It's Take Your Child To Work Day, and today's travel story has been contributed and posted by my daughter Lindsey Peterson, 14, who was asked to write about a favorite travel memory.

It was not my first time in New York City but it was the first time I got to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The night before, my mom and I thought it would be cool to go and check out the inflation of the big balloons on the Upper West Side next to the Museum of Natural History (where Night At The Museum was filmed!).

Of course, the crowd was elbow-to-elbow, but we didn’t mind. As I watched Garfield and Snoopy expand to fifty times their normal size, my pace was increasing in speed without me realizing it. I just wanted to keep moving with the crowd while my mom preferred to stop and look. Before I knew it, I was at the end without my mom in sight. I then went back to see if I could spot her, but the crowd was too jammed.

I asked a police officer if he could help me locate my lost mom. The cop handed me over to this lady who let me know that she was a NBC producer. She led me behind the guard rails to where the balloons were. It was like VIP access. I think I even got in a couple news shots.  The producer used her cell to call my mom's cell and I waited by the big Macy’s star balloon until I finally saw my mom, who looked as if she had just suffered a panic attack. We continued to the end of the balloon line-up, and I was relieved to finally be back with her. We both thanked the NBC producer, and went back to our hotel.  It was an experience that I will always remember.