Trip To Arizona

  Just recently my family (including my grandmother) and I took a wonderful trip to Arizona, a state famous for its deserts, rock formations and national parks like The Grand Canyon. We flew on two dull flights from Birmingham, AL (where my grandmother lives) to Chicago, IL and arrived in Phoenix, AZ. From there, we rented a sweet mini van with automatic doors, and an extra seat that could fold into a tray table and cup holder! After an in n out lunch at  In N' Out burgers (better than Carrabas, which I reviewed in an earlier blog) we drove two hours, through a lifetime supply of cacti to our resort.

                                                     A meal at In N' Out Burgers!
                         

  The Resort (which we won in a raffle!) had an upstairs and downstairs, a kitchen, and a large bathroom, with a whirlpool tub. It was one of the best places I have ever stayed at! 

                                                   

                                          Upstairs looking down at our resort!

   We stayed in the town of Sedona, a gorgeous place with awesome photo ops!  It's home to splendid red rock mountains such as Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock. I hiked almost to the top of Bell Rock, where I looked out on the beauty of God's creation! Also there was this artsy Spanish style marketplace called Tlaquepaque that we went to. It had cool sculptures, a very interesting photo gallery, and a Christmas shop for my mom to spend a hot summer day in.   

  TheMindOfThomas at Cathedral Rock!

Bell Rock! 

                                                           A shop at Talaquepaque!              

  On our trip we of course visited The Grand Canyon. It seemed to be the biggest cliff in  the entire world! The length and width of the canyon from my little eyes looked truly amazing! There was even a river flowing at the bottom. However, in my opinion, the beauty of The Grand Canyon was no match for the beauty of Sedona's gorgeous red rocks.

                                 TheMindOfThomas looks out over The Grand Canyon!

 Another great National Park in Arizona is The Petrified National Forest. It has many different walkways you can take, with massive chunks of petrified wood and petrified rocks to awe at! I loved it there! At one spot in the park, there is an old busted up car from I think the 1950's, to symbolize the famous Route 66. They also have a pretty big gift shop there with a restaurant inside of it. In the gift shop you can buy an assortment of stuff, from petrified rock, to geodes, to expensive bow and arrow sets.

TheMindOfThomas @ Petrified National Forest!

  We also visited a pretty cool National Monument called Montezuma's Castle. It is a large castle-like house, built in the side of a mountain by Indians many years ago! Unfortunately they do not give tours inside the house anymore, but it is still really cool to look at.

Montezuma's Castle!

  There was also a National Monument in Arizona called Tuzigoot. At Tuziggot you can see the remains of some houses that Indians built. The place in my point of view however, did not live up anywhere to what we saw at Montezuma's Castle. 

A Picture at Tuzigoot!

  Just near Tuzigoot, is a place called Jerome. Jerome used to be an old mining town. Now it is a tourist trap with a great restaurant called Mile High Grill, and shops with some cool souvenirs to take home. On the other side of the town of Jerome, there is an old mansion with some facts about the town, and the mansion's history.

Me and my Dad at a shop in Jerome!

  Overall my entire trip experience was grander than The Grand Canyon! I ate a lot of french toast at restaurants, swam in the pool many times, but most of all, had fun!

               
TheMindOfThomas

                         Out.

Behind the Scenes of The Mystic Gator Head

If you've been to my YouTube channel, you may have seen a short film I made called The Mystic Gator Head. The story behind this film starts last Christmas, when my Dad gave me a movie kit. The kit included a disc with movie sounds, a storyboard book, cardboard movie props, animation eyes for stop motion, and a director's handbook.

I wanted to make a movie with it, and my Dad decided to do a scramble film with me. A scramble film is a film where you have different aspects you have to use and a certain amount of days to finish it in. I drew a genre, line, and prop, out of a hat.  The genre I had to use was horror. The line I had to include in it was ''I believe that is mine". Finally, the prop I had to use, was a gator Head. My first  idea was to have the gator head just be an extra, but then it came to me to use the gator head as the main villain. I made a storyboard for the film. In original plan for the scenes where the gator head chases the little girl, the gator head prop was going to be hung by a string. My Dad and Mom pointed out that it would would be hard to do it that way. I finally decided to do it the way you see in the film. After that we started filming. 

My dad would give me pointers on the shots. The hardest scene to shoot was probably the first scene. It was hard because there wasn't enough light in the playhouse, and it took a few takes to get my sister to cooperate. After I was done filming, I edited it almost all by myself, including the shot where the gator head disappears. My dad burned it onto a disc, and my family and I watched it together. If you haven't seen The Mystic Gator Head, here it is. Enjoy!

Mario Kart 8 Review

   I had been looking forward to the game Mario Kart 8 for Wii U, since I first heard about it. I decided to try to sell my old Wii system, to able to buy it. Thankfully, my uncle agreed to the price I was asking :D.I preordered it the game from Wal-Mart because I thought it would be sold out on the release date. Once I got it I was very excited! Just to let you know I am a huge fan of all things Mario.This game did not disappoint me. Here is a list of my favorite features:  

1. Anti gravity. Anti gravity lets you race on walls and upside down tracks.

2.Mario Kart Tv. Mario Kart Tv is a feature that allows you watch video replays and share them to Miiverse(I don’t use Miiverse but I like watching my video replays).

3.Underwater racing. Underwater racing lets you race on underwater tracks.

4.Hang gliders. This feature lets you use hang gliders to glide for a short period of time after going up a ramp. 

 I highly recommend getting Mario Kart 8 for Wii U.If you don’t have a Wii U but your friend has one try to convince him or her to buy it.

Here is a video of me playing it. 

St. Augustine: History Comes Alive!

Recently, my family and I went to Colonial Quarter and The Pirate Museum in St. Augustine. At Colonial Quarter, there was a blacksmith shop recreation. The tour guide showed us how they heated up metal and cooled it down. The tour guide also gave us a musket demonstration. We walked in an old house built in the 1700’s and expanded in the 1800‘s. Inside the old house, there was a bed with a mattress made out of rope, that did not look very comfy. At The Pirate Museum, we saw 1 of 2 remaining pirate flags in the world! The Pirate Museum tour guide told us people were pirates for profit. In the movie section section of The Pirate Museum, I saw a Jack Sparrow sword prop and learned that pirates walking the plank were just in movies, not in real life. After the guided tour at The Pirate Museum, we listened to a Blackbeard sound show recorded by Walt Disney! If you have not been to St. Augustine, I suggest you go and visit Colonial Quarter and The Pirate Museum. Just don’t try to lie down on that rope mattress.

Me & my sister with street performers that my Dad called "Captain & Tennille."

Our tour guide in the blacksmith shop.

Musket time!

Me with a printing press. Imagine if I had to do my blog on this!

In prison at The Pirate Museum.

Italian restaurant reviews!

      This weekend my Grandmom was in town.We went to 2 Italian restaurants, Carrabba’s and Pizza Hut. Carrabba’s was very fancy.We were sat at a booth with a round table. As an appetizer we got calamari. It was my first time trying calamari, but it was great! For the main course I had cheese pizza.The pizza was delicious! I felt like I could chew on it forever! Our waitress was friendly. Carrabba’s was just wonderfull! Next was Pizza Hut. It felt more like MickeyD’s but with a waitress and a buffet.Their cheese pizza was good ,but not as good as Carrabba’s. Pizza Hut did had the most amazing cinnamon sticks! Overall I liked Carrabba’s better, but my mom says Pizza Hut is cheaper. Thank you for reading!  

Welcome to The Mind of Thomas Blog!

      Welcome to the mind of Thomas blog with updates on my youtube channel,reviews,and news about movies and games!!Thank you for reading my first blog post!New articles will come soon!Don’t forget to check out my youtube channel! p.s  The next article will be Italian restaurant comparisons.https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMindofthomas