The car raced down the highway. Two heads leaned over and fitted their heads perfectly onto my shoulder. I kicked my shoes off, patted my sisters' legs, and stared out the window. I saw many trees; each one staying behind as we kept moving forward. The scenery soon blurred and my mind wafted to the very first day of our vacation.
Day 1:
An eye-blinding light shone throughout the room and I immediately woke up. My mom had turned on the light; an amazing strategy to wake me up. I strolled to the restroom and got ready. I came outside and heard bustling conversations and movements.
" Did you take this and put it inside the crate?" asked a voice.
" No, I will do it now." replied another. I assumed my parents were talking.
" Oh good Shreya, you came out of the bathroom. Ananya Dhanya, which one of you wants to go first?" my mom announced. While my sisters were bickering about that, I helped pack some bread for the journey. I put together some final things and kept listening to the sound of last minute rush. Finally, we were ready and we had somehow managed to shove everything into the car. All of us clambered in, and we zoomed off to our first destination, a huge Ganesha temple. As usual, as soon as the car started moving, my sister Dhanya placed her head at my shoulder and dozed off. Ananya stayed up for a while and she and I were just talking. An hour and a half into our road trip, we stopped at a rest area for breakfast. Breakfast was idly with milagaipodi. We had our share of breakfast and continued our journey.
We reached the temple pretty soon and went inside to see the deities. In the center, a huge Ganesha was sitting, gazing on the mooshika(mouse/his vehicle) in front of him. This place is one of few places were I have seen a colossal Ganesha. All the other gods were equally decorated. We said our prayers and slokas and exited the temple. All of us admired the beautifully sculpted designs running around the outside of the temple and then left for our next stop: the capitol building. As soon as the air conditioner kicked on in the car, my eyes grew heavy. My eye lid shut and immediately rose back up. As much as I tried not to doze off, I ended up doing just that. About 40 mins later, I woke with a jolt and found myself in a parking lot.
" We're going to the Capitol Building now akka." My sister stated. I accepted the piece of lemon cake she gave me and all 7 of us headed into the Capitol Building of Texas. We went into the main hall in the first floor and looked up. Woah. On the ceiling there was a star and it had the word Texas written around it. Around it were layers and layers of circles, each one decorated with intricate details.
We reached the temple pretty soon and went inside to see the deities. In the center, a huge Ganesha was sitting, gazing on the mooshika(mouse/his vehicle) in front of him. This place is one of few places were I have seen a colossal Ganesha. All the other gods were equally decorated. We said our prayers and slokas and exited the temple. All of us admired the beautifully sculpted designs running around the outside of the temple and then left for our next stop: the capitol building. As soon as the air conditioner kicked on in the car, my eyes grew heavy. My eye lid shut and immediately rose back up. As much as I tried not to doze off, I ended up doing just that. About 40 mins later, I woke with a jolt and found myself in a parking lot.
" We're going to the Capitol Building now akka." My sister stated. I accepted the piece of lemon cake she gave me and all 7 of us headed into the Capitol Building of Texas. We went into the main hall in the first floor and looked up. Woah. On the ceiling there was a star and it had the word Texas written around it. Around it were layers and layers of circles, each one decorated with intricate details.
I followed the map and led my family through the huge building. Along the way, we met the senators' room and the governors room. Both of them were huge and had so many large chairs. Pictures of famous people and battles crowded the rooms' walls. We ambled through the building as I finally put my Texas History lessons from school to use. I pointed out important pictures or symbols and explained the significance of each one. We went around the whole building and took pictures outside. The dome of the Capitol Building is the most special part of its structure, so we tried to take the pictures with the dome in the background.
After that, we left to our third stop, lunch. We were all so hungry that we gobbled down our food in less than 20 mins. Our last stop before going to our home away from home was the Natural Bridge Caverns. The Natural Bridge Caverns is not a man made wonder. It has been formed over many many decades. A few minutes into exploring these caverns, we realized that this was a mistake. Going 200 feet down multiple slopes and steps is not a good idea when two elders are coming along. My grandparents tried as well as they could to go down 200 ft into the caverns. The caverns were beautiful. The formations were amazing. Some were large and wide while others were small and narrow. Also, the ground was wet because the stalagmites and other formations form with the aid of water. The rooms were candle lit, the walls and floor were slippery,
On top of the rooms being candle lit, the walls and floor being slippery, we had to ascend 200ft in order to see the light of day again. It was humid. Very humid. Going up 200ft can be hard as it is, especially when you have elders with you, and the sweat from humidity and the darkness does not help. Nonetheless, the formations itself were magnificent and glamorous. There was a room that had a formation that looked like a king's throne, with a little arm chair looking place and with chandelier like formations dangling all around. There were even some stalagmites that looks like a face or a child! It was extraordinary that nature created all of this. I took pictures to remember the place, and we continued our journey to the top. Do you know the feeling when you are tired, sweaty, and you start getting a little mad? Well that was us and, the feeling we got when we saw the light shine through can not be explained in words. It felt like a heavenly light shone through, taking us out of this darkness and placing us in the bright path again. We climbed up and took a huge long breath of fresh air. Boy did it feel good to have that fast and cool wind dash into you. We all rested for a while and then waved the caverns good bye.
Google maps claimed that the drive to our rented house would just be 10 mins, but the road had other plans. It decided to invite a whole lot of traffic and construction onto it. We had to take a lot of detours and wait in the traffic for so long! A simple 10 minute ride ended being 40 minutes long. The traffic was so slow that I could see the same building outside my window for a minute or two! We ended up getting past the traffic and, we came to our rented house. The house looked like the best one on the whole entire street. The community was pretty old and teared up, but our house was dazzling enough for us and we adored it.
We changed into more comfortable clothes, picked our rooms, and me and my sisters crashed onto the bed and turned on the t.v. As my dad and mom cooked hot, fresh food, my sisters and I relaxed and watched Netflix. The smell of rasam(a type of liquidy soup) wafted into my nose and I immediately leapt out of the bed and sprinted to the kitchen. Oh that rasam. My mouth watered as my mom poured the hot and freshly made rasam over my white rice. I could feel a sense of comfort, peace, and deliciousness as it went down my esophagus. It was heaven in a bite. I had rasam rice and curd rice and later helped my mom clean up the table. We all went to our rooms and faster than you could say "good night", we were all fast asleep, dreaming about what the next day had in store for us.
Day 2:
The sun shone through the curtains and I heard the sounds of clattering and banging yet again. I groggily walked to the restroom and freshened up. All of us had our breakfast and we headed out to Sea World. Last night, my mom and I came up with a schedule on which show and when we were going to go to it, so we already had an idea about what we were going to see today. We had actually been to Sea World once before in the summer of 2015, but we were still excited to see it again. 3-4 miles away from Sea World, we could see the gigantic roller coaster ride that is used as a landmark for Sea World. The roller coaster was so long and so huge, that we could see it from a few miles away! We actually got there before Sea World opened, so we had to wait a little while.
At 10 a.m sharp, the staff there checked our tickets off and we entered Sea World. We had a while before the first show, so we decided to spend some time at the play area. We went on a few mini rides and then walked over to our first show, Sea Lion High.
 |
| 2015 |
 |
| 2019 |
Our third stop was the beluga and dolphin show and it was close to the entrance. My mom, sisters, and grandparents went to the next show before my dad and I did because my dad and I were going to get some pretzels. We waited in a long line and finally bought our cinnamon pretzel nuggets and our salted pretzel nuggets. My dad and I navigated through the park and found the rest of our family, already seated in the auditorium. As we munched on the pretzels, we watched beluga whales and dolphins do tricks. The trainers swam through the water with the help of the whales.
We had about an hour until our next show. We all shuffled to the huge playground yet again and decided to relax a while. Just as my sisters were stating to enjoy the obstacle course, my dad called us for lunch. We were not allowed to bring our own food, so we decided to settle with pizza and some chips. Little did we know that two pizza slices could be that huge! The amount of chips they gave us per serving was enough for both breakfast and dinner combined! We all struggled to finish, but we all managed to do so in the end. The walk from the playground to the killer whale show was long. Hence, we decided to leave 20 mins before the show starts, so we could get there and find good seats on time.
The killer whale show was probably the highlight of the day. It was beautiful. Even though I had already seen these shows, they were still unbelievable and fantastic. These killer whales were so shiny, that the ceiling's designs reflected on the whales' skin! The whales did any tricks and also splashed the audience with water. They imitated their trainer and waved hello just like them. It was incredible! My sisters jumped up and down and kept yelling remarks such as,"Akka look at that!" "Woah, that's so cool!"
Once the show was over, we had quite a dilemma on our hands. We had to find a way to spend three hours in Sea World without getting bored. We decided to just go back to to the playground, so we started heading in that direction. On the way back we spotted a roller-coaster rider called The Journey to Atlantis. My mom and I are not fans of roller-coaster rides at all. Not even a little bit. My dad and sisters on the other hand were crazy about rides. My sister Dhanya even once stated,"I like the feeling I get when we zoom down!" My dad and sisters got a look on their faces which I did not like. I had nothing against them going on the roller-coaster ride, but dragging me into it, was just unacceptable. I tried to run out of the line, but each time, my dad blocked me. Somehow, they managed to get me to get in and the ride began. We slowly ascended. My heart went budump budump. We reached the first stop. We spun around once, and then once more. Uh oh. We dipped back, this time backwards.
The breeze dashed on my face and for a second I felt relaxed, but then we came to our second stop. We turned back around to face the front yet again and we paused for a second. My heart beat even faster. I felt like we were all going to fall to our death! We tilted down and...... That feeling kicked in and even though it was just for a couple of seconds, my heart pumped faster, my brain blanked out, and I screamed! Once we hit the bottom, water splashed us and thinking back to it, the drop didn't feel too bad. The cool water felt good on this very hot day. It was 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and the water felt refreshing. Just as I was about to go back to my mom, my dad pulled me in and made me go on the ride again. This time, I ended being dragged into the very front. Not only did I have to go on the ride again, but this time, I had full view of what was going to happen. We would be the first to plunge in! But I ended up going on the ride again. Honestly it was a good experience and I kind of did have fun, but it was time to move on.
We walked over to the park and my sisters flew away. The rest of us sat under a shade and tried to just rest for a while, but the burning sun decided that we should not have time to rest. All of us got up and decided to explore some of the other rides around Sea World because moving around would be better than getting fried by the sun. As we were walking around, we saw two rides and decided that this was a way to spend some time. My mom, grandparents, and I backed out and clearly said NO for these two rides. One spun around so many times that I would end up puking! The other was like a pendulum and it went all the way up and came back down. That meant that for a few seconds, you would be complete upside down! These were too much and I just decided to sit on the benches. My mom and I were probably more scared and worried than my sisters were and my sisters were the ones on the ride! We were just standing outside it and just the look of it was enough to make me faint. On the other hand, my sisters came back from the rides and had joyful looks on their faces.
I noticed there was another ride not far from where we were, so we all went there. It was a boat ride on a river. We all got in the boat and the ride began. We managed to get on through the whole day without getting wet, but this ride ended that streak. At the end of the ride, there was a huge waterfall that we went through and we all got wet top to bottom. We were drenched from our hair to our socks, but thanks to the heat today, we started getting dried up as we walked to our last show, One Ocean.
One Ocean was a show on orcas. I have to say that it was basically a repeat of the killer whale show. There weren't any new tricks and the show started really late. We waited for a log time in our wet clothes, listening to random commercials and facts that we had already heard over the day. On the positive side, I guess we had one more chance to get some amazing pics of these unique creatures!
The show ended soon and we all crowded to the door. As we were walking out, we heard announcements that stated that Sea World was closing in 2 mins. My family and I exited Sea World and strode to our car. It might have felt like a 105 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but inside the car, it was probably 130 degrees. The metal part of the seat belt was burning and the whole atmosphere felt stuffy and strangling. I even think that if we had kept an uncooked corn in the car before entering Sea World, by the time we came back, it would have probably been cooked and maybe even popped into popcorn! All of us only came back to life after the air conditioner completely kicked in. We all drank the juice packs we brought but it was so warm, that it kind of ruined its taste. Thankfully, the traffic was not as bad as yesterday and we reached home in a short 10 minutes.
We all kicked our shoes off, changed, and hit the bed. My sisters and I browsed through Netflix and amazon Prime as my parents cooked that night's dinner. Yesterday was the extraordinary rasam, and today was an equally amazing sambar. We all had the hot rice and went to bed. My sisters and I chatted for a while about what the next day might be like and soon we all fell fast asleep.
Day 3:
A brand new day. We all did our morning routines, ate, and left to Aquatica which is right next to Sea World.We were all in our swim wear because Aquatica is a water park. We got our tickets checked and then headed on to one of the many pools there. We all settled down in the cool pool and floated in the cool water with the sun n our eyes. The cool thing about this pool was that every once in eight minutes tides started coming up and we could swim alongside the waves crashing us. After a while of chilling in the pool, my dad dragged my sisters and me to a water slide. As I mentioned before, rides and me don't mix well.
We climbed up the many slides and finally reached the top. This ride was a group ride. All four of us sat on the floatie and we zoomed down the slide. When the water pushed the floatie off the slide and the ride stopped, we saw a lot of stingrays. On top of us and on the sides, behind the glass was stingrays. We floated to the exit as we gazed at these sea wonders. The slide was not bad and I actually felt good. Next, we ran to another water slide. this one was an individual ride and there were three slides. We had to choose which one to go down in and then after the green light came on, the water carried me down the long and twisty slide. To be honest, it felt good. It felt nice just having the water rush against my back as it pushed me down. There were many twists and turns and the slide carried us to a mini pool. We all got out of the pool and ran to the pool our mom and grandparents were at. After a lot of persuasive talk, my sisters and I finally got my mom to come with us to a ride. My mom came on just one slide and then strolled back to the surf pool.
I went by myself first to to check out the rest of the park. After finding a couple more slides, I raced back to where my dad and sisters were. I guided them to the slides and we all sprinted to it. This ride was different because we had to lie down on a raft and then got pushed into the slide. The slide twisted and turned and at the end there was a giant unexpected drop and I actually thought I would fall off and get hurt. But of course, that didn't happen. For the last slide, I went up 18 flights of stairs(a total of 150 steps) only to come back down because I was so scared. I watched as my sisters and dad looped around and fell down into the water. My dad thought I was a coward to not go on the ride, but I had enough fun just watching it.
We walked back to the surf pool and had our lunch. After we were full, we decided to just relax for an hour and then hit the road. Just when I thought that this day was the best, my sister Ananya hit me in the eye with her elbow, leaving a big black bump. It was an accident, but I was still pretty mad at her. Due to my throbbing eye, we left earlier than we had expected. To parch our thirst, we drank the hot juice and had a piece of lemon bread each. The car raced down the highway. Two heads leaned over and fitted their heads perfectly onto my shoulder. I kicked my shoes off, patted my sisters' legs, and stared out the window. I saw many trees; each one staying behind as we kept moving forward. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.
The killer whale show was probably the highlight of the day. It was beautiful. Even though I had already seen these shows, they were still unbelievable and fantastic. These killer whales were so shiny, that the ceiling's designs reflected on the whales' skin! The whales did any tricks and also splashed the audience with water. They imitated their trainer and waved hello just like them. It was incredible! My sisters jumped up and down and kept yelling remarks such as,"Akka look at that!" "Woah, that's so cool!"
The breeze dashed on my face and for a second I felt relaxed, but then we came to our second stop. We turned back around to face the front yet again and we paused for a second. My heart beat even faster. I felt like we were all going to fall to our death! We tilted down and...... That feeling kicked in and even though it was just for a couple of seconds, my heart pumped faster, my brain blanked out, and I screamed! Once we hit the bottom, water splashed us and thinking back to it, the drop didn't feel too bad. The cool water felt good on this very hot day. It was 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and the water felt refreshing. Just as I was about to go back to my mom, my dad pulled me in and made me go on the ride again. This time, I ended being dragged into the very front. Not only did I have to go on the ride again, but this time, I had full view of what was going to happen. We would be the first to plunge in! But I ended up going on the ride again. Honestly it was a good experience and I kind of did have fun, but it was time to move on.
We walked over to the park and my sisters flew away. The rest of us sat under a shade and tried to just rest for a while, but the burning sun decided that we should not have time to rest. All of us got up and decided to explore some of the other rides around Sea World because moving around would be better than getting fried by the sun. As we were walking around, we saw two rides and decided that this was a way to spend some time. My mom, grandparents, and I backed out and clearly said NO for these two rides. One spun around so many times that I would end up puking! The other was like a pendulum and it went all the way up and came back down. That meant that for a few seconds, you would be complete upside down! These were too much and I just decided to sit on the benches. My mom and I were probably more scared and worried than my sisters were and my sisters were the ones on the ride! We were just standing outside it and just the look of it was enough to make me faint. On the other hand, my sisters came back from the rides and had joyful looks on their faces.
I noticed there was another ride not far from where we were, so we all went there. It was a boat ride on a river. We all got in the boat and the ride began. We managed to get on through the whole day without getting wet, but this ride ended that streak. At the end of the ride, there was a huge waterfall that we went through and we all got wet top to bottom. We were drenched from our hair to our socks, but thanks to the heat today, we started getting dried up as we walked to our last show, One Ocean.
One Ocean was a show on orcas. I have to say that it was basically a repeat of the killer whale show. There weren't any new tricks and the show started really late. We waited for a log time in our wet clothes, listening to random commercials and facts that we had already heard over the day. On the positive side, I guess we had one more chance to get some amazing pics of these unique creatures!
The show ended soon and we all crowded to the door. As we were walking out, we heard announcements that stated that Sea World was closing in 2 mins. My family and I exited Sea World and strode to our car. It might have felt like a 105 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but inside the car, it was probably 130 degrees. The metal part of the seat belt was burning and the whole atmosphere felt stuffy and strangling. I even think that if we had kept an uncooked corn in the car before entering Sea World, by the time we came back, it would have probably been cooked and maybe even popped into popcorn! All of us only came back to life after the air conditioner completely kicked in. We all drank the juice packs we brought but it was so warm, that it kind of ruined its taste. Thankfully, the traffic was not as bad as yesterday and we reached home in a short 10 minutes.We all kicked our shoes off, changed, and hit the bed. My sisters and I browsed through Netflix and amazon Prime as my parents cooked that night's dinner. Yesterday was the extraordinary rasam, and today was an equally amazing sambar. We all had the hot rice and went to bed. My sisters and I chatted for a while about what the next day might be like and soon we all fell fast asleep.
Day 3:
A brand new day. We all did our morning routines, ate, and left to Aquatica which is right next to Sea World.We were all in our swim wear because Aquatica is a water park. We got our tickets checked and then headed on to one of the many pools there. We all settled down in the cool pool and floated in the cool water with the sun n our eyes. The cool thing about this pool was that every once in eight minutes tides started coming up and we could swim alongside the waves crashing us. After a while of chilling in the pool, my dad dragged my sisters and me to a water slide. As I mentioned before, rides and me don't mix well.
We climbed up the many slides and finally reached the top. This ride was a group ride. All four of us sat on the floatie and we zoomed down the slide. When the water pushed the floatie off the slide and the ride stopped, we saw a lot of stingrays. On top of us and on the sides, behind the glass was stingrays. We floated to the exit as we gazed at these sea wonders. The slide was not bad and I actually felt good. Next, we ran to another water slide. this one was an individual ride and there were three slides. We had to choose which one to go down in and then after the green light came on, the water carried me down the long and twisty slide. To be honest, it felt good. It felt nice just having the water rush against my back as it pushed me down. There were many twists and turns and the slide carried us to a mini pool. We all got out of the pool and ran to the pool our mom and grandparents were at. After a lot of persuasive talk, my sisters and I finally got my mom to come with us to a ride. My mom came on just one slide and then strolled back to the surf pool.
I went by myself first to to check out the rest of the park. After finding a couple more slides, I raced back to where my dad and sisters were. I guided them to the slides and we all sprinted to it. This ride was different because we had to lie down on a raft and then got pushed into the slide. The slide twisted and turned and at the end there was a giant unexpected drop and I actually thought I would fall off and get hurt. But of course, that didn't happen. For the last slide, I went up 18 flights of stairs(a total of 150 steps) only to come back down because I was so scared. I watched as my sisters and dad looped around and fell down into the water. My dad thought I was a coward to not go on the ride, but I had enough fun just watching it.
We walked back to the surf pool and had our lunch. After we were full, we decided to just relax for an hour and then hit the road. Just when I thought that this day was the best, my sister Ananya hit me in the eye with her elbow, leaving a big black bump. It was an accident, but I was still pretty mad at her. Due to my throbbing eye, we left earlier than we had expected. To parch our thirst, we drank the hot juice and had a piece of lemon bread each. The car raced down the highway. Two heads leaned over and fitted their heads perfectly onto my shoulder. I kicked my shoes off, patted my sisters' legs, and stared out the window. I saw many trees; each one staying behind as we kept moving forward. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.
0 Comments