15

What looked like the most fun to ME was a place called Soak Central. We went to a water park LAST summer but got rained out, so I figured this would make up for it. But Mom read through the brochure and said Soak Central looked "artificial" and that the whole point of this trip was to AVOID places like that.

对我来说最有趣的地方是一个叫“浸泡中心”的地方。 去年夏天我们去了一个水上公园，但是因为下雨出去了，所以我想这个可以弥补一下。 但是妈妈看了一遍宣传册，说浸泡中心看起来很“人造”，这次旅行的目的就是要避开那样的地方。

Since nobody could agree on anything, Mom said she was making an "executive decision" and that we were going to the beach. Dad didn't complain, because I'm sure he was thinking that if we were going to the shore, he might actually get a chance to use his BOAT. I'm really not much of a beach person myself. Whenever we go to one, we bring a blanket and spread it out, then sit there for the whole day. And you can't really go anywhere, because you're worried someone will take your spot. The last time we went to the beach, Dad brought the tarp he uses to cover the boat so we'd have more room for our family and all our stuff.

因为没有人能在任何事情上达成一致，妈妈说她正在做一个“行政决定”，我们要去海滩。 爸爸没有抱怨，因为我敢肯定他是在想，如果我们去海边，他也许真的有机会用他的船。 我自己真的不太喜欢海滩。 每当我们去一个，我们带一条毯子，并展开它，然后坐在那里一整天。 你哪儿也去不了，因为你担心别人会抢走你的位置。 上次我们去海滩的时候，爸爸带来了他用来盖船的防水布，这样我们的家人和所有的东西就有更多的空间了。

But the tarp was at LEAST twice the size of our old blanket, and it took up a ton of space on the beach. Not to mention the fact that it's made of PLASTIC, so with the sun beating down, it was like sitting in a frying pan. It was ESPECIALLY embarrassing when the rest of my family went to grab lunch on the boardwalk and I had to hang back on the tarp by myself to watch our stuff.

但这块防水布至少是我们旧毯子的两倍大，而且在海滩上占据了大量的空间。 更不用说它是由塑料制成的，所以在阳光下，它就像坐在煎锅里一样。 尤其令人尴尬的是，当我的家人去木板路上吃午饭时，我不得不自己站在防水油布上看着我们的东西。

So I wasn't real excited about going to the beach, especially since I knew Dad had his boat tarp with him. The beach was a few hours drive away, so I decided to take a nap until we got there. And believe me, with all the junk piled up in the back of the minivan, it wasn't easy. I woke up when the van slowed down. I thought we were at the beach, but we hadn't even gotten to the bridge yet. It seemed like everyone had the same idea WE did.

所以我对去海滩并不是很兴奋，尤其是我知道爸爸带着他的船篷布。 海滩离这里有几个小时的车程，所以我决定小睡一会儿，直到我们到达那里。 相信我，小货车后面堆着那么多垃圾，这可不容易。 货车减速时我醒了过来。 我以为我们到了海滩，但我们还没到桥那儿呢。 似乎每个人都有和我们一样的想法。

When we were about a quarter of a mile from the bridge, I could tell Dad was starting to get nervous. He HATES bridges, because for some reason he gets dizzy whenever he has to drive over one. The bridge to the beach is one of those kinds that's really high above the water, and I'm sure Dad wasn't looking forward to being stuck on it for the next half hour. Mom told Rodrick HE could drive. So we pulled over and everyone switched seats.

当我们离桥大约四分之一英里时，我能感觉到爸爸开始紧张起来。 他讨厌桥，因为不知道为什么，每次开车经过桥时他都会头晕。 通往海滩的桥是那种高高在水面上的桥，我敢肯定，爸爸不希望在接下来的半个小时里被困在上面。 妈妈告诉罗德里克他可以开车。 所以我们把车停在路边，每个人都换了座位。

Dad took my place in the back so he wouldn't see the bridge out the front window, and I moved to the middle row. When Rodrick got in the driver's seat, he took advantage of Dad's radio rule and blasted heavy metal music. And I could tell that wasn't helping Dad's nerves. We were only going about three miles an hour. It looked like we were gonna be stuck on the bridge even longer than I expected, so I opened the bag of cheese curls Rodrick bought at the grocery store.

爸爸坐到了后排，这样他就不会从前面的窗户看到桥，而我则坐到了中间一排。 当罗德里克坐在驾驶座上时，他利用爸爸的收音机规则，大声播放重金属音乐。 我看得出来，这并没有缓解爸爸的紧张情绪。 我们每小时只开三英里。 看起来我们要被困在桥上的时间比我预想的还要长，所以我打开了罗德里克在杂货店买的那袋奶酪卷。