Schlitterbahn!

Today we're spending all day at Schlitterbahn, a big water park. From our KOA in San Antonio, it's only about 34 miles to Schlitterbahn. After we're done at the park, we'll get the kids dressed for bed and then drive about 100 miles to a hotel in Columbus, Texas.

After breakfast, we got packed and headed to Schlitterbahn. We sunscreened in the car.

I must admit, we were a bit shell-shocked when we first got there. We’re so used to Disney World and Islands of Adventure that we know the drill. We know how it all works, we know what to do, what not to do, what to wait for, what to bypass, etc. But here we didn’t know how things worked. Even though there were maps of the park, it was hard to tell where the lines started and where the rides ended. We had no idea how long the lines would take. Carry a tube around or not? We spent a good hour just walking around trying to figure things out. By the end of the day we were pros, but it was a slow start.

The park, by the way, is fabulous. It’s huge, great stuff for Bella’s age, very family friendly (you can bring in coolers!) and plenty to do. Like all great theme parks, you can’t really do it all in one day. Our favorite aspects also included how many lifeguards were present (it just felt safe) and the friendliness of the staff. Our only disappointments were the long waits in some of the lines (and no signs to let you know how long the waits would be) and at times the layout of the park could have been better. It wasn’t always easy and intuitive to get around. Overall, we had a blast, we didn’t get sunburned, and we decided we definitely wanted to come back another time.

We stayed until closing time at 8, got showered, and headed to Columbus, Texas.

We got checked into our crappy hotel and were immediately reminded of how much we prefer KOA cabins. But none were available in this part of the trip, so the hotel had to suffice. After the family was all in bed, I drove a mile down the road and filled up the tank and bought a few overpriced bottles of water. They had 16 oz. cans of Coke, which I had ever seen before. I was really craving a cold Coke, but it was close to midnight by this time, so I resisted. I bought one but I didn’t drink it.