-- Abby VanDuyne
One of the highlights of our summer was our trip to St. Louis. Our second day there was dad’s birthday. We went to the museum and rode the ferris wheel on the roof! I was terrified of how high up we where, and dad didn’t help by rocking our seats! The last time we went to the museum, the ferris wheel didn’t seem that scary. We went to an American Ninja Warrior exhibit and Nora found a secret maze to crawl through. I wouldn’t do it though, it’s just too easy to get lost in a maze!
That evening, we went to an awesome restaurant! The place had amazing cheese sauce for their hamburgers. At the end of our meal, Nora and I each got giant ice cream sundaes!
On our last day, we went to the zoo. The penguins where super excited, swimming around and splashing everyone! My favorite part was seeing the elephants. They acted really goofy! One of them was trying to take all of the food for itself, and ended up dropping it on the water!
Part II: A Day Camping at Turkey Run
-- Eleanor VanDuyne
It was near the end of summer and my dad, sister, grandma, grandpa and I where going camping (at Turkey run). We arrived on Wednesday, August 1, 2018. When we got there my dad, grandma and grandpa were trying to decide what to do first,signing in or hiking, while me and my sister where walking around a small patch of grass,picking up pine cones and dancing. After some thought dad, grandma and grandpa decided to go hiking. At first I wasn’t to happy about it. We had been in the sun for a while and I was sure a hiking trail wouldn’t be any different. Dad said we should use the bathroom before we go. So we went inside. As soon as I took a step inside I felt cold air on my face I wanted to check in and see our room.
Inside the Turkey Run Inn was beautiful: There were high ceilings with pretty covers over the lights. To my left where stairs and to my right there were doors at the end of a hall there was an unpainted and wooden bench and rocking chair. A little farther down the hall on my left were the bathrooms. The hall was empty except for us. When I went into the bathroom there was a mirror in front of me and to my side where the sinks and more mirrors on top of them. I turned left and then left again and I saw 4 stalls, 3 on one side and 1 on the other. When I came out to wash my hands my sister was already washing her hands and when she saw me she said, “Hey, I think I know you.” Then I replied “Yeah, I might have seen you somewhere.” When I went outside of the bathroom I found my sister (Abby) sitting on the bench with my dad and my grandma sitting on the rocking chair. When my grandpa came we all stood up. When we got outside I remembered why I thought it was a better idea to check in.
My grandpa said we should start on trail 6. My dad and grandma agreed. My grandpa said that we should see Rocky Ridge and the Ice Box. We had gone a little bit in when we came to a fork in the road. Grandpa (still holding the map) said to go right but my grandma said she would go left to see if the to paths lead together. I thought it was pretty risky, she could get lost but I didn’t say anything. It worked. 3 minutes later her path and our path joined together. We kept walking and soon we came to some stone steps and next to them was a bench. Grandpa said to go down the stairs so we did. The stairs were steep and hard to climb down. When we all got down we walked some more and came to a new set of stairs going up this time. I wanted to go up but grandpa said to turn right, so we did. As we kept walking we got to more forks and kept turning different ways. After a while I asked grandpa how long it would be until we get to Rocky Ridge. He said it wouldn’t be long. And just like that I saw even more stairs that we went down. These stairs were steep to. After going down the stairs and a little farther down the trail we saw a landing spreading down over the canoeing lake. There was a bench and railing around the landing. I looked at the lake and saw a canoe go by. When are we going canoeing? Dad said probably tomorrow. I went to sit down. Wow that bench was hard but it was all I had so I so I sat down. Somebody had written in black marker America. After a couple minutes we started to go again.
Brrr. I shivered. We must be getting close. About 10 feet later I shivered again. It was like the ice box was right under us. Little did we know it was right under us. We kept going and it got a little warmer. For a second I thought we missed it but no one else seemed worried so I thought I was imagining things. Soon we got to the Ice Box (or did we). It was cold. My grandma wanted take a picture where me and Abby were huddling together, trying to look as cold as we could. We walked father in and it got harder to get through. At the end we saw a small waterfall. My dad said we could climb it so me, Abby and dad started to climb up. My grandma and grandpa stayed behind. We didn’t climb very far. We only went to the second big log. When we came back my grandma was taking photos and my grandpa was walking around. They both look up when we came back. We had just started our journey back when my grandpa noticed something according to the map. We were in Rocky Ridge but if that was true, then where was the Ice Box? Even with our mistake (everyone had a good laugh) we still had to go.
On the way up the stairs my dad looked over the rail and saw just what we were looking for: A sign that said “Ice Box”. So we went down to the real Ice Box. It was really fun. There was a big slope to climb. Grandpa took a picture of me and Abby at the top. Then finally we headed back. We went for a while, walking and turning. When we finally reached the first set of stairs we went down. I was relieved we were almost there. But they weren't any easier to climb up then down. When we finally got to the inn I was ready to go inside. My feet hurt and I couldn’t wait to see our room.
We went through the main entice and it lead to a check in area. While dad checked in grandpa and grandma helped me and Abby put our stuff on a luggage rack. When dad had checked us in our rooms (Dad,Abby, me in the first room and grandpa and grandma in the other). We had room 226 on level 2. We headed up to our rooms. We passed a balcony and a vending/ice machine. There were pretty designs on the carpet. When we got to our room we took a look inside. It wasn’t big but it was beautiful: to my left were two beds with carefully arranged pillows and two lamps over each bed and at the end of one bed was a small bench with no pieces to rest your head on. To my right was the bathroom inside it in front of me was a bathtub and to my right was a sink. On top of the sink was a mirror and to the right of the sink was a wall and on the wall was a small shelf and on the shelf where some towels. Next to the faucet was a soap bar. Behind the sink was the toilet. I also saw a TV on top of a dresser next to a small fridge.
When had organized our stuff, met grandma and grandpa in the hall and and decided to go swimming. When we got there and there were two other people there. It was cold in the water and it made me shiver. But once I got used to the water I had fun doggy paddling and bobbing and swimming. We played and swam for 90 minutes. After we got back from swimming we changed and went with grandma and grandpa to dinner. At dinner I had spaghetti and a breadstick (I dropped my breadstick). I thought about the day. It had been a long and amazing day and I couldn't wait for tomorrow.
