Today we travel back to Spring Break 2012 with a story from Fania, one of our German students, who took an unforgettable road trip through the southwest with her host family…

“During Spring Break, my host family and I went on a road trip through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. We started in Oklahoma City on Friday and the next day drove to Albuquerque and then to Tucson, AZ. We took Route 60 and stopped in Pie Town, NM, a small village in the middle of nowhere with nothing but two pie stores – and their pie is amazing!
After we spent 2 days in Tucson, we drove on to Chandler, AZ. On Monday we hiked to the top of Picacho Peak, a mountain nearby, and visited an ostrich farm where we fed ostriches, goats, miniature donkeys, deer and lorikeet. On Wednesday we drove to Montezuma Castle, the ruins of a village that was built high in a mountain, and to Sedona. The landscape changed from Saguaro cactuses everywhere to beautiful red rocks. First we visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross and then went on a Jeep Tour. The driver told us a lot about Sedona and the ride was really exciting. The next day we decided to do a little hike on the Bell Rock Trail, which ended up as a long hike up the mountain. It was exhausting but we all had so much fun going up and seeing the surrounding area.
On Friday we finally went to the Grand Canyon – it is so impressive and beautiful! And it snowed a couple days before, so that made it even better. We hiked down a little and enjoyed the view. Even though we were tired afterwards, we visited the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ – the place where Pluto was discovered! – and saw Jupiter, Mars and Venus through a telescope.
Saturday and Sunday were driving, driving, and even more driving home, but we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX and sprayed on some old Cadillac wrecks, which was pretty cool. All in all this road trip was so much fun! I really, really enjoyed it, saw some different aspects of the country and I can say that it was was one of the best vacations I ever went on!”
Are you interested in an having an experience like this with a student from overseas? AYA is now looking for host families to host young people from all over the world like Fania this Fall. Learn more about how to host an exchange student with AYA.
Leave a Reply