Chicago, Here We Come

          We left for Chicago at 12:00 pm to go and pick up my grandparents at O'Hare international airport. We had to travel about five hours. As we left we picked up some lunch at Kroger. In the car we ate and played and looked at the scenic views. Often in the ride I went to sleep or just ate snacks. An interesting thing that I saw was a wind farm where there were hundreds of energy generating windmills. We could see rows and rows of windmills expanding over the fields. We soon entered the bustling city of Chicago where the traffic got really bad really fast. Chicago is a large city with movement of ideas, goods and cars. The absolute location of the center of Chicago is 41° 52′ 55″ N, 87° 37′ 40″ W. It took us about an hour just to get around ten miles. Finally we got to our hotel and we checked in. We went on our T.V. and watched the Kentucky Derby. At 5:30 we left to go to the airport to pick up my grandparents.

          When we went to pick them up something was odd because my grandparents didn't come out. After standing in the arrival section for about three hours my grandparents came. They told us that someone had taken their luggage. Now we had to find the luggage that was lost in the terminal. We left very disappointed but at around 12:00 they found the luggage and we had to go pick it up. We went to bed at the hotel which was comfortable. We woke up in the morning and we hung around in our room. As we were leaving our hotel we saw an orange Lamborghini in the parking lot. Then we left to eat lunch at a restaurant. After eating, we took a small drive around the edge of Lake Michigan. We saw the lake because Chicago is located in the northeastern part of Illinois and southwest of Lake Michigan. The lake was very pretty and there were many people riding their bikes or just running. After taking a small tour we started our trip home. We came back home at about 8:30 on a Sunday so it wasn't the best timing.

Trip Home

The trip home was just as boring as driving to Florida. I was not excited to get home because it would be Sunday night and I would have to go to school the next day. We stopped in Atlanta, Georgia again and we even stayed in the same hotel. I slept most of the trip except to eat or do my business. We stopped in Atlanta for the night. In the morning we went shopping because we didn't have any food at home. We bought a lot of food.  We bought lunch and then were were on our final stretch of driving. The scene was not the best because all I could see everywhere was farms, farms, and even more farms. We were in the Bluegrass region so now we saw many horses and other animals and some fields of what I thought was wheat. We passed through Tennessee and came into Kentucky.

Now I just looked things up on my dad's iPhone. I went to sleep when it was warm but I woke up to a startling noise. For some reason it was now hailing outside. The hail chunks were pretty big considering even small ones could do damage. Luckily our car did not get damaged. The storm only lasted for a short time, five minutes at the most. We finally got home at around eight so I had to eat dinner quickly and then go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be Monday. I was going to Pine Mountain for another week so I wouldn't be at home for a long time. Even though there was school I ended up staying up till around eleven o'clock doing homework.

Blizzard Beach II

          My sister and I wanted to play in the wave pool so I played in the wave pool with her. The pool got really deep because the waves were making the pool much deeper. After playing there we went to the lift and rode it back up to the top. We rode the Slusher Gusher which was a ride that went down extremely fast. The only drawback we had was having to wait in line for about an hour in the scorching heat. I went down the wrong way so my feet were splashing water into my face all the way down. I was completely blinded and I didn't even know where I was going or where the drops were. The ride was disappointing because the ride was really short. We decided not to ride Summit Plummet, a ride that was just one enormous drop because the line was even longer and still no shade. Instead we went to a small children's play area.

         One of the coolest things I did in the small water park was riding the zip-line and then jumping into a pool of water. There was also a challenge of walking across on icebergs which was quite difficult because I couldn't keep my balance. I was starting to get hungry so we got lunch. We also bought a mug that they sold which let us have unlimited drinks for the entire day. There was a ride called Downhill Double Dipper which we didn't ride because of the length of the line. The ride was a race between two people on rafts and you were timed on how fast you could finish the course. There was also a timer at the end so you could see who won the race. We went to the wave pool at the end of the day and just waded in the cool water. The time you were allowed in the water park was much shorter than the theme parks. We slowly left the water park in the crowd. Blizzard Beach is the second most visited water park in the world.

Blizzard Beach I

          We went to Blizzard Beach which was one of the two water parks that were part of Disney. Blizzard Beach is located near it's sister park Typhoon Lagoon and near the other Disney parks.  The theme of Blizzard Beach was warm wave pools like beaches and cool slides like skiing. When we got in we found a spot along the wave pool and got our sunscreen on because of the extreme sun and heat. Because the day was really warm we could play at the "ski resort" without getting cold. We swam in the wave pool for a few minutes before walking up the mountain. We walked up the mountain instead of taking the ski lift. We got up and took the family ride which was really fun. The rides were built on to the side of Mount Gushmore which made the slope of the rides. We got into a raft that held our whole family and went down small and gentle slopes. My mom was afraid of the dismount of the ride. She thought she was going to drown.  After that ride we rode it again but this time we used the ski lift. We were tired of being in the sun so went into the Cross Country Creek which was a slow river ride that you could swim and relax in.

         We got off at one of the stops and went on the red slope. We rode the River Rapids which was really fun. I went with my dad and my mom because we only rode the two seated ones. After riding the two seater we wanted to go single, so we started going single in the enclosed slide. I found that going by your self was much faster than going double. My sister and I really enjoyed this rides so we rode it about five times. After riding it many times we moved up the hill for our next ride. Unfortunately there was no lift that would bring us up. Our next ride, which was my personal favorite, was sliding on the mats. There were two slides you could go down. One was just going down turns and slopes and the other one was where you could race other people. My sister and I didn't do that well in the race because there were people that were larger than us who went farther and faster.

Kennedy Space Center

      

  It took about thirty minutes to get to the Kennedy Space Visitor Center from our hotel. The space station is built on a small island east of the coast of Florida. On the way we saw many marshes and lots of tall grass. When we got there we parked and went to the entrance. We didn't have to wait in line for a ticket because we already had one. We entered, and the first thing we did was go to the bus station. The buses were going to tour us around the Space Center and show us launch pads. Our first stop was a lookout where people watched launches. We passed a machine called a Crawler which moved the shuttle to the launch pad. The machine went one mile per hour because of the massive weight it was carrying. We also got to see where the shuttles were put together. The building was the largest building according to it's volume. We were able to see the shuttle because there was going to be a launch very soon. When we got to the top of the lookout we saw the two launch pads. This is where the people watched the take-off.

            We had a snack and then departed for the second stop. We rode in the bus, and because the island we were on was a nature preserve we were able to see small crocodiles in the ponds and streams. The people who worked at the center helped protect and clean the environment. The bus took us to the Apollo/Saturn V Center. We watched a short video clip of the launch and then moved into the room where the real space rocket was. The rocket was enormous and probably could have stretched across a football field. We looked around and decided to have lunch. We had lunch then got a souvenir and left to go back to the visitor center. It took us about ten minutes and the guide showed us a bald eagle's nest. It was supposedly the size of a king size mattress. We were able to see the bald eagle too. We came back to the visitor center and we looked around even more.

         We went to a movie theater and watched two movies about space. Each movie was about one hour and thirty minutes and both took place in space. One movie was about life in a space station and the other was about fixing satellites and how they were built. Both of the movies were in 3-D. We finished watching and took a small break.  My family and I went into the gift shop and we looked around.  Our family likes to collect coins, so we pressed a quarter and added it to our collection. Then my dad, sister, and I went on a space shuttle launch simulation. The ride was not that fun because the ride only tilted at a small degree. The ride was supposed to make us feel like were being launched. After the ride we went to the the rocket garden. The rocket garden contained many different rockets from the past. My sister and I took a picture in one of the rockets. The museum was starting to close, so we started to leave. We got in the car and drove back to the hotel.

Universal Studios II

          After the Men in Black we got something to eat in a restaurant. I didn't like how they were blasting the air conditioners even though it was forty degrees outside. Then we found a spot to eat and had lunch. We got in line to ride The Simpson's Ride. This was also another simulator. We were watching a screen while we were moving side to side. On the screen we were on a roller-coaster  and there was a battle between an evil scientist and the two kids Lisa and Bart. The ride was not the best ride but it was decently fun. After this ride we had finished almost all the rides. We were going to walk back to the entrance and take one more walk around the park. On the way to the entrance we went and watched Terminator 2 in 3-D. There were real special effects on the side which made the movie a lot more realistic. The movie was action-packed and had a nice ending. This movie was not that fun because I didn't completely understand the main plot.

          The next part of the theme park was the kid area. We rode a small roller-coaster just for fun and then we went to E.T. Our lift was a bicycle that could fly. The ride was based on the movie so we had to try getting E.T. back to his home planet. E.T. has some special powers that can save his planet from dying. The ride was fun for me and my family. Then we moved on to the Rip Ride Rocket which was gargantuan roller-coaster. My body was full of adrenaline when I got in line for the ride. Once we got into the ride we were allowed to choose a song that we could listen to during the ride. After choosing the song we would ascend vertically and fall. The ride spun around a lot and the ride had many drops which made the ride more awesome. After the ride we rode it again and I chose a different song. This ride was my favorite by far because the ride was exhilarating.

          We started on our walk around the park for our second time. We rode Jaws and the Revenge of The Mummy twice. We stopped at Starbucks to take a break and get a drink. We also got to see three shows that we missed before. We watched a bunch of creatures like Dracula and Frankenstein dance. We also watched a animal stunt show which was like all other animal shows. The animals would dance and bring things back and forth. The show was just interesting and we learned new facts about animals.
After the show we headed towards the exit because we had stayed at the theme park for a long time. We had walked about eight hours. Universal Studios was much more fun then Islands of Adventure. I had realized that all the parts of the park were built for their theme. The ride Jaws was built around a dock and Rip Ride Rocket was built where they had a long area of land. The absolute location of Universal Studios is 28° 28′ 27.54″ N, 81° 27′ 46.24″ W. We went back to our hotel and we had chinese for dinner. It was easy to sleep because of all the walking. Tomorrow we would be going to Kennedy Space Center.

Universal Studios

          Today was another day of a lot of fun. When I woke up the sky was gray and it looked like it was going to rain. We arrived at the gates of Universal Studios and went in. Universal Studios has a lot of movement of ideas because the movies on T.V. are turned into rides. Universal Studios' relative location is near Islands of Adventure and across the bridge from City Walk As we went in I needed to go to the bathroom so we found the nearest bathroom and went in. When I came out it was pouring outside. We were lucky because we had just bought ponchos from the stand. We used our ponchos to get to an indoor movie. We watched Shrek in 4-D. It was very fun to watch because things popped out at you and it felt real. After the movie the rain had died down to a small drizzle. We went to Twister which was a special effects show.It was what would happen if a tornado went through a small town. It was very funny when I saw a cow flying in the tornado. There were many explosions and a lot of wind and then the show ended with a big bang.

          The weather outside was now very cold and we moved on to our next ride. Our next ride was Revenge of the Mummy which was an indoor roller-coaster. For some odd reason there was almost no line. When we entered the ride it was completely dark the whole ride so you didn't know where there was a drop. About halfway through the ride we started falling backwards but it only fell back a little bit. In the end the ride was very enjoyable and we got to see our faces in the picture. As we left we passed Rip Ride Rocket which we were saving for last. By now it was around lunch time and we were looking around for a place to eat lunch. Our next ride was Disaster and we had to wait a long time in line. We were supposedly making a movie. We got into a subway and then they let out water and fire. It made it look like a real disaster.

          We came out and our next ride was Jaws. We got into a boat and we were touring around the bay when another boat was sinking as we listened on the radio. We went looking for the sunken ship and found Jaws. The shark looked pretty realistic and it was gargantuan. On the ride Jaws tips the boat back and forth. He also lights a gas station and there is a huge explosion. At the end our guide shoots Jaws with a shotgun and we kill the shark. We arrive back at the port and we are all survivors. The ride was really fun because everything that happened was a surprise. After we got off we went to Men in Black. Men in Black was not a typical ride. It was a ride where you had to shoot things on the ride. At the end you get points which depends on how many aliens you shot. You had to aim at the alien's eyes to get points. We were playing against another team and my family got more points. I really liked this ride because it was interactive among the riders.

Islands Of Adventure II

          At the Seuss Landing most of the rides were built for younger kids. We rode a carousel which had all the different creatures in Dr. Seuss' books. After that ride we rode a very slow trolley ride that toured around the small area. This part of the theme park was pretty boring for me and my whole family. We moved on to the Lost Continent. In this portion of the theme park there was only one interesting thing and it was a show. The rest was either shops or restaurants. We went into waiting area for the show. The show was based on Poseidon and his kingdom and how an evil person destroyed his kingdom. The guide that was touring us around was acting pretty funny. In this show we had to keep moving to different rooms. When we entered one of the rooms there was a vortex of water that was swirling around us. As we neared the end of the show there was a battle between Poseidon and the evil man. There was a fire and water show. In the end Poseidon won and we were freed from the locked room.

 

          When we finished watching the show we walked over to the next show. The show was a stunt show which included a princess being rescued from an evil witch. There were many special effects which made the show much more amusing. The show lasted about 30 minutes and then we moved back into Harry Potter World. About this time it was three o'clock in the afternoon so it was extremely hot outside. Because the weather was hot we bought some butterbeer. Butterbeer came from the Harry Potter book and it was made with root beer and vanilla ice cream. So the butterbeer was a root beer float. The drink came in a mug which we got to keep as a souvenir. We stopped at a table and drank and planned out where we were going to go. There is a lot of movement because there are a lot of people just moving around and there are many goods being bought from the small shops. When I looked around I saw many American foods and noticed that walking was the only way to travel in the park.

          The lines of the Harry Potter rides were now really long.  The long lines didn't stop us from riding a mini roller-coaster. My sister really wanted to ride it so we went with her. We had an express pass so we didn't have to wait in line as long. After the ride we were going to take one more walk around the park riding all the good rides again. We road the River Adventure again. We didn't ride any other wet rides because we didn't want to get wet again. By the time we got to The Port of Entry it was around six o'clock and the park was going to close soon. At the entrance we bought turkey legs for dinner and brought them to the hotel to eat. We walked on the winding road again while watching the people passing by on a boat. At the hotel I had a turkey leg. The turkey legs were so good that we decided on eating it at Universal Studios the next day. I ate and the then watched some television and then fell asleep.

Islands of Adventures

          Today I was going to go to the theme park, Islands of Adventures. The absolute location of Islands of Adventure is 28° 28′ 18″ N, 81° 28′ 17″ W. This location is near the city but the area is very different. The theme park uses its land by making rides and fun attractions. These things make this place different from the others. I started the day by eating breakfast and then walking on the small trail to the park. Because we were staying at a special hotel, we were allowed to enter the park and visit Harry Potter World one hour earlier than other people. The lines into the park still took a pretty long time. We were unlucky because we always chose the slower line. We made our way to the Harry Potter area and started waiting in line for the main ride. Every other part of the park was closed. We had to wait around forty minutes to get to the entrance of the ride. The ride was inside the replica of the Hogwarts castle. The castle looked realistic. If we had come later when the park fully opened, we would have had to wait at least two hours. The ride was not what we were expecting. It was a simulation ride so it stayed in one place and just spun around. The ride had many things shooting into our faces like water and air. The ride ended and I thought it would not have been worth the wait if I had waited two hours. There was a roller coaster ride called the Dragon Challenge but my sister was not tall enough so we didn't ride the ride. After the ride we made our way to Jurassic Park.


           My favorite ride was the River Adventure because it was a raft in the water and there was a huge drop at the end of the ride. The dinosaurs looked very realistic and the ride was a little creepy. We were pretty wet after we rode the ride. We decided to ride all the water rides while we were wet. There weren't any other good rides in Jurassic Park so we moved onto Toon Lagoon. The rides were all rides where you were going to get soaked. We rode a ride that was similar to Splash Mountain but the drop at the end was steeper and a little longer. This ride made us a little more wet. Then we walked to the wettest ride in Orlando. It was Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges. The person that was helping us on to the ride told us to put our belongings in the protected area. He also told us that we would have at least fourteen gallons of water dumped onto us. The ride got us so wet that we had to sit and dry our clothes. It was really funny when I saw human dryers. You had to pay five dollars and then you were allowed to enter the human dryer. When we got finished drying we moved onto our next part of the park.

           We walked over to the Marvel Superhero section in our soggy shoes. The sun felt extremely warm because of the cool winds on our wet skin. The first ride we rode was Spiderman. The ride was also another simulation. In the ride we were a group of reporters watching Spiderman fight off many different villains. The next ride, Doctor Doom's Fearfall, seemed extremely scary but really the ride was really short. Doctor Doom's Fearfall was a ride where the seat would drop and you would experience zero gravity. The ride just went up once then fell back down. After the ride we walked towards The Hulk. My family didn't ride it because my sister was not tall enough. Instead I rode a small spinning ride with my sister. We were going to go back to Harry Potter World and take a last walk around the park. We passed the entrance and went into Seuss Landing. This part of the theme park was based on some of Dr. Seuss' books.

Almost at Florida

                  We woke up in the hotel at around seven in the morning. We got dressed and went to the bakery to get our breakfast. After we bought some bread we went to the supermarket to get our lunch. It didn't take that long for us to buy lunch. We filled up our gas tank and started our seven hour trip to Orlando, Florida. I ate the bread that we bought at the bakery. My sister was less annoying on this trip because she was reading almost the whole time. She liked reading the Hunger Games series. Because we were heading south towards the equator, the biome was changing and so was the temperature. I was starting to see many more trees in bloom than in Kentucky. I started to see palm trees on the side of the road. While I was in the car I went to sleep many times. After about six hours, I was getting really tired of being in a car. When we got to our hotel I was thankful.

                When we arrived it was a little past noon so it was extremely hot. When we got inside the hotel to check in, it was nice and cool. The hotel was built with the nature around it. There were a lot of palm trees and other tropical trees. After we checked in, we decided to go to the pool to cool down. There was a large pool area and a small water park that sprayed very cold water. We stayed at the pool for about an hour until it got boring. We went back to our room and took a break. We decided to go to a restaurant on City Walk. City Walk is a place where you can eat and shop. City Walk is a part of the Universal Studios amusement park. Our hotel was connected to the theme park so it didn't take too long to get there. We could either travel there by boat or by walking. On our first trip we chose the boat. The boat took us down a small river and into City Walk. The small manmade river was polluted because the water was not being filtered and was being polluted by humans. City Walk was an outside entertainment area with restaurants, shops, and night clubs. We looked around and decided to eat at Hard Rock Cafe. We got into the restaurant and my family all had different types of burgers. After we were satisfied we walked back to our hotel instead of taking the boat. As I was walking down the sidewalk I was able to see the rides of the theme parks. Today we wouldn't ride any rides but tomorrow is when we will go on the fun amusement rides.

Day of the Road Trip

          It was 4 a.m. when we woke up to go to Florida. Driving there would take at least fourteen hours. We would travel through Tennessee and Georgia. We got packed and got in the car. We had officially started our trip from Louisville, Kentucky to Orlando, Florida. When we typed in our  first destination on our G.P.S., it showed us that we had to travel six and a half hours. Our first destination was Atlanta, Georgia. We would stop at a hotel to spend the night. We drove east towards Lexington then headed south. In the hour we traveled through the Bluegrass region I saw a lot of fields and farms. When I opened the window for cool air the air seemed very fresh. The cities were becoming further apart. After traveling a few hours we stopped at Cracker Barrel where we had our breakfast. I had a country fried steak which was savory. We looked around in the shop for a little bit and then got back in the car. In the car I was amusing myself with a Batman movie and my iPod. I played many small games and listened to music. Around this time we were going through the Appalachian Mountains. We traveled through the Cumberland Gap and into Tennessee.

              Traveling through Tennessee was much faster because it was a lot smaller in width (north to south). Tennessee also had many fields and farms. We arrived in Georgia at around lunch time and we checked in at our hotel. After taking a small break we went to a supermarket where we had lunch and went shopping. I got my hair cut here too. My mom and my sister got their hair curled so I had to wait about three hours. After that it was around six, so we went to the hotel to rest. Some of my family members fell asleep so we had to eat dinner at nine. We decided to go to a korean restaurant because there are not many korean restaurants in Louisville. I had a korean barbeque and then we went back to our hotel. I fell asleep pretty quickly because I was very tired and I had a long drive ahead of me.