This week on BEEN THERE, we hear from 12-year-old Charlotte from New York who tells us about her favorite vacation spot!

I think North of Highlands Camping Area in Truro, Massachusetts is THE best place to spend a few weeks! It's on Cape Cod, and the nearest beach is in walking distance! There's a playground that everyone hangs out at, or at least the kids do.

There are lots of places to go on Cape Cod such as the lighthouse, the Highlands Creamery (an ice cream place), and Race Point Beach. But you need 4-wheel drive and a registration to take your car out on Race Point. But I think you can walk. Whatever. Anyway, you can camp out in the woods in the campground, every night hear the waves and feel a gentle breeze, then snuggle down into your sleeping bag and pass out. Then when you wake up, your tent or camper's filled with golden sunshine and outside you can hear the grackles calling "ack, ack, ack" and smell the salt and the pine trees and far off you can hear other campers talking and zippers zipping, and it's the BEST. You know how the ground's made of dirt? Well, not here. Here the ground's made of sand. White sand, black sand, gold sand, even red sand in a few places.

My perfect day would be like this. I'd wake up, think, "YAY! I'm on Cape Cod!" and pass out again for another hour. Then I'd go take a shower and hang out at the playground for a few hours. Then my aunt and uncle (who always have the campsite across the road from us) and my parents would pull up in their red Suburban and we'd go to Hatchet's Harbor or Race Point. We'd have packed a cooler full of Coke of course. I'd go in the water for a while, then take my blanket and just lie around on the beach, or sit in the shade and drink Coke with my family. I would be so sad when it was time to go home, the days just seem to slip away like minnows through a fishing net, but while you're there, it is like being in heaven.

– Charlotte, 12, NY