This past weekend, my mom and I took a bus trip from Pennsylvania to New York City for a day trip to celebrate my birthday, the turning of another year in the 20-somethings. I love taking day trips because you get to have the experiences and adventures without overstaying your welcome in one location. I also consider myself a country girl, so the city can get a bit overwhelming, making me admit that the fast pace life-style isn't for me. Day trips can be quite exhausing because everything has to be crammed into a 10 to 12 hour time frame. It's best to not over plan and let the day decide its course on its own. It's okay to have a few activities written down, but I caution anyone from planning a vaction or trip down to the minute or the hour. This was the mistake my family made the last time we visited New York because it made us lose our sense of reality, where we were, and the precious moments infront of us. However, if I'm being honest this was mainly due to our lack of research on City Bike Rentals. I will never rent bikes again unless the company offers a guided bike tour as experienced in the Windy City (Chicago) a few years ago. This trip started out rocky, our transport was thirty minutes late and instead of traveling in a Fullington coach or other larger motorized bus, we traveled in a stuffy, squished, 16-passenger van. This van was sterotypically dubbed as the "church van," as it constainly reminded me of all the the youth group and campus ministry trips I took over the past eight years to local missions, sermons, or holiday gatherings. When I find myself in these type of situations, I believe the best seats are those closest to the window, not only due to the great views, but in the hopes of eliminating any awkwardness that comes from sitting next to a stranger, who might accidently infiltrate one's personal space. This invasion of personal space, made me really uncomfortable and happened quite frequently during the first fourth of our trip to NYC because I mistakely choose the middle seat. I only wish I had learned this before we reach our first pit stop, but I was able to quickly swap seats with my mom soon afterwards. Nonetheless, this didn't deflect the obnoxious chatter that filled the back seat, which interupted my ability to entertain myself with the book I brought along. The only other opinion, I did have was to sleep the rest of the four hour road trip in order to block out all the noise.
Resources:
Wicked. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2016, from http://www.broadway.com/shows/wicked/story/ Wicked. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_%28musical%29
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Chambersburg Christmas Parade: PhotosTop 5 Memories of D.C. and Maryland: A Positive Reflection About The Time I Spent Away From Home.11/14/2016
Resources:
TG-Fall-In-Store-Catering-Menu-. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://taylorgourmet.com/ wp-content/uploads/2016/09/TG-Fall-In-Store-Catering-Menu-PDF-1-1.pdf Woody, D. L. (n.d.). A brief history of h street. Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://hstreet.org/h-street/history/ For a while now, I have been a homebody, since I have made the choice to live at home for most of my college career. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret that choice in the slightest as it has reduced my college debt substantially, but at the same time a part of me wonders, if I did enough. I feel like the next few years for me will be a time to dream, to think big, and to step outside my comfort zone. I need to explore my surroundings with fresh eyes and take in everything as a new adventure. As of now, this is only a dream, but I have no doubt that this will be reality soon. Life is a journey, hopefully I'm living it to the fullest. This video was created by the New Aged Creators and posts regularly on the Soul Pancake Channel on Youtube. This video is entitled An Alternative Travel Guide and has inspired this blog post and the idea to dream big and to live more adventurously.
When I'm traveling, I try to make an effort to record my memories (pictures, souvenirs, video, etc.), but my favorite of all ways to do so is by keeping a travel journal (to have my adventures in writing). I find travel journals to be one of the most authentic ways to capture one's journeys, as it does not only captures a single memory, but an entire trip and can include the thoughts and emotions that go along with traveling. Journals allow me to live within the moment of my vacations because it forces to step away from the lens of a camera and helps me live in the present moments, to later capture within the pages of my journals. Below are a few examples of pages taken from my very own journals capturing past trips dating from 2011 to 2015.
I feel blessed to live within a God created masterpiece. A place where streams, forests, and animals live in harmony. God's art speaks wonders and without it, none of us would be able to experience its natural beauty. God created it all and for that I'm truly blown away. "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." John 1:3, NIV Just last month, I got to experience God's creation first hand as I traveled to both the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and Watkins Glen State Park. The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon
Watkins Glen
Citations:
PA grand canyon. (n.d.). Retrieved July 7, 2016, from http://pacanyon.com/index.html Watkins glen state park. (n.d.). Retrieved July 7, 2016, from New York State Parks website: http://nysparks.com/parks/142/details.aspx |
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