Hi, I’m Stellar, and welcome to Stellar in Neverland. Today I’m going to recap the recent vacation I took. I had originally planned on writing this beautiful, thrilling narrative story to tell about the trip, but my anxiety has been horrible lately so I haven’t had much time to write. I’m going to briefly sum up every day of my trip. This probably isn’t the post you were expecting about my trip, but I just haven’t had time to write that amazing narrative. I will always put my physical and/or mental health first, and I want you to do the same, whoever you are that is reading this.
Day 1 (Friday, July 13): We weren’t even sure if we were going on the trip at first, because my youngest brother (he's seven) was sick the day before. Luckily, he was feeling better by the time we left Friday morning. The highlight of today was going to the Field of Dreams. This is a baseball field in the Middle of Nowhere in Dyersville, Iowa, and it’s where the 1989 sports fantasy movie Field of Dreams was filmed. They have a field you can play baseball on, a cornfield, and I'm pretty sure you can take a tour of the house used in the movie, but you have to schedule it beforehand. I had only seen the movie once, but it's one of my family's favorites, so they were more excited about it than I was. It was probably my least favorite part of the trip because I'm not a huge baseball fan and it was around 90°. Another "highlight" of the day was when my youngest brother got sick again at a Culver's. He had a sore throat and was tired. He was fine after taking some medicine for the time being. We stopped in Fairmont, Minnesota that night, at a Holiday Inn. The hotel was right next to a Perkins', which is one of my favorite breakfast restaurants. We went there in the morning.
Day 2 (Saturday, July 14): We left Fairmont in the morning and headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota around noon. We decided to do one tourist-y thing while in the city. Mom had heard that the butterfly house and aquarium was cool, but it cost money to get in. Instead we checked out the Falls Park, which was free. My family enjoyed exploring the park and seeing how powerful the waterfalls were. The park is really big (it spans 123 acres) and the falls are pretty cool, so I'd recommend this one if you just want to walk around and see the sights. There's one part where you can see fish jumping out of the water, trying to get food. That part is awesome. We took a detour in Pierre for dinner and went to a sports bar called Drifters'. After that, we went to the Wall Drug because a friend of mine recommended I go there to try their donuts. The funny thing about the Wall Drug is that they have signs for it like 500 miles away. Like, you'll be just barely into South Dakota and you'll see "Get your free ice water and homemade pie at the Wall Drug!" My brothers decided against Wall Drug donuts and wanted to stop at the Dairy Queen nearby, which was fine with me. We ultimately stopped in Rapid City, where we stayed for three consecutive nights- in three different hotels! The first Rapid City hotel we stayed at was the Baymont, and this was probably my least favorite one because I had to sleep on the floor :(
Day 3 (Sunday, July 15): This day is ALL OVER THE PLACE. So it turns out that youngest brother had a virus similar to strep throat, and he had to go to an urgent care clinic. He was prescribed to take three pills a day for ten days. After that dilemma, we headed to Mount Rushmore! Except this was a total disappointment, because my other brother (he's thirteen) got carsick on the way up the mountain and puked thrice. It was probably because he didn't take his medication beforehand. Also disappointing was the fact that it was FOGGY. You couldn't see ANYTHING at Mount Rushmore, and we were incredibly disappointed. Because my other brother and my mom weren't feeling well, we stopped at the second Rapid City hotel early. This hotel was a Home2 Suite by Hilton, and it was the best hotel we had stayed at to that point on the trip. It was the first hotel we had stayed at with a pool, and it had a nicer TV, access to restaurants, and access to a WATERPARK. The waterpark was called WaTiki, and although the cost of $18 per person was a little expensive, my dad and brother went and had a great time! There was one waterslide which featured a funnel-like tube and it was an incredibly fun ride. This day was all over the place because the fun stuff was really fun and the not-as-fun stuff was horrible. I felt so bad for my brother!
Day 4 (Monday, July 16): The other brother was feeling a little better and was ready to try Mount Rushmore again. This was great because today it was actually clear and we could see everything! You'd be tempted to shrug Mount Rushmore off before seeing it because it's just four faces in a rock, why is that interesting? But once you see it in person, you're awestruck. It's amazing how much work and detail was put into it, and it can really bring out feelings of patriotism in anybody. After Mount Rushmore, we went to the nearby Custer State Park. This was one of the lesser parts of the trip for me because there was a massive drive up a hill that was even higher up than Mount Rushmore that really triggered my anxiety. Once we got to the park, it was kind of nice just to drive around, and I had my favorite music playing the entire time. However, I was expecting to see a lot more buffaloes than we actually saw. On this night we stayed at the Comfort Suites in Rapid City, and it was probably the best hotel of the three we stayed at in Rapid City. True, it didn't have the waterpark the Home2 did, but my parents had their own separate room and the kids all got their own beds. We went to Olive Garden for dinner and it was the best meal I had all trip. They've been doing this "Build Your Own Lasagna" thing, and I decided to give it a try. It was a four-cheese lasagna with alfredo sauce topped with cheese ravioli and a generous portion of Parmesan- hands down the cheesiest thing I've ever eaten, and one of the best. Although it was ENORMOUS so I barely made a dent in it before getting too full.
Day 5 (Tuesday, July 17): Today we stopped at the Badlands National Park. I didn't know what to expect from the Badlands, but I had heard from some friends that they were really cool and pretty so I was excited. The Badlands are these giant rock formations that were amazing to see. You can take a drive through the park, stopping to take a hike or look at the views whenever you want. My dad, thirteen-year-old brother, and I went on a very short hike and saw some cool views. My favorite part of the Badlands were the rocks that had all different colors, reds and yellows, in them. They were gorgeous. After the Badlands, we drove for some time and I had gas station mac and cheese (which was better than I expected, but still nothing special). We stopped for the night back in Sioux Falls, where we stayed in the StayBridge. My family decided this was the best hotel room of the trip because it had...wait for it...TWO bathrooms! All of the kids also got their own beds once again, which was nice. I tried Ruby Tuesday for the first time in Sioux Falls, and I got this peach tea-marinated chicken that was really good.
Day 6 (Wednesday, July 18): This was the last day we were in South Dakota, because we spent the first part of the day driving into Minnesota! We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Minneapolis, because it was right by the Mall of America. Originally we planned to go to the Mall of America today but we decided to just check out the stuff at the Great Wolf Lodge instead. The room we had at this hotel wasn't the best, but there's so much stuff to do there I can't help but recommend it, especially if you're in a family with younger kids. My youngest brother had a ton of fun there. The whole family got to spend time at the waterpark there. Despite the fact that I had a panic attack at the waterpark (the less said about it, the better), I had a great time there! There was one group tube slide where you get to go in the dark, and it was so fun I rode it three times. After the waterpark, we got dinner at one of the on-location restaurants and I tried Ben & Jerry's for the first time. It was a life-changing experience.
Day 7 (Thursday, July 19): Last day of the trip, sadly. Fortunately, it was probably the best day of the trip. We checked out the Mall of America and it was kind of overwhelming in how much stuff there was to do. We spent four or five hours there and we barely even made a dent! At first my youngest brother was disappointed that we weren't doing the Nickelodeon Universe theme park, but he forgot all about it once we went to the aquarium. My family really enjoyed the aquarium. We got to touch coral, see sharks, and marvel at the beauty of sea turtles! Sea turtles are my favorite aquatic animal because I just think they're so cool to watch. After the aquarium, we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for lunch. I didn't know what to expect considering the fact that I've never seen Forrest Gump (yes, I know), but it was pretty great. I ordered this shrimp mac and cheese and it was amazing and so flavorful. I let both of my parents try it and my dad said it was the best mac and cheese he had ever had. We actually didn't buy much at the Mall of America. We mostly just looked around at the many, many stores there. I did get a souvenir: I shamelessly spent $25 on a Mall of America-exclusive Build-A-Bear. It's a moose and I named her Maggie and I love her to death. We also tried this one place called Dough Dough, which is a place where they have nothing but cookie dough. We got seven different flavors to see which one was the best. I'm partial to the puppy chow flavor, so get that one if you're not allergic to peanut butter. After our amazing time at the Mall and on this trip, we had to head home. We drove for four or five hours to get home, only stopping at Subway for dinner and a gas station for gas and snacks. All in all, we spent 40 hours in the car.
So that's about it for my trip experience. Honestly, there were some not-so-fun things that happened on this trip (both of my brothers getting sick, Mount Rushmore being disappointing on the first day, etc.), but it was all worth it for the fun moments. Besides, even if the trip ended up being a total failure, I'd still be grateful for it because I love traveling and I love spending time with my family even more. On that note, I'm gonna end this with a few updates, basically telling you all about my planned schedule for the rest of the summer.
Wednesday, August 1: A music-related post that will be both lengthy and concise. How is that possible? Tune in next week (winks)!
Wednesday, August 8: I'm planning on taking my youngest brother to see Teen Titans GO! To The Movies at some point, so I should have a review then. Otherwise, I'll find something else to do.
Wednesday, August 15: To build up hype for Ariana Grande's new album Sweetener, I'm counting down my top 10 favorite episodes of Victorious, the Nickelodeon sitcom on which she got famous. It might be a collaboration with one of my friends, but I have to ask them tbh.
Wednesday, August 22: I'm reviewing Sweetener. My expectations are so high for this album I swear to God.
Thursday, August 23: Surprise, I'm posting on a Thursday! This is for my one-year anniversary of making Stellar in Neverland, so I'm going to do something to celebrate!
Wednesday, August 29: I sort of owed it to myself to end the summer with my Top 20 Favorite Fall Out Boy songs, considering the fact that I'm pretty sure I outright promised it in some other post. Get hyped.
Okay, so that's all I have for today. See you next week, everyone!
Stellar
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