bunny_hugger's brother and his girlfriend hoped to see Michigan's Adventure. She hadn't ever been to the amusement park; he hadn't been in years. We were up for going to any park with them, naturally, although it happens this did preempt a visit we'd been planning to make to Cedar Point. (Somewhat frustratingly we haven't got to Cedar Point yet this season and don't think that isn't causing us all kinds of anxiety.) Since they were coming from bunny_hugger's parents' place we took separate cars, trusting that we could coordinate meeting at some reasonable hour, and we didn't. We ran a little late; they ran very late.
Michigan's Adventure was busy. Busier, literally, than I have ever seen it. It was in the top-five busiest days that bunny_hugger had ever seen there. I had no idea there could be so many people in the park. And they weren't all in the water park, the part that I had figured would save us when we saw the parking lot was nearly ... well, nearly one-third full. They have way more parking than they need. Still, there were waits of over a half-hour for their roller coasters and I've never imagined that for them. Thus did that gift shop manager's comments, at the end of June, come back to my mind. It would also serve as an evil portent for the future, since we had scheduled a New England Amusement Parks tour scheduled, necessarily, for early August. This is traditionally the busiest time for parks and while I'd been trying to hold up my chin and say that it won't be that bad, it's hard to insist on that when there's mobs waiting for the Corkscrew, a roller coaster Michigan's Adventure put in during the Carter administration. Nothing to do but bear it and hope, though.
bunny_hugger's brother and his girlfriend mostly wanted to go to the water park, WildWater Adventure. This would be my first time at the Michigan's Adventure water park; we don't tend to go to parks to soak. There's some quite nice stuff in the water park, though. There's several wave pools so we could go to one slightly less packed. We also rode a couple of the diving raft rides, the ones that make you roll a circular inflatable raft up a lot of hill.
Most fun, I think, was the lazy river, though. The lazy river used to support a shortcut, too, a rapids; that's closed now, though. But the ordinary path is nice and long and drifty and I was able a couple times to catch bunny_hugger's toes with my own. Apparently I have more dextrous toes than the average. Coati thing, you know how it is. All the while along the lazy river path are speakers playing songs that are kind of summer- or beach-themed, mostly, although there are fewer of those suitable for the purpose than you might imagine. I realized along the way that the man people hired as lifeguards have to come away from their job hating the Beach Boys. That seems like a lot to lose for a summer job, even if it's one you basically like.
The water park closed at 7 pm and we weren't sure if that meant the lockers would be closed off at that hour and leave us trapped in bathing suits. So we hauled stuff into our bags to go to the Grand Rapids ride, a whitewater rafting ride in the normal part of the park that we never go on because it's way too wet. The ride took us a bit past 7 pm, and we learned that the water park lockers would've been available anyway. Useful to know for future reference, anyway.
So, dry and dressed again, we went to a couple of the other rides. bunny_hugger's brother and girlfriend weren't interested in going on Shivering Timbers, the mile-long wooden roller coaster, their loss. We got on the next-to-the-last run of that for the night, always a privilege. And saw the pumpkin patch there was still growing respectably.
After the park closed we drove back to Grand Rapids, which is along the way. This gave us the chance to eat at Stella's, the hipster bar with a mere four pinball machines, one of them FunHouse. While bunny_hugger put up a great game of that, it was not while her brother was watching. He and his girlfriend ducked out to get back home. We were in a bit less of a hurry.
Trivia: After the suicide of Florida confederate overnor John Milton (either the evening of the 31st of March or the morning of the 1st of April, 1865) friends spread the story he had died of a stroke; rumors spread the had hidden in a railroad car marked ``meat'' sent north to find Jefferson Davis and the remains of the confederate government. Source: Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America, William C Davis.
Currently Reading: Austerity Britain, 1945 - 1951, David Kynaston.