Now, on to the rest of the blog. I've been gone from Maryland for about a month visiting my family and taking a vacation with my mom, dad, and sister Marissa. Our vacation was a cruise to the Mexican Riviera and Disneyland. On the vacation, I decided to take a few more risks. For example, for one of the shore excursions my sister went on an outdoor adventure run by Vallarta Adventures. The adventure began with a speedboat ride across the Bay of Banderas to Boca de Tomatlan. After that our group loaded into two Mercedes Benz Unimogs to take an off-road expedition to the base-camp (they say off-road, but we were on dirt roads, which isn't my definition of offroad).
We then road mules further up into the forest/jungle. My mule had this thing where it had to be in front. At the beginning we were 5th or 6th, and I could tell that the mule was impatient, but it was waiting. Then, one of the guides came up behind the horses and my mule decided enough was enough and he passed the other mules so that he could take the lead and set the pace. After that, any time he heard another mule on his heels, he took off so that he could be in the lead position.
After that came a series of zip lines, bridges, and two repelling experiences. We repelled down a waterfall and we had a free fall repelling experience. The guides did a wonderful job at keeping us safe, even though I wasn't very good at the zip lines. Now, you may ask, "how can one not be good at zip lines. My answer: Well, I wasn't very good at the braking part. I always didn't use the brakes enough, or else I used them too much. And on the repelling down the waterfall part, I wasn't really that great at following their directions about not bending my knees.
To finish off the experience we took the Unimog back to Boca de Tomatlan and then the powerboat back across Banderas Bay. It was a fun experience and I would definitely recommend the experience to others.
The trip gave me my second experience in kayaking. My sister and I shared a kayak, and my sister was making fun of me and getting frustrated with me the whole time. I would usually paddle on the right instead of the left when we wanted to turn right; I didn't put my oar in deep enough...I warned her before we went that I wasn't very good at it. I think I'd improved quite a bit by the end.
The trip also gave me my first experience with rock climbing. I've been meaning to try it for quite some time, but I never really could get up the nerve (or the money). Since the rock climbing wall was on the ship, use of it came free (there goes the first obstacle). Despite the no-cost, I still had to get up the nerve. I kept postponing. On the last day of the trip, my sister and I went up, but I just sat and watched as she climbed the wall. Then I sat and watched others...for about an hour. Finally, I decided I could give it a try. It really wasn't too bad, although I used my arms more than I was supposed to.
My final risk was on going on rides at Disneyland. I warned you. I'm a wuss. When I was younger the only roller coaster I went on was Big Thunderhead Mountain and one at Toon Town (which I remember not liking). So, this time I actually went on the Matterhorn (which is much milder that Big Thunderhead Mountain), and Space Mountain. No California Screaming this time, though. I'm still not ready for the upside down experience again (I didn't really enjoy the Collossus at Lagoon). I also tried out Splash Mountain for the first time (and was drying out for the rest of the day), and Hollywood Tower of Terror a couple of time (and everytime I sat down after that I kept waiting for the seat to drop a few stories).
Anyway, those are sum of my vacation adventures.
