Peace Out, 'Port

Goodbye, Newburyport. I'm going to be in the American West until July 4. I'll be too busy horseback riding, driving, and exploring national parks to write. I'll fill you in later.

The West

          Family travel is always an adventure. Especially road trips. My dad insists on doing most of the driving despite my mom’s frequent offers to take over the wheel, and only relinquished his position to let me drive on our last trip, through the Midwest. My mom is always the navigator, loading up on free maps and guides at rest areas, and Diana never fails to be the annoying child in the backseat who refuses to even try to fall asleep.

 For the last two summers, we have taken long road trips, covering what I consider to be pretty huge distances--especially considering we are usually crammed into a compact car. In 2009, we flew to San Francisco, one of my favorite places, and flew home from Las Vegas, one of my least favorite places, visiting everything in between. A favorite was Yosemite National Park, where my dad and I rode mules.

            Last summer, we flew to Chicago, drove to Montana, drove back to Chicago, and flew home. It was completely different from the West Coast, and compared to the East Coast, it was a different world. Driving through Nevada and Arizona in 2009, there were deserts, but in Wyoming and North Dakota it was like another planet. It was actually like stepping back in time, and seeing all of the untouched land was completely and utterly breathtaking. Even my dad was speechless. Everything is open, and you can see for miles—endless, empty, open road is something I find to be beautiful, and incredibly liberating. The way I felt driving through Wyoming is indescribable; New England tends to have an effect of confinement on me, but the West is almost frighteningly open, flat, and barren.

            Of course, there always has to be an element of fun on family vacations, and Diana and I accomplished this last summer by becoming Junior Rangers at several National Parks and Monuments. These programs are usually reserved for kids 12 and under, but the park rangers were nice enough to let us complete the workbooks and give us an induction ceremony. We even received badges, which I think were the best (and cheapest!) souvenirs of our vacation. My parents always try to ensure that we get everything we can out of each vacation, so we watched two rodeos, rode horses through the mountains several times, and went rafting on the Colorado River. We had such a great time last summer that we are going back this month, flying to Denver and driving through Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. This time, we are staying at a dude ranch for a few days, and we’ll probably visit every National Park we pass by.

            Last summer’s trip to the West has inspired me to go to college out there. When I go to college, I want to be in a place that I love, and thus all of my school visits, searches, etc. have been largely based on location. Although the majority of schools I am interested in are in the Northeast, I am planning on applying to a few on the West Coast as well as in the Midwest. Going to college in a place like Wyoming definitely has its benefits. Aside from one or two schools, every college I have looked at costs well over $40,000 a year, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. Most of the schools in the Midwest are far more affordable, and I would have the opportunity to get an excellent education in the most beautiful part of the United States.

where we went

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Mt. Agamenticus

I have been hiking for as long as I can remember—from the time I was a toddler, my dad would take my sister and I to the Blue Hills, just outside of our old home in Boston, and we would crawl our way to the “castle” at the top. In grades four through eight, there was a class hiking trip every year, each for several nights, and I was able to climb almost every peak in the Presidential range of the White Mountains.

My dad has been an avid hiker for years, and Diana and I have embarked on many hiking trips with him. We hiked Mt. Washington four years ago, the first time for Diana, the third time for me, and the umpteenth time for my dad, and he has always been enthusiastic about taking hikes when we go on vacations—we hiked into the Grand Canyon on his birthday two years ago, mistakenly bringing only two bottles of water for the 100+ degree weather, and staggered out several hours later.

Yesterday, I drove to Maine with my sister, Diana, and Klaudia. It was absolutely perfect weather for a hike: the sky was cloudy, so I knew I wouldn’t get sunburned, and it wasn’t humid, like it had been the last few days. Before leaving, we stopped here to get the best bagels in Newburyport, and Klaudia and I went to the grocery store to get all the necessary hiking supplies (chocolate, peanuts, cheese, and pretzels).

Hiking is one of my favorite things to do, so to get back in condition for the summer we started with Mt. Agamenticus. It’s a small mountain, and we reached the summit in less than half an hour, taking the low-impact loop trail. I have done a good amount of hiking on Agamenticus, especially with my dad, and I have managed to get lost every time. I probably should have taken that as a sign for what would happen next.

After eating lunch, we continued down the other side of the mountain, and realized after about an hour that we were hopelessly lost. Instead of trying to continue following the loop trail (which really didn’t seem like a loop), we decided that the best thing to do was to look for the road we had driven in on, and follow it until we could find the parking lot. After walking on a dirt road for about an hour and receiving directions from several friendly drivers, we finally arrived at the car, and stopped for ice cream before heading back to Newburyport. 

I’ve talked to friends about my excitement for hiking, and a lot of them don’t understand why I would rather hike a mountain on a half day than go to the mall. Some people think hiking is a huge, physical feat, but I’ve never looked at it that way. The feeling when I get to the top of a mountain like Washington is really indescribable; there are times on the trail when I ask myself why I put myself through this misery, why I need to climb a mountain, why I hike. To be honest, I don’t really know what the answers are. It’s something I’ve been doing for my whole life, and I know that if I wasn’t constantly busy, I would hike all the time.

Fundraiser at Flatbread

 On Tuesday night, the Global Awareness club from my high school had a fundraiser at Flatbread to support the Mancona school in Ghana, West Africa. Global Awareness is a fairly new club, created last year, and I joined this year with a few friends. I have been interested in international affairs/global citizenship since attending a youth conference at the United Nations in 2007. I was really inspired by the conference to support non-governmental organizations, and Global Awareness club has provided a great opportunity to support people, especially children, around the world.

photo: diana russo

photo: diana russo

Flatbread is definitely one of the most popular restaurants in Amesbury, a town just across the river from Newburyport, and their pizza is delicious. It was actually the site of my surprise 17^th birthday party, and it was an excellent venue for our fundraiser. Flatbread does a lot of similar fundraisers with local groups and schools, donating a portion of their profit from each pizza to the cause. It was a Tuesday night, so the restaurant wasn’t nearly as packed as it would have been on a Friday or Saturday night, but we still had a great turn out.

photo: chandler camerato

photo: diana russo

After the fundraiser, it was far too beautiful of an evening to go straight home. I was with Diana, Klaudia, and two other friends, Chandler and Jessie, and we drove through the more rural parts of Amesbury before ending up at the beach on Plum Island. We were the only ones there, and we spent a few hours running in and out of the surf and writing in the sand.

photo: chandler camerato

photo: chandler camerato

Since the school year is winding down, I have had much less homework and have been feeling less stressed—not to mention that the weather has been incredible, the sky staying light until well after eight o’ clock. Tuesday felt like summer, and though it was a really fun night, it made my heart sink a little when I remembered that I still have a week of school left, and then a week of exams. The summer always goes by way too fast, and I really want to make this one a good one. 

photo: chandler camerato

photo:chandler camerato

photo: chandler camerato