Recently, during labor day weekend I headed over to Missouri with some friends and family. I went with my mother, sister, grandparents, and my cousin, as well as a family that we’re very acquainted with and their foreign exchange student. This is going to be a short blog, it was a pretty short trip which was sad:(. More travels will be coming soon though, can’t stay away from traveling!

The drive from where I live to Missouri is a good 2 hours, I did get pretty restless in the car after some time but we made it! Stopping at India Clay Oven for dinner, because I have to have my daily dose of Indian food, was one of the best decisions, the food was really good and flavorful. Then we drove over to the rental, the rental was a cozy 4 bedroom house, which was hard because we had ten people going to live in the house. I got the loft with the foreign exchange student, and my sister got to share a room with her best friend. Then the adults and my cousin were splitting the beds and who got to sleep where. We also had such a great view of the lake, compared to last time I went to Branson, where I went glamping, I also blogged about that if you’re interested; but the trees where covering the view of the lake.

The next day, September 2nd, we had a lot planned, since we were only staying there for two nights we wanted to do EVERYTHING in a limit of those days. We planned many trips, and if you don’t know, Branson is like the Disneyland of the Midwest, I mean there are rides everywhere you look, as well as attractions for entertainment. Such as, museums, carnivals, and plays. There were many things to decide from so I just went with the flow and let everyone pick what we were going to do. Apparently the first thing they wanted to do was this coaster, it’s called the Branson Coaster, it’s literally a roller coaster but you get to control the speed you want to go at. It was fun to feel the fresh air and go at my own speed, which was the max because I enjoy going fast. After that we headed over to a go-karting place where I was totally crushing everyone else, there was a wooden track that was fun, however, it was really bumpy and there are a lot of slopes on it so at the end of the day my back was in pain. Other than that course, there was a normal go-karting course if you don’t want back pain for the rest of the day.

Running around and driving a small car gets you worked up you know? Lunch took place in a Thai restaurant call Tai Kitchen, which I didn’t know Thai was spelled that way, or if it’s like an abbreviation? I don’t know, but this place is no joke, the mango sticky rice, is literally the best mango sticky rice I’ve ever had. I’ve also never been to Thailand yet, so maybe it doesn’t taste that well to the authentic version, but I thought it was pretty well. At this point, I had a lot of food, I was going to go into a food coma, and I was tired of walking. I really thought we were going to call it a day despite it being 2:00 pm, BUT NO, we went to Silver Dollar City, which is an amusement park themed to look as if it’s the 1800’s. This place has really good rides, and in my opinion, better than Disney. Disney has a lot of rides but aren’t as thrilling as they’re for little kids. Silver Dollar City as all the attractions however, like Time Traveler and Outlaw. Time Traveler is this huge roller coaster with the theme of you going back in time. This roller coaster not only has intense loops and high slopes, but the compartment you’re sitting in spins as well as you’re going through the roller coaster. Thunderation is also a fun ride for those who don’t like roller coasters as much but still want to do one, it’s like the Seven Dwarfs Mine roller coaster in Disney. Thunderation is meant to look like a train as if the riders are miners, noting the Seven Dwarfs mine ride. It’s super fun and you go through mine like caves. They also have other attractions like the red swings, and there was one I really enjoyed called Farmer Ben’s Barn Swing, it’s this huge swing that swings you up and down. I could almost touch the trees nearby.

September 3rd, our last day in Branson, we already checked out of the rental by 10:00 and we were ready to roll, we were heading over to this place call Top of the Rock, it’s this nice gold cart trip where you can relax and just be one with nature. If you’ve read my other Branson blog, you would know what the Top of the Rock is all about. The only problem though, everyone was thinking about it too, there was a 2 hour wait time to go golf carting. I could not wait in the sun for that long, so I ditched with the my sister and her friend as well as the newest member to the cool gang and we drove 5 minutes to Fun Mountain. Which you would also know if you read my other blogs ^^. I don’t have too many pictures of Top of the Rock and Fun Mountain because I’ve already been there so many times and posted photos about them. As the day was coming to an end, which I was sad because I don’t want to leave, we headed to our last reservation. This was a horse show called Dolly Parton’s Stampede. I love Dolly Parton, she’s such a kind and caring person and watching this horse show was really fun. I took photos but I couldn’t take videos there for some reason. It was permitted. The point of the show was showing the journey of horses, it first introduced teams, my side of the building was team North which the players came from all parts of Northern American, such as New York, and Maine, and the South team consisted of those from Texas and Arkansas. Which I was sad because, hello??? Proud Arkansan for life >.< They showed the story of Native Americans relationship with horses and then settlement. It was also a dinner thing, like they gave you a dinner that you ate as watching the show. It was a typical southern dinner, rotisserie chicken, corn on the cob, biscuits, creamy soup, and strudels. There were so many cool things, like horses jumping through fire, audiences getting to interact in earning points for the team, a dog race, a pig race, a person dressed up as a chicken, buffaloes and long horn cows being herded, and so much more.

There weren’t many pictures because a. I either forgot or b. The photos were of the horses but blurred because those horses were FAST. I hope you enjoyed this blog and my next adventure awaits. Ta ta now!

Ok, wow, hey, how you been? It’s been a while, but you know how it is school is starting and all. My grandparents are also in town which is fun, but here is finally the last part of my NYC adventure.

Since today was the last day I decided to go somewhere aesthetically pleasing. After quite some time with researching I found a place called Remi’s flower cafe. One of the best decisions of this whole trip, it was an amazing experience. I ordered an ice chai, a rose latte, a lavender latte, and a butterfly pea lemonade. The whole store was head to toe in flowers and a great spot for pictures.

After relaxing for a little while, I decided I needed to let my inner tourist in. So I headed over to the World Trade Tower. I also went to the mall that was close by, though I didn’t buy anything it was a good place to cool down because it was a really hot day. The heat became so unbearable that I had to stop by a Starbucks, and I of course did get something from there as well. In the Starbucks I was still researching things to do in NYC for my last day and I came across the Artechouse. There was a wait time that I unfortunately had to go to the Artechouse to put my name down. So I put my name down and headed back towards the Starbucks, the Starbucks here are so flashy, I realize New York has a thing for botanical things because this Starbucks had a whole garden area. Also the Starbucks Olive oil cakes are no joke, those things are super good.

The Artechouse was super trippy, there were some parts of the experience where I felt dizzy and had to close my eyes. If you don’t know about the Artechouse, it’s basically this HUGE room that gets filled with light with a projector, and when they turn the projector on you’re surrounded by the image it produces. It’s on the floor, and walls, etc. After exiting I found myself in Chelsea Market which was way too big for my brain to process where I was going. I did find an exit, but got tempted by an Indian chaat store next to the exit, and I OBVIOUSLY went to get something. It was called Chote Miya, which I don’t know what Miya means, gentleman? Maybe, maybe not? It also said dekho magar pyaar se which I do know what that means. So I guess the Hindi lessons when I was a kid paid off. It means look, but with love, which is cute. It was street food you would find in India but with an American twist, and honestly it wasn’t bad. I ordered Masala fries that were so good, they weren’t as spicy as I would have liked but you know it’s fine.

After finding my way out I decided I’m not done being a tourist and thought what is the most touristy thing to do in NYC. The Statue of Liberty. The downside was there was a big line and it was a little hot to stand in a line. I was burning up and my back was getting all disgusting and sweaty. It was cool to see though, and I got ice cream once I made it onto the “Island?” is that what it is? Even after the Statue of Liberty, I knew, I needed to cool down or I would overheat. Calling an Uber quickly so I don’t bake in the sun’s glory and headed over to “Little India”. It’s not actually, but there were a lot of Indian restaurants in that area. I found a restaurant called Bhatti, it was chill. There were cool photos of Bollywood actors and actresses like Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra Jones. The only downside was they were playing Kidz bop which was really wonky to hear in an Indian restaurant. I ordered a Tandoori Kebab, butter chicken, naan, and Rose rasmalai, it was super good.

I ate a lot of calories and it was getting dark which meant I was leaving tomorrow, THE HORROR. However, the best way to end the day was going on a walk, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have found “Little Korea”, which really sucked because I could have gotten something to eat here, however, I did find a kpop store and bought two albums so that made up for it. It was so hard to choose what to get, especially because I appreciate the concepts of K-pop. I chose Stayc’s Staydom (a girl crush pop type of song) and NMIXX’s Ad Mare (a bad girl concept) after 30 minutes, but chaos struck when I realized I may have taken too long. The sky caved in and the rain spilled everywhere, it was officially pouring. Staying in the shop was my only option until it dried up. I recommend going on night walks, it’s breathtaking.

That is the end of my journey at NYC, but more places will come by sooner or later.