Imagine 40 days, 14 states, 46 campers, 6 counselors, and 1 bus; it creates a journey of a lifetime.  This summer I had the privilege of being part of a teen tour across the country for 40 days. The adventure began in Ithaca, New York and ended in San Francisco.  We camped out for 14 nights and stayed in hotels/dorms for the other 25 nights as we made our way across the country.

This summer I truly experienced how beautiful different aspects of our country are.  Aside from the amazing sites that we visited, we learned a lot about being self-sufficient and using our environment while camping.  When we camped out at various sites such as Lake Tahoe, California and Sandusky, Ohio, we were forced to cook, clean, pitch and take down tents on our own.  Standing in the torrential rain at 8 p.m., washing tomato sauce-coated dishes from “Italian Night” in Niagara Falls, I was not a so-called “happy camper.”  Now I realize that these experiences truly made me grow up much more than anything else could have.

The various stops this summer were extremely diverse. I never imagined that I would go horseback riding at a dude ranch through the picturesque mountains of Cody, Wyoming, or that I would be walking the Vegas Strip and staying at the Monte Carlo resort just one week later.  Some other highlights include hiking the Grand Canyon in Arizona, learning how to surf in San Diego, visiting the “big house” at the University of Michigan, getting flooded in at University of California in Los Angeles, and visiting the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Our trip visited countless National Parks and monuments this summer.  These included Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Zion, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon.  Each was breathtaking in size and beauty. Standing at the top of the Grand Canyon after a hike gave us the feeling that we were, indeed, on top of the world.  Visiting our founding fathers at Mt. Rushmore gave an extreme sense of pride for our country.  It even partially made up for the fact that we were in Canada at Niagara Falls during the Fourth of July!  Sitting in traffic in Yellowstone Park in Wyoming due to dozens of buffalo crossing the road is the only kind of traffic I tolerate.

Throughout our journey across the United States, we stayed at three major colleges; Cornell University, University of Michigan, and UCLA.  Each college was beautiful in its own respect.  Cornell was home to beautiful buildings that were architectural masterpieces with sprawling greens.  The University of Michigan, on the other hand, was home to large, urban buildings and the “big house,” which is where the Wolverines play.  UCLA had beautiful palm trees and a humongous bookstore. We were staying on campus in UCLA when a flood occurred. Both the Pauley Pavilion and Drake Stadium were ankle deep in water!

Although we drove through extremely rural parts of the country where you were lucky to have one bar of service on your iPhone, and seeing cows and horses became the norm, we always found Subways and Walmarts. I had no idea that these two chains were so prevalent throughout the entire country, especially Middle America.  On days where we had nine hour bus rides, I looked forward to about the halfway point in the drive where we would get off of the exit and go to Subway and Walmart.  These two stores often came as a package, and their abundance was never questioned throughout the 40 days.  In fact, in the middle of South Dakota, where there was next to nothing for hours and hours, we came across a Subway and Walmart duo.  We then entered the Walmart and there was another Subway inside! It’s safe to say that I will not be eating Subway for a long time.

Our final stop on our journey was San Francisco.  I had been to southern California two times prior, but had no sense of how different the northern part of the state was.  As the Lumineers once said, “I took a bus to Chinatown,” or a cable car, rather.  We scored good deals in Chinatown, walked the windy Golden Gate Bridge, and visited the former prison, Alcatraz.

Although I visited amazing sites and stayed at five star hotels, the most important part of the summer was the friendships that I made.  These 45 other teens became my brothers and sisters in a matter of days.  We laughed together at the Second City Comedy Club in Chicago, shrieked together on the roller coasters at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio, had our dreams come true together at Disney Land in Los Angeles, and were scared together when bears circled our tents at a campsite in Lake Tahoe.  Out of everything that happened this summer, the friendships that I created are by far the biggest reason why this summer was the best summer of my life.