Where kids can be kids

So when Mindy and Wendi invited a bunch of friends to join them on a trip to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, I was happy to come along. Sure, it ended up being just the three of us, but the lure of free, unlimited soft drinks, sunscreen, and a water park AND amusement park for the price of one. . . .it all proved too much. I was there!

So the plan was to leave the Mindy/Wendi abode around 7 a.m. We left Nashville closer to 8 a.m. Finally out on the road, we had to stop somewhere on Interstate 65 for snacks and a bathroom break. At least I think it was I-65. I’m not sure. This first stop should have prepared us for the rest of the day. First, it was a kind of scary gas station. Second, there was a long, handwritten sign on the women’s bathroom door, warning us of the graffiti we would see inside, apologizing, and warning whoever did it that they would PAY! The “turbo” hand dryer was also a special treat, practically blowing you into the next room and roaring so loudly you wondered if you might need to take cover.

Then, we continued our journey, noticing we were being followed by a Church of Christ youth group going to Holiday World, too. Let me just say, Holiday World is in the middle of nowhere. Except corn fields. Our favorite landmark on the trip was the single-wide trailer with a lion sculpture (full size), sea horse mailbox, and patch of lawn ornament mushrooms. (Can you imagine: Yeah, my place is the one with the huge lion out front. No, I’m not joking. You can’t miss us.)

Finally we get to Holiday World, park, and trek in. After securing a locker for our stuff, we were off. Early on, we decided to ride “The Voyage,” a large wooden roller coaster in the Thanksgiving portion of the park. This coaster was wild. I dreaded the entire ride up, knowing we were going to have to dive down at some point, which is my least favorite part of roller coasters. But this thing never let up. We went up and dropped down, turned and jerked. At one point, we were perpendicular to the ground . . . or at least at a 90 degree angle. At this point, I thought the ride was over. It wasn’t. I was pretty convinced that that roller coaster ride was never going to end. Later, I told Mindy I was fairly sure that one of Dante’s levels of hell was infernal, never-ending rollercoaster rides. Finally, we pulled back into the station and we all stumbled out, a little tipsy. The picture of us was hilarious, with my hair standing on end and all of us with some sort of pained expression on our faces. We recovered enough to eat, ride some more rides, then wandered over to the water park for some splashing fun.

Let it suffice to say that walking around in my bathing suit is not high on my list of fun things to do. I was pretty self-conscious. Then, I took a look around at everyone else and immediately felt much better. Word of advice: just because they make bikinis in your size doesn’t mean you should wear one. There’s no shame in wearing a one piece or tankini.

The water park was amazing. We floated the lazy river, rode on a huge 4-person raft down a waterslide that involved a tunnel and something that looked remarkably like a drain. Yes, we went down the drain. We raced on little rafts (Mindy got second), and rode a twisty, tunnel slide called Zoombabwe that was FUN, even though I complained the whole way up that I didn’t want to do it. (Also: a pregnant women in a bikini rode this ride. She was about 6 months preggo and while some pregnant women look great in bikinis, this was not a good look for her. We were aghast that she would ride that ride pregnant! She shouldn’t have!)

After a few hours in the water park, we were wiped out. We refueled with pizza, changed, and went back into the park to ride a few more rides. We finished with “The Legend” roller coaster, which was my favorite and even convinced me to let go of the safety bar and raise my arms. After all that, we were exhausted and left the park around 7 p.m.

The girls even let me stuff myself with more junk food (cheesy poofs!) and Frappacinos. I was exhausted, but what a good day!

PS: Mindy posted these pics over on her blog. . . . I’m not sure why we thought taking pics on the way home with our funky water park hair was a good idea, but we did. And I’m not sure what I’m doing in the first pic either.

"Who sings this song, Mindy?"

We're so HAPPY! Like Joel Osteen.