Howling Tsunami

At the beginning of the year, I had made a goal sheet with all the places we wanted to visit. But life changes. Circumstances change. But most importantly, airfare is outrageous. We looked into alternatives like going by train or driving, but all modes of transportation weren't going to work with time constraints. Especially considering that Hubby just started his job less than 3 months ago.

I'm sure that Hubby's family would be disappointed, but we'll have to do the great California visit in the summertime, when the kids are out of school and there are more open schedules.

It did feel like a killjoy though, because the kids needed amusement. Well, more like we needed amusement and the kids are a great excuse for that. So when Julia called and told me that she had just made reservations at the new waterpark/resort in Centralia, WA, I got on the net and made my reservations as well. Additionally, I talked to Sharon and she made reservations. So we all were going to get wet together.

The Great Wolf Lodge is a really fun place. There is a wave pool with innertubes, which was Lil'T's fave ride. There is a big fortress in the middle of the park with many opportunities to spray complete strangers with hoses. There is a wicked fast innertube ride and 2 regular water slides. But the one that is worth standing in a 30 minute line is the Tsunami.

The Tsunami lets you feel like you've just been spit down one of those old fashioned dentist spittoons. It is shaped like a funnel, and depending on the ballast you've got on your 4 seater innertube, you can go up either side of the funnel to the watermark. The first time I rode it, I was truly in the dark, literally and figuratively. It was the evening, and I was riding with the kids. Being the biggest person on the tube, I rode backwards. The beginning part of the ride, you don't even think it is going to be that bad. You're very leisurely riding along. Somewhere in your mind, you heard the lifeguard saying, "Hang on tight." But you start thinking that maybe he was exaggerating. And then there is the drop. And your insides are all of a sudden in your toes and your head is flung back into darkness. Oh man. That is a rush. You get about 4 dizzying slides up and down the sides of the funnel before you're let down the drain. The second time I rode, I went with David, Sharon, & my husband. We had heft in that inner tube with 4 adults. Because he was the largest, Hubby went down the tube backwards. Let me tell you, on one of those gravity defying flights up the side of the funnel, I felt my butt leave the inner tube. I white knuckled it from then on. I was sure we were going to do a full circumference of the funnel but I guess laws of physics must have kicked in. That was a heady ride. The last morning of our stay there, instead of getting breakfast first and risking losing it on the slide, we decided to go on the Tsunami one last time, this time with Princess. She had finally decided she was going to give it a whirl.

When you go in the daytime, you're able to see the drop. You can see how far up the sides of the funnel you ride. I'm not sure if that is a good thing. I think it makes the anticipation more frightening. I watched as that fall came closer and closer and the minute it came, I watched my daughter's smile disappear into a look of concern and huge saucer eyes. She would not admit it later, but I think we scared and scarred her in that one fateful ride. I hope she'll try rides like that again. Maybe with all kids next time. My son and his friends prided themselves on not screaming on the Tsunami. No problem though, I screamed plenty for the lot of them.