Joe the Travel Writer

Joe's assignment was to write a personal narrative and I just had to share. I'm so proud of him, he's becoming such a good writer!




"There it was, San Francisco!" I stared out my family's car window at the glittering city. It was the summer of 2009, my mom and dad, little brother, Will, and myself were spending our vacation in beautiful, San Francisco, California. The sun was shining bright from behind the towering skyscrapers. My dad drove off the highway and we began heading toward the apartment we rented in the city. The roads were much different there than in Bloomington because of the steep hills. I continued to stare out the window, until my mom told us excitedly "We're here!" I unbuckled my seatbelt, opened the car door, and got out very quickly. I was so happy to get out of that car for a while, so many hours in there just sitting. The bright yellow apartment was pretty small, but it worked for the seven days we were there. After my family and I explored a lot of other places around the city for a week, we decided to spend our last day by walking across the Golden Gate Bridge to a town called Sausalito.

That morning, my family and I got all the stuff we decided to take, locked the apartment door, and went on our way. I gazed all around at the skyscrapers, tilted houses and roads, and other places as I walked. All the students were not out of school yet for the summer, but the school year was winding down. We walked all the way from the apartment to the bridge in five hours. I walked on the cement path by the crystal blue ocean. I glanced at all the scenery around me and just then, out in the distance, I caught sight of the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge, just standing there like a powerful statue.

Seeing the bridge for the first time was breathtaking. I still think it's amazing that I've seen so many pictures of that bridge, and then I saw it with my very own eyes. My family and I continued to walk toward the humongous, cherry red bridge. My little brother, Will, and I, raced each other to see who could get on the bridge first. I beat Will there, I don't really care anymore. All the cars were going very fast that day, we felt safer with the railings on both sides separating us from the ocean and the highway. I continued to follow the path across the bridge. I don't remember why it's called the Golden Gate Bridge, but I do remember someone telling me. Once we got to the rest area at the end of the bridge, I sat down at a small picnic table to rest for a few minutes. Instead of turning back around on the bridge, my mom told the rest of us that she looked up another way to get back to San Francisco on a website called "Trip Adviser". We could walk down to Sausalito, get on a ferry boat, and ride all the way back to the city. The rest of us all thought that was a good idea, so, we got all of our things we brought and began walking down a curvy hill to the city.

As we were walking down the hillside, we were actually under the bridge! We pretty much hiked from the bridge to the city, after we all went under the bridge. My mom didn't know that the walk from the bridge to Sausalito was going to be that long. It turned out that it was easy to get to Sausalito, if you had a bike. We continued to walk for two more hours; I couldn't even stand walking anymore because my feet were killing me! I felt like I was going to fall flat on my back, but I had to keep moving ahead and get to Sausalito. Will needed to use the bathroom, very badly. We looked and looked for one close by, but there were no bathrooms in sight. We hiked further and further, I knew we were getting close when I saw a building, small houses, and a Ferrari. We were very relieved when we noticed the "Welcome to Sausalito" sign. Sausalito was actually a very nice town with incredible shoreline. My family and I started walking faster when we saw the ferry boats with one about to leave. We all got on the ferry in time and we were extremely happy. Will was glad he could use the bathroom, but more importantly, I was happy I could relax. My mom gave Will and me ten dollars to spend on a snack and drink. We got the food and walked over to the benches and collapsed after a very long, busy day.