8:59 a.m. - 2006-03-07
been there, done that
The travel part of Spring Break is complete.
And I'm freakin tired.
I'm so glad we only scheduled four days of travel because after that everyone is too cranky and whining to go home. And the whole point was just so we did something on Spring Break.
The drive from here to Erie is just under four hours. It's a long and boring stretch of highway with nothing but trees, mountains and occassionally a farm. We left early Friday morning and made it to out hotel around noon. Checked in and went to check out the water park on the way to lunch. Everything is connected so there is no need to go out in the freezing cold between room and swimming and eating.
All afternoon the kids played in the water park. Buddy of course liked the big water slides, the ones that use tubes. He rode those all day. Sweetpea got scared on one and then refused to go down them anymore. She stuck to the activity pool that had floating alligators and logs and lily pads. And then when they were cold both would go in the family hot tubs. We let them swim, play in the arcade and the kids and I got airbrushed tattoos. Mine was a green and blue dragonfly on my right pectoral muscle, no, not on my breast, it was up higher. Sweetpea got a hummingbird on her ankle and Buddy got a frog on his forearm. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them before they wore off.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early, went down to breakfast, then headed to the water park. It was much more crowded and less fun. Although vastly more interesting for people watching. The kids were losing interest in swimming so spent more time (and moeny) in the arcade. We also went in the children's activity center and made jewelry and then later t-shirts. Once we exhausted interest there we drove to our next hotel and checked in. All of us took showers to wash the chlorine stench off us. The water park and attached buildings all had that poolwater stink to them.
Personally I hate indoor swimming. Maybe I just really don't like being in the water that much. When I'm outside and in warm sun and especially on a beach, I'm fine and can relax. When I'm inside, eh, it grosses me out and I hate that cold wet feeling when you get out. Let's add that to having to keep tabs of my kids in a crowded pool full of strangers (as opposed to swimming in our pool where I know half the people and know the other half is looking out for their kids too), it's not such a vacation. Plus the noise level in the water park was unbelievable. Rushing water, people yelling over it, piped in music, it was a bit much.
Phase two of the trip was exploring Erie. Let me tell you one day of doing that was plenty. I'm sure it's a great place in the summer, but early March? brrrr. I insisted we at least drive out to the state park peninsula in the Lake so we could at least see it. Ice fisherman were bringing in their huts and the state park roads were still partly covered with snow. We stood on the snowcovered beach and looked at the lighthouse and frozen waves. Collected a couple smooth flat stones and went into the city. Nothing was really open for awhile since it was Sunday. After driving by the Art Museum, we decided the kids really didn't need to go there. We did find a chocolate factory store to visit on our way back to the hotel area to wait for 3 o'clock. Lunch at Red Lobster during the wait.
At 3, we went to the zoo because on Sundays it's free from 3 to 5 pm, which was plenty of time to see everything. It had just opened for the season the day prior and the animals seemed pretty excited to see people. The kids were amused but the camera battery was low so, only two pictures there. Then we found two geocaches, urban caches with no real walking or looking involved. A trip to an indoor golf park to play minigolf and then finally we had reservations for Lazer Tag. An hour of running around shooting people. Both kids loved that, even though they were getting shot at more than shooting people. But more importantly it tired them out.
Yesterday was pack up and leave as soon as possible. Everyone was ready to go home. On the way home, we detoured through Punxsutawny to visit Phil at the library and then see Gobbler's Knob where they do Groundhog Day. Pictures from there. That's one of those, been there, done that, never need to see it again places. Actully that could be the theme of the entire weekend.
And now it's back to work this afternoon. The rest of them can sit around the house in their pjs.
