Splash Zone

Grand Country Inn had an indoor water park that turned out to be perfect for the boys.  The majority of the park is seen above and involves an intricate play house type set up with water falling from every direction.  The big downpour shown above (in a stock photo lifted from their website - hard to run through water toting a camera) happened every 10 minutes.  With the ringing of the bell, kids all scurried to the splash zone to be pelted with sub zero water.  I was happy to stay in the kiddy area where the water was a balmy temperature and not raining down on my head.  The part of the park not shown above, outside of the kiddie pool, is the lazy river that runs on a lower level of the building.  That was our first stop upon arrival.  The first attempt at getting Joshy in the innertube was a bit of a struggle as he couldn't decide if he wanted to ride the tube like a sunbather or paddle with the tube under his arms.  Once he realized he could touch the ground, though, he was off.  That was the nice part about a just deep enough but not too deep lazy river.  The fact that he could touch the bottom allowed me to reside somewhere between "pool death grip" and "unsupervised children in water".  Ben, however, wanted to be independent but laying in that innertube, he was hanging on for dear life.  Not big enough to fill the center, he was dangling from where each hand held a handle of the tube.  He didn't want us to hold on but I had definite visions of hands slipping, heads falling underwater and newer, stronger, water phobias emerging.  In the toddler area, he could run around life vest free.  Slides just his size, emptying out into six inches of water.  Joshy and John tacked the big water play area and the 100 gallon bucket of water.  Here Joshy was able to go life vest free, as well.  The freedom was intoxicating for them. 

You will note that John forgot to take his shirt off upon entering one Lazy River and, not having thought to bring clothes to change into, got to opt between wet shirt or no shirt for the trek back to the room in 50 degree weather.  The next time, extra clothes came along, and you should have seen us trying to fit a bag of clothes, four towels, 3 pairs of normal shoes and 1 pair of shoes as tall as the locker itself in before shutting the door.  At least we got our 50 cents worth of locker space. 

Fantastic Caverns

On our way home from Branson, we stopped by Fantastic Caverns outside of Springfield.  I'm told it is the "only ride through cave in the world, making it great for seniors and those with small children".  It was a cold day in Missouri but the cavern itself stayed 60 degrees year round and was a welcome contrast to the 30 degree winds.  As we were piling into our tram, the tour guide asked Joshy if he would like to sit in the front with him.  Joshy hopped in and we were off.   

The portion of the cave we toured was wide, the smallest portions still wide enough for a single tram, although with a low ceiling that required huddling down.  One of the first areas you entered was a large open area that had served as an underground speakeasy in the 20s and later as a stage for some of the Ozark music still on display in Branson today. 

At one point, the guide stopped the tram and hopped out to show us what the cave looked like without any light.  Once he shut off the lights, you could hear Ben yell out "I can't see.  I can't see".  Soon, the guide lit an oil lamp to show us how the first explorers saw the cave.  It lit up just the area around the tram itself.  Enough for Ben to say "I can see" but not see much.  He again blew out the light in transition and you hear Joshy say "Okay, where are the lights now".  Once he had finished the light portion of his tour, he mentioned as he headed back towards the jeep that usually the kids were yelling for him to turn out the lights again.  I told him that he probably didn't have to worry about that with my children.  They aren't scared of the dark, but they much prefer seeing. 

Periodically, the guide would stop and hop out to walk back towards us and explain the portion of the cave we were in.  Of course, Joshy would take this time to hop out of his seat and walk towards the back of the jeep and wave or make silly faces.  One time I turned around to see that he had gotten out of the jeep altogether and whisper yelled a "Joshua, get back in the jeep" with visions of him falling down a sink hole in my head.  Retrieving him just seemed like a hassle I didn't need.  Not a fan of small spaces. 

Ben took this picture of me at one of the paused portions of the tours.  He was engaged while we were moving but 4 minutes of talking is hard for any little guy to sit through.

These twin columns are in the first chamber the 12 women who first explored the cave entered.  They were pretty magnificent.  Here again, he turned off the lights to show us how they appeared to the women, lit by candles held in cans.

After the tour, the guide commented on how many questions Joshy asked.  I just smiled because curiosity is one thing I love about that boy.  I wondered if I would have been brave enough to venture into the utter darkness with only a candle and unending vastness before me.  My dad took us to caverns when we were little and I still find them just as magical today as I did then.  An entirely different world, 139 feet under ground.  Found by a man following his dog who was busy chasing a rabbit into a hole.  A hole women squeezed through in dresses with candles for light.  A hole 20 feet from the blasted entrance, made with room enough to fit a tram and years of travelers drawn by humanity's need to explore.