Have you gone on a little adventure recently? With friends or family? Where did you go? Was that adventure worth it?
Being stuck at home is challenging. During COVID-19, this has become more of a reality than some would like. Your sense of adventure decreased drastically. But why let that stop you?
“Even though you’re growing up, you should never stop having fun.” - Nina Dobrev
Adventuring Safely
Recently, my cousins (Julius and Alyssa) and I, along with a family friend (Nealryan), traveled up north to the Danish town of Solvang, CA. They stayed for three nights while I stayed for two. Beforehand, I was bombarded with school work, and I wasn't sure if I would make it. Along with that, my mom was working the nights leading up to it, so I wasn't sure if she wanted to go as well. Luckily we did. Let's say those couple of days were worth the wait.
Once we got there, we chilled in the room and eventually decided to go on a little road trip. Not with our cars, but with electric buggies. Yes, electric buggies. We visited to rent one of these for two hours, called the Moke Experience, Solvang. The operators were very friendly and very considerate, especially because of COVID-19. They accommodated us accordingly and made sure we would have a chance at driving one of the buggies before they closed at 7:00 PM.
Our parents told us to come back around 5:00 PM, and low and behold, our white buggy (pictured above) was ours for two hours! We immediately took to the streets of Solvang. Abiding by the street laws and being handicapped with a 30 mph vehicle, we made the most of it. From visiting the town's landmarks one by one to stopping in a bank's parking lot to film us going in circles, let's say that those two hours went by quickly. Did I mention we were blasting nostalgic songs too?
After we brought the buggy back, we met up with our parents to eat at an Italian place (sadly forgot the name) in the middle of town. I ordered the usual seafood pasta while everyone else ordered almost everything on the menu. Unfortunately, some things did happen, like the spilling of a drink or the feeling of being fat. Wait, that's every time I eat.
The night of it was full of shenanigans. From pillows fights to memes to banging on the walls. I'm still surprised that we didn't get reported. The day after, we ate at a small but well-known cafe in the middle of town, somewhat across from the Italian restaurant (once again forgetting the name). Being a grown adult, I still ordered from the kid's menu chicken tenders and fries meal. It was the cheaper option, so I took it. Needless to say, I enjoyed that meal and ordered another one right after. The amount of my two orders equated the same as a regular full-sized meal.
Being stuffed from eating, we wanted to see the famous Ostrich Land just up the road. We always know that this place would be packed, and the lines are usually long. Never did we think it would be as long as it was. We struck through, though, and ended up getting three plates of food for us to feed the ostriches and emus. Along the way, some people donated their plates to us so that all four of us could have a chance at feeding them. Some of the emus didn't want to be fed, which was sad because we had many leftovers. Luckily we saw some people come into the park without food to feed them, and we donated what we had left.
Sadly we all had to split since Nealryan and his family were going up north to Pismo Beach while the rest of us had to start heading back down south. It was a bittersweet moment, though it was good to see them all once again. We tried our best to see if we could meet up halfway so that our adventures could continue; however, our drivers (the dads and myself, though I wanted to drive) decided that it was not worth the trip. We vowed to see each other again soon, preferably before summer, but even then, our adventures continue as we move forward.
I love this! Stay safe!