A Trip to remember!

My favorite place to be in the summer is undeniably the beach. It is the most romantic and relaxing place to be especially if you go at night. A few years back when I went to Tawas State Park with my family, I had the most exciting experience of my life. When I was down there I met one of my lifelong friends Travis, he was one the most laid back guys I know. HE had the Idea for us to go out to the beach at around midnight. At the time I was petrified of the dark, and was very hesitant to go along with him. With some major persuasion, he finally convinced me to go. We first met up at my camp site, because there was no way I was walking alone to his. From there we started the mile walk to the beach. It was around midnight, but the moon was shining so bright it didn’t feel like it was that late. We walked straight down the cement path way following it until we could see the lighthouse.

 

It was quiet, no one was around to make a sound, and all you could here was the wind rustling through the leaves on the trees. It was peaceful, when we finally reached the beach we walked down the shore line until we found a spot that was secluded with brush and trees, so we could build a fire without being too visible. We set up our spot with a big tan comforter, and laid four medium sized rocks on the four corners of the blanket to insure that they didn’t get moved around by the wind. After getting set up Travis decided to go for a swim, he asked me to join but I was not for it. I have seen to many movies about people either getting attacked by something in the water or people drowning because they don’t have anyone on shore who can help them.

 

Yes I know Michigan is a fresh water state and there are not and sharks and monsters do not exist but I wasn’t up to chance my luck! After he go back we just sat for an hour or two listening to the waves hit the shore, and gazing at the stars. In the Bay City/Saginaw area you can see stars but in Tawas the stars seem to glow even brighter in the sky, almost allowing you to reach up and touch them. I could have stayed out there forever, it was amazing to be able to see all of the natural beauty of traveling up North. Since that night whenever my family plans a trip up to Tawas I always look forward to either being able to take a friend with me or be able to meet someone new in the park.             

Shopping trip

I absolutely love it when people try to tell me that going on a shopping trip isn’t travel. In a matter of fact it is, and in my opinion it’s the best place to travel! When I go shopping in the Great Lakes Crossing Mall, it always excites me. Compared to the malls that we have in our local area, this mall, if you haven’t been there, is huge! This mall holds many of my favorite stores and as a bonus over eighty-five percent of the stores are outlets! Some of my favorite stores include, Forever 21, Coach, H & M, Victoria’s Secret, Bed Bath and Beyond, and much more. Now I have been to the Great Lakes Crossing Mall around ten or more times so I have a pretty good grasp on navigating my way around.

My junior year is a different story though, once my friend Emma and I were crazy enough to go down to Detroit in her tiny Chevrolet Metro, buy a hotel room right on the mall property, and stay the night even though we were only seventeen. The drive down was unpleasant because her car is the size of a shoebox. The fact that we didn’t have to get up early in the morning to battle traffic for over two hours was the best idea ever though! Unfortunately the only down side was spending my own money. My parents didn’t love me enough to financially support my shopping addition. So I was forced to save up as much money as I could to be able to get a few new outfits. It was a struggle but I made it out with cash to spare.

That night we decided that we wanted to experience an I-Max movie for the first time, and Emma decided we were going to see the collector.  That was a terrible idea, she made me leave the movie with her because it was to bloody and gory. We were not about to waist ten dollars on a movie we had only seen the first five minute of so we asked to see a different one and that lead to us seeing the rise of the guardians. It was the best, way to end the trip!

I love just taking random trips to the great lakes crossing mall. Yes I know it is a drive, but it gives you a chance to go out with friends and relax, allowing a whole day of nothing but shopping. It is worth the gas you spend and the time you take out of your day! What more could you ask for!

Traveling is worth every Penny

I love it when people try to tell me that traveling somewhere new is way out of their budget. I mean some places that I have been to have been on the higher priced side, but there are plenty of enjoyable places to go were you don’t need to worry about breaking the bank. My parents have always known how to bargain shop when it came to finding a five star hotel at a two star price. It doesn’t take much to learn how to have a good time and save as much money as you can. Even though we all know that when you travel, one will buy no matter how hard they try to not. Some of my most exciting trips included shelling out a little extra cash, but it was all worth it in the end! Nothing is cheap, in order to have “vacation fun” as my family and I call it, one must try to not worry about prices! Only try to enjoy the things that they might not get to do each day. When I went to the Bahamas, like I have talked about in my previous blog, I got to swim with the dolphins, walk on the pure white sandy beaches, and spend my four days three night on a luxurious Disney Dream Cruise ship! Yes this was a bit costly but it was worth every penny, because as we know Bay City isn’t the most tropical get away. Now I know that most people can’t do things like that to the extreme. It is crazily and ridiculously priced but Disney is of course the happiest place on earth! But there are ways to save such as; driving instead of flying, not splurging on food products or useless souvenirs, and most importantly attempting to not stay at the official resorts. Key steps like that can prevent an unhappy checkbook balance.

     

Now if a Disney Cruise to the beautiful islands of the Bahamas isn’t your thing you have an abundance of other fun and exciting locations! I consider myself to be well traveled, but I haven’t been all over the world just yet (even though I plan to in the near future). Unfortunately when I travel I generally find myself at the same area.  In 2012, my family and I got the chance to go to Washington DC to go the Girl Scout rock the Mall, this was cool even though I have already been to DC twice before. While we were there we also had the opportunity to spend some time at Virginia Beach, trust me when I say there is no other perfect way to relax then to spend a weekend at Virginia Beach. Now these vacations were much better in prices, and more educational and relaxing. But it was the most interesting to be able to see all of the natural and manmade sites. So I understand that traveling can become costly, making it seem like it wouldn’t be worth all the money and time, but it truly is. Growing up for me would have been completely different if my family wasn’t always consistently traveling.

DONT KNOCK IT UNTIL YOU TRY IT!

Halloweekends 2013

So I know that I have already written a blog about my experiences at Cedar Point, Americas rocking roller coast, but just this weekend I got the chance to go to Halloweekends! Now this is a fun chance to be able to ride all of the classics; Millennium Force, Dragster, Gatekeeper, and the other fifteen fabulous coasters housed on the island, and also be able to walk through some of their spooky haunted houses and the ever so popular Fright Zone! I have been going to Cedar Point since I was around the age of only nine months old, but I have only had the chance to go to the Halloweekends for ten years. Halloweekends entails fun and amusement for all ages, from having child attractions such as parades and trick or treating too having a large amount of haunted houses allowing the adults to have their pants scared off! It was definitely worth the 2 ½ hour drive. 

  

Cedar Point only runs the park Friday through Sunday. My friends and I drove down there for only one night on October 25^th and we came back in the morning on the 26^th. Only having to pay $25.00 on Friday night made the trip more enjoyable for everyone because, at first, they thought they were going to have to pay upwards of $50.00 each. Even though the park was only open from 6 P.M. to 12 A.M. we still were able to get on mostly all of the coasters and even a few haunted houses. The park was almost empty with our longest line wait being around thirty minutes. It was perfect!

As you may have noticed I am a huge Cedar Point enthusiast, so I am a regular when it comes to riding the coasters and attending Halloweekends, but for my friends Allyce and Gabrielle this was a whole new experience. This was Allyces very first time going to Cedar Point, and she is 18 years old! Gabby had been to the park before, but that was when she was in eighth grade! It was so amusing to see some of their reactions on the rides and in the Fright Zones! I hardly ever get to bring a group of friends with me when I go to Cedar Point, usually I am stuck being a single rider: I was extremely excited my parents allowed it!

The only down fall that we had on our trip was having to cram eight people into a hotel room made to sleep only five. We stayed at our usual hotel, The Breakers Express because we got an amazing deal of only eighty dollars a night (while rooms are around $150 a night). Having two Queen Beds, a role away, a cot, and a just enough floor space we managed to squeeze all of my family and friends into the teacup sized room. The only difficult part was trying to share the one television and bathroom, in other words not a good experience.  We were fortunate enough to only have to stay one night, but it definitely made us closer as a family!

         

Now that you know how much of a Cedar Point fan I really am, you can understand why I get so pumped up when my family plans a trip there! It is honestly a major part of my life, and I don’t think that's going to change any time soon!

 

 

 

 

Paradise(:

 2012 was the first time that I had gotten the chance to travel to somewhere other then Cedar Point. In the Bahamas he sun was shining ever so bright, a beautiful day. The clear aqua-blue seas and white sandy beaches are some of the most beautiful in the world. Vacationing on the islands of paradise is truly breath taking and inspiring .A perfect place to go and relax without a care in the world. There is no place more romantic, a true destination for anyone willing to take the trip.

The Bahamas is a perfect playground for kids of all ages, I truly enjoyed my time vacationing here. So many fun activities to partake in. Such as saddling up and trotting up and down the pristine shores on horseback. Also, getting down and dirty with a game of volleyball in the sand. Or simply building a huge sand castle on the beach. My brother and sister even had the chance to attend a kid’s camp, where they found many fun and new adventure. Whatever may piques your interest, know that you can find fun for your entire family in the Bahamas. The Bahamas also offers dive experiences like no other destination in the world. You’ll find sunken Spanish galleons, inland blue holes, underwater caves and forest-like coral reefs teeming with vibrant marine life. You can even feed and swim with reef sharks an experience sure to get your adrenaline pumping. Explore what else makes The Bahamas the most complete diving destination in the world. I found this to be the most fun I had never had the chance to go deep sea diving, it is so amazing. It is definitely something that I recommend everyone do once in their lives. It is so much better there then it is in Bay City, with our water being murky and unclean!

My favorite part would have had to been relaxing and tanning on the stellar beaches. With its many breathtaking islands and cays, and the clearest water on Earth, it’s no wonder people travel to sink their toes into miles of pure white, and in some places pink, sand. Many of the beaches in the Bahamas have even been voted the “best in the world”, while I was there I was told that the island had two celebrities staying on the island they told me it was very uncommon to not find a celebrity vacationing on the beaches. Making the Bahamas a true paradise. If you're looking for the ultimate getaway, just remember that it's always better in the Bahamas especially this fall and winter when it is freezing here in Michigan! I wish we would have traveled in the fall or winter it would have made the trip so much better. But at least I can say I had the chance to vacation in a tropical paradise!  

Florida experience

One of my main travel destinations includes Orlando FL, my family always tries to vacation there once or twice a year.  I have always enjoyed being able to travel Walt Disney World, even now that I am growing up. Since I have been able to drive or fly down with my parents, it has really helped to shape who I am and how I act. It was always the most exciting time of my life; being able to see all of the characters and get their autographs while being able to take pictures with them, now that's is every kid’s dream. My favorite trip to Disney would shockingly be the time that I had broken my arm. Now I know it sounds strange but I thought that I was the coolest for being able to have all of my favorite characters sign my pink cast. As I got older of course my favorite things changed to fit who I was. Such as when I started to enjoy the many different attractions that Disney had to offer; space mountain, Expedition Everest, Soaring, and so much more.

Each Disney Vacation was very different in its own way. My family would either stay at a Disney Resort or in a rented home. Usually, we would stay at Port Orleans Riverside, a beautiful resort with a beautiful view of the river and the many palm trees Florida had to offer. Now the Resort was nice because we had luxury of being close to the parks and having reliable transportation each day, the resort was only bad because with a family of five the rooms can get extremely crowed, and the prices were very high. The Rented Homes were amazing! For lower costs, the home offered four large bedrooms, three bathrooms, a large kitchen, and a small pool and spa. It was perfect, minus the fact that you had to drive yourself into Disney. Each place is an ideal location to vacation it really just depends on personal preference.          
While we were down in Orlando we also got to eat at some amazing and different restaurants that we don’t have in Michigan; Manny’s chop house and Tommy V’s. Now if you have never eaten at Manny’s original chophouse you are really missing out. You should probably get on that right away! Located about five miles off the strip, it is the best place to sit down with your family and enjoy a flavorful meal. In my opinion it is the best Steak place I have ever eaten at. The food is always cooked fresh and the proportions are huge. Tommy V’s is a little pizza place, now by the location it’s in you would think it would be unsafe to eat in. It’s located in a little strip mall next to a tattoo shop and a doctor’s office. Weird I know but their pizza is phenomenal.

When you travel to Florida there is so much more to experience then just visiting Walt Disney World or the beach. Try not to limit yourself as much as possible. Also I will give you a fair warning to NOT EAT ON THE STRIP, it is a tourist trap. The food is awful and is made to service the thousands and thousands of people that travel on the strip each day.
I know that some people haven’t even traveled to Florida in their lifetime but I would highly recommend going their! It’s worth every penny.        

My first Disney Cruise

Florida is a premium vacation spot for many people, including my family. We take our annual trip to Walt Disney World ever one to two years. This year we took a different spin on our normal vacation; going on the Disney Dream Cruise ship. It was the best trip I have ever had the privilege of taking. I admit I was nervous at first to be going on a ship for three days; keeping in mind that this was a few days after hurricane had hit the area just a week or so prior. I’m just glad that we could still go on the ship and have a good few days out in the open ocean.    

The first day was the most exciting we had just gotten off our flight at around nine in the morning. When we got off the plane the temperature was in the high eighties; it was perfect. After calming our bags we proceeded to the busing area to wait for our transportation to arrive. When we got on the bus it took us around an hour to get to the ship. When we finally were allowed to board, the pure excitement just exploded as all the passengers proceeded to push their way onto the ship. It was crazy but worth the hassle.

When we first opened the door to our room we were shocked at how small it was, the bathroom could maybe only fit two people at the most and there were only two Queen Beds along with a pull down bed, we did get lucky though by getting a room with a balcony.  After we got settled in, my family almost immediately split up to explore the floors of the ship. It was massive, containing eight floors, a large pool deck that featured a water slide circling the entire top of the ship, and a gorgeous view of the open ocean.

The ship also had a great dining experience. The three nights we were on the ship we had three very different dining experiences. This was also enjoyable because the food was never ending allowing you to try anything that was on the menu without a set limit. The first dinner was fancy and elegant, it was delicious; I had the pork chops along with the grilled salmon topped with caviar. We also had the best waiters, they were so nice and remember us by our names, they were are waiters every day for the next three dinners we attended. The second dinner was more laid back, we had simpler foods and we also had dinner with crush (the turtle from Finding Nemo); it was cute but I couldn’t stop thinking of that last dinner. The third night was probably my favorite of them all; I was served duck and snails. Yeah I never thought I would get a chance to try them; but let me tell you they were amazing!

Other than the food, the cruise ship offered many different activity’s for all ages. The teen club was where I spent most of my time while on the ship. This allowed me to make new friends from all over the world; some that I still have contact with. My mom, sister, and I also had the chance go to the Atlantis Hotel to swim with the dolphins! It was so interesting at how well the dolphins were trained. After our experience we also got to go to the private beaches offered to guests and swim. It was fun until I got stung by a jellyfish!

The Disney Dream Cruise ship was an awesome experience: I got to meet new people, try new and exotic foods, and take part in a variety of unique activities that I could never do in my home town. The storms earlier in the week may have caused some difficulty for us at the start of our trip but when I look back I wouldn’t have changed anything.