Yesterday we screwed up the hubby's schedule and dragged him off to Elitch Gardens for a family fun day before the kiddo goes back to school.
It was hideously expensive. They raked you over the coals on everything they possibly could. Parking? $12. Locker rental? Another $12. And they were absolutely fanatical about not bringing in outside food or drinks. If you brought a bag in you had to have it searched. Any food or drink had to be handed over and thrown away. Although they did let us keep our water bottles. You know, I could understand if you were bringing in a picnic lunch for the whole family, but one little bag of chips isn't going to kill the park. And when you charge $8.50 for a soda, can you blame people for wanting to bring something in with them??
The good news is, a good time was had by all. I had a rough moment on the first ride we headed for (The Sidewinder). I have a dreadful fear of heights and to get to the ride you have to go up a ton of stairs. I got about halfway up and finally told my family I couldn't do it and had to go back down. I was still shaky when they finally got back to the ground.
It did manage to go on a few roller coasters (The Mind Eraser and Twister II). Honestly, it was not fear of the ride that got me on the Sidewinder, it was purely the stairs and the obvious height. All of the rest of the rides started out only a bit above ground. ;)
The poor kiddo had a bit of a rough day. On the Mind Eraser she managed to get smacked in the eye and came off crying. And her tummy didn't care for a lot of the rides (it held up though, lol). But she really liked the Boomerang.
My favorite rides were the wet ones, lol. I've always loved the log ride best (it's Shipwreck Falls at Elitch's) and I was really looking forward to cooling off in Disaster Canyon. What I didn't expect was to flat out get SOAKED! We made it through Disaster Canyon mostly dry and thought we were going to get off easy. Then we rounded another corner and there were sprinkler set up that literally half drown you as you go under them! After that we decided since we were already wet to head for Shipwreck Falls. And that was another soaker. If the huge splash didn't get you, the water from the splash that poured down off the walkway over the ride sure did! then you pretty much had to run for it to avoid getting hit by the splash from the next lot as you left the ride, lol.
So here's my public service announcement. Don't wear denim on the water rides at Elitch's! It stays wet forever!
Around 3:30 PM the clouds started rolling in and we knew we were going to get a storm. The last ride we went on was the Twister II, an old fashioned style wooden roller coaster. The kiddo and I went first and hubby got stuck waiting for the next go. I think this was actually my favorite ride of all. Hubby actually ended up in the last lot that went before they closed all the rides that were 100' or taller due to lightening.
That was when we decided to join the mass exodus and head for home. Hubby was really tired by then, since he's used to sleeping during the day.
So of course we hit the start of rush hour in Denver. And then the rain just poured down making the drive really scary at times. But we got home safe and sound, a lot poorer than when we left, but quite happy and tired :) The perfect end to the summer holiday.
