If you remember from my 30th birthday, Mrs. Brown treated me to the bus ride to go to their family reunion at Knoebels on 17 August 2019. Let me tell you, that month and a half sure did fly by!
Earlier this week, mom and I looked at ticket prices and food options. You could only purchase water park and slide tickets online, so I bought the $15 pass for the pool and slides. Mom gave me a budget of $20 for the dry park, then $30 for food – Knoebels had a sit down restaurant with GF options! I was excited.
The Warner bus was scheduled to leave from the Browns’ house at 8 AM. Since they live only three houses down from me, I was early. It was so nice to see Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Grady! Grady breeds pitbulls and I met a few of the puppies. They were so adorable and licked me in love. Pits are good dogs, if they are trained with loving kindness, and I like pits. Anyway, the crowd was smaller compared to the Washington, D.C. trip in 2017, with only seven people. I met Jada and her mom, whom I chatted with before the bus departed.
Two hours, forty minutes later we were at Knoebels. We split up and had to meet back at the bus before 5 PM. I went to the water park first and had a blast on the Snake Winder and the other water ride. I rode those a dozen times, I couldn’t get enough. I love water and prefer water rides to dry rides. I also loved the Crystal Pool.
The Crystal Pool had a playground slide that acted as a tame water slide. Something so simple turned out to be so much fun. My nose caught a water full, however! I handed my GoPro over to a mother and she took this sweet little video.
There were also diving boards – 4 of them. Two were three metres, one was two metres, the last was one. The three metres board made my stomach flop a bit. As I was diving off, the height and gravity made my stomach feel funny. It wasn’t the dread that rollercoasters put in me, but a bit of excitement of the impending water. I did that a dozen times and handed off my GoPro to a father that was photographing his sons. He didn’t get a video, but he did capture two lovely photos.
Snack break and sunscreen break! I found someone, a nice woman, to put sunscreen on Wraith. I’m glad she didn’t mind, and I thanked her. Although I was wearing a t-shirt (which I forgot at Knoebels), I made sure Wraith was protected with sunscreen too. I went back into the water, where I ran into Jada and her mom. Jada was learning how to swim and had a blast showing me what she was learning. I then swam around for another hour.
Before I headed back to the dry park, I decided to try the Nets of Fun. When I was a child, I was afraid of these types of things because I was afraid I might fall through. I decided to try it and it wasn’t so bad after all! I made it the whole way through and it was fun.
There was also a country music dance band performing at 2:15. They were handing out hula hoops and I had to try my luck. I had a joy doing this!
The nice thing about Knoebels, just like Luna Park in Coney Island, you can buy tickets for the rides you want to ride instead of paying for a full day pass. I bought $10 worth of tickets and rode the train, the Haunted Mansion, and a tilt-o-whirl type of ride. I spent about $8, I gave the last $2 away. The lines were longer than I anticipated and I had to eat before we met at the bus at 5 PM.
It was 4:15 PM and I knew I didn’t have time for the Alamo, the sit-down cafe with gluten-free options. I spoke with the food service manager about my celiac disease and she made sure I had a GF bun and that my food was prepared correctly. I got back to the bus at 4:45, the driver let me in and I ate my delicious meal on an air conditioned bus. Great end to a lovely day AND the lovely day didn’t cost a fortune. I had a great time without spending a lot – that felt nice.
I’m also thankful for the Browns and how they include me in all of their events. Mrs. Brown also never forgets my birthday either. As JC, my barber I had on Friday night said to me, “maybe you are family and you don’t even know it yet!” Family doesn’t have to be related by blood, they can be close friends too!
The Happiness Box Project 