Essay - My Summer Vacation by Aaron

My Summer Vacation

- Aaron 

     This summer, I went to Asia, Crater Lake, and Yosemite. Asia has many fun places, like Taiwan, Shanghai, the Silk Road, the Teahorse Road in Yunnan, and we even visited Japan. Yosemite has many species of wildlife, like Crater Lake. They also have very famous places inside their boundary. Yosemite is a good place for climbers because of Half Dome and El Capitan. Crater Lake clearly gets its fame from the actual lake itself (which is a collapsed volcano filled with water). These places are awesome.

     Asia has many wonderful things to do and see. Taiwan was very hot, but with beautiful scenes and delicious food. Shanghai also has lots of yummy food. The Silk Road was very fun and has lots of history. Along its path is Dunhuang, an oasis inside the desert. It contains the Mogao Grottoes, famous for the thousand years of Buddhist art on its caves, and the Crescent Moon Lake inside the Echoing Sand Mountain. The Teahorse Road was used for trading the famous Pu’er Tea for horses. Shangri-la and Luguhu Lake lie along this route. Shangri-la became famous when an author named James Hilton wrote The Lost Horizon about Shangri-la, but it was based on Joseph Rock’s journal about the area. Japan holds a mixture of ancient temples with modern architecture, like the Tokyo Tower. The trip to Asia was excellent.

     Yosemite is full of many tall mountains and long trails. A lot of people who love to climb go to this national park. Pretty scenes can be found all over the park. However, the best views can only be seen after hiking a trail up the mountain. These trails help attract many hikers every year. The most famous peaks in this park can be dangerous. Half Dome has a sloping slide and a nearly vertical side. Every year, a few deaths happen on the dome.

     Crater Lake was amazing. It is inside Oregon and contained a bit of snow during summer! In winter, the snow could be 21 feet high. Its two islands, Wizard Island and Phantom Ship, are very large, but Phantom Ship can only be viewed at a few special spots. It has other landmarks too, like the Pumice Castle, Llao Rock, and contains flag trees (trees with leaves only growing on one side). We also walked the Cleetwood Cove Trail to touch the Crater Lake water.

     My summer break was fabulous. Asia contains many nice attractions. Yosemite and Crater Lake both have many species of plants and animals. Yosemite is the best place for brave climbers because of the tall cliffs and nearly vertical slopes. Crater Lake contains many exciting facts. This summer break was the best break I had!

Essay - My Summer Vacation by Gordon

My Summer Vacation

- Gordon

     This summer was filled with amazing places. The main places were Taiwan, Mainland China, and Japan. At Taiwan, the weather was hot and humid. At Mainland China, we visited the west side. In Japan, it was pretty neat. This trip was great.

     At Taiwan, we went to Mount Ali and found it  was very green. We noticed some trees were burnt from fire. Still the weather was super wet, and also had a lot of mist. You can tell that it often rains. We rode a train to Hualien and felt their hot spring tub.

     Mainland China had many places like Shanghai and much more. Shanghai was fun and relaxing at night. It was way better than the hot and humid temperature of Taiwan. We went to Suzhou and had an awesome time at Suzhou Museum. We also saw part of the Silk Road and the Tea Horse Road. The Silk Road is a path that China and Europe traded Chinese Silk. Dun Huang, an important Oasis in the desert, is an important stop along the Silk Road. It was very fun with Echoing Sand Mountain and sand sliding.  Mogao Grottoes lies in Dun Huang with thousand years of Buddhist arts, wall paintings, and Buddha statues. The Tea Horse Road is where people trade tea for horses. The Lugu Lake was pretty and the others were all awesome.

     There is also Japan. The sculptures are small but delicate and special. Like food? There is a lot of yummy food. Like old history? That's everywhere! Like modern things? There's Tokyo Tower!

     The summer in California was also pretty good. We visited all new places except for Yosemite! A new place was called Crater Lake. It was very awesome. I really liked how blue it was. It was unforgettable.

     My summer was very good. The trip all over the world was wonderful. From my point of view, the world is great. I like everywhere I went. I like to travel!