A Maine Summer Vacation

Earlier this summer, my extended family decided to get together at Sebago Lake in Maine for a reunion. Every branch of the family spent weeks planning the same trip. When the planning was finished, I viewed it and was able to make adjustments where I believed they were necessary. I suggested that we use Amtrak to go up the east coast. My parents agreed that my idea was excellent and decided that a train ride would be an interesting and different way to get to our destination. We were ready to go.

â–º  QUARTER FINALIST 2012 TEEN TRAVEL WRITING SCHOLARSHIP

I was very excited that we were taking a train to the reunion. I have a passion for alternative modes of transportation, especially rail. My branch of family boarded our first train, which was headed to New York's Pennsylvania Station. The second train went to Boston, and the third took us to Portland. The trip took twenty-one hours, but we had gone through beautiful scenery and I'd had an enjoyable experience. My personal favorite part of the ride was early morning in the Virginia mountains.  White mist was rising from the valleys under the bridges we crossed. Once we arrived in Portland, we drove a rental car to the lake house that the family had rented for the occasion.

I was finally able to meet all my cousins at the same time. My branch lives in Georgia, but more of the family is based in Maine. Another branch lives in California. In all, the family includes five cousins, two siblings, two uncles, two aunts, my parents, and my Grandmother. The house was very full. There were sixteen of us. Everyone there did something funny, annoying, interesting, or great. For example, every morning during the reunion, my Grandmother made all fifteen of us unbelievable breakfast. One of my cousins can ski on a semi-Olympic level. And one of my uncles owns a boat and he brought it to the lake with him.

I walked down to the lake in my swim suit, ready to go swimming. I placed my foot into the water and immediately recoiled. The water was about fifty-five degrees and I was used to Atlanta pool water. However I did get in. My cousins and I soon found some rocks in the water that were great for sitting on. The younger ones started rapidly naming them, and after a short time there were- I believe twelve or so named rocks in the lake. We also enjoyed going fishing. We didn't catch that many fish, but we still had a great time casting and reeling. At night, the house got really hot. It was about ninety degrees outside and the house had no air conditioning. I really enjoyed my time at the lake.

I have only been to Maine a couple times, but I really liked it. At the conclusion of the trip, I went tubing in the Atlantic Ocean. Thirty miles per hour over the surface of the water is an experience that I will never forget. Before we left, we enjoyed a night at my uncle and aunt's house. They have a pool and sauna. They also have chickens. The chickens liked biting me when I tried to steal their eggs. That was the last thing I did in Maine, though. We waved goodbye and went to the airport to return to Atlanta by plane. The plane was delayed five and a half hours. We got back to our house at five in the morning. Despite all this, this was one to the best vacations I can remember.