Every year right after winter break I usually start counting down the months, weeks, and days until the last day of school. I start to look forward to summer activities like going to the beach, being with friends, and going swimming, however this past summer break was completely different than those in the past. When my parents started making a list of all the places they wanted to take my siblings and me, they noticed that the number of destinations was so high that there was no way we would ever get to see them all. This is when they came up with the "great" idea of camping out West for an entire month. 

When they first told my two brothers, sister and me of their idea, I seemed to be the only one out of my family that thought they were joking. At the time we had just recently bought an RV and parents thought this would be a great way to use it. I disagreed. To me, a month away from my home and friends was way too long. Not only did this plan include my family going to see most of the national parks and historical sites on my parent's list, but this way my dad would be also be able to take us on a very similar trip that he went on when he was younger.  No matter how much I complained or tried to persuade them to change their minds, the plans were made, and by the first week in July we were already on the road. 

Riding in a car for hours on end with three sibling and a cat was not fun. For some reason we decided to bring our cat along for the ride. Pets stay at kennels or friends homes, but our cat went with us. Aside from the occasional losing him under a seat in the car, the cat was pretty easy to take care of. We found a spot in the camper for his litter box where it didn’t get in the way and someone would change it each day. Personally I think that he was easier to travel with than anyone else.

One of the downsides of driving out West for hours with a camper is how hungry we got during the ride, and because of the large trailer behind us it was nearly impossible to stop just anywhere and get food. Because of this problem, my mom made us sandwiches almost everyday for the whole month. Ever since than I haven't even wanted to look at a turkey sandwich. Since riding in the car for so long became boring quickly, arriving at our stops was much more enjoyable. In total we had about 17 destinations, but out of those I had two favorites The Grand Canyon and Lava Hot Springs.

When we arrived at the Grand Canyon it was too late at night to go to the park, so we decided we would go the next day. When I first saw the Grand Canyon it was far different than I had imagined it. Pictures can't really show how large it is, and I only realized this as we walked for a mile around the rim and still had only seen a small fraction. The canyon was so large that in order to get from there to the visitor center or gift shop you would need to ride a shuttle. With such a high number of people needing to use the shuttle lines quickly grew, and so getting from one place to another took a lot of time. This made the day feel pretty long and so once we had finished buying the last of our souvenirs, I was ready to go back to the camper.

However my dad had other plans on us continuing a family tradition. This is when he told us the story of when my grandpa also went on this same trip out West. Apparently when my grandpa went to the Grand Canyon he took a picture hanging from a tree which made it look like he was hanging off the side of the canyon. When my dad went out with his parents they started the tradition of finding the tree and taking a similar picture. So when we went on this trip he had every intention of finding the very same tree and taking a picture. Another thing you really don't see in pictures is how many trees there are around the canyon, so my dad looking around the canyon for one specific tree was a little crazy but it's now one of my favorite stories I have from the trip.

Moving on from the Grand Canyon we went to see two other smaller canyons. At Zion and Bryce Canyon we went for all day hikes on several different trails. These were our last two canyons of the trip, and afterwards we moved onto my overall favorite stop, Lava Hot Springs. At this stop we were able to go to a water park with naturally hot water, sit in hot springs ranging from 104-112°F, and go white water rafting. Arriving home after being away for so long was the best feeling I have ever had. The trip felt like it would never end while we were on it, but now looking back at it I feel like July blew by. Because of the trip this past summer became one that I'll never forget.