When you find out you’re going to Alcatraz, it’s not usually a good thing. But for sophomore Addi Smith, this was something to look forward to. Alcatraz was just one of the many attractions she saw this past summer.

Addi’s summer travel started with going to South Dakota with her sister, eighth-grader Kinsley Smith, and two of her cousins.

“We have been going for the past several years. We stay up at our grandparents’ for about a week. We go swimming and tubing. They live in a small town so there isn’t much to do besides going for boat rides,” said Addi.

After a week of spending time with her sister and cousins, Addi spent her 16th birthday with her mom in California. They did things such as sightseeing and going on ferry rides.

“Our last day we went to more sightseeing, like the Winchester house,” said Addi. “It was super weird because there’s so many rooms with so many different color themes.”

Another highlight was visiting Alcatraz.

“When we went to Alcatraz, it was super cool because it’s kind of hard to believe that there’s actually prisoners there and bad people who live there. And there was staff and their family lived on the island,” said Addi.

Addi’s summer travel was capped off with a road trip to Florida that included the whole family–Addi, Kinsley, their parents and their brother, senior Cole Smith. The reason behind the travel was to have one last vacation as a family before the oldest graduates.

“Mostly to get us to explore the U.S. and because it was gonna be our last last time to do it as a family during the summer since Cole is gonna go off to college,” said Kinsley.

Though spending too much time with family in a tiny space can be a challenge, one of the things Addi learned during her two of her family trips is patience.

“Because Florida and California are really busy places, you have to be patient with a lot of people. Especially when you’re with your family for an 18-hour car ride,” said Addi. “ It’s hard to get along with them when you’re crammed in a car together.”

While Addi used the long ride as an opportunity to learn how to be patient, Kinsley thought it was a good time spent together.

“I thought we bonded in the car. We laughed, we fought and, yeah, joked around and things,” said Kinsley.

When the 18 hours in the car ended, the fun began. Some of the things the Smith family did were feeding fish, adventuring a crab-infested island and exploring the ocean for the first time.

“I just really wanted to see the ocean because I’ve never been anywhere near the ocean. So I was really excited about that. But I didn’t realize that saltwater really hurts your eyes, and it’s not fun getting it in your mouth,” said Addi.

Experiencing the ocean for the first time gave Cole a chance to try offshore fishing. If he were to travel anywhere in the future, it would be Florida.

“Honestly, anywhere in Florida where I can go offshore fishing, that was just a lot of fun,” said Cole.

Before going back home, Kinsley decided to take home a piece of Florida to keep the memories of last summer with her.

“I brought a seashell [home] and when I do my homework, I just look at it and it’s like a reminder of the fun I had with my brother, my mom and my sister,” said Kinsley.