After a hot breakfast prepared by someone other than myself (thank you Fairfield Inn and your complimentary breakfast fare!) - we headed off to WaterWorks Park to be there when it opened. We scored with tickets purchased through the hotel that were $4 less per person and allowed us to bypass the long ticket-purchase line at the gate. We were first in the gift shop to get our extra seat tubes, locker for storage, and cups of ice to refill throughout the day. We were set.
We had also doused the girls prior to even leaving the hotel in sunscreen. Temps for Thursday were supposed to reach triple digits. And, despite our best slathering efforts at Lake Siskiyou, Ellie had still ended up burnt, with Michele and I both a little owie in our shoulders and back too.
The sun was super bright from this angle - hence Ellie's ducking.
Sadly, the girls ended up with a rough start - particularly Nati. They ended up being very courageous to try the Halfpipe ride - something I've never even done. While Mikayla and Ellie headed the warning to tuck your chin upon descent and ascent on the other side, Nati forgot too. And, she kinked her neck pretty bad.
The good news, Nati happens to have an aunt who knows "neck issues" and has several different remedies to improve the comfort level. Michele sweetly headed out to the vehicle where I had my TigerBalm Cream to rub on the spot. Out of all of the "Icy Hot/Ben Gay" products out there, this is my current favorite for smell, feel, effect, and length of time of relief. Nati was my tube buddy for a while just keeping her neck in a relaxed position as we floated around the Lazy River - and then Michele traded places with me and massaged it for her until she started to feel relief.
The other girls occupied their time on the non-tube rides...
And, then, Nati was back in business.
I was guarding our tubes (you have to pay extra for the 2 person and 3 person we had, and other folks would gladly take them off your hands if left unattended). Mikayla appeared right as I was taking a panorama...
Michele and Nati going for it after taking on the Cyclone - which a few minutes later, Mikayla and myself had fun with. When we were up on the non-tube slides, waiting our turn to go down the ominous "Dragon Ride" (pretty much dark the whole way down with intermittent neon lights and rather hot and humid inside - a claustrophobic's nightmare, that's for sure....I'm thankful that's not an affliction I suffer from, but I didn't really feel like repeating it) the loudspeaker played "Proud to Be an American" and Mikayla and I shared a special moment bonding as we listened to and quietly sung the song together. Love that girl. I would say that was one of the best parts of this water park was the Disney and Family Friendly music they had constantly playing. It sure sets a mood.
We stayed at the park until 3pm - that's a lot of sun exposure! So, it only felt right to hit Coldstone Creamery - especially when the one in our town closed a couple of years ago. We were all very well pleased with our selections. =)
Back at the hotel, we all took it easy. I was starting to develop a migraine. It was "comfortable enough" if I was laying down next to an ice pack - and given how hard I'd been fighting (and winning) the war all week, I wasn't too bummed out to be taken out when there was little left to our vacation. We watched "The Internship" and just chilled.
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