Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Postcards to The Edge
Travis Wachter, Northside High School
Aysha Iqbal, Hidden Valley High School
Courtney Pierce, Home School
Photo courtesy of Wilson Hammett
Jenni Daniel, Blacksburg High School
Dear The Edge,
In Denali National Park in Alaska, my 7 a.m. tour bus was probably the luckiest of the day. We saw moose, caribou, foxes, bald eagles, a gyrfalcon, many other different bird species and brown bears. This little guy was traveling with his mother and sibling. The tour guide told us how she had once had the mother bear and cubs come down to her bus before, and as she finished, they started running for our bus. This cub even stood up and put his paws on the bus. This is a brown bear, even though you may be baffled by the blondness. Brown bears in Denali eat 80 percent vegetation, making their fur a lighter shade.
-- Travis Wachter, Northside High School
Dear The Edge,
For those who do not know much about Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, they may believe that it is absurd to travel to a foreign country simply to visit a waterfall. There is, however, much more to the story. Niagara Falls is home to two powerful falls but is also a tourist attraction. Just walking down Clifton Hill Street can be an attraction. At night, everything lights up. There are ice cream parlors, restaurants, arcades, museums and the Rainforest and Hard Rock cafes. Just as I was becoming slightly overwhelmed by all the lights and people, we reached the end of the street and arrived at the falls. Their beauty and power never ceased to amaze me.
-- Aysha Iqbal, Hidden Valley High School
Dear The Edge,
Along with the abundance of wildlife that I saw at Denali National Park in Alaska, I was fortunate enough to actually see the main attraction: Denali Mountain. You can go multiple times to Denali and never see the mountain. It all depends on the weather. Our tour guide said that it only shows itself about 10 days out of the entire year. If you do see the mountain, your tour is considered to be a "Denali Grand Slam." At more than 20,000 feet from sea level, Denali has the highest mountain peak in North America.
-- Travis Wachter, Northside High School
Dear The Edge,
Hello from Holden Beach, N.C.! We had beautiful weather here -- hot sunshine for tanning and warm water for swimming. The fresh seafood was yummy, especially the fried seafood from next-door Calabash. It's amazing how hungry you can get from doing absolutely nothing! Well, I guess "nothing" isn't quite true. I had a growing collection of shells in my room, and I dug out my dad's kites. I went for a walk one day, and the sky was so clear, I could see the Oak Island lighthouse.
-- Courtney Pierce, Home School
Dear The Edge,
In September of last year, I left my parents in the Roanoke airport, boarded a plane, and started a new life in Portugal. Suddenly, I was part of another family, attending a different school, and trying to operate completely in another language. After a few months of adjustment, I was able to sink into the culture and routine of my new home. There are some things about another place that you can't learn or experience just on a vacation. Ten months was a long time to be away, but during my year abroad I made friends from all over the world and experienced more than I could have imagined.
-- Wilson Hammett, Blacksburg High School
Dear The Edge
I spent a month in New York City attending an internship program. I worked for a small media company that specialized in making brand placement segments that aired on morning television shows across the country. During my free time I was able to explore the city. I lived at the Juilliard School on the Upper West Side, just a short walk to Central Park or the Hudson River. I went to four amazing Broadway shows and the New York Philharmonic’s concert in the park. My favorite thing about my month there was just being able to walk around and explore the many diverse and entertaining areas of New York City.
-- Jenni Daniel, Blacksburg High School
