Day Without the Beach

We just got back from a mini vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. We spent two nights at the resort, giving us a half day, a full day, and another half day of indoor pool fun. Although I had read their web site, and knew generally what the whole concept was, I was even more impressed with the actual experience.

The big wave pool was the main fun for the boys. The various water slides were my favorite, (especially the Tornado). There’s a big ol’ wet playset/fort that played second favorite for everyone, and also another, non-wave, pool that got a little attention, here and there.

The playset/fort had a huge water bucket on top that would, every few minutes, dump a ton, (probably literally), of water down on the waiting crowd below. A bell would start ringing about 30 seconds before the water dump, and this would call all the kids, and many adults, (myself included), from all over the park to the target area. For something really so very simple, it was hilariously fun. People not interested in getting drenched by the pounding torrent would still turn and watch it every time the bell started sounding.

Right after each bucket dump, I’d go back over to the water slides. Calfgrit6 would sometimes go with me, and he loved the thrills. (Calfgrit10 is not so much into thrill rides, so he never joined us for any sliding.) As much fun as the slides were with Calfgrit6, the one I loved the most, CG6 was too small for: the Howlin’ Tornado. When the little Calfgrit was happy with the other water zones, I went back and back and back to the Tornado. I lost track of my times after 9.

The only bad thing about the whole water park experience is that I don’t like cold water. The park and water is supposedly kept at 84 degrees, but that means the water is over 10 degrees cooler than my body temperature. To me, that feels cold.

In the summer, I generally don’t get in the water — ocean, lake, or pool —  if the air temp is less than 90 degrees. And I prefer the water temp to have time to warm up over several hot days before jumping in. The Calfgrits seem completely comfortable jumping right into cool water, but it took me several minutes to acclimate. And it was about an hour before I felt comfortably comfortable going in and out of the various pools. And then, a break for lunch or dinner would set me right back to finding the water just too cold.

But even with the water coldness, the mini vacation was pretty darn fun. I’ll fill in some details soon.

Bullgrit