The Only Ten I See

The wonderful State of Tennessee. My family and I take a trip there every year. My father is originally from Tennessee so when we go there we visit the town of Murfreesboro, when we are there we visit all my relatives that still live there.
     If you are not as fortunate to have family in Tennessee but are still interested in it, then it is almost obvious to visit Nashville. When there try to take a tour through the king of rock an rolls mansion. It is one go the most spectacular things to look at and it takes awhile for the reality of how great he really is to soak in.
     Another place to visit in which not many people know about is Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg is a small town envirnment right along the smokey mountains. When here you are able to hike the mountains and also there is a Amusement park with a old wooden roller coaster that will frighten the most adventurous riders.

williams berg, Virginia

Williamsburg, Virginia is a spot where families who enjoy adventure and history would love. When my family and I stayed in Williamsburg, we stay at a place called Kingsmill Resort. Kingsmill is located on 3,poo acres in the Virginia wilderness. The resort has many activities for everyone, such as the three 18-hole golf courses, 15 tennis courts and a sports club with indoor and outdoor pools, pool tables and a gym. 

     For the little ones, the resort welcomes them with a fun pack and they also have a kids camp where they teach them to play tennis and golf, it also brings them swimming, fishing and has them do arts and crafts.

     My favorite part about Williamsburg is that it is not to far from the amusement park, Busch Gardens. This Amusement Park is one of my favorite. The ride called, Apollos Chariot, is one of the best. Drop is 16 stories as straight down as possible.

North Conway, New Hamster

     North Conway, New Hampshire is a Great Vacation spot to keep in mind throughout the four seasons of New England's weather. I have experienced North Conway in every season and I can not decide if summer or winter is the better time to go. This is due to the fact that in both seasons I stay at the place called Eastern Slopes Resort and that in both seasons it is convenient to my pleasures. In the winter it is just minutes away from Cranmore mountain which I love to go Snowboarding there, while in the summer it is also just minutes away from the bridges and cliffs that I love to jump off of into the water below.

If you have not already noticed in my visits to North Conway I have made it into adventurous ones but North Conway is Mainly Family based. In the winter they have a outdoor Ice Rink that they open up to the public for free skating anytime. In the Summer they have natural made swimming holes that are children safe with smooth rocks that have formed to make a waterside and if you have little extremists as children they have some small cliffs that they can leap off of. I suggest to do all the above and also whether it be winter, summer, spring or fall you have to visit Zeb's General Store in the middle of town, you will know which one it is because they have a huge stuffed animal bear out front. This store is a great place to visit if you enjoy old fashioned comical signs, spices, homemade candles, and for the little ones they have counters filled with candy.

Virginia is for lovers...of the beach

(courtesy of oceanfrontinvestments.com)

     Virginia Beach, Virginia is one of those classic areas, it has the soft smooth sand, the knarly surfing waves, and for the athletic ones a boardwalk that spans over 5 miles. Even though i have not been to Virginia Beach in over 2 years it leaves a everlasting memory.
     Whenever I stayed at Virginia Beach I have always stayed at a play called Four Sails, it is located  20 feet from the boardwalk and is just about 13 stories high with a sun deck on the 8th floor, indoor pool on the 4th floor and a amazing view from any of the balconies.

  (courtesy of about.com)

     Virginia Beach is  not a vacation spot that requires you to use a lot of energy unless you want too. What I decided to do was to wake up early and either jog or rollerblade the entire boardwalk and then spend the rest of the day either playing volleyball or body surfing the waves. The nightlife environment is a vacation on its own, I was lucky enough to be staying the week of the musical festival, this means that many bands were set up all along the boardwalk and the music varied from old bluegrass all the way to the Twisted Sisters. Being a Insomniac was not so bad here because the bars were open all night so even though I am unable to go into the bars it was ten times better to watch the people who were able to drink get thrown around by the heads of the horses that the police were on.

(courtesy of destination360)

     The intriguing part is that Virginia Beach can be a place for elderly people to enjoy the dolphins jumping in the distance, families to come and enjoy the sea breeze and the carnival ride yet it can also be a place for college students and young adults to come and have a good time.                                        

Newer than York

     New York City highly relies on Tourism with more than 40 million combined domestic and international tourists visiting each year. Major destinations include the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Broadway Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, Washington Square Park, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Coney Island and Ground Zero. 

     I have only been to New York City once and when I did go I stayed at the Manhatten Club. The Manhatten Club is located in the most ideal location, right next door is Carnegie Hall, 4 blocks away is Times Square and 4 blocks away in the opposite direction is Central Park. 
     If you are to go to New York City it is a must to visit Times Square, and even just walk aimlessly because there are many places to discover. Central Park is also up their on the to do list, if you are tired of walking then do what I did and rollerblade! Others walking might get annoyed but you know that they are not even close to having as much fun as you are.

       
      

Bahston

(courtesy of JackConway.com/boston)

     The City of Boston, Massachusetts attracts over 12 million tourist from across the country and all over the word. This vibrant, thriving city is "renowned for its cultural facilities, world-class educational institutions, champion sports franchises, as well as its place at the very forefront of American history". Tourism is one of New England's largest industries; as the region's social and commercial "hub", Boston is willing to take care of and entertain you as few other cities can.

(courtesy of 123RF)

     Even though i live relatively close to Boston I still consider it a vacation spot. For three years now we have gone to Boston for thanksgiving weekend. We have always stayed at the Marriott Custom House, the Custom house is one of my favorite places to stay, it is a 26 story historic landmark that is now a luxurious hotel which has a beautiful view over Boston Harbor and the city itself. The 26th floor is a observation deck that one can walk around for a magnificent 360 degree view of the city. The custom house is only a block away from Faneuil Hall so it is easily in walking distance for some fun shopping and delicious eating. 

     Boston is a great place to visit whether it be for business or for pleasure. The places that you must visit is definitely the Marriott Custom House whether you be there to stay or just to check out the memorabilia of its history and the amazing clock tower. When you decide to eat at Faneuil Hall you will be faced with three major decisions, these would be McCormick's and Schmick's, Dicks Last Resort and Cheers. McCormick's is more of a formal dinning while Cheers is more of a normal relaxed setting, then their is my preferred restaurant. Dicks Last Resort is a restaurant in which the waiters are payed to treat you in a disrespectful manner. Customers of Dick's are expected to be insulted or placed in uncomfortable situations. Adult bibs and large, fun, hand-made, paper hats are given to diners to wear during their stay. With no napkins on the tables, they are generally thrown directly at the customers by the serving staff. when done having lunch I advise going on a stroll through Boston Common.

The sunshine state

Florida is probably one of the most desired spots to be on vacation. My parents bought a time share there about 10 years ago and we go there every two years. We stay at a spot in Kissimmee called Summer Bay Resort. At this resort we have our own house with three bed rooms, three baths, and even a indoor pool. Even though we do not go to this resort very often, it is always memoirable. One event that I would love to not remeber is the ride down there though
     Three years ago we decided to have a family reunion down at summer bay. It was Christmas week so the envirnment was very festive, even though there was no snow. The Family reunion was on my dads side which was very funny due to the fact that he grew up in Tennessee with 3 other crazy brother. The craziness came out that week and my grandparents got really angry. I am not sure what pushed them to get so angry, it might have been the grown men wrestling next to the pool at 3am or it could have been attitude that the younger ones were giving to eachother. On christmas day everyone was happy and getting along though.
     The great thing about Summer Bay Resort is that it is just a mile away from DisneyWorld, which is great for the families with younger children, Summer Bay also has a community pool that is open all night. The thing that I thought was the best was that there was a bay on the resort and they allowed you to rent small boats and jetskis.
     Florida is a wonderful place to live, but even a better place to just go for a vacation. If you do decide to go here then definatley check out Summer Bay Resort, the local beaches, and obviously DisneyWorld

The Man of Jack

Jackman, Maine is the spot to be if you are the outdoorsmen who loves to hunt, ride ATVs, explore nature and go fishing. I have been to Jackman three times now and every time it has been a new adventure. I have gone up there with my entire family and our 6 ATV's and two dirtbikes. The best place to stay is Mountainview Resort. At this resort, you can rent out your own four bedroom, two bath cabin with your own driveway. This is what my parents have done in the past.

     When you are up in Jackman it is like a whole different world. The people up there are so friendly, even though their appearance does not look it. The environment is so soothing, you are able to wake up in the morning, have a cup of Joe and sit on your porch to look out at the never ending green tree tops.

     The best part of the trip is to be able to spend the entire day in the outdoors. To get up at 8 in the morning is a pain but to go off into the unknown trails of Maine and Canada makes it totally worth it. When I was there we woke up at 8 and traveled the trails for 12 hours each day for 4 days. One lesson learned is to make sure you always stay together and have enough gas. There is a story behind this. In August of 2011, my family of 7 and myself set off to a place called West Forks which was 5 hours away. Getting there was an adventure on it's own due to the unmarked and mismarked trails. When we finally arrived there we had lunch and sat by the lake for a little bit. Before we were about to leave I suggested that we fill the tanks with gas but everyone thought that we would make it. They turned out to be wrong. With 7 miles left in the trip back to the cabin I was running low on gas, so I decided that it would be a fantastic idea to speed ahead of everyone and get as far as possible before I ran out of gas. I was 6 miles away when my ATV ran out of gas. As I waited for them to pass by so they could tow me I felt more anxious as each minute passed. Half an hour later they still hadn't passed and with no service it was useless to think I could contact them or anyone else of that matter. After two and a half hours  of walking three miles in timberland boots and many encounters with wildlife such as bobcats running towards me and moose stampeding by I was found just as the sun was setting. Luckily I was found when I was because if not then the search and rescue would have been deployed and it would have been hard to locate me as darkness of the night was approaching.

(Before I ran out of gas)

    If you are interested in visiting Jackman, then you should definitely stay in the cabins at Mountainview Resort. You must ride on at least a portion of the 10000 miles of ATV trails. Take advantage of fishing, and kayaking on one of the many lakes in the area.  At the Forks area, whitewater rafting is always an adventure.  One can also just sit back and enjoy the clean fresh air of the mountains. When you decide to go out on the ATVs then please make sure you stay together and always have some communication with anyone that could help you in case of any emergency.

The notch of smugglers

Smugglers notch resort, I have been going to smugglers notch for 12 years now. I have gone on more than 100 vacations in my 17 years and the one vacation that I look forward to every year is Smuggs.

The thing that I like about Smuggs is that the same group are people go up on the same week 95% of the time. When I first went to Smuggs it was a small resort with great things for little kids. They have camps for all ages until you are 18 and they also have a S.N.A.P program for children with special needs. There is so many activities for teenagers too. They have 4 large water slides, two swimming holes with trampolines in them, and a water balloon war station. if you kids are more of the social, relaxing type they have a game room and a teen alley. Teen alley is a building that only teens are allowed in. Teen alley has x-box, wii, computers, a pool table, ping pong table and even a dance floor for the night. Smugglers also has a community center which is very simmilar to teen alley but it is only for people living in the area of west hill.

(courtesy of destination360)
     Children can also stay heathy in smugglers because they have plenty of athetic vacilities. the volleyball courts, basketball courts and tennis courts are the popular spots to play, but if you kids are younger they have the funzone. The funzone makes the parents happy and the children even happier. In the funzone it is filled with inflattable obstacles for the kids to jump in, slide down and even race eachother in.

(courtesy of villa4vacation)
Smugglers notch is also a great winter vacation, i have been going to smugglers for 8 years now and this is where i learned to snowboard at. there are 3 main mountains that smugglers owns, there is madona, sterling and also morse mountain. morse mountain is for the little kids but sterling and madona are only for older experienced skiiers.

(courtesy of destination360)

Smugglers notch Vermont is a fantastic family resort. If you are interested in going here then definatley attend all the festivities that they offer like karoake night and nightspiker. Nightspiker is for kids and they paint themselves with blacklight paint to play volleyball at night with blacklights all around. if you are to go there in the winter and you don't know how to ski then a insist that you take lessons, it will be the best time of your life. 

California and it's glories

In the summer of 2005 my parents decided that our whole entire family of 8 and my uncle would be takin a two week trip to the wonderful state of California. On the day of our departure I was nervous and excited, we were sitting in Logan airport waiting for row 13 to be called for boarding, when we heard 13 all of my siblings went running to the gate and down the tunnel, everyone wanted the window seats. It was a six and a half hour flight into seattle, washington.

While in seattle my dad rented two cars and from there we went to visit my uncle sam who lives in Tacoma. After three days of catching up with the relatives we were off to the california coast. After 3 days of driving down route 101 and route 1 down the coastline we arrived at our first destination, San francisco. We stayed in san francisco for four days and while there we visited the huge fish market and the docks, sea lions were everywhere! The next stop we took was the redwood Forrest. This place was one of the most mind blowing places I will ever see! Trees were so enormous that there was even a tree the was cut so cars could drive through it!

When we left the redwood Forrest I was begging to go back the enitre time, but when we got to San Diego I had already forgotten the mesmerizing environment of the forrest. San Diego was also a wonderful time. It was the last few days of the trip and I wanted to stay there forever. Our flight was leaving out of San Diego but we decided to go a little more south to Tijuana, Mexico for a day. If you plan on goin to Tijuana, it is not a kid friendly place at all! My two younger sisters were petrified and crying the whole time we were there.

Well followers, this is the end of my first blog. To all of the readers who are really interested in doing something similar I would highly suggest going to the seattle needle, San francisco, laguna beach, the red wood Forrest and lastly San Diego. Tijuana on the other hand, if you are feeling really adventurous then go for it, otherwise, stay away from it!