Hilton Garden Inn Lobby (image by the Jayasinghe family)
We woke up in St. Louis after dreams of the Gateway Arch and standing in the rain, which is what we had actually done the day before! After helping our mom pack the suitcases, we took the elevator down to the lobby for breakfast. We had porridge, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausages, fruit, juice, and cereal. You can always count on a good breakfast at a Hilton Garden Inn! Then, we went back to our room and relaxed for a bit, before we checked out and left for Kansas City. The drive was supposed to take around two hours, but we took around four, since we stopped at Ozarkland for fudge, Arby’s, and a rest stop.
We were staying at an Embassy Suites for the last night of our trip. The hotel was located on the outskirts of Kansas City. It was beautiful, with a huge lobby, a restaurant, free breakfast, and even an evening snack! We came just in time for the evening snack, so we ate celery, carrots, chips, and dip. Then we unpacked our luggage from the car and settled down in our spacious room. Or rather – two rooms. We lounged on the two queen beds and read books, and watched the cooking channel. Then, we decided to take a dip in the indoor pool. While we soaked in the hot tub, we watched the July 4th fireworks. We didn’t have a very good view of them, but we did see some. When the fireworks were over, we went to our room and watched TV again. We ordered dinner from the restaurant in the lobby, and then fell asleep for the last time on our trip.
Kansas City experienced a thunder storm on June 30th. After a three hour flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City, we drove in that storm, to Omaha, Nebraska. We had left Los Angeles International Airport at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday the 29th of June, and had landed in Kansas City at 1:00 am on the 30th (there’s a two hour time difference).
We drove in the storm, luckily for us it was mostly a dry storm with a lot of lightning, for two hours to Omaha. For the first half an hour, none of us were sleeping. We were too occupied trying to figure out how to turn off the seat warmer on our mom’s seat. Apparently, since it gets cold in Kansas City in the winter, the Infinity rental car we had, had a seat warmer. Also, we were all nervous about the lightning. When we finally reached our destination, the Days Inn on Miracle Hills Drive, we checked in and almost immediately fell asleep.
We woke up after about six hours, around noon, to eat breakfast, and then got ready for the Olympic Trials. We were so excited! This was what our week long trip was all about! We were in Omaha, Nebraska, to see the 2016 Olympic swim trials. We had tickets to see the finals on Thursday night.
Just before I fall into the water! Rolling a plastic log (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
We would get to see Michael Phelps, Ryan Lockte, Katie Ledecky, Missy Franklin, Maya Dirado, Natalie Coughlin, Nathan Adrian, Conor Dwyer, and all the other big athletes swim for a spot on the 2016 Olympic team to Rio! First, we headed to the aqua zone, where we could participate in activities like standing on a rolling log, and swimming in a Michael Phelps swim spa. The Michael Phelps swim spa is a small spa that Michael Phelps trains in every day for 12 minutes. He swims against a powerful jet of water. I lasted seven seconds.
We also got to take picture with past Olympians and get their autographs! It was amazing! We got to hold their medals and even wear them! We got to take pictures with Debby Myer and Brian Goodelle.
With Brian Goodelle and his Olympic gold medals (Image by the Jayasinghe family).My own gold medals! I borrowed from Debby Myer, Olympic gold medalist (Image but the Jayasinghe family).
At about 5:30 we started heading for the Olympic trial pool. There was more security than I thought there would be. They checked our bags, and then we turned our tickets in. We had to walk through metal detectors. Next, we bought some keychains to give as sovaniors to our friends, and hot dogs and nachos to eat. We found our seats, we were so close to the water!
In front of the Olympic trial pool. The pool was brought all the way from Italy (Image by the Jayasinghe family).Waiting for the Olympic trials to start (Image by the Jayasinghe family).
We were amazed at how many people there were, almost the whole arena was full! The swimmers were warming up, and we sat and ate while watched them and also some races from the night before that were on the big jumbotron. Soon, the whole arena went dark, and a light show started.
They never show the light shows, and other activities they do to keep the audience engaged, when the trials are shown on TV! It was very exciting. One time, water spurted out from beneath the ground, and fire blazed on top! Light reflected on the water so it looked like the fountains were red, white, and blue.
We saw the women’s 200 meter breaststroke (my favorite!), and the men’s 200 breaststroke, men’s 200 meter back, men and women’s 100 meter free, and men’s 200 meter individual medley. The 200 meter IM was especially exciting, with both Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte racing!
Overall, everything was wonderful!
Unfortunately, it only lasted two hours, and then we went back to the hotel. Before we went to sleep, we had Panda Express while watching the cooking channel on TV.
