Emma's Blog

High up in the mountains of North Carolina, you can join the magical Land of Oz. At the top of Beech Mountain, there used to be a theme park themed around the Wizard of Oz . While it is no longer open year round, the Land of Oz still opens on the weekends in September for Autumn at Oz. I visited Oz on the last weekend in September. Going to Autumn at Oz is something that my mom and I have always wanted to do, so it was exciting to finally be able to go. When you get there, you are at the bottom of the mountain, so you get to take the skiing chair lift up to the top. The chair lift used to be decorated with hot air balloons like the movie, but they got rid of them. They do still have one of the original balloons on display. When you get to the top, you start out on the Gale family farm. You go through the farmhouse and into the basement when the tornado comes through. When you come out of the basement, the entire house is tilted and you are in Oz. You can see both the Wicked Witch and G...

       Over the fall break, my family and I traveled to New York City. We took my grandmother because it has always been on her bucket list. We took the Amtrak train from High Point to New York, which was a fun experience. We left at around 7 a.m. and got to New York around 6 p.m. We stayed at the Belvedere Hotel, which has been around since the 1920's. On our first day there, we went down to Battery Park, and rode the Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty. After that, we went to the 9/11 memorial to see the reflecting pools. That was a very moving experience. We walked over to Fifth Avenue to go up to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Plaza. We also went into St. Patrick's Cathedral, which is beautiful. We walked back to the hotel after that because we were exhausted. We stopped in at an authentic Italian pizza place to eat dinner first. The next day we went to Central Park. We took a carriage ride around the park to see all the sights. It was really fun t...