Michigan

As the summer comes to an end, we decided to take one last family vacation. Last year we went to the same place near a town called Ludington. We stayed by Lake Michigan, which we were all excited about... than the water ended up being cold! The long walks on the sandy beaches were still nice, and watching the sunset fall over the lake was absolutely beautiful. The first days the there we had beach days. Eventually tip toeing into the frigid water than floating in a tube the whole time. Isabel and I did take pleasure in being crashed ashore by the seemingly small waves. Since were not use to large bodies of water, they seemed big to us! Another day we drove an hour and a half away to hike on the Sleeping bear sand dunes. We were going to hike 3.5 miles to Lake Michigan, which seemed like no big deal. In reality it felt like 1,000 miles through the desert with a winter coat on and burning feet. It was terrible! when we finally got to the lake, I couldn't take my feet out of the water to walk back. We did however bring a smooth lake rock back as proof of our accomplishment. We had day trips in Ludington, where we once found a really nice coffee shop in addition to finding the library. This was a wonderful, relaxing end of the summer.

Trip to Michagan

Playing Frisbee on the the beach

A historic moment, mom actually got in the water!

Hike on the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes

Walks on the beach

Summer days with my sister

"You can kid the world, but not your sister."

~ Charlotte Gray

<3

"Life is either a great adventure, or nothing."

~ Helen Keller

Europe Pictures

EUROPE PICTURES <3

Climbing Park

Hike in the Alps

Tubing at the Worthersee

Venice

Below. The white party in Austria. Everyone was dressed in white!

At the Europa amusment park, we had our food brought on a roller coaster!

The Rhine

Italy and Austria

I'm finally home! My 3 week European adventure is over, and my 6 week foreign exchange has come to an end. While in Europe, I had an amazing time with Svenja and her family. In addition to seeing France and Germany we also went to Austria and Italy. About 6 or 7 hours away from their home in Germany, was a lovely apartment in Austria where they spend the holidays. It was beautiful! Driving in we saw the Alps and various parts of the Worthersee, a large lake beside the town we stayed in. The water was crystal here, and the mountains on the opposite side reflected in the lake. We had a couple lake days while we were there, including extremely painful tubing! Each time we fell it felt like a punch in the stomach! The only fun party of tubing was the amusing moments when I stayed on the raft and the others fell off. :D On one of the days we went hiking up in the Alps! It was the most beautiful hike ever, we didn't go all the way up one of the mountains but just walking through was spectacular. In Austria, we also went to a white party. Everyone was wearing white, and we could hear the music blasting until 6 in the morning! It was so much fun, we ended up staying until midnight. My favorite part of the trip was our day journey to Venice, Italy. It has always been on of my dream destinations! It was unbelievable! We saw beautiful canals, and small streets and allies. There were an many bridges, and a very cool astronomical clock. It was amazing! One disapointing feature was the extremely large amount of trash just laying in the streets. It was very filthy, many times it was disgusting to breathe in the air. The canals were covered in algae but we dipped our feet in after the day was over. (It didn't last long after we found out there are crabs in it!) We had a great time. When we got back to Austria it was very late, it was about 3 hours to and from Venice. For the last day we just stayed by the lake. The next morning we headed back to Svenja's house in Germany. The last days felt long, we mostly just stayed at the house. On my very last day in Europe, we took the train into Frankfurt and did some shopping. It was an amazing experience and I had an amazing time. It's good to be home and savoring the rest of the summer!