One of the things we have historically done on vacation is head to the Enchanted Forest/Water Safari Park in Old Forge, NY. Late August is not typically a good time to go to a water park. My brother-in-law and I deal with the chilly temps by making jokes. This is what we do best (yes, pretty pathetic). I was not excited to see that today’s projected high, yes high temperature, in Old Forge was 63. I don’t know about you, but the thought of a water park in 63 degrees does not fill me with joy.
It was about 63 when we left just before 8 am. I drove my brother-in-law’s G6 with CavSon in the back seat with a few of his older cousins. My brother-in-law and I enjoyed some Rez Band. I hadn’t heard much Rez Band recently since my Rez Band CDs were stolen in 1995. I’d forgotten how good a guitarist Glenn Kaiser is. I may have to pick up a few discs.
Along the way I had to slow down for a doe in the road, and her fawn. I wish I had a camera. They were beautiful. The fawn scampered back into the woods as we drew near. Later we saw a young buck with small velvety antlers grazing along the side of the road.
When we arrived at the Enchanted Forest it was 60 degrees, tops. Real exciting. Thankfully there are other rides not involving water there. The kids wanted to ride the Sky Ride, so their uncle and I took them. It may have taken a few years off of my life. Suddenly I’m a dad knowing his squirmy son is liable to do something really stupid and plummet to the ground. Not so much fun. But they enjoyed it.
Then they wanted to ride the train to the other side of the park. We neglected to tell CavWife when we passed overhead the 2nd time. Oh well. On the other side the kids suddenly wanted to ride other rides. They have crossed the line- suddenly rides are exciting to them.
Tilt-a-Hurl
On the other hand, I’ve crossed the other line. Suddenly the Tilt-a-Whirl nearly became the Tilt-a-Hurl. That was added by the operators giving rides 2x (at least) as long as normal due to the smallish crowd. A few years ago I realized life had changed after riding the Tilt-a-Whirl, Scrambler & Round-Up consecutively without waiting in line nearly made me lose breakfast.
The little girl suddenly wanted to go on the Bumper Cars. Huh? Where did THAT come from? On the way they went on the helicopter ride. By now CavWife had caught up to us. Then, the bumper cars. Somehow I was the only man on the ride. I shifted into alpha dog mode, wrecking havoc on the women and girls while an evil sounding laugh persistently came out of my mouth. Yes, the great evil in my heart had erupted in destructive, dominating driving. It was sweet.
The kids rode a few more kiddie rides, and that is when the first wave of showers passed by. Now it was wet, and chilly. More chilly in fact. We enjoyed a snack during the rain. All the kids wanted to ride the train, so 10 kids took to the train- with 1 adult. Yes, we dumped them on the single woman. Didn’t mean to…
We then watched the circus show, which got off to a very slow start. The attempts at humor were either lame or inappropriate for a family audience. But they did some great stuff, until the rain started. Then a few quick rides before lunch time.
Lunch time was great, as the sun actually peeked out. But the wind was picking up again. After lunch some of the adults took all the kids for another ride on the Sky Ride. CavWife and I were shocked to see that the ever-squirmy CavSon was riding with a 9 year-old cousin. An oversight of epic proportions may have just been committed. Thankfully it all worked out okay.
Time for water rides. The kids wanted to ride on the Amazon slide. It has a huge tube. I forgot to mention that they advertised heated water. This will matter in a moment. Somehow I once again became the sacrificial parent. As a parent, especially a dad, we often die small deaths for our kids because we love them. They are often painful. The last thing I wanted to do was go on a water ride. But someone had to lug the huge tub/raft up the hill. That would be me, by myself, fighting the wind. Yeah…
I noticed the ride operator had a sweatshirt on- not a good sign. I put my foot in the water to get in. If that was heated, I’m the next President of the United States. Down we went with periodic screams coming from my mouth when either the really cold water descended upon me or the cold wind (coming out of Canada) blew on me. Word has it you could hear me at the bottom.
Cold and wet, we were met by CavWife with towels to minister to our needs. Guess again. She was preoccupied with taking the pictures you will have to wait to see. Shivering we made our way back to the towels.
Golden Pheasant
This was the last water ride I went on. We went toward the Pygmy Pool, which also seemed to lack anything like heat. Their older cousins went on all kids of slides. CavGirl tried a slide on a small tube and was sold. She basically rode it about 30 times in a row. CavBoy gave up, shivering from the cold. The wind kept blowing, and sprinkles would fall from time to time.
Around 3 it was time for snack. Funnel cakes- a special vacation treat. Then the kids and I wandered off to the see the small petting zoo. They kept the ground clean and the sheep were well kept. Two goats were playfully fighting, and the smaller one would get on his hind legs and plunge down like Achilles in Troy. They had some beautiful pheasants (silver crested and golden) too. The kids found some food on the ground and loved having the goats lick them out of their hands. Okay, I did too.
Although CavGirl wanted to ride some more rides, it was time to go. Enough cloudy, rainy, windy weather for one day. I survived another day at the Enchanted (Rain & Wind) Forest. Until next year….
Cavman Considers 
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