Now For Something Completely Different

 Day 9

After our late night, we woke up reluctantly and broke camp for the last time on this trip.  We may be still tired from stargazing, but regret nothing. 😄

We drove to Idaho, with a Wendy’s stop for lunch. As a surprise to the kids, we met another family of friends in the parking lot of  Boulder Beach water park. Desmond had never been to a water park before, so it was fun to see him trying so many new things today. 

We met up with the Dahls without incident, entered the park, snapped a couple photos and got changed into our swimming suits. While we got lockers, Nora was “sun babe-ing” (aka: laying on the concrete in the sunshine). 

Our first stop was an attraction called Lazy River. This was a shallow river that you can float down on inter-tubes, or swim or wade. The kids were swimming quickly and running away from the adults. Meanwhile, we tried to secure elusive inter-tubes for each member of our group.  When we finally all had tubes and had met back up with one another, the kids were ready to move on to other attractions. Relinquishing our hard earned tubes, we headed over to the kid-sized water slides. 

Desmond rode his first water slide, enjoyed it, and eagerly climbed the water-infused play structure again and again, sliding down each of the three slides. His friends Nora and Finn joined him. 

Eventually we grabbed all the kids and headed to a double inter-tube slide. Desmond and Nora teamed up to carry their tube up the stairs.  Bryan and I rode this one together.  It was fun! 

Next we headed for the wave pool.  The kids and a few of us adults enjoyed the splashing waves. I was happy Desmond was having a good time, despite splashes in the face. After awhile I got Bryan and I a fruity drink to share. It was cold and tasty. 

Next up, Bryan said he and Jamey were headed to Velocity Peak. These are the fastest slides in the park. We didn’t expect the kids to want to come on them, so we were surprised when Nora, Finn, and Desmond were all game to go try them. Desmond did one that went up and down and he informed me that he came up off of the slide as he was on his way down. I chose the wrong slide, and did the one with the straightest drop down. I had hoped I was doing a twisty, covered tube slide. But it opened up quickly for an exhilarating drop in the open air. 

After that we opted for Avalanche Mountain. This water slide uses big round rafts that we put four people in each. It was super fun. It would slide way up the side of the slide at the corners, feeling as though it would tip over at any minute. It made me giggle. 

By this time we were all hungry and decided it was time for dinner. I had a burrito, Bryan ate a burrito bowl, and Desmond enjoyed some chicken strips. We ate all together, the ten of us, so I took the opportunity to snap a quick selfie. Most of the day all of our phones / cameras were tucked safely away in the locker. But this made it easy to be in the moment and enjoy the fun without trying to capture each memory with a device.  

As people finished dinner, they headed back over to the lazy river. We had a great time floating along, holding on to each other’s tubes. The adults were one big connected raft, and the kids scooted around joining and swimming off. The ladies sipped on drinks as we floated along. Each time we came by a waterfall there would be giggling conflict over who would be beneath the stream. 

It was about 6:30 at this point, and the park closed in 30 minutes. We asked Desmond, “What last thing do you want to do? “ Desmond chose the race on the mats. So Bryan, myself, Jamey, and Desmond climbed the stairs and waited in the short line for our turn to race. When the buzzer sounded to start the race, we all jumped on our foam mats, holding the handles and launching ourselves, face first through the tube where the water flowed. A few quick turns in the dark tube, and out we came, speeding down the slides next to one another. The times were displayed above. I had come in first for our group. 

“Let’s do it again!” Desmond said excitedly. So he and I climbed the stairs to do it one last time. It was fun, but Desmond was disappointed at not improving his time. I told him how proud I was at him trying so many new things today and being so brave. 

We all changed into our dry things, and left the park. We drove to the Air BnB house we are sharing with the other two families. It had plenty of room for all ten of us.  We picked beds and crashed for the night. 

Tomorrow is Silverwood, the theme park side with the rides. I am so exhausted that I am grateful the park does not open until 11AM tomorrow. Time for sleep!