CORD USA Winter 2023

 Let me tell you about the incredible experience I had this winter. I got the chance to join the CORD service visit to Odisha, India which was truly amazing. Not only did I learn a lot from the activities that were new to me, but I also made some great memories and friends.

CORD stands for Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development. The staff that worked at the center, showed us how they operate in many places throughout India and the different programs they run. I found it interesting that CORD’s mission is to teach people how to be self-sufficient with programs driven by themselves. It's like the cliche, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." We got to see this in action when we visited local farmers and women's groups. 

One day, we got to interact with kids from the local villages called Balwadi kids. We showed them the posters we made. The posters we made illustrated our lives in the United States. They also described personal health and hygiene, and career and educational opportunities for the Balwadi Kids. I had fun presenting these posters and interacting with the kids. I believe our posters made a big impact because they made the Balwadi kids more aware of how to stay healthy as well as opportunities to pursue. We also played games such as musical chairs and pass the globe. It was interesting to learn that these kids are similar to us even though they live far away and have different lifestyles. They are just as curious and playful as we are. 

On another day, we set off to visit local farmers and women's groups. We visited farmers who have been assisted by CORD. We learned some of their farming techniques and got to see their land. One farmer surprised me because he said that he had the chance to become a lawyer but he wanted to farm. His daughter lives in the United States and all his brothers are lawyers or doctors. He chose to keep farming because he loves it and he wants to be the person who helps feed the world. Later we visited a women's group called Mahila Mandal. These are a group of women who come together in a village to discuss and solve problems in the community. They also created a local microfinancing program within themselves where every person has to put 20 rupees in every meeting. Any person can loan out this money to use in a way that will benefit the community. We learned how these women want growth for the community rather than solely for themselves. Contrast to here, where everyone focuses on their own growth and success. I observed how everyone in the village is concerned about each other versus, here how we just focus on our own well-being.

In the next few days, we constructed a bathroom for a family with two elderly people. We got to build the walls and foundation of the bathroom. Through building these bathrooms, we learned the importance of manual labor and hard work. We also observed that the ‘contractors’ there wore no protective gear and did more work than us while we wore waterproof boots, gloves, etc.  

Another day, we went sightseeing to a waterfall park. We had to hike a little bit to go see the waterfall but it was worth it. There was also a man-made lake at the park where we rented pedal-powered boats. Pedaling the boats was a workout but we had a good time cruising around the lake. It was a really nice place to go sightseeing. It felt similar to the spots we have here in the United States.  

Over the New Year's weekend, the girls' group came from their center to ours. They stayed the rest of the trip at our center which made it a lot more fun. We all played badminton for 3 hours while listening to music on a speaker. We learned about what type of music each of us likes. We also learned that Subadarshi uncle is really good at badminton. I had a lot of fun making friends and spending time with everyone. 

We had a New Year's party with kids from nearby villages. We played games like hopscotch, and musical chairs, and had a talent show.  The party was really fun and we got to see some talents the kids there have. Some of them sang and some danced. We learned that these kids taught themselves these skills by watching YouTube videos. It was nice to see that these kids are motivated to learn new skills by themselves. 

Later that week, we did some more activities like building a soakage pit, building another bathroom, visiting the waterfall, and presenting our learnings. We learned how a soakage pit takes wastewater and filters it to recharge the groundwater for plants. For the bathroom, we got to learn how to place bricks in an orderly fashion to make strong walls. 

We went to go visit the same waterfall which was pretty fun. We rented the boats and cruised around the lake a few times. On the last day, we presented our learning/experience to the CORD staff to show them what learnings we are taking away from this trip. 

Our chaperones took really good care of us and made sure we had a really good trip. They were also really fun and participated in all the activities and games with us. The staff at the CORD center were also really nice and made sure we had everything we needed during the trip. 

Overall, I am happy that I was able to participate in CORD over winter break.  Not only did I learn a lot, I also got to make some amazing memories and friends for life. 

Hawaii 2019

During this winter break we decided to go to Hawaii. We went with Abhay's family and Kapish's family. Ashray's family stayed with us for some of the trip. We went to the Big Island and stayed at both sides of the island.

Flight to Hawaii
On December 21st we woke up at four in the morning to go to the airport. We started to El Segundo to go see Kapish's family because we were going on the same flight as them. When we got to the airport we checked in and I went with Kapish and Joshi uncle in the security and my bag got pulled over. Later they told me that I had all kinds of things in my bag and then they gave it back. We got in our flight and then we talked about what we were going to do once we got to our resort. I sat next to Kapish and we played cards on the plane.
When we landed in Kona we rented a car. We got a brand new Nissan Altima with really cool tech.

Waikoloa Beach Resort.
Our resort was huge.  The room was really big. There was a really big bathroom, A big TV, and two big beds. Later we decided to go to the pool. The pool was really cold. We got out quickly and then went to a restaurant and finished our day.

The next day we woke up quickly and went down to the lazy river. There were a lot of water slides. The biggest one was fun because it goes really fast. Later we went to the lagoon and saw a turtle and some fish. Then we went to the Jacuzzi until lunch. Later in the evening we swam through a water fall and found a hidden Jacuzzi in the rock. It was really fun. Then we ate dinner and went to sleep.



Grand Naniloa Hotel 
Today we are going to leave Kona side and go to Hilo side. We did not want to go to Hilo because we really liked the Waikoloa Resort. Before going to Hilo, we went snorkeling. We went on a boat to get to the reef. The boat had  a lot of snacks. Abhay gave me a challenge to stay on the net for a minute. I did the challenge but, I got splashed with water. When we got to the snorkeling place we went down and it was really cool. There was a lot of coral and fishes. We saw many tunnels for the fish and arches. We reached our other hotel and saw that the room was very tiny compared to the room in the resort.

On the following day we went to Volcanoes National Park. I went in RK uncle's Jeep Wrangler and it was cool. It felt really high and it had speakers on the roof. Abhay and Kaushik wanted a cat and they were having a conversation with their parents. Once we got inside the park, we went on a hike into the crater. We hiked 5 miles through a rainforest. The hike was really fun. We saw steam vents and fumes. During the hike, I talked with Joshi uncle about money and business. I also chatted with other friends. After the hike, we went to a Thai restaurant. The restaurant served really spicy and hot food, which I like.

The next day we went to a water fall, Black sand beach, and a Green sand beach. At the waterfall there were banyan trees. We swung on the vines of the trees. Then we went to the Black sand beach. The sand was black. The beach was crowded but it was fun. We found a turtle and crabs on the beach. Later we went to the green sand beach. There we had to hike a long time to get to the green sand beach. When we got to the beach, we saw that the sand was light green. On the way back, we rode on a truck and it was really bumpy.  I went back to the hotel in Kapish's car. We looked at some restaurants that might be open but, when I called them they all said that they were closed. We made some dinner at our hotel and went to bed.

Next morning, we went zip lining. They took us in a shuttle to the zip-lining area. There we got our gear and we had to choose one other person to go with. Nihitha went first and that convinced all of us not to be nervous. Me and Abhay were the second ones to zipline. We switched partners throughout the 8 line course. When I was on the zipline it felt like I was being hung from a rope going really fast. I felt excited and a little nervous at the same time. It felt like it was just a short time, but we had fun adventure. The zipline employees called Joshi uncle Jashi, which was hilarious. Later we came back
and ate something and spent the rest of the day in the hotel.

We spent our last day in Hawaii staying in our hotel. In the morning, we played golf. It was a bit boring because we did not understand the game and it was our first time playing. In the afternoon, we rented a Kayak and we each went Kayaking for some time. Then we stayed at the pool for the rest of the day. Later we had dinner outside at tables. I felt like it was a good way to spend our last day in Hawaii.

Flight to LA
We went back to Kona side and got on our plane. This time I sat next to Amma. Everyone was tired and hungry. After we landed at LAX, we got our bags and then went to a nice Indian restaurant. Then we came home. We had a nice and Adventurous trip and we plan on going on more trips with our friends.

India 2018

             For Summer holidays we went to India. We went to see our family and spend time with them. Also we went to go see ancient temples that are very famous. 

             We spent a lot of time with our grandparents and we had a lot of fun with them. Sometimes we went to restaurants and ate food. We went to movies. We all played games together and I learned how they live in India. Sometimes we went shopping and we went to shopping malls which are really fun in India. We went shopping to modern shopping centers and big malls. Going there was really fun. One day We went to this big mall named PVP Square. It is really big and there is a place like Chucky Cheese there. We went there for Nihitha's birthday and we had a lot of fun there.  Spending time with my grandparents was fun and hopefully they will come to America some time.

             In India we also went to go see famous temples. First we left to go see the famous temple in Chidambaram and there we saw a temple with a unique design. It was built at the center of the Earth. That is incredible, because they had very less technology back then and they knew it was the center of the Earth. Then we went to go see the famous temple in Trichy which was very big and it had a lot of stairs to climb. At Trichy we had a bad experience, because the old chief minister died and they closed all the restaurants and we did not have anything to eat. After that we made it to Mudurai and there we saw a very big temple. That temple had a very big statue and design on the towers. At Madurai we had a very good hotel and it had a good restaurant. The next morning we left to the airport and headed to Tirupati. Tirupati had the most famous temple ever. It was very busy and the special part of Tirupati is that it had a statue of a god that is all made out of gold. It was very nice.

We had a lot of fun seeing the temples and all of of them were a good experience. 
       
 In India we visited lot of friends and family.

Everyday we went to go see someone and their families. We did have fun with them and played games with them, but going everyday wasn't fun for me. They took us to temples and other places they liked. We liked spending time with them and had a lot of fun with them.


                 

          

My spring break 2019

My Spring Break 2019

This Spring break I had a lot of fun because Nihitha did not snitch on me and she was being nice to me. Now I tell you all about My Spring Break.

On Saturday, the first day of spring break was very fun and exciting. We went to the farmers market and Nihitha was sitting next to me in the back row. She was playing with me and yanked on my headphones. At the farmers market I got to use our new bag that we got from Las Vegas. The bag had wheels which made it fun to pull. Nihitha was upset that she could not pull the wagon but, I told her she can do it next week. After the farmers market Nihitha had to do this scarecrow building contest with her girl scout friends. We all went there. Me and and Nanna got bored so we went to go see the technology place. It was cool because I got to play on the gaming PCs and Roblox. After that we went back to go see Nihitha. They were almost done and they still had to do the judging. After the judging we went back home. When we got home me and Nihitha went to go play with Jonna. After we came back my dad started a fire in our backyard. We stayed there for a while and went to bed. We had a pretty nice day. 

We did not do much on Sunday so I will skip it and move on to Monday. On Monday me and Nihitha were up and we played until nine. We played with each other until our mom said we had to do a shower. After our shower we had lunch at ten. We ate early because we had to drop off  my dad at the airport. He sat in the back with us and we talked to Nanna all the way to the airport. After we dropped my dad at the airport, Amma took us to the mall. There she bought new clothes for myself. She got me sportswear. After that we went to another mall to get Nihitha clothes. At the mall there was a trampoline. Amma let us go on the trampoline. We bounced very high. I could see the second level of the mall. I saw Ashley furniture and all the sofas and lamps. Later we left the mall for home and studied for some time. After we studied me and Nihitha went to go play with Jonna. After that we went to go eat Thai food. We ate Thai food because Nanna was not here and he does not like Thai food. After we ate dinner we went to sleep. We had a fun day. 

         On Tuesday, I woke up early and I studied with Amma. After that Amma woke up Nihitha and we played for some time. We were helping Amma make lunch and we watched funnel episodes on Disney. After lunch me and Nihitha played Mariokart. We played until we had to go to Tae Kwon Do. After Tae Kwon Do me and Nihitha played with Jonna. When we came home, Amma told me to do the piano. I played the piano and we had dinner. After dinner I practiced piano more and Amma said if I played the song perfectly we can go pick up Nanna from the airport. It took me some time to play it perfectly but, I did it. We went in the Accord to the airport at night time. It was fun because Nihitha was next to me and whenever she is next to me she makes me laugh. We made it to the airport and Nanna told us about his trip. When we got home we went to bed. 

            On Wednesday, I woke up early and studied with Amma. After Nihitha woke up and Nanna went to office, the three of us went to Costco. Me and Nihitha played with each other and talked about the tents they put up. We liked the black tent. At Costco we got a lot of things and the the bill was more than $200. When we got home we had lunch and studied for some time until piano class. I was very happy that I passed the solo. When I got home I went to go play Fortnite at Jonna’s house and we had a lot of fun. I had dinner and went to sleep remembering all the fun things we did so far. 

          On Thursday, after breakfast we studied for a while and played a board game. We played Life and we all had a nice time. We played until lunch and after lunch me and Nihitha played Fortnite until we had to go to Tae Kwon Do. After Tae Kwon Do we went to swimming and we had a fun time there. After we went swimming Amma said that Nihitha gets to do a shower in her room. I said that was not fair but, then she called Nanna and she told him to stop me from entering her bathroom. I thought Nanna will be waiting in the third bedroom so I went through the front door but he still caught me. After I did a shower in the other room we had dinner and went to sleep. 

          The next day Amma woke me up early to take me to get a blood test. I was very nervous because the last time I got a blood test was when I was six years old and I did not like it. At the blood test we had to check in and wait. Then they called us and took my blood first. I was very nervous but it was not that bad. After we got  blood tested we left and went home. At home Nihitha was waiting and when we came back Amma made us breakfast. Then we studied for some time and after lunch me and Nihitha played together. Then it was time to go to Telugu class and at Telugu class we did another practice test to prepare for the university test that comes later in May.  After Telugu class we came home and ate dinner and went to sleep.  

         On Saturday we played at Jonna’s house for some time and then we had good lunch and after we helped Nanna in the garden me and Nihitha had a fun time. After we had dinner we went to sleep.

         On Sunday we went to Chimnmaya and played fortnite after coming home. Me and Nihitha played a board game and at night after dinner we sat down and Nihitha snitch on me and because she snitch I knew spring break was over.

Utah 2019

      Our family and friends were finally able to go on a vacation. We could not  travel because we had harsh winter but, the winter went away and now we could travel.  We went to Utah to see three National Parks.

     We started on Wednesday to a hotel in Mesquite. The hotel was Holiday Inn. The hotel had a swimming pool and a water park. We all had a lot of fun at the pool and water park. Sadly after a few minutes, we had to leave to eat dinner. We ate at an Italian restaurant. The food there was very good. They had good pasta and amazing bread. The pasta was very hot and the bread had a lot of garlic and was very crispy. After we had dinner we came back to the hotel and went to sleep. 

      The next day we woke up very early to get started to Capitol reef National Park. We had a good breakfast at the hotel. I had bread and muffins. After everyone ate, all the kids wanted to go to the gym. We exercised for some time to get ready for the hikes we will do later. Subsequently we left the hotel and me and Kapish played Mario kart in my car. When we reached Capitol Reef National Park we did the Junior Ranger Program and went on a little hike. After we left Capitol Reef, me, Rushil, Kapish, Nihitha, and Aditya played Mario Kart all the way to the vacation house we booked in Moab.

 We had a lot of fun that evening in the vacation house. All the kids wanted to play Fortinite on my nintendo switch. We played until dinner time. We had a fun time playing and we all took turns. While other kids were taking turns, Abhay showed me this funny video where a man pronounced the NBA Players’ names incorrectly. It was very funny. Later we had to stop playing games and eat dinner. Dinner was delicious. There was crispy potato fry and dhal with chips. We slept early because the next day we had to go to two National Parks. 

            On Friday we ate breakfast and left to Arches National Park. There was a huge line of cars trying to enter the park. Me and Nanna got bored so we jumped off the car and walked to the visitor center. It was worth jumping off the car and walking to visitor center instead of waiting in line. We got the things we needed at the visitor center such as the junior ranger books. Me and Nanna waited until Amma showed up.  Soon after Amma came with the car we left for the hiking spot. Afterwards we got to the trail and we hiked up to the Delicate Arch. The hike was very long and dangerous. There was a lot of wind at the arch and there were many slippery rocks to climb but, the hike was worth it. Soon we left the trail and started towards Canyonlands National Park. There we hiked up to the Whale Rock. At the top of the rock, Joshi Uncle wanted us to meditate. All the kids made funny noises to make other people laugh. After Joshi Uncle gave up we hiked back down to our car. We returned to the house and played Mario Kart until dinner time. Dinner was pasta. After we had pasta we went to bed.

        Everyone was pretty upset to go home the next day but we had to because we had school or work. In the morning me and my friends played on the hammock outside the house. Abhay and Kapish came in our car and we watched Tom & Jerry episodes and Despicable Me 2. Later Kapish’s family and Abhay’s family left to Los Angeles while our family stayed back in Las Vegas to watch the show Mystere. The show was spectacular. I liked the characters Einstein and the Red Man, they were both funny! The show also had acrobats, which seemed impossible to do. For example, one of the performers carried one man with only one hand. After the show, we left Las Vegas to home. Me and Nihitha slept while our parents drove. 

In conclusion, we had a pretty fun and exciting trip but next time I plan on staying longer. 

My Winter 2018

For winter holidays we went to San Jose and Lake Tahoe. We had a lot of fun spending time with our family and friends.

We got started to San Jose and we had a lot of fun together in the car by playing games and me reading Diary of a wimpy kid. There was a lot of traffic at Los Angeles. After we passed Los Angeles there was less traffic and Amma and Nana were listening to me while I was reading Diary of a wimpy kid. Reading the book was funny and we laughed at the jokes in the book. Later we stopped at Bakersfield and we had lunch. After lunch we got back on the road and headed towards San Jose.

When we made it to San Jose we had a lot of fun with our family there. Then Kriti woke up. She was very happy to see me and we played for a long time. We were a little tired from our road trip, but we had fun when we got to San Jose.

On Sunday my older cousin came and we went to see Nana’s friend. We had lunch at Nana’s friend’s house and we played for some time with their kids and started back to Kriti’s house. On the way back we saw Apple’s headquarters and Apple park. We did not get to go inside because it was locked. When we got back to Kriti’s house my cousin and aunt were playing Catan and we joined in. Later Kriti woke up from her nap and I played with her. After that Amma went with all the girls to a mall and we left to play Football/soccer. When we came back we had dinner and played another round of Catan and went to sleep.

On Monday we had nothing to do so we went to the tech museum of Innovation.There we watched the movie space station and went back home and had onion fry. Later we went to Saravana Bhavan and we had food there. Then we went to go see lights and Kriti repeated what I said which was fun. We had a lot of fun today.

On Tuesday we were just playing and not going anywhere.The next day we are going to Lake Tahoe. We went shopping and got supplies for our trip. Also I was spending time with Kriti and we had a lot of fun. We all had a lot of fun today.

On Wednesday we left to Lake Tahoe for getting our gear. We said bye and left to RK uncle’s friend’s house for lunch. I showed Abbay and Kaushik my Nintendo switch and we played Mario Kart until lunch time. We got started late from their house and we went to Lake Tahoe. We got our gear and tickets for the next day. When we came to the house we played and slept. The other family's daughter Khushi was annoying at night. The next day we woke up early and left to Heavenly ski resort. It was a bad day to go skiing and it was very cold. Abbay was sad and got frostbite and I was very cold. They did their best to keep us warm and then we went skiing and we came back to the lodge. Then I went skiing with my dad. Later we were tired and enjoyed the rest of the day playing games at the house. Today was a bad day to go skiing, but we had fun.

On Thursday we got started back to Kriti’s house, because I wanted to see her again. Before we left we had snowball fights. We came to their house and played with them for a long time. We had gobi manchuria and then played. After we had dinner we raced on Nintendo Switch. The next day we went on a scenic route and had lunch at Half Moon Bay beach. Then we went back and started back to Los Angeles. We had drinks at Starbucks along the way and had dinner at Chipotle. Then at 10 we made it home.

We had a really fun and exciting trip, but next time we should ski somewhere else and stay with Kriti more.

Alaska

Alaska has lots of scenic places to see, things to do, adventures, and more. I felt really happy and excited while going to Alaska and in Alaska. We went with two other families - Abhay & Kaushik's family and Rajeev and Nikitha's family. We all had a great time in Alaska so we didn’t want to leave but we had to. I wrote this blog about Alaska to tell you what I saw, the things I did and the places I went to during my trip.

Flight

Unique things happened on my American Airlines flights that I did not expect. First, there weren’t personal TVs that you’d find on international flights. So, I got bored and to entertain myself, me and Nihitha watched movies on my dad’s phone. Also, we looked out the airplane window to see lakes, ponds, rivers, farms, mountains and snow. We noticed that Alaska is a very beautiful place. Second, they didn’t give any food as you’d expect on an international flight. We ate the food we packed. Third, Kaushik and Abhay’s family travelled on the same flight

as we did. We talked and played games. It is fun traveling with friends.  Fourth, the memorable thing that happened was that I got to sit with the pilot, which was pretty awesome. When I was boarding the plane, I said “hi” to the air hostess and she said, “you said hi to me, but how about saying hi to the pilot?” Nervously, I said, “okay!” Then I got to see the pilot and have a picture taken in the cockpit. Next time, I want to go on Delta so that I get my own TV and I hope Nihitha gets to sit with the pilot.

Motorhome

We rented an RV which we used as our home and to go around. Traveling in an RV is like taking your home on the road. Because, RVs have closets, shower, restroom, beds, kitchen and hall. The advantage is that you could do things while moving, such as cooking, eating and sleeping. We rented a 30-foot RV (2018 30D Four Winds). It had lots of space to play and we could make more space by extending slide outs. All the kids could stay in one RV and play board games. RVs are everywhere in Alaska and so are RV parks. We found many RVs from Great Alaskan Holidays. In fact, we rented three RVs for our three families - one for Nihanth & Nihitha, one for Kaushik and Abhay and one for Nikitha & Rajiv. It was fun playing music on the sound system, playing games with friends and looking out the big windows.

Activities

We did lots of fun activities in Alaska to make our Alaska trip memorable. The activities we did in Alaska are these: going on a ship, paddle boat, canoe; playing game of life; building a bridge; hiking; taking pictures; river rafting; collecting glacier water; campfires; Jr. Ranger program. I’m going to write about building a bridge, going on a ship and river rafting.

In Denali National park there is a river called McKinley river. It was split into two. The rapid river was on one side and the smaller one was near our campground. Me and Abhay built a bridge out of rocks and mud to cross the smaller river. It was fun building the bridge. The water was melted from snow, so it was cold. The other kids also built bridges.

We went on a ship to see sea animals. We saw Humpback Whales, Otters, Puffins, Sea Lions and Blue Jay. We saw two Whales, a mother and her baby, swimming together. They sprouted high. Luckily, it did not splash on us. They are big but we only saw a portion of their bodies. Near the harbor, there were lots of otters. They were all swimming on their back. Puffins were everywhere, flapping and flying. Sea Lions were lying down on giant rocks. We stopped at Fox Lake, which was beautiful, to eat lunch. The lunch was ok but they gave a good cookie as a snack afterwards. I enjoyed the cruise by looking at the scenery around me and the sea animals.

We went river rafting in Alaska in Nenana river. We had to wear wetsuits to keep us dry. It was hard to put on the wetsuits but they helped us stay dry. During our journey, we saw lots of rocks, trees and mountains. The water in the river was just melted from the glaciers, so the water was cold. The rapids rose like waves and splashed the raft and the people inside. Me, Sowda Aunty, and Nikitha sat in the back so we wouldn't get as much wet than those sitting in the front. Rajeev was in the front and wanted us to get wet. He told the captain to get us wet. The captain paddled the raft in a position to get us in the back to get wet. After we got out of the raft, me and Nikitha attacked Rajeev.   

In Seward we took paddle boats and canoes to ride in the water which was really fun. We got to paddle and steer while looking at the mountains and trees. The water was cold and calm. The paddleboat had four seats to sit in, it had a steering wheel and paddles. We raced against canoes and we lost.

We went hiking on Blue Ice Trail. The trail was long but scenic. We saw bridges, glaciers, lakes and rivers. Me, dad, mom Mallika aunty and Sowda aunty went on this hike and the rest, including Nihitha, went fishing in a lake. I was tired by the time we finished hiking.

 

The activities we did were fun because we got to do them with friends.

Places

In Alaska there are lots of scenic places to see. You could see mountains, trees, waterfalls, lakes and glaciers. Mountains are very tall in Alaska.

In Denali National Park, there is a Mountain called Mount Mckinley which is the tallest peak in Alaska, with an elevation of 20,310′. The mountain has lots of snow during the whole year. We could not see the peak really well because there were lots of clouds. Trees in Alaska are very different than the trees in California. The trees in Alaska have thicker leaves and are taller than the trees in California. Wherever you go, there are trees in Alaska and they all look the same. Alaska has lots of water resources that help trees grow. The water resources you’d find in Alaska are: lakes, rivers, creeks, bays and sea. We saw lots of mountains, trees and water, which make Alaska very beautiful.

We got to Anchorage by American Airlines and stayed there for a night. We rented an RV in Anchorage and then went shopping. From Anchorage we went to Seward to camp. In Seward, we went on a cruise ship to see glaciers and sea animals. On the way to Williwaw, we visited Kenai Fjords.

         

We hiked to Exit Glacier, which was really pretty, and went to Williwaw campground. The campground had no RV hookups. We went on Blue Ice trail which was very beautiful and long. Following day, we proceeded to Talkeetna. There, we ate cheese quesadilla and nachos in a Mexican restaurant. Anchorage is the only big city we saw in Alaska. I wanted to explore the whole city the last day in Alaska but we did other things.    

Animals

Alaska is home to many wild animals that we do not see in California. We saw Moose, Caribou, Grizzly, Bald Eagle, Squirrel, and Lynx. Caribou is a type of moose that has antlers but they are different than moose because they travel in herds and moose don’t. Grizzly bears are different than other bears because they have a hump on their back. We saw 5 grizzly bears in Denali National Park. We saw a mom and her 2 cubs. They were eating a dead carcass. Lynx is a type of cat that has good eyes to help it to see in the snow during winter. They could only be found in Alaska. Animals in Alaska all have a unique feature to help them live in Alaska.   

Conclusion

If you ever go to Alaska do the things I did. You can go to Seward and ride paddle boats for free! You could take a cruise ship in Seward and see the sea life. You can take a bus tour In Denali to see animals inside Denali. Try to go to Wonder Lake. Try doing all the activities, and go to all the places that I did. If you do the things I did in Alaska, you could have the best trip ever.