Vacations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Vacations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vacations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where have people gone on vacations, lately, or for Kimberly, what are you doing right now??  If you don't go on vacations that often, where have you been in your state that is fun? Where would you want to go to, if you could go anywhere in the entire world (or even beyond!!!)??

I've been on lots of trips, but I'll just tell you the ones I've done lately.  In the summer of 2007, I drove to Emerald Isle, North Carolina.  Has anybuggy been there?  It's a wonderful beach town on a small isle.  We rented a beachhouse with my cousins (they're all at least a junior in highschool or above) and their families.  The house was right on the beach. :) Ahhh... So heavenly!

That Thanksgiving, we drove back to North Carolina, but instead, we went to see family in Hicktown. (For some reason, I love hicktowns!) It's sort of a tradition in my family, to spend Thanksgiving together, but sadly, we can't do it this year... :(

This March, we drove to Florida (we used to live there).  We didn't do the usual Disney stuff like we did before, but we did stay at a Disney hotel, Disney Port Orleans, and we road a boat from our hotel to the Disney Marketplace, and we went to the Disney Animal Kingdom.  We went to some other zoos and did a bunch of fun stuff, including seeing Switchfoot in concert!!!

This July, we went flew to Denver, did lots of cool stuff there, such as go to the zoo (it's the best I've ever been to!!), visit local organizations (my dad is currently looking for job), and go to this amazing park with amazing rocks in amazing forms called Garden of the Gods.  We saw the first coyote I had ever seen, there.  Then we drove up through lots of other states and visited lots of other state parks...  It was fun, though!  TNO, we spent a pretty big chunk of time in Wyoming!  Is Yellowstone in your state, because that would mean we spent a really long time there!?  In South Dakota, we saw Mount Rushmore.  That was pretty amazing.  We also went to Custer State Park, which I thought would be boring, but I liked it more than Yellowstone.  It was the first place I had ever seen a bison in the wild.  Lots of bison.  Over three thousand bison all standing in the middle of the road.  Baby bison! :)  All of the animals that I've never seen in Maine that we saw in the wild, there, were: coyotes, moose (yes, we don't see them in Maine!), bison, beavers, pikas, ground squirrels, the black-footed ferret (yes, the one that was once thought to be extinct!), yellow-bellied marmots, prarie dogs (they are SO cute, but I'll tell you a story about them in minute...), golden eagles, snakes, mule deer, wild horses, wild donkeys, badgers, and a ton more, but I can't remember them.  I seemed too have made a list, but I can't find it either...  About the prarie dogs: when prarie dogs are scared, they stand up and start squeaking. :)  One time we saw them doing it, and we happened to see a badger that was trying to catch them.  We scared it away before it could. :) Later, we saw them doing it again.  A coyote was laying down in front of one of their holes, waiting for one unlucky victim to come up.  Unfortunatly for him, a few seconds later, a golden eagle swept down and grabbed a cute, innocent, little, baby prarie dog.  My mom and I screamed and told my dad to start the car.  He was much happier staying where we were and watching the village of rodents squeak themselves to death. :( 

We kept track of all of the licence plates we saw on that trip.  We got everything except for Deleware, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.  For Canada, we got Quebec, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, and Nova Scotia.  For Mexico (this was the first time I had ever seen a Mexican licence plate in person!!), we got Sonora. 

So those are the trips I've been on withen a few years.  Where have you been??

submitted by Paige P., age 12, Gorham, Maine
(October 6, 2008 - 5:30 pm)

California...  I've never been there...  We have family...  Sigh...  Begging my parents, "Please"...  Pretty much every other ad on tv is a comercial for CA...  Looks so heavenly...  Please, Mom and Dad!!!!  I soooooo want to go!!!!  And we have family!!!! Come on!!

submitted by Paige P., age Gorham, Ma, 12
(October 12, 2008 - 3:59 pm)

California.....I LOVE it!:):):) It's my favorite place in the world, and I always want to live here!:):):) I bet you guys will come down here someday!:):):)

submitted by Kimberly B, age 13!!!!!!:), California
(October 13, 2008 - 3:29 pm)

Sigh....................

submitted by Paige P., age 12, Gorham, Maine
(October 18, 2008 - 11:45 am)

Yes, Paige!  You have to come!!!   California is the best!!!  (Not to brag or anything!)  L.A. is about nine hours from me!!  I've only been once or twice!  You've never heard of the boardwalk?  I thought everyone had!!!  Tells you how much I know about stuff outside of CA!!!!!!!!

submitted by Laura M., age 15-ish, Santa Rosa, CA
(December 28, 2008 - 3:10 pm)

I'm back! Here are some of my vacation memoirs: since you don't start talking about a Disney trip by complaining, I'll wait on talking about the hotel. Anyway, collectively, we rode just about every ride there except Casey Jr. circus train.  But we didn't get to ride the monorail, or the Disneyland train, and It's a Small World was closed. But we rode everything else. The Haunted Mansion was made up for Halloween, like Nightmare Before Christmas. Has anybuggy else seen that? Like instead of having ghosts sitting with you in the mirror, you have stuff like moldy gingerbread men, and wrapped dynamite. And there's Jack in it, and oogie boogie, and that big blue-and-yellow snake. I especially liked Tom Sawyer island and all those cool tunnels through that rock. We came back late Wednesday.

Now for the hotel. Our room stank horribly, and we had to open the windows to get any relief. On the first day, Mommy and Daddy forgot to tip room service, and the next day they didn't empty the trash, replace our towels, wipe the counters, or anything! The only thing they did was to take our used washrags and fold the dirty towels. We had to call three times to get new ones, and it was ten by the time they brought them. They did have a good breakfast buffet, though.

submitted by Emily L., age 13, WA
(October 17, 2008 - 7:26 pm)

Fun!!  Someday I want to go to Disneyland!  Have you ever been to DisneyWorld??  It's amazingly fun!!  Have you heard about that new deal Disney is doing, where, if you go on your birthday, you get in free??  They keep on playing the ad on TV pretty much every other comercial.  In November (a very good time to go to Disney!!), Daddy and Clay (my brother, if you don't know yet) are going to a fall camp thing for four days, leaving me and Mommy alone on her birthday.  We were discussing ideas for what we should do when they're gone, and that commercial came on, on the TV.  We sort of stared at each other for a while, then got evil grins on our faces.  Haven't talked about it since.  :):):):):)

Yeah, I've been to some pretty terrible hotels.  On our drive down to Florid, last year, we stayed at this motel/inn thing that you would expect to find in a horror/slasher/killer movie.  Really creepy.  It had a window on the wall that is facing the creepy hallway that everbuggy goes on.  With no curtain.  I got the cot, yes the cot, right under the window.  My brother and I found stains that looked surprisingly like blood on the floor.  We heard thumping on the wall next to us all night.  My dad and I were going to go to the nice little outdoor pool, but there were a few drunk people in it drinking beer. They stayed there all night, or at least as long as we were awake.  Yes, we did manage to get a few hours of sleep.  It was one of the scariest places I've been to (yes, scarier than the time I went on the haunted mansion ride ((I was five!  It scared me!!  I want to go on it now, though...)) and scarier than the hospital ((My brother and I both have a fear of the medical field.  I'm getting over it, though.  I have to see a specialist once every other month, and my normal doctor every few months, and get my blood drawn once or twice a month)) ).  So yeah, that was slightly off topic! :):):):):):):):):):):):)

submitted by Paige P., age 12, Gorham, Maine
(October 17, 2008 - 9:29 pm)

Brrr! Creepy! Yes, I have been to Disneyworld, but I don't remember it very well. I was five. That was back in 2000.

submitted by Emily L., age 13, WA
(October 18, 2008 - 1:55 pm)

Yeah, the last time that I have been to the actual DisneyWorld park (example, not Disney Animal Kingdom) was when I was five, too.  So that means it was in, umm, 2001.  That was a really fun trip.  It was the first time I had ever been on a plane.  Most of my family on my mommy's side were there.  It was Clay's birthday.  We went to Disney, zoos, Sea World, and most of the top tourist attractions.  SO much fun!!

submitted by Paige P., age 12, Gorham, Maine
(October 19, 2008 - 2:48 pm)

I was one when I went, so I really don't remember much!!!  (or anything, really)  I don't know if I would like it.  I'm not into Disney stuff at all, but I love the fair, and everyone seems to think I'd love it there!!  I actually had an offer to be taken there by my cousins for their birthday, but I declined.  (I'm a little clingy to my family)  (and really shy)  (in person)

submitted by Laura M., age 15-ish, Santa Rosa, CA
(December 28, 2008 - 3:18 pm)

Awwww...  I just saw the commercial again...  It said that the deal starts in January 2009....  :(:(:(

submitted by Paige P., age 12, Gorham, Maine
(October 19, 2008 - 2:43 pm)

Awesome!!!!!:):):) I LOVE Disneyworld and Disneyland!!!!!:):):

submitted by Kimberly B, age 13!!!!!!!!, California
(October 18, 2008 - 10:31 pm)

I love traveling. My grandpa (he's a scientist) sometimes takes me with him when he goes places, and when I can't come with him, he brings stuff back from his trip! Over Christmas break, we went to Puerto Villarta, Mexico, in spring, he took me to Ireland, and over the summer we visited Italy and Tennessee! This Christmas my whole family is going to Austria. We just got a dog, so we're going to travel a lot less, but when we go to Austria, my dog is going to stay with my aunts.

Advice: If you get to go to Europe at all, try not to go to a soccer game... 

submitted by Beatlesrockr, age 10, Illinois, The P
(October 17, 2008 - 9:53 pm)

You got to go to Mexico? That is pretty much my dream vacation!  (Except I would want to see the pyramids in Egypt, but of course, they do have pyramids in Mexico, too!)  My dad used to live in Mexico. He was an archeologist.  He and Mommy went there on their honeymoon.  They bought these really cool ceramic parrots that are hanging in my room.  Why shouldn't you go to a soccer game?  Because they last hours and hours?  My brother, his friend (who happens too be obsessed with soccer) tried to watch the entire world cup, or whatever it's called.  After about, I think it was six hours, they had to go into overtime, because no one had scored.  SO BORING!!!!!!!  Have fun in Austria!!!

submitted by Paige P., age 12, Gorham, Maine
(October 18, 2008 - 11:53 am)

AWESOME!!!:):):):):) I would LOVE to get out of the country, but I haven't yet.:( I know I will someday though!!!:):):) 

submitted by Kimberly B, age 13!!!!:):), California
(October 20, 2008 - 9:57 pm)

Dido!!!!  I've only been out of this state twice!!!  Once to go to Hawaii  (oh gosh, I really want to go back!!!), and the other to visit my uncle in Oregon.  Should I consider going to Hawaii going out of the country?  Some people do because you go over water that nobody owns, or something like that.

submitted by Laura M., age 15-ish, Santa Rosa, CA
(December 28, 2008 - 3:23 pm)