September 1, 2014

As the glistening sun was shining in my eyes through my window, I lay in my cozy bed, and I realize these next two weeks are going to be extraordinarily interesting. I am going to travel the United States looking at my top five colleges and have to pick which one is right for me. Thoughts are going through my mind as I smell the delicious fragrance of pancakes. I race downstairs and overflow some tasty pancakes with some sticky, sugary syrup. As I take a bite, butter drips down my chin onto my plate. When I am done eating, I wipe my face with my scratchy napkin. My stomach feels very bloated as I slowly walk up the plush carpeted stairs to my zebra themed room. I change into my white skinny jeans and coral tank top and head back down stairs. I take a left to my fish themed bathroom and brush my teeth with my blue toothbrush and minty fresh toothpaste. I look at the time and decide to hit the road. As I rush to Kelsey's to pick her up, “Call Me Maybe” comes on, and of course I turn it up and blare it! As I pull into Kelsey’s enormous driveway, I hit her up with a text saying “I am here.” Of course, Kelsey isn’t ready, so I rush into her house and jam pack all of her things into her purple suitcase. We go flying down Highway 69, waving our hands in the air and jamming out to “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift. We pull into Forest City and see Kum & Go right away! We stopped to get some gas so we wouldn’t hit empty in the middle of nowhere! We decide to go on a little tour of the town and decide to go to Pilot Knob State Park. As we were driving to Pilot Knob we saw people cutting down trees to build a house. Pilot Knob is on an isolated hill that rises 250 feet above the surrounding areas. Pilot Knob is in the North Central area of Iowa. The land was formed 1500 years ago from glaciers. From this point, Kelsey and I can see all of the surrounding parts of town. Pilot Knob is a peaceful place about nature and history. They have trails surrounding us by trees, plants, and wildlife. We are famished after this and decide to go to Taco Jerry’s since one of our teachers, Mr. Friederich, recommended it. It did not disappoint...the spicy tacos were delicious.

After this, we jump back in the car and head to Cedar Falls to the University of Northern Iowa. UNI was great! We toured the education department and got to go to the dome! It was so neat! After our tour we check the time to see that it was already dinner time! We got on the road and got across town to get to Panera Bread. As the warm cheesy noodles hit my mouth I can’t do anything but eat more. The macaroni and cheese was delicious. After Panera Bread we decided to hit the hay. We bolted to Waterloo to get to the hotel we were staying at. The front desk was very cheery with a big smile across her face. Finally we get to room 143 and can just dream.

September 2, 2014

As Kelsey wakes me up snoring as loud as a stampeded of bulls I hop out of the warm comfy sheets and get to the shower. The icy cold water hits my back I realized Paige stole all of the hot water! I take a quick shower and put on my comfy oversized Boji Barracuda sweat pants. We jump in the 2013 Sonata and start driving early for our long day ahead of us. We speeded down Interstate 680. We turn off onto Exit four. As we pull into Omaha we remembered Kum & Go was on the right. After we fill up Kitty Cat we head to Texas Roadhouse. The crispy feeling and the crunchy sound of the chicken strips dipped into the cool ranch dripping off of my plate is a wonderful sensation in my mouth! After the delicious stop at Texas Roadhouse we hit the road again. Our next destination would be Denver, Colorado. We reached Denver and saw a huge red and green sign saying “Applebees” and big grins spreading across our face knowing that that’s where we were going to eat dinner. As we sit in the red booth patiently waiting for my mac and cheese and Kelsey’s chicken strips. Finally the warm green bowl filled with cheesy mac and cheese and a plate with crispy chicken strips. We payed our waitress, Amanda, with a ten and five dollar bill and told her to keep the change. We headed to Hampton Inn, where we’re staying, and couldn’t wait to lay down in our cozy bed and just dream.

September 3, 2014

As Kelsey’s annoying phone goes off singing “My milkshakes bring all the boys to the yard” because Justin called her to say “Good morning beautiful” had woken me up. We both gave each other that look of lets go eat breakfast and we knew thats what we wanted. We decided to grab a bagel with creamy peanut butter this time. The peanut butter stuck was stuck to the roof of my mouth and the bagel was so toasty and warm. We headed back up to our room to pack our things so we could hit the road. We got all the way to Conifer and decided it would be good to get some gas. We pulled into Kum & Go and met a tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, fit, and a good smile guy at the pump right next to us. We ended up telling him we needed to get to California to get to our College tour. We were driving down the road and our gas tank was getting a little empty again so we stopped Hanksville, UT. We ended up going to Torrey, UT for Subway. I ordered a six inch Italian meatball sub when I got to Subway.(IC DC.) It was delicious. We headed back onto the road. Kelsey wasn’t very entertaining because she was listening to her iPhone and playing Subway Surfer. We ended up staying overnight at Hampton Inn in Saint George, Utah. It was a nice hotel room with two cozy full size beds. The shower was actually decent unlike normal showers at hotels are. Today was an overall long boring day.

September 4, 2014

I woke up in the morning and Kelsey was still laying there with her eyes closed and her mouth wide opened. I decided I would be a little turd and wake her up. I hopped onto her bed and started singing “Its time to get up, its time to get up, its time to get up in the morning!” She started laughing and could barely open her eyes from the bright yellow sun shining in her eyes like a bright light bulb right in front of her. We ended up grabbing a juicy red apple and milk for the road so we could get to California before the end of the day. We were heading down the road and we started to get hungry. It was around lunchtime so we thought it was fine to stop. We ended up stopping in North Las Vegas, Nevada, at AMPM for some gas and just grabbed some snacks from there so we didn’t have to make another stop. We were at the gas station for a long time because the pump wouldn’t work! It took us twenty nine minutes just to get the gas pump to work. Then we finally got our gas, some food, and on the road on our college road trip. It was a very long trip and we finally got to our landmark in California. As we were driving to the Yosemite State Park we passed the Hollywood sign. IT was so cool! I have never seen it before and I didn’t know we were going to pass it so I didn’t have my camera ready. But knowing Kelsey she was taking pictures of all of the things we were passing so she already had her camera out and ready and took a picture! Finally we are made it to the Yosemite State Park. While we pulled into the Yosemite National Park we noticed some people littering when there was a garbage can five feet away from them!
This is Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. The Yosemite National Park is in the Eastern part of California. It is 1200 square miles and was one of the first parks in the US. It has awesome deep valleys and giant sequoia trees. It’s an awesome park known for its waterfalls. If you are ever in California and you would like to visit someplace cool and exciting I encourage you to go to the Yosemite National Park. We were running low on gas so we stopped at Grizzly Gas before we got out of town so we could make it all the way to The University of California. I didn’t know how to get to the gas station so I had to use my map to tell me that I needed to take a right and that it will be on my left. After we got gas we headed back on the road. We were storming down the road and saw a sign saying Visalia was coming up in two miles so we decided to stop and get some gas again. This time it didn’t take as long. It only took us six minutes this time instead of twenty some minutes. We finally made it to the University of California and decided to go eat dinner and then go to a hotel to stay the night. We ended up eating at Extreme Pizza with the grease dripping down the side of my pizza as I fill up my mouth with the cheesy, saucy, bread. It was too late to do our college tour so we stayed in a hotel and decided to visit Cal tomorrow. As Kelsey and I get on out footy pajamas she says, “Goodnight Caitlyn, I hope you had a good day.”
“Goodnight to you too Kelsey, and I hope you had a good day also,” I respond.

September 5, 2014

As the fire alarm goes off, Kelsey and I wake up and rush outside and look at the the tall, colorful, hotel in the middle of the city and try to find where the hotel is burning. The hotel manager rushes outside to tell us that it was a false alarm and that a little boy pulled it as a joke. We go back inside to our very big hotel room. It was getting late so we didn’t have time to eat breakfast so we got in the car and headed to the University of California so we can get on our way to Arizona. Cal was great. After our college visit we got on the road to get to Arizona. We stopped in Valley, AZ, to get some gas and some lunch. We decided to go to Olive Garden. When we went got to Olive Garden, I ordered Chicken Alfredo.(DC, IC.)
After lunch Kelsey and I decided to go to the Grand Canyon. We went to the North Rim. Looking into the deep chasm was almost overwhelming. While we were there we learned that every year, a staggering five million people flock to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon's sweeping views, hike its trails, and hop on a mule for a trip through the vast canyon. It is 1,217,403 acres and is located in the northwest corner of Arizona, close to the borders of Utah and Nevada. The Colorado River, which flows through the canyon, drains water from seven states. Technically the latitude and longitude are 36.0575° N, 112.1375° W. It is known as one of the seven wonders of the world because of its unique beauty and qualities. Some elevations are as high as 7,000 and 8,000 feet, and the Colorado River gorge runs through it at elevations as low as 2,000 feet. Took 3-6 million years to form; erosion continues to alter its contour. The climate within the canyon is semi-arid, and the floor in Summer can heat up to 106 degrees Fahrenheit 800 million gallons of water flow through it per hour. Because there is no soil, only desert plants can grow there. When I peer down below, I can longhorns grazing as condors are flying by. I can hardly describe what I see. Its immensity and its knockout beauty simply must be experienced. After the Grand Canyon we got back on the road and were just going to eat dinner in Tucson, AZ. We got to Tucson, Arizona and decided to go to our college visit before we ate. The University of Arizona was great. We ended up going to Pizza Hut to eat dinner. The pizza was delicious and the melted cheese dripping off the sides of my pizza didn’t even phase me. As we were driving to our hotel and we enjoyed the nice dry desert in Arizona. Our hotel was warm and cozy and we went to bed right away.

September 6, 2014

As I wake up in the morning I stepped outside onto our balcony at our hotel. I looked at the beautiful nicely green sprinkled grass and with beautiful red flowers. Kelsey ended up waking up and freaking out wondering where I was. We went down stairs and had the hotels breakfast. The breakfast was delicious but we had to go. We got on the road and headed towards Florida. Florida was a beautiful place. We were in the North Central area of Florida. They had palm trees everywhere and bright flowers planted all around us. Also we took a peek at the ocean and it was beautiful. We both agreed that tomorrow we were going to take a break and just stay in Florida. We ended up stopping at our college instead of the lighthouse because it would be smarter that way. Our college visit was great but it wore us out. So we ended up going to our hotel with the ocean view and a balcony. Before we went to bed we sat outside on the balcony, looking out into the distance down yonder at the magnificent view. We talked and played games for an hour or so then decided to go to bed. We told each other goodnight and went to bed.

September 7, 2014

As the beautiful ocean waves crash against the sand waking me up into a good mood I just knew that we were going to stay in Florida an extra day so we could enjoy the nice weather and take a break from this college tour trip. The weather was so nice that right after I got out of bed the first thing I did was get my swim suit on and headed to the beach. I got halfway to the elevator and realized I should probably wake Kelsey up so she doesn’t sleep the whole day and freak out on me like she freaked out during volleyball practice in 8th grade. Oh goodness was that funny or what?! Well it was hilarious. I sprinted across the warm sand, and got burned by the bright sun.(IC, CC IC.) We ended up playing sand volleyball most of the time we were at the beach and the other times we were either swimming in the ocean or just laying on the beach talking about how great this day has been. The ocean was great; however, I swallowed saltwater.(IC; IM, IC.) Today was probably our favorite day of this trip and we decided that we would love to take another trip to Florida to go on the beach. We decided to head up to our hotel room to take a shower and get on something nice so we could go out to eat on a fancy dinner for our relaxation day. Our dinner was great; I ate pasta.(IC; IC) It was so formal and elegant. After our dinner we went and visited the St. Mary’s Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1898. It uses It uses 645 blocks of stone and 750,000 bricks. This 80-foot tower features a giant reflector lens and is the perfect spot for weddings. Its Longitude is 55.071656°N and Latitude is 1.449444°W. We notice people spearing a beached whale on the ocean and it made our stomachs ache by the feeling of people even think about doing that. It was time to get to bed for our long day to Pennsylvania so we got in the car and headed to Hampton Inn.

September 8, 2014

We woke up in the morning and decided to just stay in our pj’s which were just sweatpants and a normal shirt on because our day was just going to consist of driving. Today was going to be a very long day! We got all the way to Pennsylvania. As we pulled into Hickory, PA in Southwestern Pennsylvania we noticed Pennsylvania is very hilly with a lot of wood, timber, and trees. We got to my cousins house and dinner was already made. After dinner we were so worn out from driving we went straight to bed! We walked to my cousins guest room and it was so cold you could see polar bears wearing jackets! I had to go grab more blankets so I wouldn’t freeze overnight.

September 9, 2014

My cousins Owen and Gavin wake me and say, “Caitlyn wake up and come play with us!”
I don’t actually want to get up yet. I just want to sleep. (IC. IC.) I will, however, play with them because I haven’t seen them since last Christmas.(I, IM, C.) We played with Gavin’s Batman and Robin step up and Owen’s cars. After a while Owen and Gavin got hungry so they went and ate breakfast so I decided I should wake up Kelsey. We were eating breakfast in the living room and Rizzoli and Isles happened to be on TV when we turned it on so we decided to watch it. BANG! The killer had shot another victim!(Rising Action) Unfortunately the killer had gotten away faster than the police could show up.( As the show continues the police are stuck and cannot find out who the victim is. Then BAM! The killer had shotten another victim! But this time the victim had not died. The victim had a clear description on what the killer looked like: Brown hair, Hazel eyes, Male, and many more.(Climax) (IC: list or explanation) The police found out who the killer was and went to go get him.(Falling action) They had to drive to an abandon farm out in the middle of nowhere and then finally! They got the killer and locked him up in jail.(Resolution) We ended up leaving for our college visit and it was nice. The volleyball program was stellar. Also if I choose to be a Forensic Scientist Penn-State is definitely the college for me. We went to visit the Philadelphia Bell. The Philadelphia Bell was founded in 1974 and had folded in 1975. The Bell was one of just two WFL teams that maintained the same ownership in both 1974 and 1975. The team logo was a representation of the Liberty Bell. The Bell played their home games at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Its Longitude is 39.9495° N and its Latitude is 75.1503° W.
We decided to head home and because we both missed our beds, family, and friends. It was a long trip home and we were glad to be home. I was so tired that after I dropped Kelsey off at home I decided to clean out my car tomorrow.

September 10, 2013

After I woke up I thought it would be good to clean out my car so my parents wouldn’t freak out when they see it. Kelsey left her phone charger, her green volleyball shirt, her mascara, her tiara earrings, and her volleyball that we used at the beach, in my car!(IC with list or explanation) This trip has been a great experience and I cannot wait for college.