Dear Fellow Peers,

I chose to write and do my multi-genre project on travel writing. I have been traveling around the United States and its National Parks via Amtrak, bicycle, plane, and motorcycle since I was thirteen. I not only became immersed in the beauty of America’s Park System, and developed a fraternal like bond with my father, but recorded so man y important parts of my life that I would have forgotten about, had I not written it down.

My first experience traveling and writing was when I was thirteen. My father and I threw our bikes on top of his mercury sable, what a hideous problem ridden car that was, and hit the road at three a.m. Our destination was Freeport, Maine, home to the L.L. Bean factory store open 365 days a year twenty four hours a day, which was convenient because on our return trip I got some much needed shut eye in the tent section of the store. We embarked on our trip ill-prepared for the road ahead. Instead of taking all the scenic backroads that Maine had to offer we were on main highways and at times interstates. Though our naivety almost got us killed it forced us to come up with a numeric hand system for approaching semis and man-eating crater that lie in the road ahead. This trip did have it perks though, riding thorugh “Bah Habah” and Acadia National park while living out of our lunch box sized bike bags. This trip was important though because I was going to miss the first week of high school and orientation, and as a result my father said my first homework assignment as a freshman was to keep a journal. This was the start of a life-long ongoing journal that has brought back so many memories that were sure to be lost.

The following two or three summers I was to busy being cool and hanging out with friends do take another trip with my father, which I regret to this day

My father and I embarked on a two week, 1300 mile bicycle journey in Penn Station, NY, bound for Whitefish, Montana on a three day trip via Amtrak. Spending three days on Amtrak is in and of itself something we should all experience. From the vertigo one feels after being on a train for so long, to vagabond travelers passing time through awkward conversations, rank food, whiskey and chewing tobacco, an entire travel book could be written on riding Amtrak across the country. Once we arrived in Whitefish, we were to start peddling towards our destination, Denver, Colorado…..

I came up with this idea of travel writing for my multi-genre project because I have written about travels with my father before but not in depth. I have hundreds of pictures and a book full of journals that have been collecting dust and I wanted to finally do something with therm. When this project is over I am going to continue my blog on the travels I had with my father and write about my experiences in more detail.

I think that writing about travel is an easy way to get students to write and use multi-genres while doing so. I feel that it is important to write about things that we are passionate about and can do so off the top of our head.