Schlitterbahn!

Today was the central day for the trip, and it lived up to expectations. For those of you that don't know, Schlitterbahn is the best water park in the history of mankind. The self-proclaimed "hottest coolest time in Texas," Schlitterbahn's been named America's Number One Water Park by numerous sources, including this hour-long documentary on water parks I saw a while back on the Travel channel. It's in New Braunfels, which is about an hour to an hour and half south of my grandparent's house in Cedar Park. It's built right into the sloped and winding banks of the Comal River. Most of the old school rides, which I love the most, are just simple, well-designed tube rides that wind peacefully down the banks until they dump right into the river. They're great for racing or playing tag or just sitting back and chilling with friends as you float along in the shade for hours. And on top of that, they've got all the new rides you could ever want. If you haven't been there, do yourself a favor and check it out at http://www.schlitterbahn.com/parkmap-nb.asp.

Anyways, it used to be an annual event that the high school gang (Jonas, Joe, James, Aaron, Bryan, Andy, and so on) would go down there each summer and party. We even did this one year after we got back from our missions, but after that we all started losing touch. These trips were a blast, and much should be written about them, but that will have to wait. All I know is it'd been too many years since I last went to Schlitterbahn, so I really needed to go. So this morning, Amy, her boyfriend Brenden, Susie, Michael, and his girlfriend all headed on down. I had a goal of leaving at 7:30, which of course was unrealistic. I mean, I was ready, but no one showed up at Grandma's until 8:45. And then everybody hurriedly shoved breakfast down their throats (I had leftover potato salad from the night before—the thought of this made everyone else sick, but I loved it). I finally met this Brenden guy. He's alright, I guess. Much better than I was expecting. He's Jewish, which I can tell discomforts a lot of the family, just from stories I've heard about inviting him over for meals and accidentally having pork and whatever. Looks kind of like Paul Bryson, at least in build and facial expression. Except Brenden has curly hair. And he reminds me somewhat of Wayne in his mannerisms and sense of humor. Strange—both of my sisters going after similar guys. Well, I'm sure they're not similar at all under the surface, but I'm just talking about surface impressions, since that's all I've got. I get the impression from Susie that he's a very controlling guy, which drives Susie nuts, but it's kind of ironic when you consider how controlling Amy is herself. I didn't see it so much, but it's probably because I'm older and a guy. Actually, I got along pretty well with him. We were joking around like two old friends in the water park, much to the surprise of Amy, who pretended to be revolted by how boyish we were, but I'm pretty sure was secretly delighted by how well we got along. I know the family is against him, but I honestly think he's good for Amy because I for one was very worried that she'd do a lot worse.

We finally left about 9:30, and thanks to very light traffic, we made it there about 11:00, which is about an hour after the park opens. We parked at the new section of the park, which is a first for me. I always park on the other end. But it was easier to find parking at the new park. We did decide to start on the other end, after all, so we took the tram over and grabbed a locker and headed for the tube rides. These were awesome. At first we tried to race each other. Then we decided to do the anti-race approach (i.e. stay in the ride the longest). And then we just went for the lazy drift approach. The lines for the rides were surprisingly short, and I think we got through all the major tube rides by about 2:00. Then, we went back over to the new side of the park and ate. About this time it became clear that the cloud cover which had prompted us to ignore sunscreen had actually been missing for the last two hours, so we put that on. A little too late for some people in the group. We had chili cheese fires and giant turkey legs and burgers. Man, water park food is expensive. But these were huge turkey legs. One leg fed me, Amy, and Susie. I got some great shots of Michael trying to stuff another turkey leg in his mouth.

Then we rode all the newer rides. These are fun, but it's not so cool. I think part of the problem is the new side of the park looks a lot like most parks. There isn't a river running through it with lots of shade. But I guess it leaves them a lot of room for more space-intensive rides. We finished with that side about 5:30 and headed back to the old park for a few more rides. About this time, it became pretty clear to me that I had neglected to fully wipe around the sunscreen. So there's some interesting patterns on my chest and shoulders where I missed the sunscreen. Looks almost like handprints. So not only are these going to burn pretty badly, but it's also going to look funny for a while. Oh well, at least I'll get to tell the story for a week or so.

Finally, we rode a couple more rides in the old park. We visited that one ride that starts on top of the main entrance. They've changed it so it's less of a drop and so you're using a much much smaller sled. Apparently the old approach left someone dead a few year's back. Which is sad. I liked it better. It's not so scary now. But at least you don't have to lug a heavy sled all the way to the top. And there's some pretty good hydroplaning action. So, by the time all that was done, everyone except for me was pooped, and we left for home. I rode back with Michael and his girlfriend, and I ended up sleeping most of the time. Nothing like a long day in the sun to make you sleepy. But it was a good feeling. My favorite thing about Schlitterbahn is that for the rest of the day, whenever you sit or lay down, it feels like you're still in that tube, just floating down the river. When I got home, I chatted with Grandpa and Grandma for a while, watched a little bit of TV, and then finished a newsletter article for work.

Update: here's some pictures of Schlitterbahn.

Posted June 09, 2003 (11:38 PM) | Comments (1)