My family doesn’t always get along. It isn’t like we are a bad family or hate each other, don’t get me wrong, I love my family members, but like all families we have our normal bickering. I have one older brother and one older sister, and we are each four years apart (my brother being the eldest). That makes us a perfect distance apart for the brother-sister-brother rivalry. My parents do the best to keep up with all of us and make sure we are nice to each other, but back when we were all living at home during the summers my parents were gone during the day and left us alone to fend for ourselves. As the youngest sibling fending is exactly what I had to do most of the time. So I was pretty excited and at the same time nervous when my parents told us we were going on a cross-country adventure and I was going to be in the back of the van the whole time; with my brother and sister. I expected the trip to include a lot of me getting picked on and made fun of so I looked forward and at the same time dreaded it.

We started out on the rode in our old van. It was puke green, but it got our family around for many years. My brother, my sister, and me were in the backseats, while my mother rode up front with my father driving. We started from our home in Springfield and drove southwest towards Texas. We had a bunch of luggage and we even had the “snail” luggage carrier on the top. We began our trip mostly sleeping, but slowly we began to wake up and play car games. I spy is always a favorite, along with “slug-bug,” which I didn’t always enjoy. Our first stop was across the border in Oklahoma, at one of the more famous McDonalds. The McDonalds in Oklahoma goes across the highway and the building is shaped like an M. We always stop there for a bite to eat whenever we travel through Oklahoma. My aunt and uncle live in Oklahoma and when my grandparents take us down to see them we always stop at that McDonalds, so it’s kind of a family tradition. Later we continued our journey to our first stop in Armadillo, Texas. We stayed their overnight at a sort of run-down hotel. We ate at a nice Mexican restaurant and spent the rest of the night at the hotel swimming and preparing for the rest of our journey. Armadillo was probably my least liked part of the trip mainly because we didn’t do much except sleep. However it was a necessary part of the trip because it was a perfect distance for us to travel on our first day. We continued on our way west, stopping to see the attractions in New Mexico and taking many pictures of the weird things we saw along the way, like the worlds largest thermostat and ball of yarn before reaching our first major stop, Arizona.
In Arizona we enjoyed seeing the sights of the Petrified Forest and Grand Canyon. It was the first time I had ever seen the Grand Canyon and the sights were incredible. There were many sights to see to. We went to several museums and several shops at the canyon. I bought a small tomahawk from there, which I still have to this day. We even got to walk down about halfway on a trail. I am deathly afraid of heights though, so it was not an enjoyable experience the whole time. We also got to see all of the Indians selling their goods in front of the canyon and we got to see a lot of Indian reservations. The Petrified Forest was also enjoyable and less terrifying! We got to see all of the different and beautiful rock formations. The Petrified Forest has some of the most beautiful sights in the world, with its colored rock and tree formations. We spent a lot of time there just sitting there as a family and enjoying the sights together. After Arizona it was time to head north to Las Vegas.
In Las Vegas we had a lot of fun. We got to stay in one of the largest hotels ever, the MGM Grand. We went to many casinos and shops. We even went to a water park. I got to walk down the strip and see all the fancy casinos and hotels and amazing sights. We rode roller coasters and went to see many shows at Las Vegas; overall it was one of the most exciting parts of the trip. On our way out of Vegas we stopped and took pictures over the Hoover Dam.

The next stop was my favorite of the whole trip. We went to California and got to stay at the Disneyland hotel. I was younger so I really enjoyed my time there. It was the first time I had been to Disneyland and I was excited to see all the fun it had to offer. We had a good time with Mickey and friends and riding all the rides. It was my birthday as well during this time and my parents surprised me with a meal with Goofy and other Disney characters. I was so excited. We stayed there for a few nights then packed it up and started on our way home. It was a little hard to say goodbye to Mickey but I was satisfied during the time I spent with him.
It took us two days to get back home but I think that was one of the best parts. We were in the car most of the time and just had each other for entertainment. I think we grew together as a family during this trip. We got to talk a lot on the trip home and we took a lot of pictures. We played a lot of car games and just enjoyed each other’s company. I will never forget the time I had with my family on our special trip. I had a lot of fun getting to spend two entire weeks with my family in a van and everybody had an amazing time.