Schlitterbahn Galveston

I took Monday and Tuesday off this week. I had planned to take my Girl Scout troop on Monday to Schlitterbahn Galveston, and on Tuesday I had planned to rest. My four day weekend was good.

Sunday night, Corinne and I packed sandwiches, drinks, fruit, etc to take with us to Schlitterbahn. We got the ice chest ready, packed a bag of extra clothes, and I had to pack in my bag things like my medication, the troop's binder (which has their medical forms, permission slips, etc.), and extras like a book and wallet.

Mrs. H (Karen) picked us up. She also went by to pick up another girl in our troop, Stephanie, and she had her daughter, Kierstan. The five of us headed for Galveston. The concern was that the AC was not working right. Karen took her van to the shop, but they wanted a lot for fixing a valve. So, she decided to wait and save up and do it later. What it was doing was the AC would behave fine, then suddenly it would cut out. It did it once during our trip, but it wasn't too bad.

I hadn't been to Galveston since before the hurricane. I think the last time I was in Galveston was in April, 2008 when we camped at Galveston Island State Park. One of the first things I noticed was the new bridge onto Galveston Island. The old bridge was only three narrow lanes, and everytime we went over that bridge, I felt like if a gust of wind would blow at our car, it would knock us over into the water. Right before the hurricane (I think), they finished the new bridge, and blew up the old bridge. The new bridge is wider, and it has four (?) lanes. I actually felt like I could stay on this bridge.

We didn't have any problems finding Schlitterbahn. As many times as I have been to Galveston, I knew where Schlitterbahn was, but had never been to it. I was excited to finally have the chance to go. We found a parking spot and dragged out all of our stuff. We walked across the parking lot and followed the crowd to the front entrance. Across the street from the park was a little building that held the ticket sales. Since we had already purchased our tickets from Girl Scouts, we had tickets in hand. I was going to pass this booth when I noticed a sign over a window that said, "Pre-purchased tickets". There wasn't anyone standing in that line. Everyone was in the other line that said, "Purchase tickets here".

Corinne told me to go to the pre-purchase booth so that we can get wrist bands. So, I went there and immediately the lady gave me five wrist bands. I turned around and suddenly there was a line behind me. Where did all of these people come from??? Are they in the right line? Who cares. We got our wrist bands!

After we put on our wrist bands, we made our way to the line to get in. They searched our coolers, but not our backpacks and bags. What were they looking for? And why didn't they search our bags? I know that their policy is not to bring in any glass or alcohol. Don't they know that someone can still bring that in their bag? Well, I'm not the Schlitterbahn police, so I won't tell them. I'm sure they already know.

We walked in and immediately saw tables under a cover. We picked out a table that was near the edge and not in the sun yet. The sun was on the other side of the shade. I told Karen that we may have to move, but may not be able to because there may not be a table available. People were snatching the tables left and right. We decided to stay put for now.

After getting the girls settled and getting Splashcards, and towels, and bags and coolers placed, and agreements on when to meet, the girls finally left for their adventure. I decided to finally eat my breakfast (I was having tummy problems, and didn't want to be stuck on the road with no bathroom). Karen and I started a long day of conversing with one another and watching our stuff on the table.

Everyone was respecting each other stuff, but we felt that someone needed to stay and watch the bags and coolers. It wasn't necessary, but we ended up doing it anyway because both Karen and I ended up staying there at the table.

The girls checked in every once in awhile, so we knew that they were still alive. I was just content on staying put. I thought before I got there that I wanted to ride the lazy river, but decided that maybe I didn't. Sometime early afternoon, the sun started to peek over our cover. But then it started to rain. Since we were on the edge, we scrambled to push bags under the table and cover them as much as possible from getting wet. Karen was fully dressed, so she tried to keep as dry as possible under an umbrella. Since I was in a bathing suit, I decided to stay in the rain and get wet. It felt good! After a few minutes, I decided to go and sit with Karen after she insisted that I sit with her out of the rain. The rain was getting to me, and I needed to start drying out. Then it quit raining. I went back to the other side and sat with my back to the sun, to dry out. After awhile the sun was starting to cover the table and was starting to get hot, but all I can think of was that my bathing suit was drying out.

A couple of times Karen went to explore the park. During one of these exporations, she found out that the covered area, known as Wasserfest, had tables. When the girls returned for a check in, she had two of the girls go look for a table. One of the girls were to stay with the table while the other came back for us. When she came back, we picked up all of our stuff and trekked toward the new table. We should have done this sooner! The new table was under the cover, so if it rained, we were protected. It was also windy, so the wind felt good under that cover. And because we were under the cover, the sun wasn't beating down on us. Great spot!

During the changing of the table, the girls found out that I wanted to ride the lazy river. They talked me into going on the lazy river. Corinne thought I couldn't fit in one of the tubes, so they suggested that I float. So, I tried to float, but I kept trying to upright myself with my feet, only to find out that the bottom of the "river" was so slippery, I was having trouble keeping myself upright. I finally grabbed onto the end of the tube that Corinne was using. The river was moving faster than I anticipated. Maybe I'm getting old, but that whole ride I felt like I had to hang on for dear life. This "relaxing" ride suddenly became a roller coaster. When we made the round, I let go of the tube and headed out of the river as fast as I can. I'm getting old.

A few hours later we called it a day, and grabbed our stuff and headed out to the van. We stopped at Sonic for dinner, then headed for home. We were all very tired.

On our way out, we noticed the first signs of Hurricane Ike's damage. The trees in a cemetary were leaning way over. I noticed that the leaves on one side of the tree was all gone, while the other side of the tree had leaves. We noticed that several trees were like that all along 61st street. I was amazed that a hurricane can do damage like that. I know that Galveston has been working hard to recover from the hurricane, but sometimes reminders pop up like this. I know that if I were to go to Bolivar or to Galveston Island State Park, I would probably cry at the sight of the destruction that still exists at those places.

As I went to bed, I laid down in bed, and I felt a strange sensation. My back hurt! I realized that my back was sunburned. I had Corinne put some Aloe Vera on my back, then I gingerly went back to my bed. Imagine. Me, a Hispanic, sunburned. Ha! I must be getting old.

Tuesday, all I did was recover. I'm glad I took that day off as well. Even though I didn't play as hard as the girls, I still was tired. I guess I'm getting old...