The Jurassic Jamboree! by Nathan

The Jurassic Jamboree!

By: Nathan

SPLASH! The boat swayed as I stepped on. A river of water lurched and swayed melodically in front and behind me. No turning back now! I thought as my dad squeezed beside me. The attendant helped my sister on and my family pulled down the bar. Why is there a bar to keep us in? Does that mean there are drops? “Jurassic Park River Adventure, sounds peaceful,” I said. There was a medium hill at the start which scared me a little. Instantly, I started to think about huge drop offs and giant waterfalls. Just to be sure that there weren’t going to be any surprises, I asked my mom about it. “Oh, don’t worry, they only put that there because the whole ride is downhill. Remember, we are on water,” My mom replied. “I really hope you’re right. I have a gut feeling that this is going to be a rough ride, though,” I said. When we finished going up the hill, there was a little dip, and then I saw all of the calm water ahead of our boat. Huh, I guess mom is right, I thought. I still have that feeling of absolute terror and dread radiating from my body.

As we came around the bend, I saw a sparkle of color reflecting through the clear blue water. Something must be up ahead! I thought. We started to slow down as I got a better view at the object. It was about 7 feet tall and when it turned its head, I got to see a duck-bill stuck to an unmistakable face. “Look, a parasaurolophus!” I yelled. There, in the water, there was a orangish-yellowish dinosaur with a long crest on its head. It lifted its head as mechanically as a metal robot that was just built and low on batteries. It looked straight at us and blew mist at us through its duck-billed nose. As we were having a lukewarm shower on the boat, I got a better look at the dinosaur’s crest. It was magnificent the way it gleamed when the sun hit it just right. The water started to move the boat back to a straight position. I realized that the water was a still mountain, with the only movement on it small ripples from the boat. It was as if we were climbers, climbing the water. I didn’t know that we would literally be climbing towards the end of the ride, though.

After that encounter, we floated by some triceratops in the water. They rolled their heads as if to say, ‘Go away. We are trying to have some peace and quiet!’ Their giant frills were astonishing. Their three horns were so realistic I thought I was in the Jurassic! Then, we saw some small ornithomimus on the bank, running around and looking like they were having a great time. One went down to the water to get a sip of the crystal clear water and I got a better look at it. It had some very small teeth and a slender nose. As we passed by a few trees, I realized that they were palm trees. Did they really have palm trees in the Jurassic? Or are those just the Florida palms. I thought. We floated by a few Psittacosaurus drinking from the river, small relatives of the triceratops. There frills were so tiny I could hardly believe that they managed to survive during the Mesozoic Era. The water started getting calmer as we passed some corythosaurus. They also had a crest on their head and were a pinkish-orangish color. They could make different sounds out of their crests because they were hollow. The parasaurolophus could also make sounds out of their crests, but they were not as good at it. They sprayed more mist on us with their funny little snouts. All of a sudden, the waterway straightened out. I looked off to my right and saw a calm, quiet little path, but WITH NO TRACKS!!!!! Then afraid to look, I snuck a glance to my left, and what I saw, left me lost for words.

“Mom, can I hold your hand? I’m really scared.” I said to my mom. “Sure you can, if it makes you feel better!” My mom said weakly. Her voice squeaked a little and I could tell she was scared too. Suddenly, a heard a chain go taught behind me. “WHO’S THERE?” I squeaked in a small voice. Then, BAM! A cage holding a velociraptor dropped a foot above my head. “HEEEEEEEELP!!!!!” I yelled.

The cage shook and jolted left and right and left and right as I crouched down almost cutting off the circulation of my mom’s hand. My knuckles turned white along with my face as the boat started into an abandoned laboratory. The laboratory was bathed in a red light with computers and whatnot everywhere. It looked like whoever was there was startled badly and had to go in a rush. We started to go up and up and up with my fear escalating with it and I felt my confidence go down and down and down. When my conscience took over, I realized we were going up a big ramp. When we leveled out I looked up and what did I see? None other than the most fiercest and well known dinosaurs in the world. The TYRANNOSAURUS REX!!! The biggest carnivore ever was standing right in the path of our boat. I looked down and saw a pathway between his legs. “Mom, I think that is where we are headed,” I said pointing. My hand was shaking and I thought, Oh, brother. And I thought this was going to be a fun ride. Our boat was still moving and as soon as I thought we had gained a safe passage through the T. Rex’s legs. He leaned down, opened, his mouth, and ROARED!!!!!

I lifted my hands up to cover my ears when they suddenly shot back down to the bar that kept me in. My eyes opened wide and my amygdala went THINGS ARE NOT GOOD RIGHT NOW!!!!! I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn’t. My stomach leaped into my throat and started dancing a jig. My knuckles gripped the bar like they would never grip ever again. My brain felt like it was exploding! My feet went cold and my arms lost feeling. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” I could hear my heart beating wildly as I screamed in unison with everyone on our boat. SPLASH! We came down in a giant pool of water. I was completely and utterly petrified with fear. I looked behind me and saw other boats going down a ramp. “So that’s what it was, a big ramp!” I said to my family. “That was the best ride ever!!!” my sister exclaimed. That’s what you think. I freaked out! You never get scared of rides or surprises, Madison. I thought as we got off the boat. We were walking away from the ride when my dad saw a shop to buy photos. “Let’s go in there and see what our photo looks like,” my dad said. Meanwhile, I still had the expression on my face of the purest of pure terror while everyone was walking.

We went into a store to look at the pictures of our faces as we went down the end of the ride. “Second row on a recent boat.” My dad said to the shopkeeper. We got the picture and I didn’t even want to see it. I was still thinking of the horrific drop down to the bottom at the end of the ride. When my family looked at my face, they all burst out laughing. I wanted to know what they were laughing about so I looked at my face. It definitely showed how absolutely scared I was. My mom couldn’t cheer me up for the rest of the day, though she came close to doing it once by pretending to be Harry Potter and using my special wand. In the whole experience of the ride was worth it.