTABLE FAMILY VACATION

By Connor Goodson

        “FINALLY, we're finished packing!” my excited mother exclaimed.”Last call for using the restroom!”
       I ran around my room, searching for anything else to bring on my one week trip to North Carolina. “OK, I think I have everything. Toothbrush and toothpaste, check.  Clothes, check. Books, check. Movies for the road, check. And finally, my appetite, CHECKAROO!”
       I will never forget the time my family and I went to North Carolina. We did so many fun things there! It took eight hours to get there, but it was SO worth it. The car ride itself created a memory! We were going to leave my house and get to North Carolina in the same day, but it took longer to pack than we thought. Long story short, we left at 6:00 P.M. Despite the fact we left at 6:00, we were going to drive straight through! Just Saying, if you do the math, we would get there at 2:00 A.M. That’s not including the bathroom breaks, gas breaks, and food breaks. You've probably already guessed we didn't get there that night. If you did, you are correct. We stopped at a hotel at around  12:00 A.M and went to bed half an hour later. The next morning, we got up, ate a DELICIOUS breakfast of chocolate milk, Pop Tarts, and waffles that you make yourself, and then started our two hour trip up a mountain.

       It was so beautiful up there! From our cabin you got a perfect view of several mountains, LOTS of trees (DUH), and other cabins so we could stalk people! (Just kidding!:D) It was SO nice to hear the birds rise to another chilly morning while drinking nice, warm (NOT TOO HOT!) hot chocolate.
       “‘Up, up, up! It’s going to be a big, big, big day!’ I try to imagine for a moment, what
it must be like inside that woman’s head.” This is a quote from The Hunger Games when Effie Trinket wakes up Katniss on the train. This is exactly what was happening. My mom had the idea that we would all get up and run around, but everyone else just wanted to sleep in. While we were there, the time flew by! We went on hikes, we observed waterfalls, and my personal favorite, WHITE WATER RAFTING!!! Depending on the service you take, your trip can be as short as three hours, or as long as eight hours!                                    
       The one we took was six hours. We also took the medium route which contained mostly easy waters where you didn’t have to paddle at all, but there were some times when we had to paddle as fast as we could! For example, when we were about five hours through the trip, the guide to our raft started talking about this eight-foot waterfall which we were  going to be the first in all the rafts on our trip to go down. Of course, we couldn’t turn down this offer! So we went. Once we got to the waterfall, she told us to paddle hard, so we did, then out of nowhere, she told us to kneel down to the bottom of the raft. We did, of course, and I will never forget the feeling of going down the huge waterfall. By the way, our raft flipped. People on the shore threw ropes to us and thankfully, we then got pulled on shore. Yup, I will never forget the time my family and me went to North Carolina. 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What is your most unforgettable family vacation memory? Please give the details!