Silver Dollar City

We got our workout yesterday at Silver Dollar City!

*

This old-time theme park is built into the hills and hollows of the Ozarks, and the trails we walked ranged from slightly slanted to downright steep. My leg muscles were burning and my knees were aching! (It made us appreciate how totally flat Disneyland is.)

One of the first things we did was ride the Frisco Silver Dollar Line train around the park to get the lay of the land. The ride featured a comic act of two dim-witted, would-be train robbers trying to outsmart the train's conductor. None of the three were the brightest bulbs in the box.

Next we went on the Flooded Mine boat ride. Apparently there is a prison in the mine (go figure) and the convicts are revolting as the water rises. The boats are equipped with lazer guns and we shot wildly at everything in sight. Sarah kicked our booties by earning 8,300 points! I came in second place with 4,600.
By the time we reached the Grand Exposition area and the boys rode this Electro Spin, I was suffocating from the humidity. It had begun raining Monday night and continued until right after we arrived at the park at 9:15 Tuesday morning. (During the night the thunder was so close that it nearly knocked me out of bed a couple of times!) As the rain stopped and the temperature rose, the humidity at the park became almost unbearable.

I thought if I could just get my hair up off my neck I might be able to stand it. We'd passed a booth where they seemed to be French-braiding hair, so we went back to check it out. It turned out to be something different: they put a "halo" on top of your head and twist long strands of hair before wrapping them around the halo. It's a style that's actually designed for long hair.

This lady did my whole head in just 20 minutes. My hair is thicker than she was used to, so at the end she was working at squeezing it all in around the halo (which almost disappeared beneath all the hair), but it came out beautifully. It's very tight and she said it will last up to a week.

Here is the finished 'do, and I love it. Having my hair up really did seem to do the trick. I immediately felt cooler and I enjoyed the rest of our time at Silver Dollar City.

*

Plus I slept on it last night, and my hair still looks exactly the same as it did when I left her booth yesterday!

Here we are at the Riverfront, waiting to ride the Lost River of the Ozarks water ride. Water rides were our favorites, very refreshing!

We ate hamburgers and fries for lunch at the Lumbercamp around 3:00.

Then we went to ride the American Plunge log ride (think Splash Mountain on a much smaller scale). We got mega-soaked! We plan to ride it again when we return for our second day at Silver Dollar City tomorrow (Thursday).

I actually got a decent shot of Dylan on the Grand Exposition Coaster. He's alone in the second car, white shirt. For some reason, Jacob won't ride roller coasters, and Sarah and I just don't fit comfortably into some of the rides these days, so poor Dylan had to go it alone.

By 4pm the kids were complaining that they were tired, their heads ached, their feet hurt, they just wanted to go back to the condo. Meanwhile, the old person in the group (me) was raring to keep going. I told them, "Look, I paid over $200 for this park and we're staying!"

*

It looked like I was going to lose the battle until we stumbled upon Geyser Gulch at the Riverfront. There are water games all over, including water cannons the kids could use to spray other kids on the other side of the harbor.

*

I found a bench in a relatively dry area and rested my feet for an hour while my children blissfully soaked themselves and everyone around them. It was almost magical how they were completely revived by this activity!

The park closes at 7pm and we lasted until 6:30, so we did okay. On our way out we stopped at a kiosk for bowls of vanilla ice cream smothered in freshly sliced strawberries. Mmmmm!

*

When we returned to the resort, Jacob grilled steaks and Sarah made a big green salad for dinner. Then all 3 kids disappeared to the pool until 10:30 pm.
*

At that point everyone disappeared to their beds, exhausted. As for me, I was aching in every joint, but I slept wonderfully all night!