Day 12: In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle...

  Tampa, Florida, United States
Tuesday, August 1, 2006

001 - Driving to Tampa

I woke up at 9:00 this morning and got ready quickly. Today was our Busch Gardens day and we wanted to leave as early as possible. I was in a really bad mood, though, and was dragging along. I took a shower and watched an "America's Next Top Model" marathon on VH1 while I got ready. I then blew my hair, had cereal for breakfast, mom and dad walked the dog, and we were out the door by 10:45. I was excited about going to Busch Gardens but today was supposed to be one of the hottest days of the summer. It was going to be 98 degrees, but feel like 105 degrees with the humidity. Oy. We pulled out of Crescent Lakes and drove down Orange Blossom Trail, the back road that would help us avoid the traffic on 192. We then drove down I4 towards Tampa Bay. We spent the time listening to the radio and looking at all of the signs and billboards along the road. The ride went by quickly, until we were ten minutes from I75 which would bring us up the west coast of Florida and leave us ten minutes from Busch Gardens. I had to go to the bathroom really really bad, so we stopped at a gas station in Thonotosassa. Yes, Thonotosassa. Never heard of it? Me neither but it was a very, very small and religious Christian town.

002 - Driving to Tampa

Mom and I got out of the car and ran into a deserted gas station, and the bathroom was all the way in the back and was completely run down. I was actually scared back there, it wasn't cool. There was only one stall in the bathroom so I went in first and it wasn't too bad, but there were a bunch of ants crawling around. Ew. I was in and out in no time and then I waited for mom outside the door while she ran in. This place was really scary. Mom was out quickly and we ran back to the car and were on our way. Within five minutes we were getting off I4 at Exit 9 and driving onto I75 North. Ten minutes later we were passing the University of South Florida. My Uncle Marc spent a year at the University of South Florida and I always thought it was in Miami, or at least somewhere farther south. We all had a good laugh seeing the school since Uncle Marc had driven down from New York and then when he came home he just left his car there and flew back. We joked around about his car still being there covered in tickets!

006 - Busch Gardens

Five minutes later we were pulling into the Busch Gardens parking lot. It was now 1:00 so it had taken us only an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, including a stop for the bathroom. Not bad at all. I loved the entire Tampa area, or at least what we saw of it. Everything was very bright and airy and I liked how it was all very tropical even though the nearest beach was still a good twenty minutes away. I think I was just getting sick of the cows of Central Florida and was glad to see a change of scenery. We pulled up to the parking lot and paid our $9.00 for parking. When you're already paying so much to go to a theme park I hate how you have to pay for parking. Is close to $70 a person not enough? Anyway, we paid and were asked for our zip code. I guess they want to know where people are traveling from to visit the park. We then drove through the not-too-crowded parking lot and found a spot.

010 - Busch Gardens

There was a tram waiting a few feet away so we walked over to it but it left half-empty just as we were approaching it. Nice. Thanks. We waited two more minutes before another tram pulled up. We got on it and waited and waited and waited... while the other tram had left half-empty without waiting for us, we had to wait for every single person in the area to get on the tram. We couldn't leave until it was full. Even when it was full we sat around for another five minutes. I was getting annoyed but it wasn't too hot out so it wasn't bad. We also had a great view of Montu, one of Busch Garden's best roller coasters. At 1:15 we finally pulled out of the tram station and made our way to the entrance of the park. On the way our driver told us to enjoy our first ride of the day and that the tram goes sixty miles... in six days. Haha! When we got to the entrance of the park we went up to the security at the gates for them to check our bags. I noticed that the security here was a lot more thorough than at the Orlando parks. Here they made me open my makeup bag and dad had to open the bag for the video camera. That's good, though. You never know in this day and age, unfortunately.

011 - KaTonga

We then made our way over to the ticket gates. We had ordered our tickets online at home and printed out our vouchers. We gave the guy at the gate the paper and it wouldn't scan so he had to type in each of our bar-code numbers which took a while but we were in within ten minutes. We then went over to the Vacation Services center where we traded in each of our paper vouchers for a week-long ticket. For only $50 we bought one day passes that would allow us to come back any time within the next seven days and we planned on coming back a few days later. By the time we were done it was 1:20 and the next showing of KaTonga was at 1:30. The theater was right in the front of the park so we headed in there. The theater was gorgeous; it looked like an entire African palace. We got seats in the center of the theater and then mom and I ran down to the bathroom. We were able to find a side staircase that allowed us to get to the bathroom without going outside which was great because it was starting to get really hot out.

031 - Myombe Reserve

The show started ten minutes later and it was pretty good. I had heard that this was the best show we would see in a theme park but I found some of it to be very cheesy. The story consisted of five Griot's telling different stories of the jungle and the animals that live in it. The dancing wasn't very good; it looked like a typical theme park show with dancers from the local high school. The singing was great, though. The last woman to tell her story was amazing; she had one of the best voices I've ever heard. It made everyone wonder why she was singing at Busch Gardens instead of on Broadway! Wow! The show was around forty-minutes long and at 2:15 we were walking around the Nairobi section of the park. Dad and Mike wanted to go over to Egypt so they could go on Montu. However, the Myobe Reserve was right behind the KaTonga Theater and I had been really looking forward to seeing the animal exhibits so we walked through there. The trail was great! It highlighted the lives of African Gorillas and they were the cutest things. One of the Gorillas looked like a little stuffed animal and one was lying on its back right next to the glass. He was lying just how Oreo does when she's completely comfortable,and he was staring out at everyone. It was very, very cute.

051 - King Tut's Tomb

We then headed into Egypt, stopping only to take a picture of a small horse in the Clydesdale Horse Hamlet. When we got to Egypt we were right near the King Tut's Tomb attraction so we walked through it. It was very small but it was awesome that it was an exact replica of what King Tut's tomb looked like when it was first discovered. We didn't stop to read a lot of the information since dad and Mike wanted to get on some rides, but I got a few pictures before we left.

065 - Montu

Dad and Mike then wanted to go on Montu since it was a few feet away. I was going to go on it, too, but it was now so ridiculously hot out that I wasn't feeling great and I didn't want to get sick on the ride. You hear too many stories of people passing out on these rides! There was only a ten minute wait listed so mom and I waited by the entrance which was located right under the ride while dad and Mike got on line. The wait for them to get off the ride was absolutely ridiculous. It was unbelievably hot and humid; mom and I were dying! To make matters worse, the line was a lot longer than had been stated. And to make matters even worse than that, when the car before dad and Mike's left it got stuck on the lift hill for a good fifteen minutes since the alarm had gone off saying that one of the restraints was loose. The ride attendants had to climb up to the car and check everyone's restraints before the ride could begin. Twenty-five minutes later we walked over to the exit to meet dad and Mike, after having spent a good half hour sweating and melting in the heat. A big thermometer in the area showed us that it was a hundred and two degrees. Damn. At least dad and Mike had loved the ride, stating that it was one of the best roller coasters they had ever been on. It's the longest coaster in the country so I wouldn't doubt it!

067 - Crown Colony Restaurant

We walked back towards Nairobi to see the African Savannah exhibits and on the way we passed the Crown Colony restaurant. That's where we had been planning on eating all along so we figured we might as well just eat now. It was only 3:00 but we were all pretty hungry and didn't mind having a late lunch instead of dinner so we headed inside. In order to get in the restaurant we had to walk up hundreds of stairs - as if the hundred and two degree weather wasn't enough. When we finally made it upstairs we gave our name in at the podium and were told that there was a fifteen minute wait. Not bad. Mom and I ran to the bathroom in the back of the restaurant, and there were a lot of people sitting at tables in the back of the restaurant which was just a regular dining room. Honestly, the only reason why I wanted to eat here was because the main dining room was covered in windows and looked out over the savanna. The food didn't look like anything special, so without our savanna view I wouldn't even want to eat there. I hoped that we would be seated next to the windows overlooking the savanna as mom and I ran into the bathroom and then met dad and Mike back in the lobby.

078 - Crown Colony Restaurant

We were seated five minutes later and we were in the main dining room right up against a window looking out over the savanna. Perfect! We weren't right in the middle of the savanna but we had a good view of it. The dining room itself was great. It reminded me of the bright, open-air restaurants you see on specials on Africa. The chairs were made of light-colored wicker, the ceiling was covered in flowing white sheets, and there was also a piano player playing a few classic tunes. The atmosphere was amazing. The table was a bit cramped since the other tables surrounding us were right on top of each other, but it wasn't too bad. We also had a great view of Shekira from our table, and we had a great time watching car after car being dangled at the top of the ninety-degree drop before they plummeted back down towards the ground.

084 - Crown Colony Restaurant

We looked at the menus and ordered our food and drinks quickly, and then passed the time snacking on the rolls and butter on the table. As crazy as it may sound, this was the best butter I've ever had! It was very light and fluffy, and it tasted almost like whipped cream. It was amazing. We also spent the time taking pictures, watching the giraffes and zebras on the savanna, and dad did an instant lottery. When we stopped at the gas station to use the bathroom on our way to Tampa mom had bought a few and I can only imagine how funny we looked sitting at the table and doing instant lotteries! As fun as the atmosphere here was, the service sucked. It was really, really bad. We waited and waited and waited, and it took forever for our food to arrive. It literally took a good half hour, and all we had ordered were simple dishes. When the food finally came we weren't all satisfied. Mom got a HUGE, HUMONGOUS salad with grilled chicken and only a small, tiny, barely-there cup of salad dressing. It didn't even cover a quarter of the salad but our waitress had disappeared so we had to wait for her to come back in order to get more. When mom finally got more salad dressing it was another tiny, small, barely there cup, and only covered half of the salad. She wasn't happy.

085 - Crown Colony Restaurant

Dad got a grilled chicken sandwich which he said was plain, and Mike got a grilled vegetable platter. He thought that the vegetables would come in a salad or something, but it was just a few vegetables thrown on a plate. It definitely wasn't what he had expected. I was the only one who liked my food. I got a special coconut shrimp platter that came with two hush puppies, fries, coleslaw and watermelon. It was a good mix of foods and everything tasted great. I LOVE coconut shrimp, hush puppies, coleslaw, fries and watermelon so I really couldn't go wrong. No one was too happy with their food experiences here, but I was full and had loved my meal. I had looked into the Busch Gardens restaurants in advance and had learned that we would get a 10% discount at the Crown Colony restaurant with our AAA card, so we gave it to our waitress and waited for the bill. With our discount the check came to $60 which wasn't too bad, but it wasn't great for the food we had gotten. Oh well. You live, you learn. Mom and I ran into the bathroom while dad and Mike waited outside, and on our way out we saw a little squirrel eating a big acorn under a few bushes on the main porch. It was really cute, but from living in New York we knew that these things aren't as friendly as they look so I took a quick picture and we made our way down the hundreds of stairs and back into the Crown Colony section of the park by 4:15.

098 - Edge of Africa

As we were eating we had gotten a good view of the Edge of Africa trail and we wanted to check it out. It was in the Nairobi section of the park, right near where we were. It was a quick walk and we were by the entrance to the trail in no time. I wanted to take the train around the savanna to see the animals and just skip the Edge of Africa trail, but dad said that there were different animals here than on the main savanna so we decided to take a quick walk around and I'm glad we did since we had some great animal encounters! The entire area was set up to look like the camp of African researchers, and there were a lot of animals around to see. First we saw the pelicans, flamingos and other birds in a big pond at the beginning of the exhibit. Right next door to them was the home of the meerkats. Michael always watches the Meerkat Manor show on the HD channel just because it's in high definition. I ALWAYS make fun of him for it so we thought it was hysterical to see meerkats. Those things are so cute!

107 - Edge of Africa

Across from the Meerkats was a lone vulture. At first its head was tucked under its wing so it looked like some headless beast, but it eventually lifted its head and was pretty cool. I'm not much of a fan of vultures so I didn't pay much attention to him but he was cool to see. Also in the area were an array of zebras and giraffes; I love those zebras and giraffes! They seemed to be everywhere this trip and I couldn't be happier. We made our way farther into the Edge of Africa and stopped to see the lions. Lions are always so lazy. Regardless of what zoo or theme park I'm in, the lions are always just lying around and this time was no different. The lioness was lying right up against the glass of the exhibit and it was amazing to see her up close. The male lion was a few feet back, but it was still a very close view of such ferocious and powerful beasts. A few feet away was the hyena exhibit, and this hyena was just lying on his side, sleeping. What was scary is that hyenas are some of the most vicious creatures in the world, but it looked like nothing more than a big dog.

110 - Edge of Africa

The last part of the Edge of Africa was the big tropical fish tank. The water was crystal clear and perfectly blue, and there were hundreds of colorful fish swimming around in various schools. It was very pretty, but something we had seen countless times before at the New York Aquarium. Needless to say it wasn't on this scale, the tank was HUGE, but it wasn't anything to write home about although it WAS beautiful. Floating on top of the water were a few big, lazy hippos that were fun to watch. After five minutes we made our way out of the area since not much was going on with the fish or hippos, and the area was a zoo. It amazes me how some people just don't care where their kids are or how they behave. Unbelievable.

120 - Busch Gardens Safari

The Nairobi station of the Busch Gardens train was only a few feet away so we headed over there. A train had just left a few minutes before so the station was empty. A big clock near the entrance to the station told us that the next train would arrive in ten minutes, which wasn't bad at all. We all sat on a bench in the station and hung out. Mike somehow managed to poke himself in the eye and then he fell over on the bench in mock pain which was funny! Not that he poked himself in the eye, but how he reacted to it. After a few minutes the station started getting more and more crowded, so dad went to stand by the front of the ropes so that we would be assured a seat. After a few minutes the train arrived and a lot of people already on the train didn't get off since they were going to a different station. It wasn't a big deal, though, because the train was huge! I hadn't realized how big it was but it was able to easily fit everyone who was on line with everyone who was already on the train. We sat in our own row towards the front of the train and waited for it to take off. As we were waiting for the ride to begin we noticed that the Skyride, that we had been watching pass by above us the entire time, was stopped. We once got stuck on the Skyride in Great Adventure and it was a horrifying experience... that's why I don't go on the Skyride anymore. Haha!

123 - Busch Gardens Safari

When the train finally left the station we made our way over to Egypt and went right over the Montu tracks. It was awesome seeing the coaster fly by below us. We then went through a small tunnel, and when we emerged we were in the middle of the African savanna. What an amazing view we had! I've been on a lot of safari rides and this was by far the best. There wasn't some big elaborate storyline or anything, but we got unbelievably close to the animals. We had to stop a few times to wait for the rhinos to cross the tracks, the giraffes were just lounging in the grass, and the zebras were practically at arms length. I kept thinking that I loved this safari a lot better than the Kilimanjaro Safari at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We got so much closer to the animals and the ride was a lot longer. It still doesn't compare to the safari at Great Adventure since the animals come right up to your car, but this was one of the best safari rides I've been on!

139 - Busch Gardens Safari

We made a quick stop at the Congo train station where a few people got on and off the train and then we continued on our way, this time passing a few different rides and attractions as we made our way through several different sections of the park. We then went through another small tunnel before we stopped at the Stanleyville train station located right under Sheikra. While people boarded and disembarked the train it was awesome getting to watch Sheikra make its way around the track. We were right under the first ninety-degree drop and we could see the look on people's faces as they went flying down the hill . After twenty minutes, though, we were all sweating and annoyed. The conductor of the train had left and they were waiting for the new one to arrive, and we were just sitting there forever. We should have just gotten off the train at that point, but we wanted to complete the loop so we waited it out. Finally the old conductor arrived with the new conductor and we were on our way. Not before the old conductor said, "You're new conductor has just arrived. I guess someone has to drive the train, even if she's a woman." It was really weird, but we were just happy to finally get out of the sun and make our way back to Nairobi.

178 - Scorpion

When we finally got back to Nairobi we disembarked the train and made our way over to a few mister fans in the area. Mom ran through them and then we walked over to the giant tortoises and elephants to watch them for a while and take some pictures. We didn't stay for long, though, because there was still more of the park that we wanted to see. Our next stop was the Rhino Rally ride, a ride that was part safari and part water ride. Just as we got to the attraction, though, there was an announcement made stating that the water part of the ride was broken so anyone on the ride would only be able to experience half of the ride. We didn't want to bother with only seeing half the ride, so we continued on our way. Next we made our way over to Timbuktu, the midway area of the park. There were a few rides and attractions here, but the main focus was the games and food stands. We weren't interested in any of them so we just headed towards the rides. We walked over to the Pirates 4D show but the next show didn't start for another half hour, so dad and Mike decided to go on the Scorpion roller coaster. I knew that it was old, and old coasters are usually not at all smooth and always leave us with headaches, but they didn't listen and got on line anyway.

183 - Timbuktu

Mom and I didn't want to wait around in the heat so we sat in the Desert Grill, a HUGE counter service restaurant that was set up to look like an Indian palace. It was absolutely gorgeous and the food looked pretty good. We probably would have been better off eating there, so we just made plans to eat there when we came back in a few days. At this point I was unbelievably thirsty and I had already drank the water bottle that I brought with me from the house, so I was going to get on line at the Desert Grill to get a drink but the line was huge. Mom and I just ran into the bathroom and then walked around Timbuktu looking for a stand that sold water. We couldn't find any stands and we hadn't yet heard from dad and Mike, so we went back to the Desert Grill and again sat around. The line for the Scorpion must have been a lot longer than was posted because we sat in there forever. By then I was dying of thirst so we made our way back out to find a drink. I couldn't believe that none of the carts in the area sold water. They only had Gatorade and soda, and I didn't want either one. We finally went into another counter-service restaurant and got on a huge line to get a drink. I turned around to look behind me and I couldn't believe who I saw in the arcade next to the restaurant... it was the mother and two sons from the Jaws ride! One son was still in a wheelchair and the other one was just standing around. What are the odds of us both choosing to drive an hour away to Busch Gardens on the same day, and being in the same area at the same time?! Weird!

182 - Desert Grill

The Pirates 4D show was going to begin in ten minutes so I decided to forget about the drink. Mom and I got off line and we made our way over to the theater. By the time we got there I really didn't feel well and I desperately needed a drink. So back to the same counter service restaurant we went, and we got back on the end of the line. A few minutes later we got a call from dad and Mike who said that they would meet us by the Pirates 4D theater. We waited around for a while longer before finally getting to the front of the line, getting the water bottle and leaving. We ran over to the Pirates 4D theater and made it just in time. Dad and Mike were waiting by the entrance, so we got our 3D glasses and made our way inside behind a group of women in bathing suits who really shouldn't have been wearing bathing suits. Do people have mirrors?!

181 - Desert Grill

The theater was already pretty crowded when we arrived since the show was set to begin at any minute, but there were a lot of good seats left. Mom, Mike and I wanted to sit in the back center, but dad wanted to sit in the front off to the side. He wouldn't give in so we made our way down there and to make a long story short, hardly any of the special effects worked in our seats. It was crap. The show itself was funny, though, and it starred Mel Brooks, Eric Idle and Rodney Dangerfield, three comedy giants. The 3D was blurry and not great, but the three comedians made the show hysterical! It was a show about the misadventures of three not-too-bright pirates. It was hilarious! Halfway through the show I dropped my newly acquired water bottle, though, and it went rolling down to the front of the theater. Figures.

185 - Stanley Falls Flume

After Pirates 4D we decided to go on the Stanley Falls Flume. It was unbelievably hot out so we figured it would be perfect. A lot of other people had this same idea, too, and the line was huge. It was definitely the longest line we had encountered all day. It was only a half-hour wait which really wasn't too bad, but the line for the ride was in a small, enclosed shack and it was excruciatingly hot in there. I also got a little claustrophobic, but I just breathed and watched the ride photos that they were showing everyone on a screen in the corner. A few feet in front of us on line were two little blond boys, one was around eight and one was around five. They were eating ice cream and they kept ending up at different places on line from not paying attention. We kept trying to figure out who they were with but we couldn't since the people around them were ignoring them. We then saw that they were on their own, and their mom was waiting off the line with a baby in a stroller. They must have wanted to go on the ride but there was no one to go with them. I felt bad, though, because after waiting on line for a half-hour they finally got to the front of the line and were told that the younger boy was too short to ride without an adult. The older boy then went to sit at the exit with the baby and the mom went on the ride with the younger son. I don't know if the older boy got to go on the ride but we all felt bad.

188 - Stanley Falls Flume

The logs were all really small and there were signs posted saying that only three adults could sit together, or two adults and two kids. So Mike and I went together with mom and dad in a long behind us. This ride was a lot of fun! It was nothing special but I was able to get a few pictures of Mike on the ride, and as we were going up the first lift hill I saw mom and dad's log taking off so I was able to get a picture. The drop here was pretty steep and we got drenched! We definitely got a lot wetter than I had expected, it was crazy! After Mike and I got off of our log at the end of the ride we saw mom and dad pulling into the station and I got more pictures. After the flume dad and Mike finally got a chance to go on Sheikra. The line was stated at being only fifteen-minutes which wasn't at all bad for a new ride. It's considered to be one of the most unique coasters in the world, and it is the only diving coaster in the country, so the wait time was great. I had wanted to go on this ride for the longest time but when we walked up to it I'll admit that I chickened out! Maybe next time...

191 - Sheikra

Dad and Mike got on line and mom and I went into the gift shop. We looked around for a while and watched a video they were playing of the ride. It looked awesome and really crazy! At the top of the ninety-degree drop the ride would be stopped, leaving the riders dangling at the top. Then the car would go flying down the drop, straight down, and then make it's way along the track, going down another ninety-degree drop and careening through a huge pool of water, leaving the people standing by that part of the track drenched! No one on the ride actually got wet, though. After a few minutes mom and I went to wait under the ride and I took pictures of each car that went by, hoping that I would be able to catch dad and Mike. After twenty minutes they got off the ride and said that it was amazing! The only complaint Michael had was that at the top of the first lift hill there were a ton of wasps flying around and he was afraid of them, haha! He loved the ride, though, and both he and dad said that it was the best roller coaster they had ever been on.

204 - Sheikra

We stood around for a while watching the ride, and I took more pictures and dad video taped it. It was the cutest thing; the people waiting near the track where the car goes through water all got drenched every time the coaster went by. It was like when you stand on the bridge by the big tidal wave rides. There was a man holding his year and a half year old daughter, and each time a wall of water covered them she would CRACK UP. They stood there for a good twenty minutes just getting drenched over and over, and this little girl loved every minute of it! It was adorable! After Sheikra we went into a nearby candy store because mom wanted to get more jelly beans. She loves those jelly beans! When she was done it was 7:00 and we were all hot and tired. It had been a long day so we made our way to the front of the park. We had a few arguments over which was was the fastest route, but we would up going my way and we ended up at the Hospitality House. We headed inside and there was a big display on the history of Anheuser beer. They were giving out free beer so mom and dad got on line and got a cup each. They both only drank a little bit but they said it was good. I don't like beer so I could care less about it, but Mike was dying to try it so he took a few sips without getting caught! He said he liked it.

209 - Free Beer

We left the Hospitality House out of the side entrance and were right by the front of the park. There were two parrots sitting in a tree and we stood around to watch them for a minute or two. They weren't doing much, though, so we moved on. While mom and I ran into the bathroom dad and Mike went into a big gift shop and we met them in there five minutes later. They had cute plant-your-own palm trees and sunflowers and I really wanted to get one, they were only five bucks each, but mom said that they had them all over the place so I was going to wait to get one. In the gift shop they had three small tanks set up - one with scorpions, one with a tarantula, and one with a big lizard. It was pretty gross but I took some pictures anyway before we were on our way.

210 - Parrots

When we got to the front of the park there was a long line of people waiting for a tram. The parking lot was located a mile away from the entrance to the park and you had to cross a major highway to get there so there was really no way to walk. After having walked around in the heat all day, we really didn't want to! A tram soon showed up and a large group got on it and were whisked away. Five minutes later another tram arrived and we were able to get on this one. As we pulled away from the entrance to Busch Gardens I looked at my watch and saw that it was 8:00. We had been walking around for seven hours on the hottest day of the year and had gotten a lot done! But it had been a long day and we were all exhausted. We got to the parking lot ten minutes later, walked to the car, and were pulling out of the lot by 8:15. On the way home we talked about our day and how much we had all loved Busch Gardens. We had been to the Busch Gardens in Williamsburg in the mid-nineties and had liked it, but neither Mike nor I really remembered it. We definitely wanted to check it out again, though, after having such a great time in Tampa. Mike had a bad headache from the mix of extreme heat and rides and I was pretty tired, so for most of the ride we all just hung out. Mike closed his eyes and I listened to my MP3 player.

213 - Lizard

We were back in Orlando by 9:15 which wasn't a bad drive at all. We again took the back road from I4 to Poinciana and on the way we saw Old Town in the far, far distance. We always had to pass Old Town to get to the house since Poinciana was located about twelve miles behind Route 192 and Old Town, and I saw that we still had a long way to go since Old Town was in the far distance and we had to go past it. Mike kept insisting that we didn't have to go past it since we were taking the back road. I kept trying to explain that we weren't literally going to pass by and see it like we normally did when we took route 192, but that we had to drive past it meaning farther than it. He kept insisting that I was wrong and then thought that we were coming from a completely different direction than we actually were, so I was right. As always! Haha!

When we got back to the house we all just hung out. Mom and I wanted to play cards but Mike had a headache and didn't want to pla, so mom, dad and I sat in the backyard by the pool with Oreo while Mike laid on the couch. At 10:30 we watched the episode of Last Comic Standing that we had taped from earlier that night and then everyone went to bed while I watched "Rock Star" on Vh1 in my room at 12:00. I used to love that movie but I hadn't seen it in a while, and watching it again made me remember how much I love it. It's a great movie! I finally fell asleep at 1:00 in the morning after a long, but very fun, day.