Big waves and sunny beaches are just a taste of what freshman Aniston Hoegh and junior Nicole Wacker got to experience this summer when their families went on a group trip to Destin, Florida this summer.
“This was one of the most exciting and different trips I’ve ever been on. It helped me check a few things off of my bucket list!” Wacker said.
A lot of planning goes into these big family trips, like where to stay and where to go to get the best memories.
“It took about five months to plan the trip, and the moms of the families that went had a group chat planning it,” Hoegh said.
One of the activities that the group had planned was parasailing, which was the most memorable part of the trip for Hoegh.
“I was so scared at first, like I was saying a prayer as I was going up, but Nicole told me that I would be fine. After it was over I wanted to go again!” Hoegh said.
They had lots of fun and made some great memories. Wacker loved everything about parasailing except her parasailing experience wasn’t as smooth as she had hoped.
“It was really fun, except that the guy dipped us in the water, but our parents told him to go extra long for us,” Wacker said.
While parasailing was a planned activity, the group also made fun memories of their own, like when Heogh, Wacker and 10 other kids were walking back from a cafe and saw a crab.
“It was dark when we were walking back and there were 10 kids with us. We found a crab, and I’m pretty sure someone had stepped on it, and then it started moving. So we all screamed and put on our flashlights, and then we continued to follow it around. It was pretty scary,” Wacker said.
Despite many fun memories, there were also a couple challenges during the trip.
“I wore contacts in the ocean, and the saltwater got under my eyes, and it burned real bad,” Wacker said.
Wacker also got stung by a baby jellyfish that was sitting in the sand.
“It felt like I stepped on like a nail or a pin or something; it felt sharp,” Wacker said.
The weather was another unplanned element of the trip. Because of the recent hurricanes off the coast, the winds were stronger than usual, which meant the waves were much bigger, but this turned out to be a good thing.
“The waves were very rough, but that made it fun to go boogie boarding. The waves were so big that it was hard to stay on the board!” Hoegh said.
Even though the weather was unpredictable, both families made the best out of it and were happy that they took the chance to go on a trip together.
“We’re really good family friends and we always talk about trips whenever we get together,” Heogh said. “Nicole is a good friend of mine, and who wouldn’t want to go to somewhere that’s described as paradise and just have fun?”
