Colorado

by NeverFlyte

OK, so Colorado may not be as cold or as impressive as Gary Paulsen’s Minnesota. To me, though, it means holidays, feasts, free time and family.
My aunt and uncle own a bed & breakfast and a restaurant called “The Silver Nugget”. For the past three years, we’ve been going there for a week over Christmas break. We stay in their bed & breakfast and often, except for when there are too many people, we eat at the restaurant. It’s fun having whatever you want and sodas with every meal.
Over the days that we’re there, we do numerous activities. Some days we go sledding, some days we go to the hot springs. Everything is very close and easy to get to. The most memorable thing we did last year was hike on a trail along a river that was in a canyon (can’t remember what it was called). The trail started out as any normal trail, but by the middle, we were walking on a ramp-like thing that hung right over the river. There was a railing and even a cover on top to keep snow off, but the floor part was like a grid, with square empty spaces.
The water was around 20 feet below us, roaring loud enough that we had to talk by yelling in order to be heard. On either side of the fast-moving river was ice, from random chunks to icicles tinted a shade of light blue.
At the end of the trail (ramp?) it winded down in a series of staircases until you were standing beside the river in a little cavern with icicles big and small. It seemed slightly dangerous to be there where there were large spaces where the only thing was ice on the ground and nothing to hold on to. I walked cautiously across it anyway to get to the largest icicle, one that went straight from the ceiling to the floor, where it occasionally dripped.
There wasn’t any real smell, unless you count the wet dog smell that was in the Jeep we took to get to the river.

My Grandma's House

My favorite place to be when I am not at school is my grandma’s house. I know my grandma’s house like the back of my hand. It is so fun to be there because I get to hang out with my triplet aunties. I love to leave and walk around the neighborhood with my family. It is so much fun when we get to have parties there. I really love that house. My grandma has two bedrooms in her house. She also has two bathrooms. The back yard is so big with two dogs back there. The front yard has plants and flowers. The kitchen is medium and it’s where we are going to have our Thanksgiving dinner.
My favorite part of the house is the living room. My grandma has 2 big screen TV’s in there. I love when we stay up all night watching scary movies. It is even scarier because we have surround sound so it is so loud. I can’t wait until Thanksgiving break, because that’s where I’m going.

My Neighborhood

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I live in West O****. I feel like that is the heart of O. I live across the street from C****Village on 10th and W*****. When I’m at home, I worry about people. I worry about people like my brothers. I hear gunshots that lead to people's bodies dropping whether they are dead or not.
I feel like I know this place very well. I know the stop signs like the back of my hand. I feel that if I didn’t live in West O*****, I might as well be dead. I live in a duplex at the bottom in a 5 bedroom house. All the people that live in the place I call home are my mom, my 2 sisters, my nephew, my dog and of course, me. If I had a choice of a rich family in a rich neighborhood, I most definitely would choose West O***** and my people.
I really love West O**** because I have family everywhere I turn. I know that if I was anywhere else, anything could happen to me. But living in West O*****, it feels good to know you have people who will kill for you. Having family on every corner does have its consequences. It means you can’t be caught slipping, doing anything bad, because best believe your mother would know. But I wouldn’t change it for the world because I love West O*****.

My room

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One place that I know well is my room. I have one closet, two dressers, and two beds. In the left corner is my TV and on the side is my computer. In the right corner is a lamp. It is long and black and shines really bright.
My walls are painted periwinkle purple and my doors and closets are white. I have a dell computer that I don’t use very often. On my computer table is my cell phone. It’s a metro. I use it a lot especially when I text my friends. On one side of the beds, I have posters of people. On my beds, I have a lot of stuffed animals. I have snakes, turtles, teddy bears, and a plush pillow.
My room is very unique to me. It is kind of like my personality which is very good. My room is very special to me and I would never change it. I think my room is a part of me.

My room

by llover

A place I know really well is my room. I see my 2 book shelves, a desk, dresser, nightstand, bed, built-in closet and a lot of my personal stuff. The walls are painted blue and my dresser, desk, night stand, and built-in closet are painted white. My 2 book shelves and my bed are painted a healthy light brown with a finishing glossy touch. On my desk, I have a red lamp, a corkboard filled with old notes, pictures, key chains and pins, a phone holder, a picture of me when I was around 8 holding my pet hamster, 2 pictures of my parents and a lot of old letters, notes and pictures.

I have a tall book shelf and a short one. The tall one has 6 shelves. On the top shelf, I keep some of my “creations” from art class. On my 2nd shelf (going down) I have a picture of my family when we were in Hawaii and a lot of mementos from my other travel experiences. The third shelf holds all my series. For example, Twilight series, oops I meant it holds all my picture albums. The fourth shelf holds all my series books. My fifth shelf holds all my comic books. And finally my 6th shelf holds all my documentary war novels. On my other bookshelf, (the short one), I have 3 shelves. On the top shelf, I have all my electronics, iPod camera and iDog phone all charging. On the 2nd shelf (going down) I have all my Manga series. It literally takes up the whole shelf (I might need another one). The 3rd shelf are all my guilty pleasures, my Gossip girl series and the Clique novels.

As for my nightstand, I have a lamp full of shells and a clock. In the one drawer, I have a bunch of old journals me and my friends wrote in. On my dresser, I have a big mirror. To the left is an umbrella shaped metal (red) stand that holds all my earrings. In the center is a wooden boat shaped bowl holding all my make up (lip gloss, blush, mascara, etc.). To the right is a black plastic “hand shaped” figure holding all my rings. Plus a jewelry box (2) one holding my necklaces, another holding my bracelets. On the floor next to my tall bookcase are magazine holders filled with People and Us. Next to that, behind the door is a huge box (plastic, blue) filled with my stuffed animals. My room is a special place to me and I hoped I shared that with you.

My house

by nascar11

I know my house very well. I know all the hiding places, secret cabinets and stuff. When you’re in my house you see a lot of black furniture. Two couches, a chair, table, a desk and more, all black. You see a lot of clothes, scarves, and electronics also.
In my house, most likely you’re going to hear my radio (some type of music) or the TV. When the TV’s on and I’m watching it, you’ll hear channels 42, 44, 53, 54, 55 or 70 depending on the day and time. After school and on weekends, you could hear the computer and whatever sounds it’s making.
On week days, my house smells like Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip Chewy Cookies mostly. On the weekends, it smells like Clorox and cleaning soaps and stuff. I normally can taste whatever I smell.
I love my house. It’s so cozy and it has so much flava flava flava. Man, lol. That’s off Flavor Flav's Dr. Pepper commercial. My house is really special to me.

My house

by

My house, if we gave you directions to get there, we’d tell you to stop in front of the house with the yellow walls and green garage doors. There are three windows that have a small balcony in front of the largest one. Ivy, or my mom would call it bougainvillea, grows up the balcony and around the three windows. To the left of the garage doors and balcony, there are steps that lead to a porch, which leads to a front door. MY front door. The steps are wide and brick until they transform into narrow wood ones. The wood, once glossy, now is worn down and scratched up. The front door is made of the same wood as the steps, only still glossy and pretty. Not weathered like the steps because of the porch's roof above it.
Then if you close your eyes, here’s what you’d smell. It would smell crisp near the steps, but near the garage, the ivy would clog your nose with its pleasant scent. The air, it wouldn’t be cold or hot, but the sun would warm your skin altogether being my favorite weather in the world. You would hear the gentle breeze and then the loud thudding rap music from the apartment building two houses down.
Then if you were me, you would march up the brick steps and then the wood ones right up to the glossy front door where you would take out your keys. Your keys, two on a key chain that is a pink pointe shoe. You would take out the one with the deep ridges in it like little mountains. You would put it in the lock and open the door. You would slam it shut (otherwise it doesn’t close) and yell “I’m home”. If you were me, that is.

Eritrea

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The most beautiful, fresh, and favorite place that I have lived is Eritrea in East Africa. That place is like the smell of a hot baked fresh bread. It has peaceful sounds of birds singing and the trees glow with the sound of leaves moving. Eritrea is the only place that doesn’t have any weather damages that have been done to the country nor any drought that killed people's thirst. I like Eritrea because of the peace that has been restored and the fun that all children and adults share. I hope that I could go back to that place. No wonder I miss the place. Maybe one day I will go back and feel the love for my country.
I always told myself that Eritrea wasn’t just a normal country when compared to the other countries in Africa. There is something special about the country that always inspired me to think that it has natural gifts from God, which mostly comes from the people’s beliefs and how much they really believe in God. Living there is an unforgettable event in my life and I will remember it always.
As I have seen before, there aren’t that much of any tourists that visited the country but if you really see the news there isn’t anything wrong you can find about the country. The thing that interests me about it is that when you look at the whole country’s improvement it is really incredible. You see a lot of people working all over the country. That really makes you think they are really hard workers.

My Grandmother's House

by Emberlyn Azure

Until my Grandma moved to California, we would visit her in Massachusetts every summer. She lived on a hill in a log cabin with no close neighbors. When you drove up the road, there were giant green trees, soft moss and colorful flowers as far as the eye could see. On the steps and inside was a cozy abode of quilts and knickknacks (or as my Grandma calls them – Chachkahs).
My Grandma’s house always had a tasty smell of the food cooking in the oven. As you walked upstairs, you would start to smell the strong smell of moth balls and fresh blankets. My Grandma’s house was elderly and unique.
Grandma’s house was peaceful. I would sit on the squishy couch, a couch like a feather on a cloud. I would sit there in the morning watching TV and waiting for breakfast. After breakfast, we would plan a day full of friends and the town’s carnival.
To understand sitting in Grandma’s living room, close your eyes and picture a medium sized room with dark wood walls. Now instead of imagining sitting on a normal chair, picture yourself on the softest couch ever, with a not so attractive green carpet. You lean over to the side table with a ceramic lamp on it and grab the remote. You lean back and turn on the television. Soon after your Grandma comes in with some of your favorite cereal. AAHH! This is the life. Then everyone comes in and you plan the day.
Most importantly, Grandma’s house was a way to be calm and visit family. After the long day, we would come back to the living room and sit on the couch. We were coral silently resting in our home, the sea.
Every day we were there we would have the same routine with Grandma cooking, me on the couch, and my mom on the phone. At the end of our visit, we would drive to the airport and say goodbye.
When we got home, we would be happy to be back in California but sad because it would be another year till we go back to Grandma’s log house on the hill in Massachusetts.

My Home

by

My home is in East O*****. When you walk inside my house, its heaven. You can hear my bad brothers running around. You hear my grandmother in her bedroom watching TV. Her favorite channel. Her favorite TV show. When you walk around the table, through the kitchen, either in my mom’s room, the bathroom, or outside, you can hear my mom talking hecka loud to her cousin, etc. At night, since my aunty lives in the back, my aunty does something with her boyfriend like partying, watching movies, etc.
When you’re in my house, you can smell one of the best things. Man! Like when you're in the living room you can smell the breeze in the whole room. Probably my mom's hair because she had been in the shower using that shampoo and conditioner. My grandmother and my mom in the kitchen, WOW! Let me tell you. Looks good; tastes good and smells hecka good.
Now from talking about smell and hearing things in my house, I’m gonna tell you about taste. Well, this subject is only in the kitchen. My mom’s chicken legs are off the hook crazy good. It tastes like it's your birthday. My aunt’s rice krispie treats are better than the company’s ones. Man is that so good. To me you know what’s really good? I’ll tell you. My dad’s steak. WOO! That’s all. Thanks.

Descriptive Essays

We wrote short descriptive essays describing locations we know well. You might recognize some of these places from the I Am From poems we wrote at the beginning of the year. We hope our details help you visualize the settings we're describing. Enjoy!