This topic is somewhat hard for me, considering I haven't done very much traveling, as of yet, and most of the traveling that I have done I have been under the age if sixteen.
Since I am rather limited, I will have to say that my favorite place I have traveled to was Oregon. I went there the summer before sixth grade, I took a train. I remember feeling so cool sitting in the observation deck with my purple Walkman, listening to Avril Lavigne. I remember the dinner car and the bathrooms, and since I was riding coach I remember how I slept; sitting on the floor with my arms and head on the seat, like falling asleep in a desk at school. Once we arrived there, my grandparents and I, we spend most of the time camping and exploring with my aunt, uncle and cousins. I think we spend a total of three nights in a house. We did all sorts of things; we explored a cave, visited Crater Lake, swam in the ocean, lots of hiking, saw a cool waterfall, I got a Smokey the Bear certificate for doing some sort of scavenger hunt, etc. it was quite the trip!
It was kind of odd though, I was as that awkward age were I'm still a kid but I was starting to grow up. Where I wasn't sure if I should play with Barbies or kiss boys. I remember certain points in the trip where I would be doing things and having fun with my younger cousins and then the next minute have headphones glued in my ears and pretending that I didn't know them. I remember there was a point where I was on the boardwalk (my family let me wander alone for a little while), I though I was so cool, I went into this store, you know that typical half head shop half clothing type store, smells of incense and teen angst. I went into that and remember looking at shirts and seeing ones with pot leaves, and there was one with a star on it that said "porn star", and I bought one with bubble letters made of flames that said "too hot for what you got". I don't know why I remember that so clearly, but it was like yesterday. I also met a boy on my trip, he was probably 13 or 14. I remember wanting to kiss him, but I didn't. I remember feeling different while I was there. And to be honest, I think that trip changed me. I think I sort of grew up during it. Stopped thinking like a child and started thinking a teenager. It was like a turning point. When I returned home I cut my hair and put neon orange stripes in it and got a "boyfriend".
And since then Oregon has always stuck in my head. I've always had a deep longing for it since. I hope to visit my aunt out there this summer if my west road trip with my girlfriends is a flop. I want to see it as an adult and possibly check some places out, I've always wanted to live there. I never really realized why I had such a love for it, until writing about it now. To conclude, I left my heard in Oregon.
