After an exhausting first year of high school, it was time for a blast. This year we were going to go to Chile for a month, but we were unable to make the necessary arrangements and failed, although we were going to go to Chile the following year. This summer we had a few plans of activities, but not a substantial amount. We spent a few days at home with minimal activity until our plans of a YMCA road trip was scheduled. My brother and I, along with a friend, were going along with it in a van with other teenagers across California. It would go north up California, stop a few places to rest at and some tourist areas, and would finally end at a good finale of white water rafting. The trip would take approximately a week and boy was it going to be fun. We met up at the YMCA near Anacapa Middle School and boarded the van with several other teens. We drove for a few hours until we reached a famous house that I had never heard of, called the Winchester Mystery house. It was a house created by the widow of a wealthy arms dealer, and when wife’s husband died she sought help from a psychic who told her that as long as she lived, the soldiers who died by the guns that her husband made would haunt her. The only way to stop this was to create a massive house that would confuse all ghosts and that they would never find her. Since she was very wealthy she was able to create a massive house and when we explored it, it took hours to locate only half of it. It was like a maze, so many twists and turns with random doorways that would lead to nowhere. I found it quite fascinating, but I ridiculed her for making this house because she believed that ghosts were haunting her. After spending many hours in the house, it was time to move on and we continued for another hour on the freeway until we reached a resting point were we all pitched up tents, had a quick dinner, and went to bed. The next day we continued north to San Francisco and spent there entire day shopping and looking for interesting items at Pier 39. That night we stayed at a hotel that looked very fancy, but didn’t have many things like television, Internet, etc. Just kidding, I’m not like that at all, it was fine and it had comfortable beds and nice bathrooms. The following day we woke up early and arrived at a river at about ten in the morning and were able quickly gear up and enjoy the river. We started at the top and the rapids were daring, but exhilarating. It took a few hours to make it to the bottom, but once there it was a quick twenty-minute drive back to the top. We did it once more before it was time to retire for the night. The following morning it was time to head back to Ventura and the ride was only six-hours but felt like an eternity. When we arrived home our parents greeted us and we were glad to see them. Aside from that, there wasn’t much else worth mentioning for that summer. My summers might seem boring, but its more entertaining then all of the stuff I normally do!