My eye’s fluttered open, quickly flicking towards the blinds that were slightly cracked open, giving me brief looks of the drowsy world outside. The sky was a bloodless blue, puffs of clouds stretched along the sky like cotton balls. The outside was still. Silent. Lifeless. But not in our apartment. My mom and dad were awake. My mom already in her clothing for our trip. I slowly got out of bed. Trying to push away the temptations of crawling back into bed and hiding from the world. But alas, I had to force that thought into the depths of my brain just out of my reach, before I succeeded in that factor. If you can’t tell already, I am not a morning person. See the thing with me is that I will either be drawing, reading, or just staring at the ceiling thinking about life for like two hours or so before going to bed. And then in the morning my sibling and my parents have found that i have slept until noon, or I find my little sister who is literally only 26 inches tall, crawling along my abdomen, crushing my gut with her feet, and managing to get her saliva on my face.

Anyway, with the speed of a very old sloth, I brushed my teeth, took a shower and got dressed( remember the last time I wrote about Yosemite, I wrote that my parents made me change my clothing? Well lets just say that happened multiple times this time. So just imagine what I wrote before but two or three times more.) Let’s just say that after THAT experience my parents and I were all really agitated. Soon we were all laced up into our shoes. I stood there in my extremely worn Levis. My heels clicking against the cement steps that led to the parking lot.

As soon as we all buckled our seat belts, the car was started.

“LeT’s Go EvErYbOdY!” My dad yelled. I covered my little sisters ears expecting what was soon to come. I made the right choice.

My little sister started crying because I was covering her ears so she got irritated. So my dad being the GENIUS he is started singing SO OFF KEY that I almost WENT DEAF. I cringed as I took my palms off of Thulasi’s ears.

“RoCkAbYe BaBy On ThE TrEe ToOoOoOoP WheEeEeENnNn ThE WiNd BlOwS tHe CrAdLe WiLl RoOoOoOoOoCk. WhEn ThE bOw BrEa-”

“AaAaAaAaAaAahHhHhHhHhHhHhHhH! StOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoP! I screeched. Luckily my little sister squealed in agreement(or maybe that’s just me).

Anyway, we continued driving along. My parents were super peppy and my little sister and my little brother were both at the same level of non-drowsiness ness( is that even a word? ) I on the other hand, not so much. I’m not accustomed to waking up at six thirty in the morning over the summer. So I was just sitting there looking like I haven’t slept in a week. I was dying on the inside, and I looked like it on the outside. So in order to regain my composure I slept in ten to fifteen minute time periods and then woke, watched my surroundings for a bit, and then got back to sleep. Yosemite was 149.5 miles away, therefore it would take two hours and 56 minutes to actually get there.

We stopped at a Costco parking lot about one or two hour’s after we started driving from home to freshen up. I stepped out of the car, but my feet felt like mush. I stumbled as I walked to where my dad and my brother were seated, along with my little sister in my dads lap, fussing with his fingers, trying to stick them in her little mouth to bite them. I sat beside my dad, curled up into a little ball of lethargic energy(I was still quite worn down) I started playing with a little fire ant that was beside the toe of my shoes. I watched as it moved along, dodging weeds that were growing from the cracks in the dry road. It looked as if the little insect was dancing or something. Suddenly my dad plopped my little sister on my lap and walked back to the car and opened the trunk to put a bunch of snacks out in the front of the car for the road.

My mother plunked herself to my right as my little brother ran( okay I’m being honest here, when he runs it’s like he’s dodging or something, so it doesn’t even look like he’s running) to the car to torment my father. My dad came back with his phone out and started telling us to look up at him. But Apollo was not being kind to the world today( Apollo is the Greek God of the Sun and countless other things) As soon as we started complaining that the sun was destroying our eye sight my dad INSTANTLY said:

“Oh come on you guys, Vitamin D is good for you!”

“I know Vitamin D is good for me but the amount of UVB- rays reaching my exposed skin is gonna make me pass out.” I retorted.

“Just one more, alright?” He said.

“FINE. But just ONE. NUMERO UNO. NUMMER EINS. NUMERUS UNUS.” I said( Numero Uno is Spanish for one. Nummer Eins is German for one. And Numerus Unus is Latin for one)

“Okay okay, look at the camera!” He said. I instead glared at him as the sun shined directly into my poor unfortunate pupils.

Five or ten minutes later, we all walked back and sat down, buckling our seat belts. My dad started the car. I watched the windows on either side of me. We passed by houses, farms, and fields with cattle roaming about. I saw rows and rows of olive and grape tree’s, the tree’s giving of a tint in the crisp, fertile air. The leaves danced in the subtle air, the branches swaying along. The windows in the car were wide open, as we drove the speed of the wind coming in increased. I hadn’t tied my hair back so my hair was lapping against my face due to the force of the wind. I asked my mom repeatedly if she had an extra hair tie but each time she said she didn’t. So there I sat. A black hurricane sweeping my face. But I adore the feeling of wind in my hair and face. It makes me feel so free and alive, just like the rain does.

We stopped at a gas station near by for a break and to use the restroom. I unbuckled my seat belt and my little sister’s too. I stretched on my seat like a cat, cracking my knuckles( and legitimately scaring brother have to death just by doing that ). After informing my brother that I didn’t just break both sets of my fingers, I grabbed the tube of Pringles chips and opened it. I didn’t eat anything since I was asleep moments before so I was starving. My dad went into the gas station to get my brother something to eat because my brother honestly looked like he was on the verge of passing out from either motion sickness, or just being plain tired.

Anyway, my dad came back with three ice creams, one pistachio, one raisin(???) and one that was supposed to be lemon but tasted like rotting sugar on a stick. All of them tasted disgusting to us.

My dad took my brother to the portable restrooms that were standing a few feet from our car. I got my little sister out of her seat and handed her to my mother so she could be fed( my little sister, not my mom.) A few moments later I heard a THUMP from the distance. I turned to see my brother literally tumbling out of the door and landing face first onto the ground. I laughed( I know I’m heartless XD) because usually I’m the clumsiest one in our family. Once the boys came back my mom and I took our turns. I don’t think I want to describe it though.

Anyway, we were all back in the car just hanging out. Soon we were back on the road, I was up and alert, my sleepiness completely disintegrating to the back of my head. I watched the buildings change to little shacks, the concrete turning into grass and wheat, electricity lines turning into trees.

I played with my little sister and cooed when she smiled. I don’t know, but, something about little babies just hooks me. I mean with there huge eyes, little fingers and toes, there little smiles. Thulasi looked up at me with those glassy black eyes, laughing and giggling, her arms flailing. She is always fascinated by with fingers and my arms. What with the my watch and occasional bracelets. Her grubby little fingers were clinging onto my fingers in a motion saying “Don’t you dare let go!”

I won’t.

My dad continued to update us on how close we were to Mariposa. Mariposa is the area that you go to before entering Yosemite. We stopped there so my dad could pick up sandwhichs we could eat when we got to the hotel. The rest of us stayed in the car. The heat was starting to get to me and I couldn’t stand it, so I tried distracting myself. I looked at my surrounding. The place reminded me of a small town in a book that I read a few years ago. I saw a woman holding her phone, crooking her neck in a very dangerous angle(unfortunately for her neck) and then, surprise, surprise. She banged her head on a pole in front of her in the middle of walking and scrolling. And the fact that she had these clunky heels made it even worse for her.

Now lets clear something here, I was not staring, I just happened to see the woman as I was analyzing my surroundings. And honestly, I felt terrible for her as she walked away rubbing her forehead with the palm of her free hand.

Moments later I experienced a faint but painful tug on the left part of my hair. I turned and saw Thulasi clutching a fistful of hair( in my little sisters case, that is a small amount of hair). She started to go into a fit of giggles as I sang her nursery rhymes and clapped my hands to distract her from ripping out locks of my hair from the roots.

A little bit later, my dad came back with a bag and put it aside by my moms feet, along with the other contents at her feet( diaper bag, snack bag, purse, sandwich bag, etc.) My dad started the car and we were driving again, and with that we were all rewarded from a cheeky smile from my little sister. We have learned that she loves to ride in the car with the window wide open, the wind running in her hair and face.

I watched the small wooden shacks and buildings disappear and become replaced with dry fields and tree’s. It was just us, the road, and the occasional accompany of one or two other cars. I watched as the amount of tree’s started to increase. Dense tree’s were now everywhere I looked, incredible hues of green bursting with life.

Soon we heard the crash and fall of water, the sound increasing. We all turned to the side in the which the sounds were heard and there was the water. Little trickles turning into streams, streams turning into forceful mediocre surges, and then a full river. Huge boulders being drenched constantly with water. I couldn’t tear my hungry eyes away. We finally had come to the toll booth, and then went past. I looked at the hills and saw that they reminded me of the aged skin of an elephant. The dry patches were like the wounded skin of the creature. I zeroed into the distance. I saw the bridge that you crossed and I whooped. I love crossing that bridge because the sounds of the river get amplified. It can shake me to the core. We drove closer and then finally we we started crossing. The river almost looked like milk, creamy and white. But lethal and deadly. Even if one person falls…. They’re done. Dead. Ceased. Departed. Obliterated. Annihilated. Okay I just brought this into a really depressing turn. Ehe, sorry.

Occasionally, the view of the river would be blocked by the opaque groups of tree’s, or a massive boulder. The rock formations fascinated me. Especially since erosion happened a lot in areas like this.

We were driving to Cedar Lodge. We have stayed in the hotel in our previous trips so we were quite familiar with the area. We were going to be staying here for the night and then leave the next day. We drove and watched our surroundings, We planned on eating lunch when we reached the hotel area, maybe hang out and just take a break for a bit at the hotel, and then get back on the road to go straight to Glacier Peak and maybe go to Yosemite Falls before or after that. Seeing the waterfalls and going to see the rivers are always my most desired parts of our trips here. Feeling light sprinkles of water hitting my face and other exposed parts of my body. from the sky. I love the feel of the rivers rushing through, undergoing in my fingers and tickling my skin. Along the way, my parents talked and I played with my little sister and watched the landscape. My brother still looked like he was gonna pass out.

I guided Thulasi’s eyes to her window and showed her everything. I explained to her what everything was. Along with her constant babbling and giggles she wouldn’t point at the window. I would nod my head and talk to her like i understood every word she said.

“Etha.”

“Oh, wow what a great observation.”

“Ababababa”

“Wow so interesting!”

“AaAaAaAaAa, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Oh really? Is that right?

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Tha.”

“You are so right Thulasi.”

“Da.”

“No need to thank me little lady.”

“AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

“Kay.”

In the end of that conversation there I honestly thought she was trying to start a war. What with her and her babbles starting to sound like war cries. Or maybe she just wanted me to shut up and let her enjoy the view in peace. This kind of reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad a few weeks before:

“Kanmani what are you reading?”

“The Hunger Games.”

“I thought you already read that series, considering the fact that you lectured me about it for a straight fifteen to twenty minutes about it.”

“Well I am reading the books again because SOMEONE refuses to take me to the library, because that certain SOMEONE is to busy to spend a mere FIFTEEN MINUTES TO LET THEIR DAUGHTER GET BOOKS IN A LIBRARY.”

“And that certain SOMEONE is y-”

“LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA”

“Let me finish my sen-”

“LALALALALALALALALALA.” He walked away with his pointer fingers plugged in both ears. Still yelling obnoxiously.

“I have a father with the good nature of a spoiled child.”

Anyway as I was having a flashback, my little sister started fussing so I snapped out of my daze and handed her, a little baby teether. I learned that it comes in handy when driving. But at the moment…

Not so much.

When I handed it to her she just flung it at my face. One of the little bead thingys making me temporarily blind in my left eye for like two minutes. Once my vision cleared once again, I let her fiddle with my fingers for a bit. That experiment ended up with her biting my index finger. And let me tell you, a babies two little teeth may look like nothing at all but merely just little peaks of white in their gums but, oh no no no, you got it all wrong. Being bitten with those two little teeth can result to whatever part of you that was bitten into a red, throbbing pain in the neck(literally). With my finger still throbbing and the little teeth marks turning from red, to blue, to purple, I decided to just let her play with a little plush book toy thingy.

We inched nearer to the parking lot of Cedar Lodge. We were supposed to check in a few hours later so we had plenty of time for lunch.

My brother looked a little green at the edges so I shoved a plastic baggy that smelled like baby powder under his mouth and he heaved. While that happened my mom handed me a big brown bag with the Subway sandwiches and the plastic water bottles, and I followed my dad into this area with picnic tables and a bunch of chairs sprawled about. My mom cut and passed out the sand whiches and we ate. I felt kind of odd because directly in front of that little area is the parking lot and apparently they were doing construction or something because the sounds of them working always broke the air. My dad got up from his place in the chair and walked away to look at the view of the river.

“OH MY GOD!” A screech pierced the silence, apparently the sound slipped from my dad.

“What?” I said in sync to my mother.

“OHMYGOD!”

“WhAt?!”

“OHMYGOD!”

“WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU EVEN OHMYGODDING ABOUT DAD?!?!” I yelled in annoyance.

“DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME TALKING COME UP HERE AND LOOK DOWN!” He said to me and my mom.

I walked up and then my mind and mouth imitated my fathers actions briefly before:

“Oh. My. God.” My jaw dropped.

“I know.”

“Oh my god.’

“I know.”

“OH.MY.GOD”

“I.KNOW.”

“OHMYGOD!!”

“IKNOW!!”

Down below there was the river and near the shallow end where there was the shore was a large, broad strip of sand. It was the perfect place to settle down and eat and put our feet and hands in the water. My dad seemed to have the same idea.

“Gather everything up and help your mom bring the stuff down there.”

I helped my mom and she and I walked down and saw my dad seated in one of the two chairs already there.

I lost total regulation over myself and instantly kicked off my shoes, the pebbles and small rocks and sand crunching under my feet as I marched my way towards the shallow water. I rolled up my pants and waded my feet in the water. It was freezing but I didn’t care. After being in a car for long periods of time really made my body much less stabilized. The river water was fresh and cleansed and refreshed my body. Each wave of bitter cold that hit me made me feel alive and raw( does that make sense?) I loved how soft the sand was underneath my feet. This sand was the patch that was being hit by water, only sand stood. Other small rocks and pebbles were pushed away to either end. The sand soft and frictionless. I took my glasses and my watch of and stuck them in my shoes before I severely damaged them with my childlike ways around water and sand.

(I found the watch months before when I was looking at my dad’s old watches in his watch box. I came across one watch that had a pristine face, the numbers written in Roman Numerals. The band was a deep burnt umber, almost black leather. I put it on my wrist and for some reason it looked like it belonged there. I recognized the watch from old photos of my dad. I showed it to my mom and she scrunched up her face when she saw that I was wearing a man’s watch. I ran down the steps and found my dad seated on the couch. I asked him if it was his watch. He obviously knew that i knew it was his. But he knew that I didn’t know it’s story. The watch used to belong to my grandfather but he had died a year before I was born. Then my dad wore this watch. My dad told me that the leather strap had been replaced once but then never again. I stared at the watch resting on my wrist like a long lost memory waiting to be found. My dad asked me that if I promised to keep it safe, I could have it. I grinned with glee. I finally had a piece of my grandfather with me. Passed from a grandfather to a father, to me. Ever since then a day never passed without me wearing our watch. I didn’t want the watch to receive water damage so I took it off. I didn’t want to destroy something so precious to me and others.)

The amount of time that we decided to spend in the little secret beach area accumulated as the time passed.

I stood in the water until my feet went numb. I sat in one of the chairs beside my mom. My little sister was unbuckled from her car seat and seated beside my mom as if she was in a little throne. I stood up and sat in the seat closer to Thulasi. Since she was free from the seat belt, she was squirming around touching the sand. But then she picked up sand that was equivalent to the mass of the contents of a teaspoon, most of the sand falling back to the ground but she attempted to put the rest of the contents into her mouth.

“THULASI NO!” Shrieked my mother as she put the bits of sand back onto the ground. We all laughed as my mom picked up my little sister and put her in her lap.

I had abandoned my appetite and spent my time there putting my feet and hands in the water. Moments before consisted of my dad and I talking about how the parasites and other things in river water can potentially kill you and make you have a slow and painful death.

I really don’t think I should get into that.

I sat down beside my dad in a chair, my feet dipped in the water, and I staring at the landscape around me. Tree’s were everywhere, on the hills, behind and beside us, and some fallen tree trunks drowned in the shallow end of the small shore.

My feet rested in the soft sand accompanied by the free flowing water. My calves were completely soaked, along with a quarter of my jeans. In between my toes were bits of sand. And my brother thought it was a great idea to dump a pile of sand on my head when I wasn’t looking. I managed to get the majority of the particles out, but there were still small amounts left that I couldn’t get at in between the weak tangles in my hair.

Honestly none of us expected to find such an amazing spot to spend time in. As I just sat there in the peace of it all, I thought a short poem that accommodated my perspicacity:

The glow of the scattered stars at night, the moon illuminating the river’s shine. The sweet hush in the gentle good night, the slow, alluring dying of the light.

I love a long winding, waiting road, taking me to a place that I cannot foresee, until the hills reveal a landscaped mystery.

The morning rise of the sun breaks the shadow of night. The coming and going of a saturated sunrise. The clouds praise the sun, the sun praises the sky. The sky praises the tree’s who praise the souls who pass by.

The rolling hills beam as we pass. The water waves and breaks our trance. The bears lurk in the obscurity of the forest, the mountains set fire to the there shadows before we take notice.

There is another sun and sky, unrecognizable in the land of metal and gilt. The sky is bare expect for it’s bloodless puffs of clouds, the sun a ball of air and light.

The wind whispers to the waiting tree’s, a simple yet stirring type of a gesture. The mass conjuring a body of wind and frond.

I have stepped in a word of yellow and gold, the water a swirling sea of silver and green.

The steadfast feel of sand in my toes, the bewitching glow of the maneuvering shore. The wind blowing constantly, the sweet taste of the ocean hanging in the air. The water, it calls me, telling me to defy the space between me and them.

I broke out of my trance when my dad said ” Soooooooooo, shall we pack it up? We gotta check in to the hotel soon.” I pouted as I walked barefoot on the path, my shoes hanging from my fingers by the laces. I put on my watch and stuck the rocks and pebbles I found in my pocket so I can put them in my satchel when I can access it. The ground was so hot. And we were all walking around barefoot. I hopped about until we reached this small patch of grass and put on our shoes. I put my glasses on the bridge of my nose and strapped on my watch onto my wrist. We reached the car and dropped our stuff in there. I stuffed the rocks I collected into my satchel and ran to the shady area in which my dad was seated in a wooden bench. I scrambled to find where my brother went.

I was stupid enough to mistake him for a tree.

We walked into the large lobby area. There were glass cases with these vintage looking dolls and a bunch of teddy bears. Apparently they were for sale. There was this cute little doll that looked like a younger version of Sacagawea. But the clothing was all wrong. I pointed it out to my mom and she smiled. I walked around.

The dolls kinda creeped me out after a while so I walked away and looked at the other side of the room that extended to be a gift shop.

No one seemed to be there so I just roamed along. I saw a bunch of trinkets and shirts, hats and coasters with the words Yosemite stamped or pressed on them. I saw in a small crack in the corner of the room a small little green sprout. It looked exorbitantly close to deteriorating. I poured water into the cap of the plastic bottle that I was holding and poured it slowly over the young bud. I capped the bottle and I walked to this little box that was displaying these pens that had the heads of deer on the top of the cap. I was beaming at this incredible painting of the Half Dome that was splayed along the wall, but due to my very short stature my head went all the way back and actually touched the small of my neck.

Though that didn’t stop me from staring at it incessantly. I touched the strokes that almost seemed invisible to the naked eye. I hesitated as the tips of my fingers reached the familiar texture of a painted canvas. I instantly pulled my hand back when from the corner of my eye I saw a couple admiring the painting as well. They smiled at me and I sheepishly returned the gesture.

I bet in their heads they were like: “Why is that petite girl touching that painting? She looks ridiculous trying to reach up to that height.”

They probably didn’t actually think that but still.

I shuffled back to where my mom and my brother were seated on a big black couch. I sat, but the instant I did my dad came back and opened the door so we could grab our stuff and go to the hotel. I sluggishly slid of the couch and walked through the door, the blistering heat hit me like a punch to the face.

If I were able, I would’ve punched it right back.

My dad told my mom, brother, and I to find the room, while he drove the car to parking spot that would be close. Luckily we found the room and we grabbed our stuff from the car. I grabbed my satchel, and a smallish medium sized-ish duffel bag that had my clothes and my mom’s.

My mom told me to give them to her so I can help my dad grab a few more things. I also handed my mom the key card that gave us access to the room. I grabbed the snack bag and Thulasi’s diaper bag and climbed up the cement steps. I smiled at one of the staff who was stacking fresh towels onto his cart.

It’s funny how when you smile, that person smile’s back. And even after you have walked away, they sometimes even still remain smiling.

My mom left the door open halfway for my dad and I so I walked right in.

The room was really nice, two beds, an armoire, a bathroom, a couch, ceiling fan, and the air conditioning was already running. I put the stuff I was holding next to the other bags. My little sister was sitting on one of the beds. My brother was sitting on the small couch, above it hung this really cool metal leaf art that really made the room cool. I flopped onto the bed that was adjacent to the one Thulasi was on. My dad walked in a told my mom how great he thought the room was.

“Move over.” My brother said. I retorted back:

“No way.”

“Geek.”

“Dweeb.”

“Dork.”

“Dimwit.”

“Doofus.”

I soon took extreme measures:

“I refuse to move over mortal!”

“Nerd!”

“I refuse to move muggle!”

I could tell he was running out of ideas.

“Fine! You.. you…. Butt….Nerd. Butt Nerd.”

Okay, my brother went a little off now.

“What the heck is a Butt Nerd?!”

“Why are you calling each other names?” My mom dove into the conversation.

“And what in the world is a Butt Nerd?” She questioned.

“Ask the genius who said it mother.” I jested.

While my little sister played, my dad napped, my mom did who knows what, and my brother was drawing on a little pad of paper that he had in his backpack.

I hopped down softly my feet my creating a faint thud. My dad stirred, I walked slowly towards my satchel and reached to open the pocket. I grabbed my Kindle and walked back to the bed, in the process of retrieving my device, I snatched the bag of veggie chips. I sat there, quietly munching and reading. It was two o’clock, and we planned on getting back on the road to Glacier Peak at three.

But we definitely needed a break from driving around non-stop.

It felt lovely to just relax, and stretch, without the sun burning us to a crisp. It was nice to have some sense of pe-

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

And… My sister started to bawl her eyes out.

I hoisted her up and let her cling to my hip. I put her on my shoulder, patting her back, hushing her. Eventually she fell asleep, so I gently put her down beside my dad, I pulled up a chair and put it beside the bed, I sat down and continued my decent through the extent’s of my book.

Eventually my father and sister woke up and my mom decided that we should split the rest of the sandwiches before we leave.

In a lot of scenarios throughout my life,( trips, walks, drives, etc, )my mother can be EXCEEDINGLY fabricated. For example I would ask her for fun if she had an avocado in the hotel we stayed in at Yosemite. Then she would literally hand me a FREAKING AVOCADO and then ask if i need her to dice tomatoes, cut a lemon, and slice some onions so we can make guacamole. Another exemplification of this stereotypical situation with my mother is when we went to Mount Diablo and we were having a picnic. She literally brought at least five courses, plus a bunch of old plates and cups( that we never use at home) as well as, various types of fruit, and a bunch of other things.

Another time, we went for a walk and we started walking towards downtown, the sidewalk we were walking on seemed to quite dim and we didn’t want to step on an unfortunately stationed arthropod. So my mom decided to pull out a HEAVY DUTY FLASHLIGHT OUT OF HER FLIPPIN PURSE.

So it was no surprise when I saw that my mom brought the rice cooker, a kettle, and the toaster on this trip.

After about thirty minutes we all hauled into the car and started driving to Glacier Peak. The drive was quite long though there was no traffic. At one point we found a route to Bridal Veil Falls. But this wasn’t the path where all you did was look at it from a distance. “Come on it will be fun!” My dad said. I was actually thoroughly excited about walking to the path and up to where we could really see up it close. Especially since we were actually only going to see Yosemite Falls tomorrow. I always adore seeing Yosemite Falls up close, so seeing another waterfall would be awesome.I ran/military hopped, out of the car, my brother an obstacle in my path. I jumped out of the car, my brother on my trail. We all grabbed water bottles and I plucked my little brother’s fedora and put it on my head. My mom put on her baby carrier and my dad slipped Thulasi in. She looked adorable with her arms and legs just sticking out, and her head resting on my moms chest.

We hiked up the path, my dad and I looking ahead. My mom, my brother, and Thulasi close behind. As we creeped closer the sound of water slamming against rock elevated, water hitting my face in small doses. Finally the( well anticipated ) cataract came to view. The falling water kind of reminded me of locks of hair. Cascading down each hair either taking on a new texture or remaining it’s way. The water almost looked like cream with it’s depth and proliferation. We stood there, breathing in the crisp perfume of wet leaves My eyelashes were dotted with orbs of water, my skin freckled by the spray from the crashing water and wind. I couldn’t tear my eyes away, really it is not as simple a pantomime for me.

We stood there for a while that way, then my dad told me:

“Close your eyes and just don’t do anything, really feel it, it’s presence. Okay?”

“Okay.”

I close my eyes, the water that rested on my eyelashes trickling down my cheeks. This was a whole other way to experience something so, so.. Uh, I can’t even describe it! It’s just. I give up. Nothing can describe it unless you’re the waterfall itself. My dad and I continued standing there. There was this one girl standing on one of the rocks distanced away from the waterfall a little, she had this cloth sign that said TRAVEL MORE, apparently she was trying to get someone to take the picture of her holding it to be one of those “trendy” pictures you always find in social media. But with the wind blowing she almost fell backwards and the cloth kept blowing so it looked like it said: AVEL ORE. I rolled my eyes as she screeched for help when she dropped her high heeled shoes while her feet dangled impatiently for someone to retrieve it for her. Girl, it’s your problem that you’re wearing heels. We stood there for a bit longer, my mom decided to go back to the car with Thulasi. My dad and I decided to go back, my brother just waddling in front of us. (Don’t ask me why.)

We continued driving to Glacier Peak, stopping sometimes at some of the points that overlooked the majority of the landscape,( Half Dome, El Capitan, etc.) I started to get really agitated from being stuck in a car. I mean REALLY REALLY REALLY FLUSTERED. I started to let my complaints escape from my head and out my mouth.

“Ma ma ma, mummy, mama, mama, ma ma ma ma ma maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.” I dragged out.

“Yes Kanmani.” My mom sighed.

“Hi.”

When I’m bored I have a way of annoying people, and by people I mean my parents.

A LONG while later:

“WHERE HERE FINALLY. OH MY GOD.” I scrambled out of the car.

We walked towards the lookout area, but my dad decided to let my brother and I get ice cream at the General Store that was close by. I grabbed a strawberry cheesecake ice cream on a stick, my brother went off getting something else. Once my mom payed, we met my dad at one of the look out areas, waterfalls at almost every direction I turned. I bent down and looked at the cars driving below, like beetles scouring dirt roads. On one of the rocks that was jutting out of the infrastructure of the path we stood on, two men seemed to be standing on it, doing ridiculous things like pretending to jump of the edge. I rolled my eyes, my mom looked away, and my dad whispered the word “stupid” into my ear. A tall man standing beside my dad said “Idiots.” and then my dad replied with an “I know right!” We decided to go to our usual spot for looking at the view. It was this massive boulder, and underneath a thick bed of rock that we sat on, leaning our backs against the slab of rock behind us.

I took a few pictures with my dad’s phone, my dad geared with his DSLR camera. We both rested our devices and just looked, but then my dad’s phone rang. His ringtone was the James Bond theme, a man turned around and said “Whoever has that James Bond ringtone, I want it.” He chuckled. I smiled as my dad cheekily said “Hehe, that was mine.” He raised his hand like a student would in school when answering a question. Then the man walked away and started talking to another man about how his phone only made a DING DING DING sound that can really pick at your last nerve.

“This is how a REAL professional takes a picture.” My dad said with the familiar click of the camera and intimate look in his eyes. I made a sound that was a cross between of a snort, a goat’s bleat, and a laugh. But I have to admit, when my dad says he is gonna take a good picture, he takes a good picture. Anyway, the sun was hitting the Half Dome perfectly, making the body glow gold and aurelian. We had sat there for more than thirty minutes. Spending our time wisely staring, people came and went, mainly trying to catch a glimpse of the sunset hitting the outlook landscape. A lot of people were stupid enough to think it was a good idea to stand on the railing that was protecting people from falling 3,200 feet above Half Dome Village. A while later, we slowly walked back to the car, my mom huffing along the way. We all got in the car my dad started the car and we started driving, the tree’s passing by, some tree’s had sage, some were oak. My parents informed us to guess what my mom was making for dinner.

“Rice?”

“No.”

“Sandwiches?”

“No.”

“Pasta?”

“Close.”

“Noodles?!”

“Yes.”

“Wooohooo!”

“Wait, ma, how are you going to make noodles? In a toaster?!”

“No Kanmani, I’m going to use the cooker.”

I mentally gave myself a slap to the face. I mean obviously she can make noodles in a cooker, this is my mom we are talking about. Plus a cooker is a cooker, so yeah.

My brother fell asleep, then I felt a soft head of hair gently hit my hand, my little sister’s head to be exact. She had managed to fall asleep on the front of my hand. The soothing feel of her pulse made me sleepy.

A while later:

I blinked, we were still driving, tree’s on either side of the road. But then we saw a small group of people at the edge of the road. “OH MY GOD!” A woman had wailed. A scream that shook me to the core. I then saw a car that was laying sideways in the forest. It had fallen, possibly with passengers in it. My dad shook his had in sorrow, my mom bowed her head in despair. I silently hoped that , no one was hurt and that all will be well.

I went back to sleep, but the funny thing with this action is that once you go on and then wake up it feels like you had just rested your head. So when I dosed of and my mom woke me up when we got back to the hotel, it felt like I had only slept for a mere five minutes. We all went back to the hotel, grabbing whatever we may need in the hotel. As soon as I walked in I grabbed my pajamas and went straight to the bathroom to change. I sat on the bed my sister was seated on and played with her, she managed to get her hands on my Kindle. I mean I don’t even remember leaving it there.

My mom started up the noodles, my dad was watching something on the T.V., my brother was playing with Legos we brought from home and I was reading on my Kindle.

My mom had everything laid out, tomatoes and onions, salt, spices, noodles, tools to mix the noodles the vegetables in it, paper plates, etc. I watched as she cooked, my mouth watering from the steam.

Nightfall hit the sky hard. I sat there eating my plate of noodles, a bottle of cold water next to me. I read the book I was reading while eating. My dad stepped out with my little sister just outside the door. After my brother and I ate, my mom told us to eat a few apple slices before going to bed for digestion. I forced some down before my head hit the pillow. I thought about the day and was taken back to a quote I had read that was written by an anonymous:

Wanderlust consumed her;

foreign hearts and exotic minds compelled her.

She had a gypsy soul and a vibrant hope for the unknown.

Huh, I wonder who that could be…