The first post
Back in it again. Today was stack full of activities, some genuinely fun, others super tedious and tiring, and others seemingly built just to stall for time and irritate me. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
Waking up and breakfast
Waking up was pretty normal. I woke up a little earlier than I wanted though, but I was still alright.
I slept in a bunk bed which was also in the room that my parents also slept in. I think I was the first to wake up, at around 6:15. Dad was next and then mom.
After a little chatter about the day and the schedule, we went outside, to the living room.
Some of our little cousins were awake, most of them noisy but bearable. Mom stayed in the room but dad and I went out. I wasn’t out for very long sadly due to the noise they made, though.
Mom and I talked some more about the trip while we were together. Some reassurance about the trip being fine, me casually pacing through the room. I can’t remember what she said, but she was comforting.
Eventually, around 7:30, breakfast started. One of my uncles was cooking and his wife was serving crapes to the little cousins, so I eventually joined the line and got one for myself. I made one using Nutella, some bananas, and some whipped cream and ate it, the thing tasted delicious.
I can’t really remember the morning very well as I’m writing this at the end of the day, but it was a good start.
At around 9:00, the whole family left for the first activity for the day.
Hiking hell
The first thing we left to do was go on a hike, and a relatively short one at that. A short hike for hiking standards at least.
1.8 miles sounds quite innocent for a hike, right?
Well. Factor in intense heat, the amount of toddlers and babies there, and rough upwards terrain, and…
My soul didn’t feel like they would get through this one. But it did.
My lungs felt like they were slowly but actively deflating from the heat like a popped blimp. My heart was beating in and out of reality like a malfunctioning device. My head was more wet than usual he Pacific Ocean.
It. was. so. Hot.
The terrain sucked, but it was at least lined with a lot of decorative and funny looking rocks. It was cool seeing the rocks, but the heat was so oppressive and scary, burning my soul out of my body.
Oh well. At the top of the hike was a scenic view of the desert below. Once we were done we descended the peak and got the freshest whiff of relief in the form of conditioned air, courtesy of our cars.
Splash pads and Lunch
The relief of the cars lasted as they carried our weathered bodies out to a splash pad with a few benches.
And there, we relaxed.
I brought my swimsuit, but I didn’t feel like getting my whole body wet though. It was fine, I also had some sandals in reserve and they were perfectly built for this.
Dipping my feet in and the cool rush was the nicest feeling I’ll feel all day.
…that’s actually pretty true, the day gets better but not by much.
After about an hour of soaking, my family finally brings lunch and stuff out to us in coolers. With the materials my family brought, I was able to make a ham and cheese and eat it. I’m a big fan of these things so of course it was a nice thing to devour.
We kept eating, relaxing and just having a good time, though I mostly played Jetpack joyride as I waited for time to pass. I’m not much of a talker.
And eventually, the talking died down and we packed up our coolers, bringing them into the cars and going on with our days. We went to the building nearby, which was the next place on our itineraries.
Children’s museum
The children’s museum was up next, and oh boy.
I’m one of the older ones in family, which made me not really like too many of the exhibits there. However, the rest of the little cousins had a blast.
We started in the construction room and I was able to build a Rube Goldberg machine. Felt pretty accomplished to get the thing to work, it was tough to do so.
I’m going to shorten this down but there were several different places to go, from a farm to a pharmacy to a grocery store and desert exhibit with constellations to boot. All in all, I got bored and tired by the end of it but everybody had fun.
Little did I know what would happen next.
Stalling stores, then going back
I hate shopping.
I hate shopping so much. You don’t even know.
As we left the museum, my family felt like we HAD to stop at the nearby mall. Hearing this out me in a bad mood. I was tired from all the activity we had done earlier in the day, and I had gotten into the mindset of just relaxing and being quiet.
After spending an hour or so shopping, letting my aunt get shoes for her boy, and something something else, we left to get dinner for everybody.
We went to a place that calls itself ‘papa’s got jerk’ or something like that, and they server Jamaican food there. I knew I wouldn’t be a fan due to the barbecue sauce and spiciness, but we thankfully had Mac and cheese as well as hot dogs for everybody else at home.
Speaking of getting home, I rushed in and got changed as quickly as I possibly could. My clothes were dirty and annoying to wear, I felt I needed to change out and bring a change of them tomorrow. Never again. The macaroni was good, enough to satisfy me. Sorry if this and museum part were shorter than usual, I’m sort of shutting down and wanting to relax.
At least because granny got here, we are surely not going on another hike. I’m certain in inherited asthma or something from my mom because she left for the car early on the hike.
We’re going to another museum for sure tomorrow, and this one is about dinosaurs. I’ve been looking at this one for awhile since it was the first thing that caught my eye at Saint George when planning things to do. Hopefully we find some other things to also do because if the place is small, there’s unlikely to be anything else to do besides just go to the cabin and waste time.
Thanks for reading, this means a lot to me. This trip makes me realize what home means to me more than anything.
