Personal Narrative

Kathryn Stone

Ms. Asuncion

English 9h

12 November 2015

My Summer Out West

This summer I went on a trip to the Grand Canyon. We flew out to Las Vegas and rented a RV, which would begin our amazing journey. Once we rented our RV, we started driving to the Grand Canyon where we would meet our family. While we were driving, my brothers and I played card games and ate snacks from the back of the RV. As we drove by we saw how different everything looked. There was barely any grass and it was very flat and empty. We were tired because of the time change so as soon as we reached the campsite, we unfolded the couches and tables into a bed and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up really early, met up with our cousins, ate breakfast and headed off to the Grand Canyon. We walked to a shuttle stop, and took a shuttle to the visitor center. We went inside and watched a movie about the history of the Grand Canyon. After the movie we started our hike around the rim of the canyon. As we walked along the trail there were beautiful sites where we stopped to take pictures. My cousins and I would walk off the trail and get real close to the edges to take the best pictures ever. We must have walked more than a mile around when we started to head back. Once we got back to the campsite, we ate dinner, played games and went to bed early to prepare for our next busy day.

The following morning we did the same thing. We woke up early, met with our family, ate breakfast and headed off to the shuttle stop. From the shuttle stop we went back to the Grand Canyon and began our hike down into the canyon. We stocked up on a ton of water bottles, so we wouldn’t get dehydrated in such hot weather. The way down the canyon was very easy, but going back up was a different story. We ate our lunch at the bottom and looked at the amazing sites. It was unbelievable how much wild life lived in the Grand Canyon. Before we started walking back up, we filled up our water bottles. As we began to walk up the Grand Canyon, we started to get tired and hot. Luckily we had filled up our waters. By this time it was about noon, the sun was straight above us and all the shade was gone. However, we continued to hike up, while the sun sucked the energy from us. My cousin River and I would hike together while the boys would go ahead and the adults would slowly hike behind us. We finally reached the top, out of breath, and got ice cream. It was exactly what we needed: cold and delicious. Satisfied and tired, we went back to the campsite. We were all worn out from our six mile hike so we ate dinner quickly and went to bed.

The third morning we woke up even earlier, because we were going on a steeper, longer, harsher hike. We looked out into the canyon and saw breathtaking views, which were very different from yesterday’s views. When we arrived to the top of the trail we looked down and saw the long hike ahead of us. The whole way down we were shielded from the sun by the huge canyon walls. Once we reached the bottom we met up with the boys and waited for our uncles and aunts. It had been no more than five minutes when they arrived at the bottom. Before we hiked back up, we went over to this one rock that overhang a cliff and stood there and took it all in. After that we began going back up, unfortunately the shade was barely there and the sun was shining bright. My cousin and I would take lots of short rests to give our legs a break. When we finally got to the top we found the boys, who had been there for fifteen minutes already. We sat at a picnic table while we waited for the rest of the family to arrive. Once they arrived we went back to the campsite. We played cards and ate dinner, and then we went back the Grand Canyon to watch the sunset.

When we arrived to one of the lookout points of Grand Canyon, we found spot at the edge of a small cliff, sat down and hung our feet over. We sat and talked while we waited for the sun to go down. Slowly we could see the colors in the sky change from blue to pink to orange. We took tons of pictures, each so different. The sky looked so beautiful over the huge canyon walls. We all tried our best to connect with our inner artist, trying to get a good angle and the best quality. After a long half hour of picture after picture, the sun went down and the view was gone. We hopped onto the shuttle and rode it all the way back to the campsite. This was our last day at the Grand Canyon and we would be going to the Bryce Canyon the next morning. This was a once in a lifetime vacation and I will treasure it in my heart forever.