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Home Away from Home

March 7, 2013
By David Peck BRONZE, Olathe, Kansas
David Peck BRONZE, Olathe, Kansas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Have you ever had an experience so extraordinary, so exciting, and so new that you thought nothing you ever did in the future could meet the standards of that event? Well, I’m going to tell you about a trip me and some of my family went on that was uncharted territory for us. We learned many things on this trip including the unsurpassable joy of being in the place where we’ve always dreamed.

It all started on a dark, spring mourning when we woke up to the consistent beating of the alarm clock. My sister and I were getting ready to take an exciting trip to my favorite state in the world, Michigan. We headed out to the Kansas City International Airport to go from Kansas City to Detroit. We got on the plane and after a torturous two and a half hours of pure anticipation got to Detroit. My grandma and my uncle met us at the airport and we headed out of Detroit. We started going to what my sister and I thought was my dad’s hometown of Adrian, Michigan, but my uncle and grandma had different plans.

They had told us something about taking a stop in Ann Harbor, which is home to the mighty Michigan wolverines, but we just thought they meant eating lunch or getting gas. Instead, we found ourselves doing what very few Michigan fans have ever done. We went to the Campus of the University of Michigan. We started out by just driving around the beautiful campus and looking from our car windows at the glorious waves of maze and blue all around the town, but we soon decided to go to the spots of the sports fields and arenas.
First, we parked by the indoor track facility and walked inside. My sister and I don’t usually get very excited about running around a track, but we had to respect the place because as Brady Hoke, the head coach of Michigan football, so gloriously said, ”This is Michigan, for God sake.” We looked around the facility and saw the top quality equipment for the track people. You could tell that Michigan cared about their sports.
We soon made our way to baseball field. We walked all the way down from the right field fence to the first base dugout. I looked up in the stands of the field and I remember feeling the utter amazement of getting to be on that field. We quickly got kicked of the field by the grounds crew, but not before I could grab a handful of the dirt from the field.

After the baseball field we went to Chrysler Arena, which is home to the Michigan basketball team. We went around the building searching for an unlocked door, and when we thought all hope was lost the last door opened. We walked in and there were some men working on the arena. We asked them if we could look around and even shoot around. I expected without a doubt to be rejected, but yet again I was surprised. I went strait for the basketballs to shoot. I treated it like any other court for a few minutes and just took my normal shots, but then it hit me that I was playing basketball at one of the greatest universities in the world. I started to look around the court and I imagined the crowds of Michigan fans that had walked in that structure before. I also imagined the great players and coaches that had been on that very court. Just as I took all of that in we once again were kicked off by the boss of the men who let us in.
After going to the first three places we decided we should visit what most Michigan fan’s would call the best of them all. We went to the football stadium, The Big House, were some of the best athletes in all of football have played and where tons of Michigan tradition is displayed. We to the stadium and stood right outside the gate. We took pictures of the amazing stadium and admired the great tradition. It was one of the best parts of the whole campus.
My sister and I will never forget the memories of this amazing trip. We will never forget the pure and unbelievable joy of being in a place that we love. For me, it was like being in paradise. It truly was like being home away from home.



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