Let's see...about that vacation I took back in mid-August. These are just some brief highlights of what happened over the course of the trip.  If you get bored, stop reading.

1st day: left home and crossed into Canada en route to Niagra Falls. Parked somewhere and walked up to the falls, took some pictures and walked around, and thought about the first time we went through the area. That first time (more than 15 years ago) our family couldn't even drive through to the falls; it was too crowded. Therefore, we drove past it, basically said: "Look, it's Niagra Falls!" and drove on. Personally, I could never understand what the big deal was about a bunch of falling water...but I digress. After that, we went back into the States, drove south through New York and northern Pennsylvania, and drove an hour or two through a heavy thunderstorm in order to reach a hotel in southern Pennsylvania.

2nd day: continued on from the hotel and reached our destination in the afternoon: the state of Maryland. Rested for a little while at the hotel, ate dinner at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, and went to visit some friends of the family. In-between all of that, our car almost got flattened (with us inside it) by a semi that turned at an intersection too quickly and almost overturned entirely; thankfully, the driver saw us right when he made the turn and acted quickly. For an instant, I seriously thought I wasn't going to make it through that one. Oh well; I'm still alive, right? Right.

3rd day: drove down into Virginia and entered the Loray Caverns (I think that's what they're called). Admired various stalagtites, stalagmites and rock formations, then left and wandered around a museum dedicated to old vehicles. Afterwards, we left and drove through Skyline Drive in the Appalachian Mountains. We admired the scenery (by "we", I meant my parents; I was more anxious to get back in the car due to the heights). Went back to the hotel.

4th day: My brother (who lives in the country's other half) was over near Maryland's very own Ocean City that weekend, so we left in the morning in order to meet him in the afternoon. Shortly after, we drove into Ocean City where he treated us to dinner at a seaside restaurant called "The Shark", which is dedicated almost entirely to seafood. I got the only non-seafood item on the menu, plus some Key Lime cheesecake (delicious). After dinner, we went over to a nearby beach and looked out over the Atlantic Ocean (my family walked up to the very edge of the water, while I opted for being halfway between the ocean and the car). After we dropped my brother back where he was staying, we went to visit a few older friends of the family (and their old tortoiseshell cat). It took us a few hours after that, but we finally got back to the hotel (it was around 11p.m. at this point).

5th day: Went to visit a group of friends in the morning, then drove into Pennsylvania in order to visit another group of friends during the afternoon. Later, we went into a Wal-Mart so I could get a memento of our stay out-of-state. Not long after, we went back to the hotel in order to prepare for our trip back home.

6th day: Packed up and set out for home. I'm telling you, I've never been happier to get home late that afternoon; after my parents dropped me off at the house and went to pick up our boarded pets, I actually cheered.

I went on vacation, and all I got was this lousy editorial. Well, that and my memento: the Game Boy Advanced edition of the original NES game "Bomberman".

Curtis Wildcat