Leaving st. George Island, our next true destination where we planned to stop and enjoy ourselves is Carlsbad Caverns. It is 1,408 miles from St. George Island, FL to Carlsbad, NM. This is a long way to drive and would of course take a few days. Our approach to the trip is to try and knock out long stretches of miles via ‘driving days’ and then make sure we have time to enjoy ourselves and vacate when we get to destinations. That is why we won’t be jumping day-to-day from site to site. We are going to pick a finite number of spots and really see them…. The two longest stretches are the one we are currently on and then the return trip from Montana to Raleigh. Anyway, in order to make this trip from St. George to Carlsbad manageable, we decided to stop in San Antonio to go to the Schlitterbahn (http://www.schlitterbahn.com/nb/default.asp) – a lifelong dream of christine’s.
We got in line for the first waterslide/roller-coaster. And very quickly advanced to the sign that reads “In 90 minutes you will be experiencing the best roller coaster in the US”. It had been a long time since I had stood in one of those lines, the kind that contain connected rooms of roped off switchbacks that make time stand still. They also give you a chance to come into close proximity with the same 50 people over and over. My previous experiences with this were at six flags, Disneyland, and the Smithsonian institute. You never notice that your ankle doesn’t hurt until you twist it. And in these former lines, lamentable as they were, I didn’t take the time to thank the authorities for requiring clothing beyond swimming attire. At the Schlitterbahn and in particular this first line, the statistics documenting the popularity of tattoos were evident. And the vast majority were clearly regrettable. If you are reading this blog and thinking about getting a tattoo, please take 12 months to think about it before proceeding. It’s like the brady bill, you need a waiting period to cool down. Three noteworthy tats were:
· Owner: 40-year-old Caucasian woman, red hair, not very well maintained
Text: “Thug Life”
Quality: Lowest (bic pen? Inconsistent capitalization, low legibility)
Given the chance for one question: “Is that tattoo in the list of the 10 worst decisions you have made in your life?”
· Owner: 300lb hispanic fellow around 40 years old
Text: “Trust No One”
Quality: Medium, Gothic lettering running across the upper chest from one collar bone to the other
One Question: “I infer from the gimmace and the tattoo that you’re outlook on life is one obtained from many hard years on the street banging and stuff, how do you find yourself at the Schlitterbahn this afternoon?”
· Owner: 18-year old hispanic fellow
Text: “Brownpride”
Quality: High, again, Gothic lettering running across the upper chest from one collar bone to the other, very crisp work
One Question: “Aren’t you good at anything else that you might have pride in?...scrabble? running fast? Eating hot dogs?”
We were at the park for about 5 hours and rode 6 rides. But it was an experience. And Christine was given an undamaged wristband from a lady in a van who thought Christine looked like her mija. So we got in for buy one get one free – or something like that.
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