Over the years Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan has held hundreds of concerts. The book “Hipster Christianity” by Brett McCracken even noted that Calvin College is wildly hip because of the music scene on campus. Over the years, Yo La Tengo, Joan Baez, Ben Harper, Youth Lagoon, Ratatat, Lupe Fiasco, Anberlin, Sufjan Stevens, Switchfoot, Sigur Ros, Noah & The Whale, Joanna Newsom, Matisyahu, Jack Johnson, Ben Kweller, Iron & Wine, Copeland, Death Cab for Cutie, The Civil Wars, and dozens of other names you may know have been on campus to show what true art is. This year I have had the chance to enjoy Washed Out, Cut Copy, David Bazan (from Pedro the Lion), and the Head and the Heart in concert and never did I come back from a show disappointed. Not only is there quantity in the music scene of Calvin but there is quality.

A year ago I was going to go to an Aradhna concert in Hoboken, New Jersey, but my girlfriend, who I was supposed to go with, and I broke up and I had nobody to go with. I did not feel like going to an “intimate, apartment show” (as the hosts of the venue described it) by myself, so I forgot about the tickets and regretted this decision for a year. Thankfully, Aradhna decided to come to Calvin College. As soon as I found out, I gleefully skipped down to the box office and bought a ticket. Soon after, several of my friends decided to buy a ticket as well, and none of us were prepared for what we would soon experience.

The band that opened up was the Soil & the Sun. They describes their music as “Experiential Spiritual Folk-Rock meets New Mexican Space Music”, and you have to see them live to know that is not just nonsense. I was honestly overwhelmed to hear the opening act be so good, especially when I found out they were locals from Grand Rapids! Each song was like a ballad to some metaphysical, omniscient space creature, and as odd a that is, I found it beautiful. Their song “Spirit of Memory” rocked me and I felt connected to something greater while listening to it, as cheesy as that sounds. They are great performers as well. They are not afraid to dance and move. The guitarist lost his hat and glasses several times while he passionately got lost in the music. Their performance was engaging in every single way.

You can listen to the Soil & the Sun here, and you can also digitally buy their album for $10, and if you want to, you can buy their vinyl album for only $20 all on their website.

Now–Aradhna! Where do I start?!

Aradhna is considered “fusion music”, for they are heavily influenced by Northern Indian classical music but also include the guitar and bass. I mean, all the members of the band have lived in India and/or Nepal, but they are also all Americans. Their band consists of the sitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass, Hindustani violin, tabla, bansuri, drums, viola, and cello, though not all these instruments are used in every show. In fact, there was only a guitar, bass, sitar, and drums at the show last night. Their music has heavy spiritual-themes and often speak of “Yeshu”, or Jesus. Religious or not, the music is incredibly calming, peaceful, and inspiring. It can lead you into deep meditation and can stir up the affections of your heart. The sitar-player, who grew up in Nepal (though having Indian parents), also has a beautiful voice and when he sang “Jai jai Yeshu jai jai ho” in the song “Amrit Vani”, my heart just melted. They often invited the audience to chant with them and people there were probably thirty or forty people dancing their heart out. The members of the band talked quite a lot between songs. They were not awkward and their words were never stale, but they would explain the context and history of their songs, the development of their band, how their instruments worked, etc., with much joy, often laughing and grinning quite a lot. You could tell they enjoyed playing together.

Basically, last night was a beautiful experience. I meant it when I said that I never come back from a show at Calvin College disappointed. In fact, I always leave in awe.

For Aradhna’s newest music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4IsuYFQazA

For Aradhna’s website: http://aradhnamusic.com/

All along Hollywood Boulevard is the famous walk of fame. All of the famous celebrities have a star; from Dean Martin to Kermit the Frog and a bunch “in between.” For a list of the stars and other fun things to do along Hollywood Boulevard, check out this link.

One thing you can count on if you walk this famous part of town, you will never be bored. There are people everywhere. Some playing songs, some dressing up as famous characters including spiderman, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Avengers. Overall California is a great time and most of the fun is packed and placed right on the famous Hollywood Boulevard.

When I traveled to New Orleans a few years ago, there were eight of us traveling together. Some of us were already familiar with each other, while others weren’t. Once we all settled at the airport concourse waiting for our flight I pulled out a deck of cards. Not just any cards – a game of “Would you Rather.” This game involves different sets of scenarios that are weird and make you think.

The eight of us sat in the airport taking turns reading scenarios out loud to everyone else. Soon we were all laughing at some of the hilarious outcomes that we ‘would rather do’ like have 5 inch big toes rather than 5 inch thumbs.  Before we knew it the two hours flew by and we already had stories to laugh about – and the real vacation hadn’t even begun!

Looking back, playing that card game was not the highlight of the trip, but it did provide a fun start. Everyone felt comfortable with each other and no one was bored at the airport. Next time you pack for a trip – think about tossing a card game in your luggage, you never know the memories it’ll create.

I could not believe all of the cool rides they had. They have a couple good wooden coasters, little rides kids enjoy, and feet dangling rides. But I was most impressed with two interesting rides in particular.

The first is called X2. This massive coaster holds riders on 360ᵒ rotating seats. You go from head first, to face down, and sometimes not even knowing where you are! It is definitely one of the most thrilling rides I have ever been on.

The other coaster I was really impressed with is called Green Lantern: First Flight. It is similar to X2 in that it has 360ᵒ rotating seats.  This ride takes you up and spins you upside both frontwards and backwards for a very exhilarating ride. This vertical zigzag pattern track has never been done before.

And finally, the ride my dad was most excited to ride was Superman. It is another unique ride that shoots riders at 100mph, up a 415 ft, 90ᵒ angle hill then lets gravity do the rest as you fall back down the hill in the opposite direction you went up! It was a very fun ride!

Although this park is filled with big, thrilling rides, it still has its sections for children to enjoy. There are shows for people who don’t want to ride anything at all too. I would have to say that I was very impressed with this park; they have so many rides of all different sorts you never get bored.

There’s something to do for everyone on this pier. You can take a little thrill ride on the roller coast, or check out the sights from the top of the Ferris wheel. They have shops all along the pier so you can get a souvenir for yourself or a friend. There is parking and beach access, and even an aquarium! After my family and I took a ride on the roller coaster, we had a nice dinner at the end of the pier. At the beginning of the pier was the famous Joe’s Crab Shack. It was definitely a place like I haven’t experienced before.

Knott’s Berry Farm is an amusement park that is owned by Cedar Fair, which is the same owner of Cedar Point, so we knew it had to be good. We were able to use our Cedar Point passes to get into the park. I could tell right as we walked into the park I liked the way it was set up. There are different themed sections to the park and visitors are able to take as many pictures as they want.

Not only does it have a fun theme to it, but there are so many great rides as well. Rides including: GhostRider- a wooden ride that goes underground, and round and round, the Sierra Sidewinder- that not only has a twisty track, but the cars itself spin around for extra fun, the Silver Bullet- a suspended coaster, the Xcelerator- that blasts it’s riders at 82 mph up a 205ft hill at a 90 degree angle, and my, favorite was the unique Pony Express. The Pony Express is a mock of the famous Pony Express that delivered mail on the North American continent. It launches riders sitting on fake horses at 38mph on a 1,300 ft long track.

This park had rides for people of all ages. It was very kid friendly, but had a number of thrilling rides for the adults. There were also a number of shows that guests could enjoy too. I would definitely recommend this park to families who want to have some fun in the nice weather of California.

Ludwig was obsessed with the stories told in the operas by composer Richard Wagner, and built rooms in the castle to appear like different settings from the plays, including one incredible room replicating a cave or grotto. This was one of several castles built by Ludwig in similar fashion, at the expense of the depletion of the country’s treasury. Ludwig was found dead, drowned in the shallows of a lake. It remains a mystery whether he was murdered, or committed suicide. Neuschwanstein in itself is a magnificent piece of architecture. Huge towers and spires lift up into the air.

 When you park, it is a short walk into the town. There, a  building for getting tickets, both for Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, is not hard to find. After this, you can either hitch a ride on a horse-drawn carriage, or walk up to your destination. Up at the top, you may have to wait for a short while until it is time for your tour, available in many languages. Tour numbers are shown in red on a sign. Remember, this is a large tourist attraction, so be prepared for huge crowds of people.

Inside the castle, the design and splendor displayed are staggering. The ceilings and most of the walls are painted elaborately, most often relating to Richard Wagner’s plays; and everything, down to the smallest object, is the very picture of expensive craftsmanship. His wooden bed took thirteen carpenters seven years to make! Look out for the symbol of the swan… you’ll see it everywhere you look. This is because the swan was part of the royal crest of Ludwig’s family, and also a key figure in a Wagner play. There are many carvings and designs all around.

 There is an interesting room with the walls covered in mirrors, arranged at peculiar angles. As the guide will tell you, this was the room where the King might play cards with other guests. The king’s place was arranged so that he could look in a specfic mirror to see the cards his opponent had in his hand. In the large room where the tour ends, you may want to spend a couple minutes studying the beautifully painted stage. There are many small forest animals and creatures hiding in the picture. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside of the castle. However, at the gift shop they sell a disc of pictures of Neuschwanstein’s interior.

 The royal kitchen is on the way out.

Neuschwanstein is a fantastic place to visit, and it is little wonder that this castle draws so many visitors from around the world. If you are ever in Bavaria, this place is a must-see. Also, the best view of the castle is from the Marienbrucke bridge, which is a small hike away from the castle.

If you have never skied before, this is definitely the place to learn. Your ski lift ticket and ski rentals are included with your stay at the resort. All you have to do is walk a short distance from the main lobby to the rental shop, have your boots and skis fitted and walk right onto the slope. It really is that simple! There is a bunny hill for beginners with ski instructors ready to assist you in addition to a bigger hill for the more experienced skier. If skiing is not your thing, you can move on over to the other half of the bigger mountain to snowtube. There is one lane for single riders and one lane for a group/family of 4 riders. There is something for everyone at the Rocking Horse Ranch.

But if skiing or snowtubing have you wiped out or made you cold, you can go swimming in the indoor pool. Other indoor activities include minute-to win-it and trivia games that everyone can participate in. Your family can challenge another family to games in the Wii room or the arcade.

One of our favorite things to do at the ranch, which occurs all year round, is to watch the horses complete their work day and head home to their stables across the street from the ranch. The wranglers rope off a section of the road so the horses can cross safely. Since there are more than 100 horses, they divide them into groups of 20 and do this crossing task 5 times. It is really cool to watch the horses run freely across the street after a hard day’s work. I have so many wonderful memories from the Rocking Horse Ranch with my family and hope there will be more to come!

Check out their year-round activities for families at: http://www.rockinghorseranch.com/

The resort is located on 150 acres and is easy to find your way around. My parents feel comfortable letting my sisters and me walk to and from activities by ourselves.  We have vacationed with a different family each time we have gone to the ranch, which makes it feel like a different experience every time. We have visited the resort mostly in the summertime but one of our visits was in the wintertime. I will be telling you about my summer experience in this article.

From the moment you arrive at the ranch, your vacation begins. You can start off (and we always do) with one of the resort’s one hour long horseback ride on a trail in the mountains. There are 3 different levels that you can ride (beginner, intermediate and advanced) with 6 different time slots during the day to ride. They are basically every hour from 8 am to 3 pm with a break for lunch. During our 3 day vacation, we usually ride between 8 and 10 times because we love it so much! There is also an indoor and outdoor pool with a waterslide. They have many scheduled daily events such as a morning bingo game, an afternoon family softball game and nightly family entertainment.

Other activities that you can do are waterskiing, banana boat rides, kayaks, mini golf, rock climbing and bungee jumping. If you have never waterskied before, this is the place to learn! You can try it the traditional way with a long rope to pull you up or they have a learning bar. This metal bar is attached to the side of the boat (no rope) that you hold on to so you can get the idea of how it feels to waterski. In the event of rain, they have an indoor “fun barn” to play ping-pong, volleyball and rock climbing. The bungee jumping was new this year and of course, very popular. You bounce on a trampoline while harnessed in around your waist and do flips in the air. This was a thrilling experience!

All of the meals are included during your stay and they are awesome! You can order and eat as much as you want. They seat you with other families so you get a chance to meet new people. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style while dinner is a sit-down waiter service. The desserts are the best part of every meal! We hope to go back this summer and I wonder who will be joining us this year?!

You and your parents can find out more about Rocking Horse Ranch by going to: http://www.rockinghorseranch.com/