The little town of McMinnville Oregon has a new main attraction. An indoor water park has been added to the extensive air and space museum and carries the theme of flight into an aquatic venue. Four water slide tubes are accessed from the very top of a building, upon which sits an old 747. Each tube has it's own name and is a different experience. The water park also includes a wave pool, swimming pool, and a water "treehouse" of sorts.
There are numerous lifeguards, ready to give helpful advice on which tube is best for the first ride with a young child...the yellow one, as it turns out. Joshua and I decided to head for the yellow with a double inner tube and take the plunge. After climbing umpteen million stairs with a big double tube, trying to keep up with my 6 year old who was taking two steps at a time, I wondered if I would want to climb those stairs four times to try every tube!! Panting soon gave way to exhilaration on the yellow tube...a fantastic ride. I opted out of the double tube next time though and had Daryl help me carry up a tube each for Josh and I to take the green tube down. The green tube dumps you into a whirlpool of sorts, where you spin around and around before being shot down the rest of the ride. That one is a favorite of many.
My Aunt and Uncle copped a squat in their beach chairs along the breaking shore of the wave pool. My Aunt kept her sun hat on the whole time so she wouldn't be overexposed to the...??? It was a smart move in the end because she didn't come out with a sun burn or skin irritation from the lights? :) Pretending to be on the beach was fun, for sure. The sand, however, was a little too hard packed (into concrete) to build a sandcastle.
At some point, I decided to climb the upteen million stairs again to ride another tube...this time it was the Mach 1. An aptly named tube that you embark on sans innertube, feet crossed, hands on chest. It was, shall we say, INTENSE! It's the longest ride of all with twists, turns, and rushing water that thrills and evokes trepidation all at once. At the end, the tube vomits you out with great force into a pool, where nearly without fail the force of the expulsion forces water up your nose. I've been on white water rapids that were less intense but it was worth the climb and the nasal flushing. :)
The water park also boasts a an area that allows for hands-on exploration of what water does, how dams work, etc. It's like a mini science museum and kept my kids entertained for quite a while. The entrance fee is pretty hefty $30 per "swimmer" and $10 for "watchers" but well worth it if you're in McMinnville or anywhere near by and need to escape for the day. Bring a picnic lunch and you can leave the water park to enjoy the outdoor park just outside and return to the water park when you're ready to get wet again. They alos sell the usual fast food fare inside but the park outside is awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment