Road trip

Orlando Florida isn’t the easiest thing you know. It’s long and doesn’t come with a lot of stops if you’re having to do it with my parents. The trip itself is around a 20 hour drive but when you include stops and everything together it comes around to be a 24 hour drive. This doesn’t sound like fun and you’re very right if you’re thinking this. The trip is for sure worth it though, we were going to “The Magic Kingdom”. The place where kids that kids are super energetic and just want to finally meet

Mission Sunday at First Reformed Church, sitting in a pew with my youth group when I was given the opportunity to go to Eden, Jamaica the summer after my freshman year. My youth pastor, Ross, was standing on the stage in church describing the past trip that he went on with our high school youth group that past summer. He talked about the mission work they did, the relationships that were created, and the amazing views they saw. He then went on to say that the next group of kids that were the incoming

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’ Connor, is about a family going on a trip from Georgia to Florida. The grandmother, who is old-fashion in her beliefs, tells her grandchildren stories on the road trip; one story leads them down a dirt road to find a house on an old plantation, which produces an unpleasant outcome. The author uses the grandmother’s voice and language to give an old southern appeal to the story, which causes the impression that those who live like her are considered more

was oblivious to this fact before my first completely independent summer trip for three weeks. In the past, I always traveled with my parents. They were all great vacations but they were not planned or controlled by me. It was all up to my mom. This time, however, I was the one who found the opportunity to go to the seaside with a group of young people and spend 21 days there. My parents were happy to let me go on this trip; as they also saw it as an exciting opportunity. It was up to me to plan

once said, "Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us." It truly is. It is in our nature that we remember and cherish those moments that took us by surprise or brought something unexpected. For example, years ago, my family was on a road trip in Florida when we happened to notice a fruit shop in the middle of a long highway that speared through miles upon miles of orange trees. The shop was filled with the incredible smell of tropical fruits. Light coconut mingled with the heavy perfume

on a bus rather than hours. So, how does one make traveling by bus more enjoyable? How does a traveler make a trip by bus tolerable and actually experience a decrease in the perceived time? A trip by bus even though it can take much more time, can be perceived as flying by quickly. The time and trip can be more comfortable. And if you write, teach, or even are a business owner, your trip can be quite productive. Making a few changes and adding a few

The Transformation Anywhere you go can create memories, but can also become a part of you in one way or another. Some of those places may have had an impact on a person’s life that changed him or her as a person. For others, some places may have a special meaning, teaching, or maybe because the best memories were made in that special place. For me, the best memories and the one place that I always remember is Woodburn Oregon. This city has so many good, happy, and bad memories that I still remember

morning in Mexico I specifically remember waking up and having possibly the biggest epiphany of my life: If not for all of the unfortunate events I had endured, I wouldn’t have been in Mexico at that moment working, helping, and learning. After that trip, I realized that my passion was helping people. A plan for my future began take shape in my mind as decided I wanted to go into the Peace Corps after college. I got more involved helping at church on Sunday mornings, and I looked for more opportunities

decision that my best friend and I made this summer. My best friend, Julia, and I are a very outdoorsy pair and are avid fishers. Naturally, our first choice of entertainment is something outdoor related. We decided that the week I leave for my Colorado trip, the day before her birthday, we decided that we would spend the whole day together. The plan was that we wake up at 9am and kayak the Floyd River starting by Newkirk and ending in Alton under the bridge, on the other side of Roadside. That day

Wilderness Child Eight years of my life and a few Tupperware bins were skillfully packed into my dad’s 2004 Chevy Impala, where between dusk and dawn my parents and I would embark on a 670-mile road trip from Rio Rancho, New Mexico to Rocksprings, Texas. The white noise from the car, the piercing silence, not even the car radio could create sound, and the absence of conversation with my parents got drowned out by the pounding of my aching heart and overactive mind that screamed with a loud