I think that traveling for spring break is a lot better than staying home. Spring break from 1st grade to 8th grade almost every year my family and I would go to Maui, Hawaii. It became a second home for me. I would build sand castles, dig giant holes, and my personal favorite, bury my dad in the sand. I remember all of the snorkeling I would do with my dad and I remember the very first turtle I saw.

It was such a surreal experience for little me. Early in the morning when the tides were low, my mom and I would go look for seashells along the beach. I have a jar in my room full of shells that I’ve found throughout the years. Maui had always been my favorite spring trip, but then high school started.

Normally, I would miss half a week to a week of school when we went. And being in high school (with grades that matter a lot more than my middle school grades did) my parents decided it would be best not to go during the spring anymore. That was a really sad decision we had to make, but it had to happen. Although, since starting high school, my first spring break was amazing.

During spring break, I went on three trips for school. Let’s start off with New Orleans because holy cow was that an experience. For Jazz Choir we hopped on a plane and made our way to the heart of Jazz. While we were there, we competed in a couple competitions and placed well in all of them. We got to go on a swamp tour, have the best brunch on a steam boat and eat dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe.

My next trip was to Seattle for Apple Leaf! We walked around downtown, went to Pike Place and watched a Mariners game. The journalism convention was really fun and I got to meet new people and learn about different ways that people write stories.

The last trip of my spring break was my band trip which was also to Seattle. When we first got there, we went to the capital building and played on the front steps. We were in two parades and placed 1st in one of them and lower in the 2nd one. The hotel we were staying in was a little jankey, but it had a rock beach connected to it. We caught a bunch of tiny crabs and found cool rocks. The day we were going to leave, we went to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and I got to see a big tiger. I brought my digital camera and took a bunch of pictures of my friends and I and all of the animals.

Spring break without Maui is different. But having the privilege to go on all of these fun school trips has been such a highlight in my year.