The Three L’s Travel The West

We were able to sleep in again once again today.  As we were partaking in the water park side of Silverwood, showers were passed up for a few more minutes of sleep. 

I packed up a bag with the essentials… sunscreen, flip flops, camera, book (for me) and swimming suits.  Unfortunately, I forgot to toss in my floppy hat.  We headed out the door, Louie and Lynnae practically dancing in their excitement to get there.

We stopped at Sonic for breakfast, quite possibly our last Sonic for months as they are scarce in Oregon.  We tried to find wireless internet, but to no avail.  I put the laptop back in the trunk and on to Silverwood we drove. 

We arrived there about 1/2 hour after the park opened.  There was a steady stream of people moving into the park, and as we passed our tickets to the gal taking them, I looked at her computer as she logged our visit.  There had already been 4951 people pass through the gates that morning! 

Following the crowd to Boulder Beach, we began to search for a spot to park our things.  There are very few shady spots here, and most of them are cabanas that you rent for the day at about $80.00 a pop.  We found three lounge chairs by one of the wave pools. I made sure they were both properly coated with sunscreen and sent them on their way to the wave pool.  Last time I was at Boulder Beach, I wasn’t so careful with sunscreen and got a really nasty sunburn on my feet and ankles.  This time I was ready.  Sprayed down with SPF 30 all over.  Twice. 

Louie went to go rent tubes for them to use, and we all took a few turns through the Lazy River.  A nice little man-made river that has several turnouts so you can get out when you want.  You can choose to swim in it, or float with the tube.

The children opted to take in some water slides while I went back to keep an eye our things.  Today the weather was much better, sunny with only a few clouds passing by.  Without my hat, I was a little concerned.  Finally figured out I could drape part of my towel over my head for shade. 

We went into the wave pool, and worked our way out to where the waves start rolling.  The water is only about 4 feet deep here, but with the waves makes it over 6 feet.  I was able to jump them or ride with them, as was Lynnae.  Louie seperated from us and got knocked down by one, and at the same time was kicked in the stomach (accidentely) by another person.  I got to him and we floated together until we reached shallow water.  I had him lay down for a few minutes until he felt better.

By now we are all starting to get hungry.  The children went off in search of corn dogs and drinks.  After that, more slides for them and finally they were ready to head back over to the ride side of the park.  They both wanted to spend some more time in “The BattleZone”.  We had to change back into street clothes to enter that side of the park.  As soon as we did, they took off and I was left to schlep the bags, towels, sandels, etc over there.

By the time I caught up with them, they were already in the tank and having a great time.  I set our stuff down on a bench and pulled out my book.  We were probably there about an hour or more while they played.  After that, they wanted to ride the Corkscrew roller coaster and also take a turn on the Super Roundup.

Amazingly, it’s now almost 8PM.  After Louie stands in line to get his funnel cake, we head out of the park and back to the hotel.  Lynnae and I are hungry, but she only wanted Jack In the Box.  The entire drive back, we didn’t see a one.  So she was forced to have a couple Pop Tarts for dinner.  Probably not my best mommy moment, but if she wouldn’t settle for any other fast food; well, she had to take what we had.

Tomorrow we head home, and need to get some sleep.  Everyone in bed by 10PM, and lights out shortly thereafter.

Today we slept in for the first time in days.  No alarms, no wake up calls.  Lynnae and I woke up around 8:15AM and Louie woke up around 8:45AM.  We took our showers and went to search out breakfast.  We missed the continental breakfast here at the hotel, so we decided on Denny’s instead. 

After breakfast, we went on toward Costco to get replacement tires for the rear of the Buick.  Before we got there, my tire guy called to advise I should go to a Les Schwab instead because that’s where the tires came from originally and should still be under warranty.

It only took ½ hour to get them changed out.  What a difference it makes to have all new tires.  I was also noticing that we’ve gone over 3000 miles since our oil change in Amarillo.  I won’t be getting that done here.  I think we can make it home from here. 

After our visit to Les Schwab, we drove about 15 minutes northward to Silverwood Theme Park.  It was turning out to be a nice day weather-wise.  Mostly cloudy, with a light breeze.  We bought our two-day passes and entered the “amusement” side of the park.  Tomorrow we will take in the water park side of Silverwood.

We started off with easy rides.  Louie and Lynnae rode the log flume, and then we all rode on the Tilt-a-Whirl.  We moved on to a few more rides, then lunch.  After that, the big roller coasters…each had a wait time of at least 30 minutes.  I was little worn out after all that (that being continuous screaming for the length of each ride), so I parked myself on a bench while they discovered an attraction called “BattleZone”.  There are three floating “tanks” that shoot rubber balls and water.  Around the outside of the water area are cannons to shoot more rubber balls at the tanks as well as other objects.  Louie and Lynnae went back twice to get in the tanks and do their damage.  I think they had the most fun doing this.

Our last ride of the day was the carousel.  As we walked toward it, the rain started.  The wind had been increasing all day, and was very gusty by the end of the day.  By the time the ride was over, it was just a few drops.  We walked to our car and went in search of Subway.  After getting our subs and free cookies, we headed back to our hotel room.  As we ate our subs, we recapped the day and planned what to do tomorrow.  We are hoping it won’t rain again and that it might be a little warmer.  Louie and Lynnae took showers to warm up and to get all the grime off them from BattleZone.  They settled down by playing their Playstation DS games and I spent time working on our blogs.  I’m a few days behind, and now we can’t access the Internet at this hotel.  So tomorrow I will be searching out some free wi-fi to get this posted.Very tired tonight and looking forward to sleeping in a bit again tomorrow.  Sunday we will be driving home, and I am trying to mentally gear up for that as well.  At least now I know I have 4 good tires to get home on!

This morning we got up early so Louie and Lynnae could spend some time in the pool before we left.  They were so excited about going on the slide again.  But, much to their disappointment, the slide wasn’t turned on until 9AM.  So I got them back to the room for showers, then off to the complimentary breakfast.  We packed up the car in record time and headed north to I-90 to turn westward. 

It was a beautiful drive, and we decided to stop in Deer Lodge, Montana to tour the old state prison located there.  It was worth the price of admission, especially for a history buff like me.  The original parts were constructed in 1879, and the prison was in use until 1979.  We were able to tour portions that were built by prisoners themselves at the turn of the century. 

  After the prison tour, we took a quick walk through the Auto Museum attached to the prison.  The first exhibit was not even a car, but a horse drawn carriage.  It moved from there onto the first cars, then each decade from there.  There were over 150 vehicles on display.

We woke up this morning ready to head back to Yellowstone Park.  After showers and a decent continental breakfast, we stepped outside to get in the car.  Much to our surprise, it was almost cold.  Although sunny and clear, the air was crisp and cool.  And it was fresh!

We drove back to Yellowstone, about 35 miles away from the hotel.  We saw a bald eagle, which was great.  Then a couple more bison as we made our way toward Old Faithful. 

Before we reached Old Faithful, we stopped at the Painting Pots where we saw boiling mud and the Dragon’s Mouth, where we could hear the hissing of the steam as the water boiled out of a cave’s mouth.

 By the time we reached the lodge at Old Faithful, it was lunchtime.  We stepped into the café and bought a light lunch for a very high price.  Then we walked through the gift shop and finally back out to the car.  A few tour busses must have come through as it was so packed one could hardly move around the store.We found a parking spot right near the walkway to Old Faithful.  We could see all the benches were full, and there were people standing around, waiting for the big event.  I think we timed it just right, as we only had to wait about 20 minutes for the event.  When it happened, Louie commented on how most of the spectators had their cameras up and taking pictures or video.  The geyser lasted for about 5 minutes, much longer than I anticipated.