Introduction to Personal Essay

Throughout my life I have gone on numerous vacations. I have been to Florida, New York, and Washington D.C. I have been to Niagara Falls, Canada, Kentucky, and the Black Hills in South Dakota. I have been to a lot of places, but going to Arizona is my favorite vacation. I have been to Arizona three or four times I believe. I'm not sure because I think I may have gone when I was to young to remember. Anyways, my grandparents live in Arizona during the winter season to get away from the harsh Iowa winters. When my family goes to Arizona, we go during Christmas break because we usually stay for a week or so. My most recent visit to Arizona was this past Christmas. After high school, two of my best friends, Kyle and Blake, and I talked about going on a vacation somewhere for winter break. I mentioned Arizona because I knew we would have a place to stay with my grandparents (my Dad's parents). We didn't really talk about it for a while until I realized that our football team had a chance to play at the Insight Bowl there. It would work out perfect if that was the case; they would be able to enjoy our game and then we could have fun hanging out afterwards. As it turned out, we ended up playing in the Insight Bowl and I flew down to Arizona with the team. Blake and Kyle drove down with my parents, my brother and sister, and my other grandma. They all stayed at my grandparent's house until the game and then my family left and I stayed with my grandparents, Kyle, and Blake for another week! We had a great time enjoying ourselves; just relaxing and living what seemed to be a life in paradise. While we were there, we knew we wanted to climb some mountains. So, we looked into some of the most toured mountains and made our decision on which one to climb. From here, our adventure began.