Suddenly *Not So* Single Journey

Water, water everywhere…

Author: thenicknick

This was the reason for our entire visit to Great Wolf Lodge in Concord: the Howlin’ Tornado.  It was a six story tall water slide.  After walking up flights (plural) of stairs, and waiting in line, we would get on a four person tube and ride to the bottom of the funnel.  Ahhh.

Great in theory.  In reality, Keenan has issues with…rides.  We had made an agreement that he would try everything once and then we would let him stay in his comfort zone.  It was a good plan.  Solid.  No loop holes.  We hadn’t quite anticipated the depth of Keenan’s fear.  He did make it down that slide.  And I can’t wait for the pictures to be developed, since he was screaming and praying loudly the entire ride.

After surviving that, we promised him something tamer, but still would allow us some quality family time.  This was, after all, our first family vacation together.  It was kind of a big deal.

That’s where River Canyon Run came in.  Again, this was a four person ride.  We had to take the same stairs that we did for the other, so you can understand Keenan’s concern that we were pulling the old switcheroo on him.  He began breathing more easily when we took the left fork, but again…issues on the ride.

We climbed in, Rachel and I demonstrating that we lack any grace whatsoever, since we all but flopped in like beached whales.  And down we went.  Somehow, by the time we reached the bottom, Keenan had managed to wedge himself below the edge of the raft so that he wasn’t even visible.  Yet, he claimed he liked that one.

And since he had survived both of those rides, and he was determined to show S what a tough guy he was, he insisted that they ride the Howlin’ Tornado alone, together, while Rachel and I tried out some other rides.  Needless to say, after we finished our ride and stared expectantly for their arrival in the pool forever…they appeared behind us.

S was awesome, covering for the boy.

S: We’d already ridden it once.  We were bored.  So we thought we’d just…walk down instead.

Later, when the boy was in the bathroom, he told us what we already knew: the boy had a panic attack at the top.  So, we went in the wave pool.  People were packing that in single tubes, double tubes, and without any flotation devices whatsoever.

Good times…until I lost sight of Rachel.  I found her, beached…and towed her back to the deep end.  She was funny.  And she had been my ride buddy.  It was nice getting some girl time with her.  Very cool.

The bucket area was a family favorite.  There were numerous levels of water play culminating in slides at the top.  S soaked an older man playing with his grandson below.  I added the soundtrack, channeling a Scooby Do reel when the man stood and began shaking his fist at us.

The biggest challenge: crossing the floating lily pads and wood discs with the use of a cargo net suspended above them.  It was a challenge.  And funny.  It required a lot of upper body strength and balance…two things I lack.  I made it across, twice, but it wasn’t pretty either time.  Not even a little bit.

One ride that Keenan did repeat was the tube slides.  He went down in a double with me, then alone on his own.  Some of us tried racing, since there were two slides that went at the same time, but I was not fast in a tube.  (And I was even less graceful flopping out of it at the end.)

S, Rachel, and I were really into the racing slides using the mats.  We kept trying new ways to outrace each other.  I had gravity on my side.  S had agility.  Rachel…was tall.  The best time, on the last race, came after S launched himself down the slide.  I tried the same technique, but merely managed to flood my mat.

The best part, when we were finally water logged, we changed and played in the arcade.  S and Keenan had sorted out $75 worth of quarters from our vacation fund and they were determined to use them…all of them.

Finally, I was in my element.  I still reign supreme as the air hockey champ, defeating both Rachel and S.  Keenan watched and decided he wasn’t ready to take me on.  I also managed to set the new high score in Whack-A-Shark.  It was unexpected and exciting.  Yay!

S and Rachel played this underwater adventure game where they shot harpoons and defeated seven sea creatures like Leviathin, Medusa, and Poseidon.  It went on FOREVER.  And finally they finished.

We managed to collect a ridiculous number of tickets that we had to cash in before leaving.  And this is where S worked his magic.  He picked out a Kenny doll, from South Park.  We were short 52 tickets.  Fifty-two.  Not five.  Not two.  52.  And he looked at the girl…

S: Do we get credit for trying?

girl behind the counter: Sure.

And we walked out with a Kenny doll while Rachel and I shook our heads.  We went home after that.  We had conquered every aspect of the park.  We had fought our way through lines to get ice cream.  We had tried out the swim suit dryer in the changing room.  Good times.

And we’re already planning to go back this winter.  You can bet I’ll tell you all about it.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 9:13 am and is filed under Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.