Hurricane Harbor

"What are we doing on the weekend?" : this is the first question I ask on Friday afternoons. And a couple Fridays ago, the answer to my question was a pretty BIG surprise.

With all our swimsuits packed, lunch in our stomachs and mom's friends in the car, we were ready to go to Hurricane Harbor!

Along the hurried car journey, I was pondering whether I had enough guts to do all of those rides. "Stay cool. Stay calm", I told myself. After a search for a parking space, a squabble over the locker size, and a lot of violence(kicking, punching and head-butting the luggage in the tiny locker), the adventure had begun.

With all my enthusiasm, I just couldn't wait! At the very sight of the Lazy River, I jumped in. Somehow, I wasn't walking but my legs were, wait...a second...nobody told me that the Lazy River has a current at a rate of 3 MILES PER HOUR! Walking had never been this much of a struggle, nor this scary, before. I was pretty much fighting the current. One minute had gone by and I hadn't moved even 6 inches! Finally my mom's friend joined my army and - phew! - the battle was won.

I got out of the Lazy River, slightly shivering. Next came the Blue Raider. We heaved the tubes up the many flights of stairs. Luckily it was heaviest first, so my mom sat in front, with me being the caboose. We were ready to go. I closed my eyes, gripped the handles very tightly and got my mouth ready to scream. And with a slight push, we were off, I wrenched my eyes open and saw our vehicle skidding along. I decided this was not so scary after all. I relaxed my grip, laid back, and actually enjoyed this horror movie. However, at the end of this movie there was a thrilling twist. With a sudden splash we landed in a pool, amazed about what we had just done. But the fun did not stop there: next came the Sea Wolf(which happened to be next door).

Luckily there was no need to haul any tubes up. The toboggans came up on a conveyor belt sort of thing. I climbed on along with Chandu and Aravind ("uncles"). Sadly(for me) lightest first. With as much bravery as I could muster, I tried not to close my eyes. As the tobbagon began to take the plunge my mouth opened in a piercing scream. Gripping the straps on the tobbagon as if they were my life, we hurtled along the many twist and turns that form this ride. And finally, we concluded with a mighty splash. If this was not enough, there is lot more to come. Next came a ride with an amusing name, but nevertheless, made you tremor: the Mega Wedgie. For this one, the hauling of a tube was quite necessary. When we got to the pinnacle of the Mega Wedgie I did not, I could not, look down.

The Mega Wedgie is basically 2 skate boarding ramps put together. In other words, it is a titanic"U". You go down one end and then slide up the other, then you fall safely in the middle(I hope). I was all ready to go. And with a push we were off.

AAAAAAH! We were falling, we were about to die, how come nobody tried to save us?? I stopped screaming. We were not dead, yet. We zoomed up the other side of the "U" and just as I hoped, got off safely in the middle. I clutched at my heart, panting, then I gave a small chuckle, surprised at my own guts.

Even though I was scared half to death by the last ride, my enthusiasm was only increased. And the next ride did nothing to decrease it. It was the Bubba Tub, there was no need to haul anything up this time. These tubes also came up on a conveyor belt. This was a 4 seater, so I made sure I climbed in with the swimmers of the group: the two "uncles". Although I was not the first to plunge downwards, the ride was quite an "OMG". Through out the entire venture, I felt like I was slithering down a staircase, with the addition of 5,000 gallons of water of course.

My next adventure was the scariest ride of all!

The name of this ride, Geronimo, does not do a good job in describing this ride. There is only one word I know of which completely and thoroughly describes this ride: SCARY, I do not know how I even managed to climb up the stairs to the opening of "Geronimo". My feet must have been walking by themselves because the Rohila I know(I thought I knew) wouldn't have dared to do this ride. But soon I was up there, ready to go. I almost wanted to run back downstairs, but here the ride was, waiting for me. I swallowed, heart pounding, settled in, closed my eyes, and trembled.

Before I could scramble out and run, I plummeted.

The drop wasn't 6 feet, 10 feet, or even 20 feet.

It was 6 stories.

And I, well....I was one DEAD Lady.

Or may be not. May be I would survive.

Turns out, I did. I fell dazed, panting, and sodden into a pool. I heard the life guard murmur, "I don't know what you were doing up there".

Nothing could top this, not even the Blue Niagara.

After what I have just been through, the Blue Niagara - HA!- easy-peezy-pumpkin-squeezy

Well that was BIT of an exaggeration.

The thing was, I forgot to close my eyes. So, throughout the whole ride, I was moaning and groaning with uneasiness. After the voyage was over, I stepped out, slightly shaken, but otherwise okay.

After we replayed our favorite rides, we went to the next ride, which was literally "out of this world".We hauled up the tubes(how many times?), and climbed up, hands on our knees and mouths open. As we were climbing up the cemented steps, my eyes laid on the ride itself. It looked like a gigantic snake which had curled itself up in it's deep slumber. My stomach lurched unpleasantly. As we reached the top, laid the tubes down, and talked away the time, the long line was thinning. Finally it was our turn to go. My stomach wiggling like a worm, and heart leaping like a frog, I gingerly climbed in. We zoomed down the chute, like dust up a vacuum cleaner. The only difference was the Black Hole was completely pitch-black. Just when I had begun to worry about oxygen. I saw a dozen little holes at the top of the tube. The ride was very, very easy(for me) and I relaxed the whole way through.

Soon, however my relaxation would come to an end; for a storm was brewing, and we were going right through it.

Oh yeah, the next ride, was the tornado. This ride was a repetition of the Mega Wedgie, only bigger, wetter, and much much scarier. The tubes we hauled up(yet again) were the heaviest yet.

The duty of carrying them had been bestowed on the guys of the group.

As we climbed in, I quickly decided that this ride was not at all easy, so I closed my eyes. And with a push we were off.

I dared to open my eyes for a second then quickly closed them again. What I had just seen had been too much for me. I just couldn't bear to see myself being tossed about like a ship wrecked boat. But I could imagine our tube, the state it was in, and I wondered where I was, where our tube was, and whether I was still in the tube, or flying through the air....

Then I decided to relax. I was safe. In fact, I was having fun, sort of. I closed my eyes peacefully, stopped screaming and felt the waves slapping on the tube. When we zoomed out and landed in a pool, I suddenly open my eyes, dazed and realize how much fun I had. We did this amazing ride once again and then we relaxed in the Lazy River. And soon, we were at our locker, changing, and ready to go, hoping to come here again soon.