No Longer a Vacation

We've all seen it.
"National Lampoon's Vacation," the 1983 comedy smash that spawned a franchise of further misadventures of the Clark W. Griswold family.
For the very few of you who have not seen it, do it.
And those of you who have, you can pretty much recite much, if not all, of the dialogue in the film.
Especially the expletive-laced tirade from the aforementioned paterfamilias when his long-suffering family urges him to take them home less than ten hours from their cross-country destination, having had enough of one disaster after another.
Then came the reply:
"This is no longer a vacation!  It's a quest!  It's a quest for fun!"
You know the rest.
Friday, August 31st was just that.
I work for a radio station in Pittsburgh's suburbs.  A perk of my job is receiving free tickets to ball games, concerts, and even amusement parks upon request from our general manager.
Our summers are generally busy.  Between other recreational opportunities and things that need to get done outside, some things fall by the wayside.  I wasn't about to let this happen with the tickets.
But the clock was ticking.  I had until Labor Day to use them.
That Friday, I checked the forecast.  The high for the day was expected to reach 92 degrees with no precipitation in sight.
My wife was out of town on business.  I text-messaged her the forecast and asked if she wanted to go to Sandcastle.  I didn't have to twist her arm for this.
For those of you outside this area, Sandcastle is an outdoor water park just outside of Pittsburgh.  Complete with water slides, a wave pool and other such niceties.
Our daughter had successfully conquered Idlewild and Kennywood Parks earlier this summer, and we had just enough tickets left for Sandcastle.
We set out late Friday morning.  We were not prepared for the 'CLOSED' sign at the gate.
I felt like the Griswolds at Walley World.
But I wasn't about to go nuts over it and buy a BB gun.
The benefit of the tickets is that Sandcastle, Kennywood and Idlewild are all owned by the same concern, and the tickets are interchangeable.
Try Kennywood?
That suggestion came from my wife.  Why not?  It was only another ten minutes away.
Remembering that the ownership was the same, I checked their website via my smartphone to see if they were open.
Closed.
You've got to be kidding me.  Why on earth would these places turn away business on a day like today?
After we took our tremendously disappointed three-year-old home (who thankfully slept more than halfway through the return trip), and put her upstairs for a nap, my wife arrived at the conclusion of why this happened.
School.
We were so gung-ho about the trip, that since school was back in session, we'd have practically no lines at any of the slides.
It didn't occur to us that the park is STAFFED by mostly high school and college students.  Once school is back in session, there is no staff to run everything.
However, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, we would be in the clear.
We gave it another try the following day.
Success.
Our daughter had the time of her life, despite being a foot under the height requirement.  We had to confine ourselves to the kiddie pool, but so what.
Just watching her have fun and make friends with a couple of girls there was enough.
Plus going out for pizza afterwards.
Then us opening a bottle of wine after getting her off to bed.
Mission accomplished.


NEXT WEEK:  Do it Again