Personal Narrative: My Family Trip To Yosemite

A private sixteen day Whitewater Rafting trip down the Grand Canyon. There were fourteen of us in all, including some family friends that we’ve been rafting with since I was seven years old, my sister, and my mom. We rented six eighteen foot rafts. Each raft was equipped with all of the necessary food, supplies and gear for a sixteen day river trip. Despite the heat, our group had several seasoned Grand Canyon guides in attendance and they knew all of the greatest side hikes. One such side hike was called Elves Chasm. It was day five. The heat was sweltering and our group pulled over to ascend to the Chasm. Even with all these new adventures my desire to go higher and make more of it was mind-boggling. I was also trying to get a good photo. I didn’t realize it, but there was an upper Chasm and I headed up over hot rocks and then onto my belly to wriggle my way through a tight small space to ascend higher up into the chasm. The next waterfall was stunning. Some of the other young adults on the trip followed and we delighted in our discovery. We jumped from a high rock into the pool below, and one of us even did it

Over the summer me and my family went to Yosemite national park. One of the hikes we did was 10 hours and 16 miles, it was brutal. On the way up the mountain we climbed 5,000 feet, and we saw two waterfalls. Id say the highlight of the trip was getting to the car after that hike and drinking ice cold

So I had so much fun on my vacation when i went to Arizona over the summer for ten days. We went to the Grand Canon and it is way bigger than I thought!! We took all kinds of pictures on my aunts tablet and we took them are our phones. But the bad thing is that my phone died right when we got to the Grand Canon. I got so mad so then my aunt took pictures on the tablet and she let me take pictures on her phone.

I went into my freshman year of high school with little to no knowledge of anything about music. Right off the bat my amazing choir teachers started teaching me and my classmates solfege and sight-reading. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that I was a part of something very special. After my first semester, I gained a serious amount of confidence in my solo singing. I auditioned for the first time ever at the Missouri district solo auditions at the end of my second semester freshman year. I sang my two pieces, and thought I would just sing for the experience not caring if I went to state solo auditions. I ended up receiving the best score possible, and a near perfect judging sheet. Looking at my accomplishment, I realized that I was

Have you ever been to Arizona before? Well I have and it is amazing there the grass is bright green everywhere you go, and there were a little bit of palm trees there. Another thing amazing about Arizona is that the sky is always blue and sunny out. Like the whole time we were there it was sunny and very hot.

Since the beginning, it’s been the trees. When I was very young, my mother would load my sisters and I into the car at 4am, wrap us in seatbelts, and tuck us back in with pillows and blankets. We’d sleep until the morning, and by then, half the road trip would be over. At least that was the plan. I never slept. I stayed awake to capture the moment the desert of Nevada turned into the forests of northern California so I could see the trees. Their leafy arms stretched into the dark, so tall I couldn’t see their tops, and I would feel their green comfort, a peace that they alone held the secret to.

My Trip to Oregon is one of the best memories of my life, the beaches, the rain, the gelato and the wind turbines. I saw a huge wind farm with like a hundred turbines. They were white, tall and totally notiable, me being from SD I really haven’t seen that many wind turbines in my life, it was fascinating. They were so awesome to see,on way to my cousins house it got me thinkin what would happen if we ran out of fossil fuels good thing we would have an endless supply of wind to harness power from, right!

It was an early July Morning when me and my family were driving to the airport. I was shaking with excitement when i had my coffee in my left hand and a breakfast burrito in my right hand. Airport gates is all i saw when we arrived to this massive airport with thousands of men, women, and Children flooding to get to the correct Gates in time to their flights. This trip definitely changed me because of the different types of cultures, people, and places that I visited. When i went on this trip i didn’t really know of what other people performed in different places in the country. On the trip I visited California, Oregon, and Washington and all of the cities I visited all were similar in each way.

I would like to tell the story of the first time I went rock climbing. Over the last summer, my family and I took a trip to the Adirondack Mountains in New York. While there, me and my sister had to opportunity to climb several mountain faces that ranged from 90 to 110 feet off the ground. This event was significant to me because it marked a moment in my life where I truly recognized I could surprise myself with what I was able to accomplish.

It all started in elementary school, I and every other kid were forced to take choir, P.E, and Art at least once a week, and choir was always my favorite class. I always tried out for the little speaking parts in the plays, but when I transitioned into middle school, it was different. Instead of being separated girls from boy singing parts, I became a Soprano and auditions for solos were different. Before, everyone got their own part to be fair, but it then became a competition for one spot. Seventh grade was when I got my first solo, there were at least 10 of us trying out for it. We sang the lines assigned and our teacher cut off students

I have obtained multiple unforgettable experiences throughout my childhood. My hike to Waipo’o Falls in Hawaii can easily be replayed in my mind despite how long ago it occurred. I had just finished second grade when my family and I took our trip to the island of Kauai. The hike up to the waterfall was almost three miles each way and inclined over a thousand feet. These numbers glued my feet to the ground and seemed to prevent me from walking right as we were about to begin the hike. How was I, a short and scrawny seven year old kid, supposed hike up to an eight hundred foot waterfall! It became clear to me that this hike was not going to be an easy walk in the park.

I remember looking down at my hands and they were covered in blisters and blood. My body was producing such a high amount of adrenaline that my hands were shaking vigorously. Through the pain there was beauty. Our fifth and final jump was a monster. The previous cliff jumps ranged anywhere from ten to twenty feet and the final jump was a forty five foot jump into a canyon pool the size of a large hot tub. The jump was surrounded by sharp rocks on all directions except one. You also had to run and leap forward to avoid the rocks directly beneath us. A false step meant a serious accident. Everyone was tense, there was no denying that and fear lurked around us. You could see it in everyone’s faces. I felt responsible, as I was the person that set up the trip and convinced us to take the “extreme option”. I could not show fear, I needed to lead and act by example. Without hesitation, Steve said, “I can’t do this! I am afraid!” With that I replied a saying that my grandmother told me a long time ago, “So be afraid! And then, do it anyway.” I was the first to jump and the group followed through. The water was freezing and I couldn’t feel my extremities. At the base of the waterfall we looked up in disbelief at what we had just done and laughed uncontrollably for what seemed like a life time. We made it out alive with a great lesson learned. Rise above fear. It is only a state of mind that anyone can

On day my grandma came and got me and my sister and took us to the airport in Indianapolis. We had talked about this for a very long. When we got to the airport we got our tickets and got on the first plane to Minnesota. That plane ride was an hour long. We we got to the airport in Minnesota we had a 4 hour layover, so we just ate while we were there. When we finally got onto the plane we flew to Las Vegas, and from there we drove to california.

It was the summer of 2014 and my family were vacationing in Colorado. My family and I just got off the Pikes Peak Cog when Abby, my third oldest sister, whined, “I’m hungry mom. Let’s get something to eat.” Abby seems to always be hungry. My dad wanted barbecue so we decided to stop at this barbecue place right next to the steps. I was eating my pulled pork (it was some good pulled pork) when I asked if we could go up the steps. We asked the owner of the shop about the steps and the old, pleasant lady replied, “That's the Manitou Incline. Its 0.9th of a mile up, but most of it is at a 80o angle.” We decided we should go try it and see if we liked it.

When I had problems in school and life, they were the ones that help lift me up. Singing in choir also allowed me to express all my emotions in music. There were many times where I was put in the spotlight to sing by myself and I would be afraid of singing alone because I thought my singing wasn’t good enough for others to hear. Sometimes I would break down into to tears because I was so scared of what other people think about me. My choir teacher and members told me “that it is okay because they would not judge me even if it was not good.” My second year in choir wasn’t as good as my first because I had dropped down to the intermediate woman choir. After I had dropped down to rank in choir, I lost confidence in my ability and blamed it on my sight reading. I had decided that I would never be as good as I thought I was because I was in the intermediate choir that year. That year was a tough year because I felt like I was inferior to the other choir members that were in the advance choirs. I soon I realized that it did not matter what choir I was placed in as long as I could sing and feel accepted. In intermediate choir, I learned how to sight read better which made me feel better about