Angelica had been looking forward to this vacation for a long time. It was the first time the entire family was going to take a break from life and do something together. Normal families would have settled for a weekend at an amusement park, or a camping trip. This, however, was no normal family. No, Angelica’s dad was a top TV anchor. If he was going to lose an entire week of air time, then it had better be something newsworthy. So, armed with a magazine article on the most extreme vacations known to man, Stephana Gabrielle had convinced her husband that this vacation was not only possible, but an excellent opportunity to go where no man had gone before. The family was to be the first to have the opportunity to take XD’s new Extreme Vacation – Bravery Pack.
Tommy and Sean, Angelica’s thirteen year old twin brother’s were completely psyched. They had looked up every possible destination that could be included in the package, and were convinced that at some point the two of them would take down a grizzly bear with their bare hands. They, of course, felt the need to act out this scene for anyone who happened to cross their path… including the hallway monitor at school, and, subsequently, the vice principal.
Cousins Brad, Karl, and Kurt were coming along as well. They should be able to keep the twins entertained… if the five teenage boys didn’t manage to kill themselves before the trip even began that is…
Altogether, Stephana and Mason, their daughter Angelica, sons Tommy and Sean, and nephews Brad, Karl, and Kurt, along with Stephana’s brother Dan (Karl and Kurt’s father) would be heading to the tallest building in the country tomorrow to spend the last night before the extreme vacation officially began.
Spirit’s were high. In fact the only ones nervous at all seemed to be Mason and Angelica.
Mason, of course, was worried about which camera flashes would best capture the intensity of the moment, and not wash him out, or whether or not there would be internet hookup at some point to get some shots and notes off to the networks while there was still some suspense of waiting for them to return.
Angelica was more worried about that suspense part. None of them had ever gone camping, sky diving, rock climbing, or even cooked their own meals. Mason’s job had kept them comfortably ignorant of any such common sense activities of daily life, let alone extreme hardships.
In the month leading up to the trip Angelica convinced her physical trainer to teach her the basics of rock climbing, tight rope walking, repelling, and any other ‘extreme’ activities she could think of. She also convinced Martha, the cook, to teach her the basics of cooking, boiling water, cutting up vegetables, grilling meat, etc... Her brother’s taught the whole family the art of fire building when they lit a fire in the bathtub… to practice living like cavemen. The trip was almost cancelled at that point, but Stephana wanted this vacation to much to let one near death experience stand in the way. In all fairness, she had been waiting almost 18 years since their last vacation… her honeymoon.
