The total distance from both Buick's Odometers are 12,235 miles driven on this journey.
Many have asked "did you fight?" and "what were your favorite places?"
Well, Sean and I did snap here & there, but no blow-up, stop the car, I'm outta here type of fights. Mostly just exhausted, driving too long I'm grumpy bickering, I'm giving you the silent treatment for 1/2 an hour type of fights. Which never lasted very long, because sooner or later we had to talk to one another - and damnit this trip really did take teamwork. Navigating, finding out where to eat, changing the audio book cds, looking up things to do in our next destination - all while the other person was driving. I think we'd both say that this trip was 99% positive memories.
Our favorite places - we'd have to separate them into cities, states and national parks because we experienced so much of each.
Favorite states: Sean - California (are you kidding?! why?) - because there were a ton of things to see before we even got out of the state. April - any state where I could walk around barefoot (I was pretty pissed off when I stepped out into new mexico with burrs on my toes)
Favorite Cities: Sean and I both agree on this one - Montreal and New Orleans
Favorite National Parks: Sean - Carlsbad Caverns, Badlands, and White Sands. April - Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Pictured Rocks), and the Appalachian Mountains
It is good to be back, but we both feel like we need to move on to our next destination - we've been on the go so much we're unsure of how to settle.
I immediately started working on my Pedagogical Fellow Workshop this weekend, and Sean is on an intense search for a job.
Other than that, you are officially all caught up and I hope that you have enjoyed the Adventures of Sean and April!!
I changed our blogger profile, so even if you don't have a blogger account you can now leave comments if you'd like too.
Now that I have a computer - here are some video clips from our trip! I *starred our favorites. I missed out on a TON of videos from the beginning (up through Ohio) because they are still on my camcorder, but this should keep you busy, Enjoy!
Day 2 - Vernal Falls, Yosemite California
Day 3 - Zip lining at Lake Tahoe (from a distance), California
Day 3 - Zip lining at Lake Tahoe (detail), California
*This is where I actually took video with my camcorder, sorry**
*Day 15 - Almost blowing my hand off with fireworks while at my parent's house, Valley City, Ohio (thanks Mina!)
Day 16 - Niagara Falls at Night, Ontario Canada
*Day 17 - Sean Loves elevator music while in ferris wheels over Niagara Falls
Day 17 - Little tot & his squeaky shoes! Niagara Falls, Ontario
Day 18 - French Music Festival, downtown Montreal
Day 19 - Bike riding in Montreal
*Day 19 - Camera tricks while eating crepes, Montreal Quebec
*Day 19 - Storm in Three Rivers Canada
Day 19 - Driving into downtown Quebec at night
Day 20 - Changing of the Guards, La Citadelle de Quebec
*Day 20 - Boom goes the cannon at noon! Quebec, Canada
Day 20 - Spectators in downtown Quebec, Canada
*Day 20 - Canadian Forward Roll, Battlefield Park, Quebec, Canada
*Day 20 - Canadian Cartwheels, Battlefield Park, Quebec, Canada
*Day 20 - Canadian Log Rolling, Battlefield Park, Quebec, Canada
*Day 20 - Driving out of Quebec and Into Maine, Sean's expectations
Day 21 - Sean's first encounter with the Atlantic Ocean! Bar Harbor Maine
Day 21 - Boat Tour of Bar Harbor, Maine - Our Renaissance Man WINSTON I!!
Day 21 - Boat Tour of Bar Harbor, Maine - Our Renaissance Man WINSTON II!!
Day 21 - Boat Tour in Bar Harbor Maine
Day 21 - Driving down a dirt road in Coopers Mills Maine, to Carl & Claire's house!
Day 21 - Carl dunking our TWO DOZEN LOBSTERS!
Day 24 - Rock Hill SC, We're On A BOAT!
*Day 24 - Rock Hill SC, Sean's swimming strategy against children
Day 24 - Sean Clarkson
*Day 25 - The Aglet Song By Griffin Ellison & Sean Sullivan
*Day 25 - Rock Hill SC, Bailey's Interview with the Band Members (Sean and Griffin):
Day 25 - Rock Hill SC, Swimming at the Boat with Robin, Jim, Bailey & Griffin!
*Day 26 - Tallahassee Florida, Robbie serenading us with his words
*Day 26 - Tallahassee Florida, Robbie's brother song to Sean
Day 26 - Tallahassee Florida, Robbie and the Beer Bong
Day 27 - Pensacola Florida, Goodbye Buick I & Hello Buick II!
Day 27 - New Orleans, Bourbon Street at night
*Day 28 - New Orleans, Bourbon Street, 10am Daiquiris and shots!
*Day 28 - New Orleans, Bourbon Street, The Hand Grenade
Day 28 - New Orleans Saint Louis Cemetery I, Entering into the undead
Day 28 - New Orleans Saint Louis Cemetery I, Cannonball to the Grave
Day 28 - New Orleans Saint Louis Cemetery I, Sean's grave analysis
Day 28 - New Orleans Saint Louis Cemetery I, Sean is sick of my shenanigans
Day 28 - New Orleans Saint Louis Cemetery I, Get Out of my WAY!
*Day 28 - New Orleans Saint Louis Cemetery I, Sean's Heavenly Prayer
Day 28 - Lizard
*Day 28 - Sean's Testimony to his shoes almost being stolen
Day 28 - New Orleans, Walking to Yo Mamma's
Day 28 - Baby Alligator hangin around our boat before we take our tour - Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours, Louisiana
Day 28 - The Swamps
*Day 28 - The Biggest Grasshopper I have EVER seen!! Look for it in the trees!
*Day 28 - Our Guide's friend "JO"
Day 28 - Slitherin Alligator
Day 28 - Sean handing off a baby Alligator
Day 28 - Big Turtle Battles the Baby Turtle
Day 28 - The Turtle and the Alligator, Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours, Louisiana
Day 29 - Hi Fishies! Port Aransas TX
Day 29 - The Ferry Boat that took us to the Island of Port Aransas TX
Day 29 - Walking out to The Gulf Of Mexico, Port Aransas TX
Day 30 - Waking up on the Gulf of Mexico! Port Aransas, TX
Day 30 - Corpus Christi TX - The Hospital where Sean was born!
Day 30 - Inside The Alamo, San Antonio TX
Day 30 - The Bat Bridge, Austin TX
Day 30 - Esther's Follies (just a taste)
Day 31 - A taste of Schlitterbahn! New Braunfels, Texas
Day 32 - Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns
Day 32 - Inside Carlsbad Caverns NM, Spelunking
Day 32 - Inside Carlsbad Caverns NM, The Bathroom Situation
Day 32 - Elevator up from Carlsbad Caverns 650ft below the earth "Goin UP!"
Day 32 - Sunset at White Sands, New Mexico:
*Day 32 - White Sands Dune Log Rolling (Practice makes perfect!), White Sands NM*
*Day 32 - Sean's running exploration of White Sands, NM*
Day 32 - Driving out of White Sands - Snow?!
Day 33 - The "THING!" - Arizona
Day 33 - Titan II Missiile - Arizona
Day 33 - Hello Cows! Arizona
Day 34 - April's Introduction to the Grand Canyon Take II
Day 34 - April's Introduction to the Grand Canyon Take III
Day 34 - Sean's Hoover Dam Factoids:
Day 34 - Sean's Idea of fun in Vegas:
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Day 34 - Arizona to Nevada to California
Tonight I am going to try to edit a large portion of video clips - so for our final blog, you'll get to see moving highlights and end of trip details.
Day 34-
As I mentioned already, Arcosanti is a hippie palace in the middle of the desert, and is especially eco conscious, less sprawl + ecology. The structures themselves are very cold and simplified, but integrate the natural. Last night we were able to stare out into the stars from the safety of our scorpion infested room:
We went on a tour of the small city:
This space is interesting because it brings heat in the winter and shade in the summer depending on the tilt of the earth. It functions as a banquet gathering hall of some sort:
This outdoor amphitheater space has 2 functions, not only is it an amphitheater, but it is also where they create ceramic bells which were designed by Paolo Soleri. The sale of these bells help support the building of the city:
Here is a model of the future of this city. in this model it is built to suite 5,000 people. As of right now it is housing 50 and is no where near completion:
The dark gray areas are the buildings that are completed:
Paolo has big dreams. I admire the effort and consciousness of Paolo and his settlers, but until it actually (if ever) is completed, Sean and I do feel that this project is a failure. Why? We had conversation with 3 residents and not one of them were friendly to us. They were all very standoffish and antisocial. Paolo envisioned a city without the automobile - in this city it can not only house people, but all the boutiques necessary for shopping, school, city hall, etc. The main idea was to remove the automobile from our lives because it not only creates pollution, but it makes us (*ahem*) anti-social. Well done Paolo. Not to mention the very communist qualities of this residence - I don't think that was in the master plan. From the way our tour guide described it, Paolo was their god, and was the say all to any unique invention. The residents work in the cafe, create his bells, and he even has people PAY to become a student. That sounds okay, but what does the student do? They help build the structures - ya, they pay to put in labor. Awesome.
Back to the bright side. There were other many qualities that I enjoyed, The ceramic and brass bells, seeing how they were made, and knowing that the profits go back to the community or a good cause. The entire city recycles everything. Everything. Even the food from the cafe goes back into the soil. They have a huge septic system that collects rainwater, and grow much of their own food (including a mega greenhouse they are building that surrounds the city (see across the bottom of the model picture)
Anyway, that was our adventure at Arcosanti. Next, we weren't sure what to do so we just went a few hours north to the grand canyon:
Even though we've both been here before, it's still an amazing sight. I also realized that it was exactly 4 years ago since I had been here last, I was on my way moving into LA!!
awww, cute!
After a small hike around the canyon Sean warned me not to get too close to the edge. I kept calling him a baby because he was too scared to look over...
Look who's laughing now.
The Hoover Dam is building this mega bridge bypass structure over the dam, which is almost as amazing as the Dam itself!
Dam!
Along the way Sean started getting frantic. He didn't want our adventure to end! Even though he has no interest in Vegas, he thought that we should make it a point to stop by. So I took him to a posh restaurant at the Bellagio that Jeff and I went to a couple summers back named "FIX" for our last vaca meal:
He had billy baldwin burgers!
If you ask Sean how he liked the meal, he would say that Krystal burgers are still his favorite. Ouch, so glad I splurged.
We walked right out to a classic fountain show:
And walked the streets of Vegas until 2 am:
All the tourists were conforming their bodies for a picture with this stupid ball, and we thought it was funny watching them:
And another:
And another:
And another:
Wait a second - that's me! Ah, well, we never denied our own tourist qualities...
The next 4 hours from 2am-6am back to LA were - I swear - the HARDEST 4 hours I have ever driven. I was tired and really upset that the trip was actually coming to an end :(
And of COURSE at 5am we get stuck in LA Traffic. grrrrr.
-- Posted from April's phone
Stay tuned for our final closing post!
Day 34-
As I mentioned already, Arcosanti is a hippie palace in the middle of the desert, and is especially eco conscious, less sprawl + ecology. The structures themselves are very cold and simplified, but integrate the natural. Last night we were able to stare out into the stars from the safety of our scorpion infested room:
We went on a tour of the small city:
This space is interesting because it brings heat in the winter and shade in the summer depending on the tilt of the earth. It functions as a banquet gathering hall of some sort:
This outdoor amphitheater space has 2 functions, not only is it an amphitheater, but it is also where they create ceramic bells which were designed by Paolo Soleri. The sale of these bells help support the building of the city:
Here is a model of the future of this city. in this model it is built to suite 5,000 people. As of right now it is housing 50 and is no where near completion:
The dark gray areas are the buildings that are completed:
Paolo has big dreams. I admire the effort and consciousness of Paolo and his settlers, but until it actually (if ever) is completed, Sean and I do feel that this project is a failure. Why? We had conversation with 3 residents and not one of them were friendly to us. They were all very standoffish and antisocial. Paolo envisioned a city without the automobile - in this city it can not only house people, but all the boutiques necessary for shopping, school, city hall, etc. The main idea was to remove the automobile from our lives because it not only creates pollution, but it makes us (*ahem*) anti-social. Well done Paolo. Not to mention the very communist qualities of this residence - I don't think that was in the master plan. From the way our tour guide described it, Paolo was their god, and was the say all to any unique invention. The residents work in the cafe, create his bells, and he even has people PAY to become a student. That sounds okay, but what does the student do? They help build the structures - ya, they pay to put in labor. Awesome.
Back to the bright side. There were other many qualities that I enjoyed, The ceramic and brass bells, seeing how they were made, and knowing that the profits go back to the community or a good cause. The entire city recycles everything. Everything. Even the food from the cafe goes back into the soil. They have a huge septic system that collects rainwater, and grow much of their own food (including a mega greenhouse they are building that surrounds the city (see across the bottom of the model picture)
Anyway, that was our adventure at Arcosanti. Next, we weren't sure what to do so we just went a few hours north to the grand canyon:
Even though we've both been here before, it's still an amazing sight. I also realized that it was exactly 4 years ago since I had been here last, I was on my way moving into LA!!
awww, cute!
After a small hike around the canyon Sean warned me not to get too close to the edge. I kept calling him a baby because he was too scared to look over...
Look who's laughing now.
The Hoover Dam is building this mega bridge bypass structure over the dam, which is almost as amazing as the Dam itself!
Dam!
Along the way Sean started getting frantic. He didn't want our adventure to end! Even though he has no interest in Vegas, he thought that we should make it a point to stop by. So I took him to a posh restaurant at the Bellagio that Jeff and I went to a couple summers back named "FIX" for our last vaca meal:
He had billy baldwin burgers!
If you ask Sean how he liked the meal, he would say that Krystal burgers are still his favorite. Ouch, so glad I splurged.
We walked right out to a classic fountain show:
And walked the streets of Vegas until 2 am:
All the tourists were conforming their bodies for a picture with this stupid ball, and we thought it was funny watching them:
And another:
And another:
And another:
Wait a second - that's me! Ah, well, we never denied our own tourist qualities...
The next 4 hours from 2am-6am back to LA were - I swear - the HARDEST 4 hours I have ever driven. I was tired and really upset that the trip was actually coming to an end :(
And of COURSE at 5am we get stuck in LA Traffic. grrrrr.
-- Posted from April's phone
Stay tuned for our final closing post!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Day 33 - New Mexico to Arizona
Okay, FYI: in real time Sean and I did make it home! Were happy, healthy, and safe. I jumped right into a weekend workshop for school and Sean is job hunting/looking for apartments.
Sorry for not updating since New Mexico. The fun did NOT stop a day 32. I will make it a point to finish this through this weekend.
Okie dokie. So after the sun set at White Sands we found a campground here is a visual of te landscape that surrounded us when we woke that morning:
We were going to go sled ridig down the dunes in white sands that morning, but the heat and long drive to come distracted us. We had to make it to Arizona for the Titan II Missile museum before they closed...
Quick stop for Lunch along the way at a very authentic Mexican restaurant, with spicy salsa! 5 stars & under $20 for the both of us.
Like a flash, we hit Arizona and fell into a billion speed traps (radar on & detecting away!)
Sean saw a billion attractive freeway signs begging us to stop & see "The Thing"
Ooh, mysterious!
We actually spent our last 2 dollars here:
And what was the thing you ask?! Exit 262 off of route 10 my friend - go check out the thing! Your life will be enriched!
Not really - there are many "Things" in this museum, and noTHING seemed to make any sense.
There is this "thing"
Here is another "thing"
What the heck are these "things"?!
Good thing it only cost 2 bucks otherwise I would have protested my $$$ back!
Here's some classic Arizona landscape:
Tuscon
Thanks to Charles Dowd and his creation of time zones, we made it to the Titan Missile Tour at 4:02 instead of 5:02 (closing time).
I don't think I'd want this thing to land in my back yard.
Here's Sean on the topic of the missile he says, "pew pew":
This was a super cool tour, and the guide appointed me as the captain, which means I got to detonate this bad boy! Oooh, I love pushing buttons.
Dinner in Phoenix and we decided on sushi. I think after all the crap food we've been eating, we didn't care how not native to Phoenix sushi was. It was healthy and light.
Another hour to Arcosanti! This is an architectural lab created by Paolo Soleri that is all about integrating less sprawl on the land and ecology in everyday life. In short, this means that we visited a commune of hippies who hate automobiles (hmm, we won't mention the 11,000 miles of oil/gas we've burned so far. Paolo Soleri - who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright, has an Interesting concept, and in many ways I feel would work on a much larger scale, but right now is unsuccessful.
More on this later tho. Tonight we simply checked into our hippie room, got our first shower in like 5 days and was greeted by this dude:
-- Posted from April's phone
Sorry for not updating since New Mexico. The fun did NOT stop a day 32. I will make it a point to finish this through this weekend.
Okie dokie. So after the sun set at White Sands we found a campground here is a visual of te landscape that surrounded us when we woke that morning:
We were going to go sled ridig down the dunes in white sands that morning, but the heat and long drive to come distracted us. We had to make it to Arizona for the Titan II Missile museum before they closed...
Quick stop for Lunch along the way at a very authentic Mexican restaurant, with spicy salsa! 5 stars & under $20 for the both of us.
Like a flash, we hit Arizona and fell into a billion speed traps (radar on & detecting away!)
Sean saw a billion attractive freeway signs begging us to stop & see "The Thing"
Ooh, mysterious!
We actually spent our last 2 dollars here:
And what was the thing you ask?! Exit 262 off of route 10 my friend - go check out the thing! Your life will be enriched!
Not really - there are many "Things" in this museum, and noTHING seemed to make any sense.
There is this "thing"
Here is another "thing"
What the heck are these "things"?!
Good thing it only cost 2 bucks otherwise I would have protested my $$$ back!
Here's some classic Arizona landscape:
Tuscon
Thanks to Charles Dowd and his creation of time zones, we made it to the Titan Missile Tour at 4:02 instead of 5:02 (closing time).
I don't think I'd want this thing to land in my back yard.
Here's Sean on the topic of the missile he says, "pew pew":
This was a super cool tour, and the guide appointed me as the captain, which means I got to detonate this bad boy! Oooh, I love pushing buttons.
Dinner in Phoenix and we decided on sushi. I think after all the crap food we've been eating, we didn't care how not native to Phoenix sushi was. It was healthy and light.
Another hour to Arcosanti! This is an architectural lab created by Paolo Soleri that is all about integrating less sprawl on the land and ecology in everyday life. In short, this means that we visited a commune of hippies who hate automobiles (hmm, we won't mention the 11,000 miles of oil/gas we've burned so far. Paolo Soleri - who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright, has an Interesting concept, and in many ways I feel would work on a much larger scale, but right now is unsuccessful.
More on this later tho. Tonight we simply checked into our hippie room, got our first shower in like 5 days and was greeted by this dude:
-- Posted from April's phone
Monday, August 17, 2009
Day 32 - New Mexico
Sean, wake up Sean! It's time to finally see the caverns!
See - I told you we slept in a junk yard. While the scenerie wasn't the best in this particular spot, we got to see so many marvels today! So, c'mon - let's go!
This Here is the natural cave entrance to Carlsbad caverns, see Sean - listenening to his tour guide in a box. He rushed me 2x to stop snapping pictures and get inside - he was very excited. At night, thousands of bats exit through this hole - wish we could have seen that!
Carlsbad caverns is like a whole other world - underground. It was sooo amazing - gorgeous stalagtites and stalagmites - some even touched from top to bottom! Where some parts could be small crevaces,
But it holds the record for the second largest cave chamber in the world, the Big Room, a natural limestone chamber which is almost 4,000 feet long, 625 feet wide, and 350 feet high at the highest point. That's 8.2 acres son!
The cell phone shots can't show the huge caverns, so here are some detailed images:
We have been to a ton of national parks and monuments on this trip, but this place takes the cake!
Next stop - Roswell!
We went to the international UFO museum. What an informative space.
It started out with "The Roswell Incident" which involved the recovery of materials near Roswell on July 8, 1947. Since the late 1970s has become the subject of intense speculation, rumor, and questioning. There are widely divergent views on what actually happened and passionate debate about what evidence can be believed. The United States military maintains that what was actually recovered was debris from an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon, but the UFO museum is out to debunk that theory:
Yup, that's a bonafide UFO if you ask me!
And they had professional paintings to prove their theory, and speculate the relationship between human and alien:
So poetic
The museum also put us in "the know" to all basic alien types:
I believe Sean is really a praying mantis under his human skin.
This men in black exhibit was a nice ending.
And we had to get an alien head antenna ball chochki for the car!
Okay, so on the way out of Roswell I finally decided to pick up a hitchiker, I know mom - but really he seemed like a safe bet.
He wouldn't let me take his photograph, and wasn't one for words, but I snuck a quick snapshot of him in the rearview while I pretended to shoot my vacation souvineers:
And we actually hit white sands just before sunset! What an incredible day!
We rolled around and filled our pockets full of sand. Sean talked me into log rolling down a dune again, this time I ate sand & didn't feel very good afterward
Driving out at night was like driving in an Ohio snowstorm without the cold! The roads are all white from sand, and had to be plowed.
we camped just ouside of the park. The stars were so clear & bright - the best night of stargazing yet.
-- Posted from April's phone
See - I told you we slept in a junk yard. While the scenerie wasn't the best in this particular spot, we got to see so many marvels today! So, c'mon - let's go!
This Here is the natural cave entrance to Carlsbad caverns, see Sean - listenening to his tour guide in a box. He rushed me 2x to stop snapping pictures and get inside - he was very excited. At night, thousands of bats exit through this hole - wish we could have seen that!
Carlsbad caverns is like a whole other world - underground. It was sooo amazing - gorgeous stalagtites and stalagmites - some even touched from top to bottom! Where some parts could be small crevaces,
But it holds the record for the second largest cave chamber in the world, the Big Room, a natural limestone chamber which is almost 4,000 feet long, 625 feet wide, and 350 feet high at the highest point. That's 8.2 acres son!
The cell phone shots can't show the huge caverns, so here are some detailed images:
We have been to a ton of national parks and monuments on this trip, but this place takes the cake!
Next stop - Roswell!
We went to the international UFO museum. What an informative space.
It started out with "The Roswell Incident" which involved the recovery of materials near Roswell on July 8, 1947. Since the late 1970s has become the subject of intense speculation, rumor, and questioning. There are widely divergent views on what actually happened and passionate debate about what evidence can be believed. The United States military maintains that what was actually recovered was debris from an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon, but the UFO museum is out to debunk that theory:
Yup, that's a bonafide UFO if you ask me!
And they had professional paintings to prove their theory, and speculate the relationship between human and alien:
So poetic
The museum also put us in "the know" to all basic alien types:
I believe Sean is really a praying mantis under his human skin.
This men in black exhibit was a nice ending.
And we had to get an alien head antenna ball chochki for the car!
Okay, so on the way out of Roswell I finally decided to pick up a hitchiker, I know mom - but really he seemed like a safe bet.
He wouldn't let me take his photograph, and wasn't one for words, but I snuck a quick snapshot of him in the rearview while I pretended to shoot my vacation souvineers:
And we actually hit white sands just before sunset! What an incredible day!
We rolled around and filled our pockets full of sand. Sean talked me into log rolling down a dune again, this time I ate sand & didn't feel very good afterward
Driving out at night was like driving in an Ohio snowstorm without the cold! The roads are all white from sand, and had to be plowed.
we camped just ouside of the park. The stars were so clear & bright - the best night of stargazing yet.
-- Posted from April's phone
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Day 31 - Sissling Texas
We never thought that while watching The Travel Channel's "best water parks" last year that we'd actually make our way out to the #1 on their list, on this trip - or ever.
When we saw signs for Schlitterbahn all over Texas we set a whole day aside just to soak up the scorching sun, stand in long lines, and ride the not so lazy rivers.
So shirts off, Sean's losing his farmers tan!
Because I'm no Schlitterbahn conoseur, here is some wikipedia history:
Schlitterbahn in German means "slippery road".
The Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort in New Braunfels, Texas, originally opened in 1979 with four water slides on 40 acres, is built along the cool spring-fed waters of the Comal River. In 1991, the Henrys bought another 25 acre piece of property known as Camp Warnecke and transformed it into Schlitterbahn East. The two parts of the park are separated by several city blocks with free parking available at both locations and a free shuttle between the two areas. Schlitterbahn East is further divided into two themed areas; Surfenburg, built in 1991, and Blastenhoff, built in 1996. In 1994, Schlitterbahn opened the first ever uphill water ride, known as the Dragon Blaster. Since then, they have added several other uphill water coasters, the Master Blaster and the Family Blaster. The Master Blaster in particular has often been voted as the best water ride in the US by travel publications and is frequently mentioned on the Travel Channel as such. In addition to these water coasters, the New Braunfels park now boasts over 3 miles of inner tube rides, 7 water playgrounds for children, 17 water slides, and the world's first surfing machine.
Schlitterbahn is considered by some to be the best waterpark in the world, and has been named so by the Travel Channel. Amusement Today gave it their 'Golden Ticket Award' for the "Best Waterpark" of 2007.
My first impressions were not the best. Too many people and the water looked dirty. Once I realized that they were using river water, and the look of filth was not from all the sticky children and parents, my anxiety went away.
They use good ole Goodyear tire tubes - that wa cool.
The shuttle bus to get from Schlitterbahn east to the two west parks was almost unbearble - a longer line than the damn slides, and our feet burned on the concrete! But yeah, it was free, and the free parking was convienantly close too. Coming back we didn't have to wait but a minute - so stop your wining April.
The things that I found unique was that it had a ton of lazy rivers - but they were never lazy, and some even had small high speed body slides that spit you out into the lazy rivers.
One tube adventure went across the entire park, filled with waterfalls and high speed rapids, under low clearance walking bridges, after about 10 minutes the ride never seems to end - it dumps you into the actual Comal river, which is Hella deep, and you kinda have to swim your way out.
We did ride the infamous master blaster, which we did see on the travel channel as well. Eh, the hour wait made the ride a little less appealing, but it did beat Ohio's kalahari indoor water coaster.
After all that water, Sean still has to cool his britches on the way back to the car - whew!
Schlitterbahn ended and an 8 hour drive to New Mexico began. Sean punched in at 6 hours, and I a measly 2 (but hey I'm working the graveyard shift!).
We passed a horriffic accident on the Texas border at 1am, and Sean mentioned many crosses along the sides of the road.
Finally, just outside Carlsbad caverns we found camping in what seemed to be a junk yard. Oh, and don't walk barefoot in New Mexico. It looks like grass, but it's not!
-- Posted from April's phone
When we saw signs for Schlitterbahn all over Texas we set a whole day aside just to soak up the scorching sun, stand in long lines, and ride the not so lazy rivers.
So shirts off, Sean's losing his farmers tan!
Because I'm no Schlitterbahn conoseur, here is some wikipedia history:
Schlitterbahn in German means "slippery road".
The Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort in New Braunfels, Texas, originally opened in 1979 with four water slides on 40 acres, is built along the cool spring-fed waters of the Comal River. In 1991, the Henrys bought another 25 acre piece of property known as Camp Warnecke and transformed it into Schlitterbahn East. The two parts of the park are separated by several city blocks with free parking available at both locations and a free shuttle between the two areas. Schlitterbahn East is further divided into two themed areas; Surfenburg, built in 1991, and Blastenhoff, built in 1996. In 1994, Schlitterbahn opened the first ever uphill water ride, known as the Dragon Blaster. Since then, they have added several other uphill water coasters, the Master Blaster and the Family Blaster. The Master Blaster in particular has often been voted as the best water ride in the US by travel publications and is frequently mentioned on the Travel Channel as such. In addition to these water coasters, the New Braunfels park now boasts over 3 miles of inner tube rides, 7 water playgrounds for children, 17 water slides, and the world's first surfing machine.
Schlitterbahn is considered by some to be the best waterpark in the world, and has been named so by the Travel Channel. Amusement Today gave it their 'Golden Ticket Award' for the "Best Waterpark" of 2007.
My first impressions were not the best. Too many people and the water looked dirty. Once I realized that they were using river water, and the look of filth was not from all the sticky children and parents, my anxiety went away.
They use good ole Goodyear tire tubes - that wa cool.
The shuttle bus to get from Schlitterbahn east to the two west parks was almost unbearble - a longer line than the damn slides, and our feet burned on the concrete! But yeah, it was free, and the free parking was convienantly close too. Coming back we didn't have to wait but a minute - so stop your wining April.
The things that I found unique was that it had a ton of lazy rivers - but they were never lazy, and some even had small high speed body slides that spit you out into the lazy rivers.
One tube adventure went across the entire park, filled with waterfalls and high speed rapids, under low clearance walking bridges, after about 10 minutes the ride never seems to end - it dumps you into the actual Comal river, which is Hella deep, and you kinda have to swim your way out.
We did ride the infamous master blaster, which we did see on the travel channel as well. Eh, the hour wait made the ride a little less appealing, but it did beat Ohio's kalahari indoor water coaster.
After all that water, Sean still has to cool his britches on the way back to the car - whew!
Schlitterbahn ended and an 8 hour drive to New Mexico began. Sean punched in at 6 hours, and I a measly 2 (but hey I'm working the graveyard shift!).
We passed a horriffic accident on the Texas border at 1am, and Sean mentioned many crosses along the sides of the road.
Finally, just outside Carlsbad caverns we found camping in what seemed to be a junk yard. Oh, and don't walk barefoot in New Mexico. It looks like grass, but it's not!
-- Posted from April's phone
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