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Suit up
At the end of a long week of work and school, made longer by bad weather and the subsequent school cancellations, I'd had it with winter weather. At least the kind of winter weather we've had of late.
The closets at my house are packed with snow pants, gloves and boots, just waiting for that great snowstorm. Unfortunately, this year has been more slushy and icy than snowy. So with a budget short on cash and time, I began trolling the Web for ways to rejuvenate my gang.
Skiing, snowboarding and tubing came immediately to mind. As the dreariness outside drew my attention, I quickly dismissed those notions.
I wanted to go someplace warm. Keeping in mind my aforementioned limitations, I focused my efforts and stumbled upon the Massanutten Water Park.
Located off Interstate 81 near Harrisonburg, the park promised eight indoor water slides, a wave pool, and an adventure river, among other attractions. Though I later learned that the wave pool is part of the outdoor water park, which is obviously closed at this time of year, there was still enough incentive to lead me to pull out the swimsuits and beach towels.
On a nasty Friday afternoon, we loaded up and headed for the water park — my four kids (ages 4,7,10, and 17), my oldest daughter's friend, and I. Thrilled with the blast of warm air that greeted us as we entered, we eagerly shed our winter coats and boots in favor of blissful summer swimsuits, then turned our attention to the attractions.
The centerpiece of the park is a huge water playground. Surrounded by a lazy river, it resembles a tree house on steroids — with water sprinklers and squirters shooting at you from every direction. Climbing soaked rope ladders to a platform where they could take aim with water guns at unsuspecting passersby quickly became the favorite of my youngest two, boys, of course.
But all three of the younger kids loved the slides that came off the tree house — some very short and others longer and spiraling — that dropped riders into a shallow pool of water in which the playground sits.
The older kids went off to explore the more intense water slides, and we eventually joined them. Some of the slides are ridden with inflatable tubes and others are ridden, well, shall we say, bareback. We loved the tube rides, especially because the tubes come in singles, doubles, and triples, giving us all a chance to ride together or apart as we wished. They twist and turn, dip and drop, and one of the slides sends you through complete darkness.
The slides without tubes were a little rough, throwing sliders around a bit, and we rode those only a time or two.
The hike to the top of the slides is a little challenging for little ones, but after the ride down, my kids were eager to do it again and didn't seem to mind the stairs. Of course, I was the one carrying the tube.
Lifeguards at the bottom of the slides were quick to help when tubes flipped over or kids needed an extra push to clear the way for the next rider. I was also pleased that they had attendants giving the green light to the lifeguards at the top of the slides, avoiding collisions by ensuring that riders don't slide too soon.
In fact, the place was crawling with lifeguards. They seemed to trade posts often, moving from the lazy river, which is about a four-foot deep loop around the playground area, to the frog pond (a kiddie area), a pair of hot tubs (one for all ages and one for adults only), a small, shallow swimming hole, and the wave surfing pipeline.
The pipeline, which simulates an ocean wave just right for surfing or body boarding, was the only attraction that had any sort of wait on the day we visited. Two adventurous souls in our group jumped on line. With a small crowd gathered around, lifeguards offered tips to the would-be surfers, helping them ride the wave up and down, back and forth, for a few minutes before wiping out.
“It was fun,” they reported, but I noticed that neither of them went back for seconds.
Crisscrossing the park to cover all of the attractions, we got a little chilled. But, the hot tub offered a nice remedy. The only problem was that after that warm water, the rest of the water in the park felt colder.
Part of the Massanutten Ski Resort, the complex also offers restaurants, shops, and an arcade, but we skipped those options, having dropped more than $200 on park admission.
We buttoned up and ventured back into the cold winter night, fortified by the fun of our adventure.
His face flush with the excitement of splishing and splashing, my little guy beamed up at me. “That was awesome, Mommy,” he said.
It was worth every penny.
E-mail the reporter: lruby@timespapers.com .
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