A Surprisingly Good Weekend

Not to say we are ready to go running out and reserve rooms at an indoor water park any time soon. But we ended up having a really good time. Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky is in sight of Cedar Point, and only 3 hours from home. I think we were in the water within a half hour of checking into our much cheaper motel down the road. What made the whole thing even better was sticking it to this place: we did not pay one cent to use their facilities. Okay, yes, this is a close cousin to stealing, but my sister in law spotted two completely unused arm bands (water park passes) lying on the floor. She approprated them for us. But I think we probably could have come and gone as we pleased. No one was checking anyone in the place and there were swarms of people/kids everywhere.

And there was no reason for any piss and vinegar on my part, and I didn't need alcohol to help cope with anything/anybody, and there was no reason to be full of myself. I enjoy talking to the sister-in-law with all the allergies. I don't dislike her at all. I do, in fact, like her very much. She wasn't near the water much at all because of the chlorine fumes (that was something that was bothering all of us). And okay, the two Guinnesses I had with dinner Saturday night did help dull the never-ending food battles/negotiations at the table with the other family. We just can't have even one meal with them without all that going on.

I did wear a tattoo, though. No one asked whether it was real or fake.

Water slides are a blast. Our 5 year-old niece Jenna talked me into riding a tube down one with her, and I'm sure I was more scared than she was. But just about the time you start to get into it, you shoot out the tunnel and the ride is over. So you have to force yourself to leave your eyes open to get the full worm-hole warp-speed experience.

If you like ear-ringing noise (imagine about 200 people, most of them kids, screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs, plus all the fountains you've ever seen in a vast echoing room), the dizzying smell of chlorine (I'm STILL smelling it), and a moist, humid environment worthy of Mon Calamarians, you will love this place. They've got the heat cranked up throughout the whole place, no doubt to make it comfortable for half-clothed wet people running all over the place. We were just about having heat stroke in the hotel corridors.

I think there must be a part of your brain that you can shut off if you really need to. The part that gets grossed out if you start thinking too much. Yep, we immersed ourselves in warm water with God only knows how many other fellow humans, including those of the age group that have no bladder control. You've got to keep going down that water slide, or run under the dump bucket, or just keep having fun, because if you just sit and start looking around and quietly observing you will see: the kid that just spit from that high landing on the stairs going up to the water slide; the baby with the soaked, sagging diaper toddling around under the fun-house; the two adults in the adults only hot tub with a 1 year-old in the water between them; the wads of chewing gum stuck to the floor; the oddly deserted baby/toddler pool with waterpark staff hovering in the area.

But somehow it wasn't too hard to be tolerant of your fellow human being. I guess when you're all in swimsuits and soaking wet and there only to have fun, how tense can you possibly be?

The weather was weird, but we took it. It was warm enough to be walking outdoors in a bathing suit or hanging out on the balcony with no coat on. Then there were thunderstorms early this morning. Now it's much more like November: blustery, cold, leaves blowing everywhere and spattering rain.

It was kind of a relief to get on the road and have the peace and quiet of the car interior, and then enjoy an orderly, battle free dinner at House of India in Farmington Hills on the way home.

I really need to get to bed. I've been up since 3-something AM. I woke up for no good reason, and couldn't get back to sleep.