You can e-mail Mark T at in2deep@xvi.net
It was 5:01 and 84 degrees when I returned to Deep River Waterpark tonight after 1 day away. I have been fortunate that this season I have never been away from Deep River Waterpark for more than 2 days that it was in operation. There was a very large crowd on hand. At the front gate for season passes I actually got stopped two times. How about that? Often times I just walk through there. I could see this would not be a good stair climbing night and the best place to be to shorten the 1,000 stair game would be at the storm so that is where the story of this night would begin. The first ride was the cyclone. I was on the abyss a couple times even made it to the vortex once. Primarily I rode the abyss. I did manage to ride the storm 12x before I was found by a group of people tonight my brother-in-law, sister, and the nephews all in tow. With my brother-in-law we work up some speed and we went on the abyss and on ocassion we have run right into the stairs nearly coming out of the water. The ride goes very fast. We nearly hit some people but he jumped off the back of the tube into the water so that is like dropping an anchor and I came to a stop.
My nephew who is 5 seems very afraid of slides. The one who is 2 he just likes the bowl slide but tonight before they found me they did some playing so he was already cold. Next I got to ride with my sister so this time I got to be in the back with the brother-in-law I go in front to pilot. She decided on the cycylone which is my favorite storm slide just before the exit there is nice bump. First time I rode with her all season. Then she said the brother-in-law and I could ride one more time so he wanted to see the cyclone. I did really feel the bump and then it was time to take "The Hike" I had climbed 960 stairs so at least felt that would be able to get past 1,000 stairs tonight.
On "The Hike" we passed Brianne who had a box and perhaps some paint. She indicated the box was from tubes and that they had been doing some painting. Sometimes on the storm paint comes off on me. She was wearing a chain that was silver and it said if found return to Tiffanys New York. I was most curious about this and really wanted to know if she had purchased this herself and perhaps while in New York. Along time ago I was told if you look at a girl's jewlery if it is silver she bought it for herself but if it is gold someone bought it for her. I always want to know if this would hold true. My brother-in-law commented is this my girlfriend and then why not she is hot. I am certain he is married to my sister so is this appropriate? That is what he thinks my 2 year old nephew thinks she's petty so lucky Brianne getting these comments good thing she doesn't hear them.
It was time to eat and my nephew Matthew T who is 5 was manning this juice station so by the time we were done I had a lot of red juice on me and the shorts. Now it was time to ride the bowl slides that is what my brother-in-law likes to do and this year it says this is not recommended for 1 person over 250 lbs or 2 people with a combined weight of 400 lbs. I believe we would exceeed that since I claim that I weight 317 lbs but actually it is usually around 195 at one point it was 237 lbs and then I lost 47 lbs but never could lose 50. This would allow him 205 lbs and I am pretty sure he weighs at least 10 more lbs then I do. Nevertheless we carried on and we went on yellow. You could see the dry spots that some jets from the top were not working. This actually helped our speed because they did not slow us down and we managed to take 4 spins around this yellow bowl slide and that is pretty good for the first time riding this season. We have gotten 5 spins before but that is hard to do.
Next we went to the red bowl slide and the guy I currently have in the lead for male lifeguard of the year pushing us despite the cast on his hand said that he was not coming down if we got stuck. Why would we get stuck? If you wish to increase velocity you simply need to lean forward not back and that is the oberservation I make when large people get stuck they lean back. The slide is slanted so that if you push forward you will just go out the bowl. It is not like this is a flat surface. We did lean forward but with all the jets working on red they did slow us down and we got 3 spins on this slide. Very slowly the stair count went to 1,108 and then this brother-in-law indicated we should just go stand under the bucket and let it fall on us. I don't know why. The children were not around. He said so we could say we did it and he even lined me up and the bucket did fall and the water was ice cold and in addition to being ice cold it was also painful because we were the only 2 people under this bucket but now we can say we did it.
I don't know what good it does to say we were under this bucket. However, that meant the brother-in-law was done for the evening and I went on my way and then I saw Jessie and would you know that she is so nice and cute with her hair up lie that. At least that is what my sister told me. Jessie was working on the schedule she was on day 3 of 14. The good news is they still have enough lifeguards but how do you get the necessary staff there by 9:30 each day? It was a project that she would work on into the night and perhaps even take home with her. The eye candy she had tonight was Josh he appeared to be off. Also appearing was Elizabeth who must have been off and she once again looked at a watch which she was not wearing. I do not know if Elizabeth was in Elizabeth Illinois on June 28 for The Gathering of Elizabeths. On that date in this town in Illinois they were trying to get in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the most people named Elizabeth in one town. For more information on that you can visit MostElizabeths.com
Elizabeth said her favorite color was blue and so is mine but by this logic she should get the blue tootsie pop and the rules say only Joe Parker gets the blue tootsie pops and gets them all. She said her suit was blue that was anotehr reason she should get it but by that logic all the lifeguards wear blue. Her's was light blue tonight as she did not appear to be working. This season I had not yet taken the walk around the action river and it is my favorite walk to take to see what is happening. I did find Dustin he did not have to go to Texas so I got to see him for time number 4. I see Dustin 10 times a year on Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooosdays. We go way back at least all 14 years and I am trying to convince him we must do 15. We will see. I made my way around the river and I met a new lifeguard this season.
She had very nice eyes which seemed to have sparkle in them. She claimed that she often brought tootsie pops in her lunch and was asked if she got them from Mark T and guess who I happen to be? She had not gotten a tootsie pop from Mark T before. I don't know if you can have Tootsie Pops every day you should have them on Tuesday and then of course on Wednesday and maybe Thursday. She claims that she is a regular visitor to this site. She may be reading it right now imagine that. Luckily she was sitting down because as you may or may not know tall women frighten me. She said she was 5'10" tall and that would make her taller than Mark T. I learned her name was Amy and she just started a few weeks ago and normally is on the brown card and has certain days she works. This was her first Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooosday. I thik it was around 129 for me but I can't be sure. Amy is a communications major. I am an accountant and currently President of the Calumet Chapter of the Institutue of Management Accountants each month I write the President's message. The month of July is about my love affair with cake walks as a child it will probably be up soon. I often feel I need an editor for it because I have a tendency to go on and on.
Tonight I had Josh as a body guard and as I told of the first time that I was at Deep River Waterpark way back in 1995 before the park opened for a charity duck race and the first time I was ever in Deep River Waterpark I fell down the stairs of white water and fractured my wrist. I never did see that particular duck race. I did see a few more a few years after that and they were fun as people cheered plastic ducks down the lazy river. Plastic ducks are inanimate objects and they can not hear you. Josh said he splashed his duck to make it go faster and he should have one and we learned he was talking about live ducks. I have not participated in such an event. I have not heard of a duck race yet in the action river. I wonder what the route would be how I long for another group to have a buyout where if you buy a duck you could get in and have a chance to win or can we have duck race in a lazy river again?
Amy got cold and she left her pants in the break room so we sent Josh to go get them which he did. It was a rowdy crowd tonight and we were able to confirm because we got 3 people that Amy was dating this guy she kept yelling at in the river to stay in a tube and not to curse. She indicates she is not dating him and in fact when he asked do you want to hang out later she told him that he was to young. Josh is an artist he showed me a ring he crafted himself. I have no artistic skills although I do have a logo and a couple of other lifeguards actually enjoyed logos as well. He had not crafted a bobblehead doll. I would like a bobblehead of Mark T maybe in the trademark yellow shorts I don't know if it would be necessary to hold a tootsie pop that was the Absolutely Stunning Stephanie's bit. Every picture I have her brings me enjoyment and there are 2 she is holding a tootsie pop like her scepter ah those were the days but that storyline had to end how it must. The current storyline is not well publicized it is of a cashier named Megan at a local grocery store. She actually even appeared at my church on a night when I was lectoring so those storylines really crossed. Her birthday is tomorrow July 2 but I am actually writing this on July 2 so it is today. (Oh and if memory serves correctly I should say Happy Birthday to Jennifer I think her birthday was July 2 as well. ) I know she eventually will disappear never to be seen again butt hat is ok. These days I am very content.
Amy likes orange tootsie pops and she wanted to know if I had noticed there weren't many orange in a bag and since orange and chocolate are normally not good movers I had not noticed that. I try to get bags with primarly cherry and rasberry and a few grape and this year chocolate has moved up despite the fact that not once has the Sensational Sasha gotten a tootsie pop. I have only seen her once all year and I am at this park frequently. Josh let me know the girls down the river were waiting for me to come with the tootsie pops and so we made are way down the river and now left with 3 tootsie pops one being blue where could Joe Parker be? Now with Josh he had the unrestricted pass even could get into the breakroom. We were informed he was in the park. We saw Brianne so I told Josh to see if she had a walkie which she did and Joe Parker's 20 was at the wave pool and there we went and could not find him. We did find Alecia she likes grape and one of these was grape and Becky who happily took the chocolate and now just one tootsie pop left tonight. I guess everyone knew I would not be playing "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" I think it has been quite awhile since I gave an entire bag out in one night. I mean I have done so in a 2 day period recently. Last week only 2 chocolate tootsie pops made it to the office. They have noticed a decline of tootsie pops making it up there.
Joe had to go and I had planned to leave by 8 maybe 8:30 at the latest and it quickly approached 9 and I like things to be even so I went over to the storm. The same guys were up there that started probably around 5:30 they had lost no energy now that is impressive. I rode the slides in reverse cyclone, abyss and it would be the vortex that would be "The LAST RIDE" and the stair count in just over 4 hours 1,300 and that is not good but I had fun so that is all that really matters. Plus I know that on most Tuesday nights I get distracted and those are not the best stair climbing days especially with the whole family entourage planning to be there until the fair comes to town. In fact my father's birthday is on July 18 but he requested his birthday be celebrated on a Tuesday at the waterpark so everyone will be there. I wonder if they would annnoucne that night that everyone here at Deep River Waterpark would like to wish Mr. Victor a Happy Birthday. Anyway this count leaves me 62,590 stairs away from 1 MILLION STAIRS. I plan to return on the 4th of July to climb 4,000 stairs. This will be my 9th attempt to climb 4,000 stairs on the 4th of July. I have climbed 4,000 6 times and have failed to climb 2 times. The weather should be good for stair climbing. We will see if I can win in 4,00 stairs on the 4th of July once more.
Deep River Waterpark will be open on the 4th of July from 10 a.m. until 6:00 p.m so you can come out anytime and if you are taking somet time off why not start having some summer fun early by coming on out before and or after. Deep River Waterpark is the Midwest's favorite Waterpark. You shouldn't let summer pass you by without giving Deep River Waterpark a try. Make plans to come out today. You will be glad you did. I'll see you there.
This is the 4th of July and it was the 40th day this season that Deep River Waterpark was open. It was the 22 time I arrived at Deep River Waterpark and current projections show that weather permitting Deep River Waterpark in 2008 will operate 89 days with all the rides and attractions open. There are an additional 5 when the park will be open but not all the rides and attractions at once. On the 4th of July I can think of no place I would rather be than at Deep River Waterpark and for the last 8 years I have tried to climb 4,000 stairs on the 4th of July. In those 8 years I have been successful 6 times and I have failed two times. On This Friday July 4, 2008 I would once again try and climb 4,000 stairs. The challenge on the 4th of July is the day change and sometimes the weather is hot sometimes it's not and if you have good weather you usually attract a large crowd.
The plan had been formulated for awhile. It was to climb the stairs of the abyss 64 times which is 4,096 stairs and then since I really prefer round numbers I would climb the stairs of the cyclone once and it would be most fitting because that is the last place I ever saw
and while her storyline ended the way it had to that she never be seen again she some how manages still to have the key to my heart.
I arrived at Deep River Waterpark at 10:02 a.m. it was 71 degrees. A large crowd had gathered. I have a season pass so I just went past all the folks waiting for their groups and thought this would be a busy day. The girl at the season pass gate was not as excited as one would like but at least the guy behind her was much more enthusiastic. I like that. As I approached the storm one of the lifguards was walking somewhere with a pink backpack upon her back. She said good morning and since that was nice. I wanted to whistle at her but I was able to restrain myself and that is good thing as this days story unfolds maybe you will see why. I got prepped and began the ascent up the abyss. It was Erin and a male lifeguard just the two of them to start this day and for a while that would prove to be ok and up and down I went and remember that girl from before she came back once more.
I learned her name was Theresa. She is a very cute girl but I should not say that ok? She was now at the cage and I continued on the abyss and after time 13 another lifeguard came up and it was pretty easy to outlast the first group. I think this was Kaitlin and she did not stay long I had her push me only three times as I completed "Time To Climb" which is when I climb the stairs of the abyss 16x in a row and today I would try and do "Time To Climb" back to back to back to back. That was 1,024 and Theresa made her way up the stairs and I was on time 17 and she is 17. She didn't seem to get why I was going to ride this slide 64x in a row but she did wish me luck. She didn't know how I knew she was 17 but now you know why it was good that I didn't whistle at her in the morning when she went by. I continued on the Abyss and I had Theresa until time 21 but she would not tell me when she will be 21. I will guess her birthday is in November so maybe November 19, 2012 she could be 21. Can anyone find out how close or far away I am?
Next up was Tim and he helped me count so that was great. He was up there a good while. I believe I had him from times 22-35. I was able to have the same tube until ride 37 when I had to give it up. Another lifeguard came up and she seemed very happy and was energetic the whole time she was up there and that was a long time she had times 36-49 and was it well maybe was maybe it wasn't but that is how big this park is and why I enjoy coming so much there are people there that I don't even know are in the park. It could have been Haille at the cyclone and I only saw her once all year and I could not switch slides so maybe I'll never know. I carried on and yet another lifeguard came up. I had to give this tube up after time #50 and get another one and the slide riding continued.
I continued on. I did see Danielle come and go from the cyclone but today I would only be on the abyss until 4,000 stairs had been climbed. This tube did not last long as the lines built up but not to bad on the abyss it lasted to time 53 and then got yet another tube which also didn't last long. It made it to time 56 and Theresa came back to the cage and I did turn the tube in but didn't have to wait long I was not yet done. This lifeguard consider her outlasted as she made it from 50-59 and yet another lifeguard came up and Tim was now on vortex and I was on time 61 and then 62 and then 63 and ok about time 60 I did start to get a bit tired. However, I had plenty of rest. The problem will be how do I recover for Saturday and Sunday?
I did make it up the stairs for the 64th time and then I swtiched to the cyclone and rode that once and the stair count for the day was 4,160 and this all took until 2:15 p.m. The game was won and victory was mine. I wondered if I had anything left in me. I do love when a plan comes together and it had done so today. It was executed to perfection and that made me very happy. I decided to take a walk around the park. It was such a beautiful day and I even put on the spectacles so I could see everything in the park. There were many people here today and they seemed to be having fun. I am familiar with all the attractions but sometimes it is just nice to see them clearly. I took "The Hike" to the West Side and I walked around the action river. I did stop in the gift shop. I still have not been impressed with the Deep River Waterpak designed shirts. I have purchased 2 through the years that I liked the last few years they seem very unispired I wonder who designs these they certainly don't seem to know much about Deep River Waterpark.
After my walk about the park I decided there was something left in me although gave the warning that I am returning tomorrow and going to need some energy so don't leave everything out on the slides tonight. I went on the vortex and Tim was there he had been there awhile and then I moved over to the abyss and then to the cyclone and back in the day one of the things I would love to do is find everyone back where they started and there was Erin who started at the cyclone and had the other slide and the people at the bottom were back. There was at least someone at the abyss now. I rode the cyclone 2x and then it would only be fitting that today "The LAST RIDE" should be the abyss and for the 66th time today I went down the abyss and that was "THE LAST RIDE." The stair count would be 4,480 and little did I know that would make 58,110 stairs left to reach 1 million stairs. I probably would have ridden 2 more slides to change the 2nd number. Nevertheless 4,480 stairs is a lot.
I made my way out the exit. At the front there were no people coming in probably got a group at 2:00 p.m when you can save $2.00 on admission. The girl there her name tag read Chloe. I am not sure that I know her but she knew me. I know there is a Kevin and a Lindsey and I think a Nicole in guest services. (It was 3:35 p.m. and 74 degrees when I left the park today) I am meeting different people all the time isn't that great. Chloe indicated that people actually told her she should get brown contacts because her eyes are scary. They are a shade of blue. My weakness is for green eyes. Since she indicated that people actually told her this I had to check her eyes myself. They seemed very nice not frightening at all. What would be frightening is if you let summer pass you by without coming to The Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. It is a holiday weekend and the park is open all of July from 10 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. so why not pack up the things, maybe the kids, whoever you can find or even just yourself and come on out to Deep River Waterpark. You will have a splashtastic time and I'll see you there.
Yesterday seems like such a long time ago. Yet yesterday things set up very nicely at Deep River Waterpark and I was able to climb 4,480 stairs on the 4th of July. I spent the whole day at the storm and was nowhere else. That was then this is now. Today would not be as nice of day but that is ok as I alluded too my recovery is not as good as it once was. I did not take a chance on the bowl slides yesterday so today I would begin the day on the West Side and I always tell you if you wish to ride bowl slides you want to get to Deep River waterpark early. The park does open at 10 a.m. and that is about the time I arrived this morning.
I made the necessary preparations and then I was ready to go to the bowl slides. On the way I saw Amy and she was exactly where she said she would be on Tuesday night. Now that I know who Amy is I believe I have seen her in this very chair before. She did give me the warning that there was only one person at the top of the bowl slides. I did not know how this was my problem. Today is not July 30 when I have the bet with Jen that there will not be 41 lifeguards on hand to open the park. I have a bag of tootsie pops that says that there will not be a full staff on that day and today I certainly would have won that bet as sources say there were 25 lifeguards on hand when the park opened.
The only bowl slide that was open presently was the red bowl slide. It did seem that yellow was working fine but there was no staff to run it. Where is Trent today? Remember how he ran both these slides at once just the other night? Still the guy at top is the leader to obtain the 2008 Male Lifeguard of the the year. The first time I went down the red bowl slide I got stuck. I ditched this tube and got one with less air and that made the rides much better. In all I went on the red bowl slide 5x and the stair count went to 370. I knew that my stay on the West Side would be shortlived today. I took "The Hike" over to the storm.
I first went up the stairs of the vortex and at the top of the storm perhaps as if she had won queen of the mountain there was 1 lifeguard and let me count them again still just one. I am going to call her Samantha because that is what her nametag said. I have seen her many times and think her face looks like that of a doll. Although I can not recall which one. I am not an expert in dolls. Samantha did her best to go from slide to slide to slide and then back again and today was a very busy day so not really a good day to get away with just one person for 3 slides. Samantha's hair was in a ponytail and it had quite the bounce to it. I love that. I was glad was not her and was willing to run the cyclone as you know my dream is just to run one of the storm slides for awhile like today would have been a good day. I don't think she could let me without getting in trouble she may have gotten fired and then we would be left with no one on top the storm. When I made it back to the abyss for time 5 she did get some help for a very short time. I think you can see "The Classic" would be derailed today by the vortex. I did stick to mainly the abyss but did get the cyclone in once in awhile. Finally, with Samantha's cheeks as red as the red bowl slide adn I thought she was going to perhaps pass out one more lifeguard arrived and I even did get the vortex in once and her face went back to a flesh color as it was red.
Before I knew it Samantha was gone but I doubt it seemed as quick to her. I carried on. I could tell this was not a good day to play as more and more people came to the park but that is what I told you to do so it is good that you listened. In all I did ride the storm 15x in a row and that was good so I kept my streak of climbing at least 1,000 stairs every day I am at Deep River Waterpark. I took "The Hike" to the West Side and aroudn the Action River I went and I saw Amy who had moved further down the river and told me I should be on slides. I do not know that I have to be on slides at all times. Yesterday was a good slide riding day today going in I knew it wasn't going to be that great for stair climbing that doesn't mean I still can't have fun. I was glad to see the yellow bowl slide had opened. I think more people came in at 11 which is how we got up to 2 people at top of storm and this ride opening. There were still many spots open. I try to ride the yellow bowl slide at least once a day to let in know that I haven't forgotten that fateful day and this slide needs to be tamed. I have tamed it this year.
I rode the yellow bowl slide. I could see Amy from the top she was bent over apparently to watch her water. Her posture was not good but apparently that was more effective. I rode the yellow bowl slide and that put the stair count at 1,404 and apparently I forgot that yesterday was the 4th of July and this count would have made a better number yesterday. Nevertheless I floated around the action river and Amy had not moved she was at the same chair. She knew that my trademark yellow shorts mean that I am happy. While I have been at Deep River Waterpark more than 50% of the time it has been open this will be only the second time this season that I get to come for 3 consecutive days. At the end of the month I hope to be at the park 6 consecutive days from July 29-August 3. Hopefully, I will reach 1 Million stairs by then but right now not to confident. I am certain will reach it by August 6 but I may need those extra few days we will have to see.
Tomorrow is suppose to mark my return to the dragon and perhaps the return of "The Show" where I ride the dragon slide at least 8x in a row. The dragon has 94 stairs and often not much of a line and I get warned about it frequently. I am very familiar with dragon bites I see them all the time but I still like to hear about it. Eventually, Amy had to leave so she blew the whistle at me to keep moving. As many people know I have a lifeguard chair at my home which my nephews like to pretend to be lifeguards in and they have some very strange noises they make when there whistle blows. At one time I had quite a collection of whistles. Now all the lifeguards have orange whistles. It would be odd that the action river would be "The Last Ride" however that was a pleasant ending. I did put on the spectacles and took a look at the storm and I could see that there was "Chaos at The Cage" and I don't like that.
I therefore decided to head towards the exit adn I saw Amy who was heading to the bottom of Kiddie and she said "you are to big" I hope she meant for the botom of kiddie and that this was not some shot at my obvious weight problem which I am very sensitive about. My nephews were not with me today so I would not be at the bottom of kiddie. They really seem to prefer that kiddie area. I think because there are less people. They are scheduled to return Tuesday night and maybe but probably not they might get to come an play on Wednesday as well. The stair count would end at 1,404 and that leaves 56,706 stairs to reach 1 Million. I am going to have to fix that up tomorrow when I will play at the end of the day as I must go to church in the morning and I like to walk there so we will see what happens. It was good that the yellow shorts were worn today as I was happy although didn't get many stairs in as would like but at the conclusion of my day I saw the current storyline favorite Megan F as I exited the parking lot of the store at which she works and maybe she smiled at me or maybe she just didn't want me to run her over still that made me feel great.
I left the park at 12:38 p.m. the temperture was 78 degrees and people continued to come in but I have seen much busier days then this. July is the last month this season that Deep River Waterpark will be open every day from 10 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. There is no possibility of rain in the forecast tomorrow and it is going to be a beautiful day. If you can make it to Deep River Waterpark tomorrow is certainly today but if not tomorrow you need to pick a day soon and make plans to visit The Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. I'll see you there.
Today at the back end of the day I would play t Deep River Waterpark. It was approximately 3:30 p.m. when I arrived and the question was had your host Mark T given himself enough time to climb 1,000+ stairs. Many people were heading for the exits yet many still remained in the park and it was certainly very busy. Apparently, the heat had taken its toll on much of the staff today. There would be no energetic hellos or goodbyes just everyonce in ahwile might find someone that still had a smile left on their face. Due to time constraints I would only be on the storm and at least there was an attendant there. This was Lisa and despite the fact she got stuck on storm attendant because she came in at 1:00 p.m. she was still happy and kept the line moving in this cage.
The lines would not be quick moving today. I would mainly be on the abyss as I tried and tried to climb 1,000 or more stairs. It went slowly. On the 3rd ride I went on the cyclone. There was some chaos today as they let blue tubes from whitewater go down the cyclone. I don't like that but I think Danielle down below fixed that right up how could they let them go down that slide that is not right? In lines people tell me many things. There were some girls that were 9 and 7 like sisters and got to go one last time all by themselves. I continued on this trek. Lisa made it to the top of the abyss. Amy made it to the top of the vortex and as you know she is to tal for me to go on her slide. At least her and Lisa seemed happy today that was some of the few happy faces I would see today.
Normally the abyss is the stair climbers best friend howevr today it would often times be down to the second flight of stairs and in my tracking sometimes by narrow margins the cyclone proved to be the quicker ride. I did get back to the cyclone and there was a girl whose brother was crying about going down the slide she told him not to be afraid in spanish was it no tienes miedo perhaps it was. She indicated he spoke english as well. I then continued on the abyss and Lisa left and she warned me that the next guard up today was being a "crabapple" I think I will be the judge of that. Maybe he had a hard day you know its hot and so many people. She did indicate she had given him a hug so maybe he would be better. Amy left the slides too where did they go? <> I continued on the abyss and two times I ended up behind the same guys. They let me know that the lifeguard running the slide to my right which would be the vortex was hot and did I have anyboyd. I told them I was going to die alone so certainly not. These days I am very content I see no need for Mark T to be hooked up. I mean yes I am a sad lonely guy simply waiting to die but in the summer will have a lot of fun and who has time to be sad or lonely then? That seemed to end that conversation. The lifeguard at the top of the vortex FYI her name tag reads Kristina. She has very nice blonde hair and I certainly wouldn't disagree with these 2 gentelmen. On ride #15 the stair count at 960 I heard the announcement that 15 minutes until the rides and attractions would close.
I continued on and in 5 minutes the slides were blocked no one else could get in line. It was ok because I had climbed 17 slides 1,088 stairs I wanted to go 2x more on the abyss which had no line so I did find this a bit ridiculous but it had to be a rough day today. I was able to take "The Hike" to the main entrance of the park, use the restroom and exit the park where I made a note noone said thank you for coming or anything maybe that is what happens after a long day and so many people. At that point the announcement was made that the rides would be closing. At least I got in the 1,088 stairs reducing the number to 55,618 stairs to reach 1 Million Stairs.
It was a great 3 days but tomorrow I will not return as I will be in Homewood Illinois in the afternoon. However I will be back for Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooooosday#5 and there are only 10 this season so this will be the half way point and then Wednesday it is the return of my favorite game "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" While the 4th of July has now passed us by summer has not so why not take that extra day and keep celebrating America's independence by coming on out to the Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. I'll see you there.
It was 5:10 p.m. and 81 degrees when I returned to Deep River Waterpark after spending one very long day away. Hopefully my dealings yesterday will prove to be fruitful guesss I just have to wait and see. This is it the half way point of the season this was Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooosday #5 which means only 5 more remain in all of 2008. This was the 44th day that Deep River Waterpark was open out of 89 scheduled days of operating at full capacity and it was the 25th day this season I was at Deep River Waterpark and my goal is to get to the park 50 times a year. Tonight's story began at the storm. I rode each ride once and then I took eht opporutnity to take "The Hike" and I went on the red bowl slide as the line was pretty short. I was expecting more people on this night. However, weather perhaps scared them away.
After this I saw Joe Parker and only he should get blue tootsie pops but Jessie really wanted the blue tootsie pop. There are not many blue tootsie pops in a bag. Today there was one and the back up bag after last week had one other blue tootsie pop but Joe said she could not have it. I have known Joe Parker longer and he will be insturmental should I reach the 1 millionth stair in having that stair painted gold. I am currently behind schedule as the estimate was to be at 50,000 remaining on July 1 and that progress had not been made. Jessie's hair was not that high tonight so she was not happy. I am going to go with the higher the hair the happier she is. Joe did say she could have the blue tootsie pop for $5.00 and she indicated she could by a whole bag for that and get some blue. Actually she could maybe get 3 bags. Then normally sell for $1.67 but sometimes you can get the bag for $1.50. Maybe she will work on the staffing with Jen and on July 30 have 41 guards at 9:30 and then I will lose a bag of tootsie pops and I can't control that maybe that bag will ahve a blue and maybe Jen will let her have that. Although I think it should still have to go to Joe Parker. Jessie indicated people shoudl not talk to me. I think they still would and they get to for free. If you wanted to talk to me as an accountant my standard billing rate is $85.00 an hour to speak to me. If only my practice had been more successful I could be at Deep River Waterpark everyday, but I stil have some clients.
I continued "The HIke" and I met Brianne and she had on some large earrings. She expalined she was dressed up for class and these went with what she was wearing before. I still did not understand why they were large but I went down the road and she explained that she had an oceanography class (which is the branch of physical geography dealing with the ocean) and then she came here changed into uniform and kept these big earrings on. I still did not understand why they were so big. She claimed she had bigger earrings and in fact will wear the biggest in the collection next week but not the ones that are so big they make her ears hurt in an hour. I did ask her if a bird ever came and sat on these earrings and she indicated no birds had done so. If I was a good prop comic we would have bird on a wire ready for next week and make Brianne wear the braid on the earrings and that would provide us with entertainment. We will see just how big earrings get next week that is something to come to the park for. I met Holly she is a new maintenance lead and they claimed no one was fired but eventually I do find out things as you know 2 people could keep a secret only if one of them is dead. Holly said she just shows up whenever she can get there. I did not see what was so hard about getting there. I mean I have to go to work so that interferes with my getting to the park but if you work there what interferes with you getting there?
I left confused about why Brianne's earrings were so big and still puzzled if she had purchased this silver necklace which said propety of Tiffanys New York for herself. I returned to the storm where I was met by my brother in law. I think the secret is out that I spend most time on Tuesday nights on the storm especially at the beginning and ending of my night. I did ride with him 7x 3x on the abyss and I was at the 2nd stair from the top each time. He indicated he stopped us so I didn't fly out of the ride. The stair count went to 714 and he was out of breath and could not keep going. I could keep going all night long 7 slides was nothing in this weather. I did wish to make sure I got to 1,000 stairs tonight in case of rain so I continued on. I made a note that the lifeguard at the Vortex was Amanda she is one of Mark T's favorites and today she had her hair in braided pigtails and I absolutely positively love that and I will put it in the file as a contender of who will win Mark T's coveted best hair in the park award. That is coming at the end of July. Currently, have the 3 contenders maybe there will be more but Amanda will be in the picture or will I go with I am very partial to red hair another Mark T favorite Natalie with her beautiful hair and how about that time it was in all different styles while I rode the slide or alot of people say I prefer blonde how about Kristina especailly when her hair flows in the wind. Well we have a couple weeks before that comes out.
I continued on the storm 5 more times and that put the stair count to 1,034 and I was sure my undefeated streak would be kept in tact. It was then time to eat both my sisters and even the 2 nephews were there it is nice in the summer I get to see them on Tuesday night they come and see me on Wednesday night and frequently I see them on Saturday as well. It is sad when summer ends and I don't see them on Tuesday's anymore. My parents were also there and next week it's my Father's Birthday celebrated by request. His birthday is actually Friday July 18 but he wants it to be at a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Toooooooooooooooooosday so if you see my dad wish Mr. Victor a Happy Birthday and he will be happy.
Next it was to the bowl slides with the brother-in-law. I know Stephanie she had a fabulous swim suit on tonight I postiviely absolutely loved it. I think she was with is her name Samantha and she demonstrated that my hearing is poor as I tried to read her lips but she was standing to far away. I don't know that I have seen her working at the park any time recently but sometimes as a guest which is why she has not taken off as a main storyline character. We went on the red bowl slide 2x getting 3 spins and then a disappointing 2 and then we went on yellow and just before we were about to go a person got stuck so down went the lifeguard and we had to wait awhile. Right next to us waiting as well was Erin but she was not on duty so she did not push us down and eventually we went down getting 3 spins and that did the brother in law in. He went on 10 slides tonight. I think since my sister and I had a very public feued that is the most times I have ridden slides with others. It is a much different experince. A few years I tried to put a story line together that I would ride the slide with some of the lifeguards no one ever took me up on that offer. I do often get asked by children if I will ride with them and back years ago before all parnoia I did. This year I have been asked 3 times I have declined all 3 times as dont' know what there parents would say. If things were not the way they are now I certainly would love to have another rider. My sister did take my 2 year old nephew on the red bowl slide today. She said that he loved it. He really likes the bowl slides but no other slides.
The stair count was 1,256 and then I toured the action river on foot giving out many tootsie pops. Very receptive group on this side and that made me happy. It is so great to bring joy to people. While everyone's favorite game is "Where's Emily?" I learned there are no lifeguards named Emily this season. Could we get an Emily for the end of the season so that I can find her and wear her sunglasses down the slide? Alecia indicated that she would be going to see Emily I believe at the end of next week. Maybe we can send her an orange tootsie pop. How I miss Emily she was a good main storyline character one of the good ones. This group this year in whole is a pretty good group. I have enjoyed this season. Maybe Alecia can find some of Emily's sunglasses and bring them so I can wear them down the slide that would be so great. Anyway point of this random thought is on Tuesday I try and find Dustin since we see each other 10 nights a year and he must always get a tootsie pop. Tonight he was hard to find on wave pool river. I even walked through some bushes to get a tootsie pop to him and I hope there wasn't poison oak or ivy in these bushes. They are really growing out of control.
I made my way to the storm. This entire group was not receptive to Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooooooosday and 3 times in a row I was declined to give the guard a tootsie pop. In 14 years I have never had such an experince or felt so sad about this. I guess that just means there will be more left over for tomorrow when we play "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" then you can get any tootsie pops that are left over bfore they make there way to my office on Thursday. Today I just needed to climb stairs so despite the fact this group was ruining my bit and making me sad I continued on with "The Classic" and then it was "The Classic" in reverse although I don't know if that is really possible but I followed the pattern. Next week could we get at least one person at the top of the storm that knows what Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooooooosday with your host Mark T is so I don't have to be saddened and thinking I can't even give things away ans soon I will just have to go home and cry myself to sleep. Well I wouldn't cry myself to sleep real men don't cry and they don't carry umbrellas.
I heard the announcement 15 more minutes and I continue on cause I thought I knew what number I needed to end on and I rode the storm 23x in a row and tonight the abyss would be "The Last Ride" and Amanda would push me down and before she did she asked me what 6*12 was and of course I know that is 72. I do work with numbers all day long. She told me good job but did not let me wear her sunglasses down the slide that was probably good since this was "The Last Ride" and with that the stair count went to 2,728 for the night 71,320 stairs for the year and leaves 52,890 to reach 1 million.
I did make my way to the front gate. I saw Kevin no Chloe with the big eyes and Lindsey she is pretty nice I think those 2 are my current favorite guest service people. I do not know the name of the other gal with them tonight but she seems nice as well. They get the concept of Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Toooooooosday with your host Mark T and maybe they were happy they had a better selection since everyone at the storm declined. I think I left with them happy and that makes me happy :) When I got to the car it started to rain and according to the clock in the car it was 9:28 p.m. when I left Deep River Waterpark so I should be able to return in about 12 hours and 32 minutes and that will be great as tomorrow I will tyr to reduce the number to less than 50,000 to reach 1 million stairs. It should be a nice day. The 4th of July has now passed you by don't let the entire summer pass you by without giving Deep River Waterpark a try. Make your plans to come out right now. You will have a splashtastic time. I'll see you there.
It took 13 hours and 4 minutes for me to return to Deep River Waterpark to play "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" it was 10:32 a.m. and 75 degrees when I returned. This summer I seem to be extremely busy and haven't been able to get to the park at 10 a.m. when it opens on Wednesday. I have also been forced to admit I am not as good as I once was. While I rode the slides last night virtually until the rides closed and I could have kept going well into the night. This morning it was not so easy to get started. Since I have spent a lot of time at the storm even though the lines were starting to form I decided to start on the West Side and I went on the red bowl slide 2x and the yellow once and then the red bowl slide one last time. I then took "The Hike" it was very lonely. Although now on this long walk you can purchase a chicago style hotdog for $3.00 and that includes all the trimmings. One of the 29 reasons I'm not married is I don't like condiments and won't allow thme in my home. I have been willing to comprise and have a small refrigerator in the garage where they could be kept and lately I have really come along I may be willing to get a water cooler that has a small refrigerator built in beneath and keep condiments there. I would therefore not need all the trimmings and the price would still be $3.00
I made my way over to the storm and to the abyss is where I would spend alot of time today. Lisa was there and she claimed that she had just come from being storm attendant and just the other day she indicated she was stuck being storm attendant but this week she had swim lessons so she would not be on this card and there she was which was fine by me. She knew we play "Let's Pretend the Day Didn't End" and I got her the last cherry tootsie pop and the nice gal on the cyclone who I do not know got a grape and when this day was done I would be left with oh here is a surprise 2 chocolate tootsie pops always the chocolate are left and 2 grape tootsie pops. They might get excited at the office that a different flavor will show up tomorrow.
There was an abnormality on the slides today as often times the abyss had the longer line then the cyclone. The cyclone is my favorite storm slide so I took advantage of this and got several rides on the cyclone that was so great. The dragon called to me once again with its siren song and no line. I was scheduled to return to the dragon on Tuesday July 6, 2008 but I did not clear myself medically while I am feeling a whole lot better than when this happened and much better from when the season started I still feel that nagging feeling that left shoulder is not 100% and since I have gone this long I may as well wait even if it means waiting until 2009 to ride the dragon again.
In all I rode the storm 16x in a row and the stair count went up to 1,320 and some days I feel it and some days I don't. Today I did not and in fact for reasons that I do not know a sadness came over me and I took "The Hike" and it was long and lonely and to get some rest I went aroudn the action river just once and then I got out and took "The Hike" again and I was going to do "River to River" but I saw the line for my favorite ride whitewater which I can actually ride these days without pain so things are getting bigger was not to long. I am willing to ride as long as I can get on the stairs at this point the line was down to the second flight but not completely so I went up saw a Mark T favorite Natalie. I wonder where she has been. I don't think I have seen her since last week. I enjoyed the ride and this lineup from Natalie to Kristina so I could see 2 of the 3 contenders for Mark T's coveted best hair in the park award. It was a very nice slide on time 3 I started on the second to last step from the bottom and this line grew so the 3rd time would be the charm. It sure was lots of fun. The stair count went to 1,452 and I made my way to the storm.
At the abyss and this was a while later the same exact guard was at the top of the abyss. He had to have been there at least an hour and there were different lifeguards to either side of him. The abyss would move the fastes now but once I got in the cyclone. Eventually Danielle came up to the abyss she indicated she had a long day ahead as started at 9:30 and would be working until 9:30 p.m. that will be some good money but it 12 hous. Where I work we could work 10 hours Monday through Thursday every other week during the summer and then have that Friday off. I think that is to long. While I love Deep River Waterpark I don't think I could take being out in the sun all day like that. I would be able to outlast the lifeguard as Danielle's rotator came up and she asked how many more times I would go on this. I did not know at that point but the answer would be zero because when I got off this ride the line in the cage for single tubes filled the cage and I don't like to wait all that long for the tube. Therefore the abyss by default was "The Last Ride" The stair count was 2,284 which is not even so will have to fix that up soon it make 73,604 stairs climbed this season and it leaves me behind as I wanted to get to 50,000 or less on July 1 and today I just did not have the energy to go on so the amount remaining to reach 1 million is 50,606.
I left the park at 2:09 p.m. it was 81 degrees. I hear it is going to be hot and when it's hot there is not a better place to cool off then Deep River Waterpark so pack your bags and come on out to the Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. I'll see you there.
Today, the forecast called for rain and the weather I check said theat between 1 and 4 p.m. there was a 60% chance of rain. Often weather forecasts are incorrect. The forecast may have kept some people away from Deep River Waterpark today and that made it very easy to play. Today I was able to arrive at 10:03 a.m. and it was 71 degrees. The first 30-45 minutes are where I can really get an advantage in as people come in the gate and set up. I have not done very well it getting to the park at 10:00 a.m. this season. Perhaps that is why I find myself currently approximately 2 weeks behind in the schedule to reach 1 Million stairs.
Today I would first do "The Classic" which led nicely into "Time to Climb" which is when I go up the stairs and down the slide of the abyss 16x in row. That very quickly put the stair count up to 1,664 and then I began "The Classic" once again and I made it through the first slides vortex, abyss, cyclone, cyclone and abyss but then the vortex which gets the block in "The Classic" once again did me in. That was ok I substituted the abyss and carried on the storm. The lines were not very long today adn the weather was conducive to stair climbing.
It seemed like a couple hours had passed and the lifguard who was the storm attendant came up to the top of the abyss. Earlier she said good morning to me that was so nice and she is so nice. I have told you for years I believe this is year number 3 she is one of Mark T's favorites but I never knew her name today finally after all this time I learned her name is Kaitlin. Kaitlin is a very nice young lady and if you were to go to the book that contains the storylines if you looked up Mark T's type I would say I don't have a type and then that would be refuted by yes you do they are short and petitite and can wear their hair in ponytails you would see a picture of Kaitlin however the public would tell you that Mark T he prefers blondes and I would state as lon as you have beautiful hair(my hair is extremely beautiful) it would not matter and I do admit I am partial to red hair. That is how the storyline would read and you know how it should go Mark T meets beautiful girl devlops crush and she disappears never to be seen again. The storyline played to perfection last year except for the Absolutely Stunning Stephanie currently has the key to my heart. This year we have kept that storyline at bay.
Since I was going on the abyss when Kaitlin arrived I decided this was time to play "Outlast the Lifeguard" and this would prove tough because I had been riding the storm for quite some time now. In fact I know longer knew exactly how many times I was on the abyss I knew what slide number and the stair count. If I recall it was 2,624 when she started. Man does she run a nice efficient slide. She made people stay back until it was time to ride. She put the stop sign out which was her hand it was so great. Why doesn't everyone run the slides like that? Usually I wait on the stairs and then especially little children just go right in front of me. This was wonderful. I think it was Chelsea at vortex and her slide though it had a long line seemed to be well run as well. She did even come over and tell them down below to backup so the landing was clear I like that.
When asked how long I was going to ride this slide I told Kaitlin that I would ride it until she left because that is a game I play outlast the lifeguard. I was riding the abyss when she came and I would stll be riding it when she left and eventually she did leave the top of the abyss I was at stair 3,520 so that was like 14x with her as the lifeguard. She did not go very far just down to tube attendant. She said that is all she was doing all day a very nice card. I certainly enjoyed the friendly face. However, I could not determine if I could qualify this as outlasting the lifeguard since she was still attached to the attraction I was riding and today I could not stay all day. To bad because one of my dreams is to ride 100 slides in one day and today might have been the chance for that. I learned Kaitlin was a Cubs fan and the Cubs eventually won today despite a really bad ninth inning.
I continued on mostly on abyss a few times I did get to cyclone. That guy seemed to have something on his back but I did not think it was a tattoo. He indicated he was getting tired. That is what happens when you start working 12 hour days and the sun starts beating on you all day long. The nice thing about the storm is at the top you are in shade so not so bad. The fact that the bowl slides are not covered and the sun beats on you and the wood make those stairs the most difficult in the park to climb. He seemed to have a good time despite being tired. I like that. I knew I wanted to end in a 6 today and was so close to 4,000 so I made it over riding the storm 64x in a row. I really think I could have done 100x in a row today or ate least 100 slides in this day but I had to go now we will never know can I actually climb 100 slides in 1 day?
The stair count ended at 4,096 making 77,700 stairs climbed this season leaving 46,510 to reach 1 million stairs. Hopefully, in the next few days I can make up some ground and get to the 1 million stairs but right now I am estimating that won't happen until Wednesday August 6, 2008 but we will have to see what happens. When I left the park at the front was Jessie just standing there. She must not have been happy because her hair was not high today. She asked for a tootsie pop. I got a few requests today but it was not Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooooosday nor Wendesday when we play "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" This is bad tha I don't recall that one gal's name that was a bottom of cyclone earlier indicated she was at dragon Tuesday night and she likes chocolate and I brought 2 chocolate Tootsie Pops and 2 grape ones to the office on Thursday. I don't know what I will do when I am at the park from July 29-August 3 that will be a good time but I won't be going into the office then and when I make my only appearance of the year on a Thursday should there be a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Thursday. Thursday is my least favorite day of the week maybe because I don't get to Deep River much on that day. In fact by July 31, 2008 it will mark more than 3 years since I have been at Deep River Waterpark on a Thursday the last time being July 28, 2005 so who knows what to do then?
I spent nearly 4 hours on the slides today. It was so great I loved every moment of it and wish I didn't have to leave but tonight I was going to church at 4:00 p.m. so I have the chance to play all day tomorrow especially at 10 a.m. and normally Sunday crowds are late arriving. I left the park at 2:00 p.m. it was 81 degrees. I return tomorrow and you can too it should be a beautiful day and there is no better way to send a beautiful day than at The Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. I'll see you there.
Today I would play at the front end of a Sunday and it would not prove to be as nice as yesterday but that is ok as I noticed once again my recovery is not what it one was. It was 9:57 and 73 degrees when I returned. Yesterday I spent all day on the storm so today it would first be to the West Side to play. I began at the bowl slides and from what I could gather both the bowl slides were operationg. However, only one lifeguard was at the top and as you went down he told you please do not get stuck at the bottom. People frequently get stuck in these slides and I would really like to know what the plan was if they did and their is no other waterpark personnel at the top. Usually, when a lifeguard goes down to get people they just have the other one watch the slide. I don't know what would have happened but perhaps some sort of anarchy. I went down the red bowl slide and then the yellow bowl slide.
Next, I went over to the storm and today many people were at the storm. It was not good for stair climbing. At the top of the storm working very hard were 2 lifeguards but when you have 3 lines that go to 2 people it just is not as efficent when there are many people. I was surprised that I was blocked in "The Classic" by the abyss as the line went down to flights of stairs to this slide. I rode the storm 8x in a row and the stair count went to 660 and then I went to my favorite ride where the good thing about this ride is there must be one person at the top and there is only one slide. Today the lifeguard was Erin and down once I went and it was so great. I then took "The Hike" and once again tried the bowl slides. Now both gates were up there and this lifeguard I see a lot. I think he must work out as opposed to me who watches people work out. He is really built and he was running the 2 slides and just went back and forth and eventually more lifeguards came and finally there were two. Order was restored and because there were 2 lifeguards the lines were quickly reduced and for a short while the lines on these bowl slides were not bad at all especially on yellow since so many tubes had been thrown out at the bottom of the red bowl slide you really couldn't get to that stair case unless you walked completely around. It was a good time. I got 9 rides in on the bowl slide and then floated around the action river. Erin had never seen me in a river. Often times I don't go in the river but sometimes I go from river to river it just depends on the day. Since lifeguards come up to the top of the slides now I do see many more as a patron it is much nicer more storylines to develop.
The stair count was 1,370 and then I took "The Hike" on the way I saw Natalie so this "The Hike" wasn't so bad. She was at the bottom of paddles play area and she wanted to be in the sun where I do not wish to be in the sun. She did indicate that she would be at the top of the yellow bowl slide at 2:45 and she would give me a good push if I came up there. Natalie is one of Mark T's favorites and I would enjoy her pushing on the yellow bowl slide but I would probably not be able to make it that long. I mean it is a sunny day and she did indicate I have good sunscreen. It is neutrogena SPF 85 and today it looks like went through the 4th bottle this season. It must be pretty good because I doubt you could tell I have been out in the sun and then when people see my legs they are like as white as when the season started. In fact I have now started using SPF 55 on them since I have a lot of these little bottles that came free with the SPF 85.
I made my way to the storm. I rode it 5 times before I needed to take a break. I quickly returne and there were no attendants today so Chaos at the Cage arrived and that is never pleasant. There were many tubes at the top of the storm so I just bypassed chaos threw the tube into the cage was glad I was not in there and went up the stairs and grabbed a tube. I did bring 6 of them down on different rides at least cleared some of the landing. There were 2 left but as I continued on the storm going on whichever line was the shortes more of these tubes ended up at the top. This time I was able to ride the storm 15x in a row and the vortex would surprise me as it would have the shortest line on a few occassion and it would be "The Last Ride" of course I didn't know that. I did know I wanted to see the number 43 in front of stairs to climb and was able to achieve that goal today.
I did look at the clock and I was definately tempted to stay another hour to get in the line to the yellow bowl slide to visit Natalie I mean she might win Mark T's coveted best hair in the park award. However, as an expert on Deep River Waterpark unless the weather isn't good I try not to be in the park between 2:00-4:00 p.m. I consider that the worst time to be on the slides. In my guide it goes 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. is prime stair climbing time. 11:00 a.m. until noon slow go but not to bad. Noon until 1:30 p.m. its lunch time which often clears the slides for a while. At 2:00 more people come in because they can save $2.00 at 2 p.m. and then usually about 3:45-4:00 people start to leave and 4 p.m. until 5:45 is a prime time to climb stairs but sometimes buyouts make it more difficult. These days I do not know a place in the park I can go to be in the shade. I did use to spend time in the arcade but that became Milo's Sweet Shop and then for a couple years could spend sometime in Hotdog that doesn't even exisit anymore so don't really have a way to extend the stay without being out in the sun. I did leave the park at 1:57 p.m. it was 81 degrees and many people were just waiting to get in.
With 2,650 stairs climbed today that leaves 43,860 to reach 1 Million and I am still behind to reach the 1 Million stairs by August 1 but I am now trying for August 6 and there is still some sort of a chance but that to will be tough. Another thing that has proven tough has been linking 5 days at Deep River Waterpark in a row. Tomorrow I will see if this can happen for the first time all year. It sure would be great. It doesn't have to be tough on you because on the front page of this website you can click on a link to save $5.00 on admission on any Monday in July and that is what tomorrow is so make your plans to come out to Deep River Waterpark on Monday and hopefully I'll see you there.
Your host Mark T hasn't been at Deep River Waterpark on a Monday since Memorial Day and in are they stealing one of my bits? Deep River Waterpark at least through July is calling these Magic Monday's and on the front page you can find a coupon for $5.00 off admission any Monday in July so you have 2 more Mondays to use that coupon. Everyone knows I use alliteration to create events I just love it so. Ah well apparently what is needed at Magic Monday's is more patrons. When I arried at 3:42 p.m. it was 83 degrees and lucky for me the crowd did not seem all that large. I saw Kevin at the season pass gate did you hear that he disclocated his shoulder throwing a life jacket onto a boat and then couldn't get back on to the boat and had to swim 1/2 a mile back to shore with the dislocated shoulder? Well if you hadn't now you have. These guest service folks tonight had a very nice table set up. They didn't offer to hook me up with a wristband so I could stay further into the night but if your group has an event at Deep River Waterpark feel free to invite Mark T I bet I have the price of your admission and you can help my quest for 1 million stairs. The season pass entrance was blocked but they did not turn me away to the main entrance they said I could get through group sales but then had to really wave the pass so someone could click the clicker. I think I should be able to get in by now.
Well can you believe it this is the day #50 this summer that Deep River Waterpark has been open. It means only 39 full days remain this season and then that week of 5 where not all the attractions will be open at once. Today, the primary goal was to climb 1,000 stairs and the easiest way to do that currently available to me is to do "Time to Climb" where I climb the stairs of the abyss 16 times in a row. It seemed a little slowe than I would like today but that is ok could use the additional rest. I had travel a long way. I believe that from Elmhurst Illinois to Deep River Waterpark it was a 60 mile commute. I did manage to complete "Time to Climb" and just for fun I added another one. The stair count was 1,088 and it has been calling to me all season long with a siren song that dragon. I have resisted but as temperatures heat up I need to know is the emergency exit available to me. I just had to give it a try so I went to the dragon and the 94 stairs I did climb.
I went down the curved slide. I saw Kaitlin at the bottom she said she just got to that spot like 10 minutes ago how about my luck. This time it was much better than the last time I tried this so I tried it once more and then I wanted to try the steep slide but would need to put in the "full effect" which has not been seen this year and I did not wish to scare Kaitlin I don't think she has ever seen it so I did go up the stairs a 3rd time and I would have to admit that I could probably do this 1 or 2 more times but "The Show" where I go up the stairs of the dragon 8 times in a row is still currently unavailable and it will probably be for the best if I keep myself off the dragon for a longer period of time. I did enjoy the short time there. The stair count went to 1,370 and since Kaitlin has for years been one of my favorite people at Deep River Waterpark that could be "The Last Ride" but I don't know when I will again get to play at the end of the day like this. It was so great so I took "The Hike" and I went to the bowl slides. I would ride them until they closed which would not give me many rides. It was red bowl slide 2x and then "The Last Ride" because time had expired would be the yellow bowl slide and it probably laughed as it literally tried to give me my last ride last summer but not this year my friend. I think it has been tamed yet I still am suffering thanks to it and it has nearly been a year since that fateful day.
Time did not allow things to be even so I will try to fix that up tomorrow the stair count was 1,592 which leaves 42,268 to reach 1 Million stairs. I exited the park I noted that everyone at the gate said Have a Good Night and the gal whose name tag read Kristen said to give her a high five and despite the fact that I am right handed I managed to give her a high five with my left hand and inot the night I would go with a smile on my face as the missing link for 5 days in a row was finally found this week. It was 5:57 and 88 degrees when I left and that means that I will be back (hopefully) in less than 24 hours for Tootsie Roll Toootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooooosday#6 of 10 tomorrow. It all begins at 5:00 p.m. and admission after that time is only $11.00 and you can stay in the park until 9:30 p.m. It is also by request my father's birthday (celebrated) so I am sure I will be distracted and I think there will be a pound cake. It is going to be hot all week long and the best place in the Midwest to cool off on these hot days is Deep River Waterpark so turn off your A/C and conserve energy and come out to the Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. I'll see you there.
Finally, for the first time in 2008 I returned to Deep River Waterpark for a 4th day in a row and that calls for the trademark yellow shorts. It was 5:08 p.m. and 92 degrees and quite a crowd was a buzz at the front gate just waiting to get in. Tonight would not be a good night for stair climbing in addition to a big crowd it was also my father's birthday celebration. I began the day at the storm it was Abyss, Vortex, abyss and abyss before I was found by my brother in law. Both my nephews actually rode the vortex today how about that the older one who is 5 did not like it but Luke Tyler who is 2 loved it. I then rode on the abyss, cyclone and abyss with the brother-in-law it is a much different experience to ride with someone else and we do put the weight on so the first time on the abyss ran into some people who screamed perhaps "White Whale" as I crashed inot them and was on the top stair. The second time on the abyss it was only the 2nd stair from teh top but didn't go crashing into people.
The curly haired fellow on the vortex told me Alecia was at the wave pool. I did put on the spectacles and I can see very well with them and I certainly can see 4 people at the wave pool and I know what Alecia looks like so I went to the lazy river and there she was found. I know that is part of wave pool rotation that is probably the only rotation still left in place from the first season. However waqve pool river is in adifferent location then the wave pool. I did find Alecia so that was good and we made our way to the West side. On "the Hike" I saw Stephanie actually on a Tuesday how about that? I know she likes chocolate and that is good because those are sometimes difficult to move. Also Brittney liked chocolate so this was a good meeting
Now we would go around the action river to find my sister and nephews and we did find them and the nephews like to go under the buckets and onto the island. At least with my sister I can get through the island. It seems any time I go to the island I am stuck there and end up going backwards. It is a nice rest area if it is shaded. The birthday celebration began I did see Jessie before hand her hair was not up so I did not think she was happy as you know storylines are key so the higher Jessie's hair is the happier she is. She did put it up. I like that. Tonight because of a birthday celebration there was Love that Chicken from Popeyes and a pound cake.
My brother-in-law then insisted we go to the play area so that bucket of water could fall on us. I think that is crazy this water is cold and it hurst but there we were once again apparently this would give us enough energy to go on the bowl slide. The lines were long but for a 90 degree day not really that bad they were down to the 3rd flight of stairs. We chose red. Oh Dustin was at the bottom of Red bowl slide and tonight I had my sister deliver his tootsie pop. Dustin doesn't have to ask for a tootsie pop since he has been around since the first Tubin Tuesday. He knows he will be getting one as long as I can find him. He seems to have been at a different spot every Tuesday this year. It is easiest to find him when he is around the action river. I can cover the action river pretty good except the island. We had 3 spins on the red bowl slide and my stair count was 522 and it was already after 8 p.m.
On Tuesday's I walk around although today I did not walk around the action river like I love to do. I see what is going on throughout the park and if anyone needs to flag me down for a Tootsie Pop. Would you believe after much anticipation I waited all week to see how big of earrings Brianne would have on this week I did not see her all night long. Maybe tomorrow as you know then we play "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" and you can still get tootsie pops and at some point in the night the back up bag was opened but didn't get very far in that bag so there is a large variety available tomorrow. My walk led me to Aleda and I did not remember her name and when she told me it I don't think I ever knew it because it is very unique and I like it and she is frequently seen with Alecia and I could remember that. However, to get to her I walked through mud and mud was all over me and I was sinking into mud. I do not like mud and according to Aleda the common sterotype that I have which is girls like doing push ups in the mud did not hold true for her. She was at the lazy river by the waterfall. I was a mess.
Normally Aleda wants chocolate but today she said no need to open up the back up bag but eventually I would she could have any one but the blue and some people think grape is blue but it is purple so I showed her the blue that she could not have but she could have a grape and that is what she chose and she told me I could walk on the ledge so I wouldn't have to be in the mud. I mean honestly I had to be a few inches in this step on the grass and down went. She did warn me not to hit my head into the structure and then hoping over the rope near the whitewater cage I nearly knocked the whole cage down and I returned to the storm. Where did my chair go? I had to bring another one and I would begin the ascent of the stairs of the storm. Chelsea was still at vortex today I learned she is a cheerleader which is what explained the green ribbon in her hair from my observations I think she cheers for a green team.
I would ride the storm until the end of the night trying to choose the shortest line. Normally, it was the abyss a few times I got to the curly haired guy on the vortex and every once in a while to the cyclone. At least tonight all the people on the storm would take tootsie pops and that made me happy and hopefully them as well. I spend most of Tuesday nights on the storm those stairs are the most efficient to climb. I rode until would let you ride no more and the last ride would be the abyss stair count 1,482 which is not good for all the time but they reduce the number to 40,786 to reach 1 million stairs.. Tuesday's are very tough on stair climbing but tomorrow I should be able to get below 40,000 stairs to go to 1 million stairs.
I did not see Joe Parker all night long either not even at the front gate if he was at the park probably very busy as it was very busy and at the end in the original bag there we 3 tootsie pops 1 grape 1 orange and 1 blue and only Joe Parker could have the blue. Now those have all been mixed in with the back up bag and what a great variety there is so tootsie roll tootsie pops will be available tomorrow because it will be time to play "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" hopefully this week I will arrive around 10 a.m. which has been the goal all season long. The goal just hasn't been achieved. I left the park according to the clock in my car at 9:31 p.m. and depending what sign you believe on US30 the temperature was between 78-81 degrees. There hopefully are only 12 hours and 30 minutes until I return to Deep River Waterpark for the 5th day in a row. Why not start your own streak of days at Deep River Waterpark? Streaks have to start with one day and there is no better day then one this week as the weather says hot, hot, hot and marginal chance of rain. Summer it is fleeting so you must make plans to visit Deep River Waterpark right now. I'll see you there.
I spent 12 hours and 29 minutes away from Deep River Waterpark before arriving today at 10 a.m. it was already 81 degrees and the parking lot was very busy. This was the 5th day in a row that I would be at Deep River Waterpark and that is the first time all season I have made it for 5 days in a row so it was great. It was going to be a busy day nevertheless I started with the bowl slides and I would see how many times I could go on the bowl slides today and that probably wasn't the best for stair climbing but I was there early and only got to ride one last night. The lifeguard at the top of the red bowl slide wore a necklace aroudn her neck with the letter M so I just had to ask if that stood for Me as perhaps she was just celebrating herself. It does sound like something I would do. However, she indicated that her name started with the letter M and that is why she wore this. It was very hot on the top of these bowl slides nevertheless I continued on in no particular order and when the line on both slides got to the bottom of the second flight to stairs that was time to go and the score was yellow 5 red 4 so rode the bowl slides 9x this morning and the stair count was 666 and then I went around the action river.
I saw Lucas at Action river he had been on vacation so we have not heard about him in the story line still he knew he could get a tootsie pop today as it is "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" when you can get any tootsie pops that were left over from Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Toooooooooooooooooooooosday with your host Mark T. He indcated he was going to paddles so I could find him there I could not instead I had him as company for most of "The Hike" and that was good because "The Hike" is normally long and lonely and I made it over to the storm and chaos had already arrived at the cage this had to be slightly after 11 a.m. and I got into the chaos and began my ascent of the stairs of the storm. I started with cyclone and on that slide and the abyss is where I would spend most of my day. Lucas had made it up to the top of the abyss before me how about that. It would be a very slow process but I have seen busier days then this and I would go down to the bottom and then wait in line for a tube and up again I would go. This would not be a challenge to outlast lifeguards today cause only would get like 6 rides in or something like that.
I continued on and today Chelsea got stung on the foot by perhaps a bee or a wasp and she did not know if she was allergic since she had not been stung before. Apparently her foot went numb. The only time in my life I have ever been stung by a bee was at Deep River Waterpark and then I went to health services they removed the stinger put something on me I sat down for awhile and then got right back on the slides that was several years ago. The big rubber duck that was with Chelsea was left hanging from the slide in agony. It had enjoyed the action river earlier in the day I wanted to see if I could take it down the slide with me but I never asked. To cover for Chelsea it was Jessie on the cyclone that is how you knew something was wrong Jessie on slide patrol even when she was in the rank and file you would find her at the wave pool not near slides. Her hair was not up because she was not happy about doing this but she did anyway and her pushing was unique. I noticed she has nice eyes to peer into.
In all I managed to ride the storm 19x and then I needed to take a break and I walked around the park. I did notice the lines to the bowl slides were pretty short for the crowd in the park and I did take my walk aroudn the action river which I love to do and I found that the reason for the shorter lines were because people were trying to get tubes to go in the action river or on these bowl slides but none were available and the bad thing about the action river is no one has to give up tubes so they can just go around all day on hot days like this you might wish to rent the tube for $5.00. This year I think tube rental is down substantially. I would love to see this years tube rental compared with last years tube rental. When I go past the wave pool I don't ever seen many blue tubes in there and in past years it would be wall to wall tubes. If you go way back me when the park first opened for the first few years you could rent double tubes now if they brought those back I would think those would do good business.
I did not wish to particpate in this mess and so I ended up right back where I started from was at the storm and my chair was still there :) I did see Brianne but I did not see her last night she did say the earrings were big last night. How disappoined I am but maybe another night. Today her earrings were small and she said they were heavy for such small earrings. They were very nice looking heart shaped nice sparkle she said they were Juicy Catour or something like that i don't know fashion but one of my accounting clerks does and she could tell me. One day Brianne might be a fashion designer or a first grade teacher. My nephew starts Kindergarten at the end of the summer. I did not get how either of these professions related to oceanography as like dolphins don't have clothes or accessories but according to Brianne they could. When I grow up I wish to own a Laundromat. The park was busy last night never really cleared out and busy again today. I can stay all night because I live alone and no one is expecting me just sometimes in the summer I get extremely booked. Tomorrow I am doing the presidential duties for my accounting group. Friday will be seeing Batman with my brother-in-law and Sunday night the nephews and I will be at Munster community pool for the church pool party. Brianne stated it did not matter when she came home just went to school and work. It didn't sound all the great it must be better than that. I did learn that she bough that Tiffany necklace herself that is silver and I didn't even have to ask how about that.
I wonder if Brianne will go see Mama Mia that is one of the few cds in my car and on Tuesday nights as I travel to Deep River Waterpark sometimes Mama Mia plays but always as I enter the park I am listening to Fernando after all there must have been something in the air that night. I did not ask her because she is so busy. She went to find Joe Parker and as a person who works at a logistics company I thought why didn't she just take these blue tootsie pops with her to give to Joe Parker that would make more sense. Nevertheless I got in line again and would climb the stairs a few more times. It would be 4 more times and the stair count would be 2,138 and I wanted to end on a 6 to round things off again. However you could tell that it was after 2 and the after 2 people had made their way into the park. You can save $2.00 after 2 p.m. and the line for tubes even for singles was outside of the cage and that meant the abyss would be the last ride. It leaves 38,648 stairs to climb to reach 1 million. Hopefully, somewhere in July will find a less busy day because this week has been tough.
I saw Alecia at the wave pool on the way out. She asked if had any orange tootsie pops so she could bring to Emily how I miss Emily I just can't find her and no one else lets me where there sunglasses down the slide. I gave her two to take to her and one grape for the road. Alecia will not be at the park this weekend but she did promise she will return so that is great news. Everyone on the way out did say goodbye or some version of that so I made a note and they were busy because people were coming in. It was 2:37 and 89 degrees when I left the park. I will now spend 2 days away until Saturday but just because I'm not there doesn't mean you shouldn't be after all it is going to be very hot so now is the time to pack up your things and head to The Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. I'll see you see there.
This morning rain it was a falling. I did wait until the rain stopped to travel to Deep river Waterpark. When I arrived the rain had stopped the skies were still overcast and one would think that would make it a day that would not be so busy. It was 12:17 and 76 degrees when I finally returned. In the parking lot were at least 8 busses and I could already see this was going to be a rough day. I started off at the storm where there was the worst "Chaos at The Cage" I have seen all season long this one featured cursing, pushing, shoving and maybe kicking. It was not pleasant clearly no attendant was on duty here and Chaos would reigh supreme. At the top there would be only 2 lifeguards pushing as they can but on a busy day such as this there would be delays. I started with the cyclone and they in slow fashion did "Time to Climb" where I go up the stairs of the abyss 16x in a row. Usually 1 p.m. brings relief and they add the 3rd person but today no relief was in sight. At one point it seemed they moved a maintenance person to the cage thank goodness for that because if this was the only day you had been at Deep River Waterpark and you rode the storm and had to deal with the Chaos I woudl doubt that you would have enjoyed your experience. Chaos did leave for awhile and I thinkt hat is when the maintenance person left as well and good for awhile but chaos would again return today.
I decided to go to the dragon now that I have medically cleared myself to ride it. I first went on the curved slide and then since I had seen this lifeguard around before for the first time all season I went on the straight slide and I put in "The Effect" but not "The Full Effect" "The Effect" allows me to ride this dragon slide without getting the dragon bites which anyone can easily see after most people have ridden the straight slide. If you lay back all the way at the top you will get bit because the water at the top is not right and has not been so for now 3 years. It used to be ok back in the day. There was someone who adjusted it but apparently not these days. I learned the lifeguard at the bottom was Jordan. I have a story called "The Jordan Rules" that goes way back to when the park first opened. I wonder where that Jordan is these days? This Jordan it was her last day how about that? I don't think she will be back again so for a short time our lives intersected. She used to work at a restaurant I was guessing as maybe a waitress. She like to talk to regular customers and here you can't do much talking have to watch the water. Although it is possible to watch water and listen. I don't think everyone has the same hearing impairment that I have that I often have to read people's lips to see what they are saying. I am a regular at Sheffield's in Dyer Indiana although my regular waitress has turned 21 so she has gone to the bar side and probably will never wait on me again so hopefully I'll get another good waitress. Krsitin likes to chat and since I live alone when I go out to eat alone I enjoy chatting. I can eat a meal alone anywhere even in my home no need to go out for that. I have lost several waitresses to the bar at Sheffields so we will see how that story goes on. Jordan will be on her way to Florida for who knows how long and that is how her story must end. The stair count went to 1,276.
I returned to the storm and at the top of cyclone was Lucas. I learned he had the #7 from McDonalds for breakfast. The person behind me discussed what this was. We had been informed it was mcgriddles and this kid behind me told me Lucas had an orange juice. He was incorrect the answer was iced tea. I had cinnamon spice oatmeal, a bannana, and milk. I usually don't have breakfast except on the weekends. This time I would ride the storm only 3 times and the stair count would be 1,468 and then in the rain I took "The Hike" it was lonely and wet.
I arrived at the action river and I went around it as rain came on down. I saw Christy she had on a jacket that had the #2 and then repeated the #2 which I would guess some people would think is the #22. I asked her why it had the 2 twos and she did not know. Apparently it was colder up on the stand then it was below in the water. My sister says that I need to be in the market for a lifeguard hoodie sweatshirt it is white with red letters that say lifeguard on the back. I have never seen this sweatshirt but she tells me it exists. I did not see such a sweatshirt today. I did see Elizabeth who said she was not on vacation but I don't think our paths have crossed in like 2 weeks. Today until I heard her talk I would not have guessed that was Elizabeth as she was really in the blue Deep River Waterpark jacket even with the hood on. I did go around the action river twice today.
I returned to the storm where at least "Chaos at the Cage" had gotten somewhat milder but it still existed. Once again I rode the storm slides 3x it was cyclone and abyss no vortex today that line was to long. The stair count went to 1,660 but today I wanted to end on an 8 to get things back to even so I went over to my favorite ride of them all where at least didn't have to deal with chaos and the line was not past the stairs it was of course white water and down I went and at the bottom was Lucas how did he get there? At the bottom of body I could not remember her name but I remember her even though I believe this is like only the 3rd time all season I have seen her. Lucas did not know but she told me her name was Erin ah we had some good times. Erin is so great. This Erin is blonde as opposed to the other Erin that we remember from the storm on the 4th of July. This Erin was a slide attendant last year. I sure hope I get to see her more during the rest of the summer. I wondered if the 2 Erins ever met and if so could I get a picture of them together that would be so great. I put that on my wish list of pictures this year. Currently, that makes 2 but I am not very good with getting people to let me take their picture we will see what happens this year.
Since whitewater is my favorite slide and the line wasn't all that long and at the bottom of the pool Lucas was there and Erin this woudl be a good time for "The Last Ride" and down once more I went and it was so great and the stair count ended at 1,748 and the sun was shining and it was time to exit. There now are 36,900 stairs left to 1 million. Hopefully, not many days like this will be in the way or I could be blocked this season. They were very friendly at the front gat I made a not of it and at 4:07 with the temperature at 81 degrees I left the park and will return sometime tomorrow although not sure when. I can't stay all night because around 6 p.m. I'll be at the Munster Community pool with my nephews for a church event so maybe I'll come in the morning or afternoon. You probably know what time you want to come to Deep River Waterpark and that time should be right now. I'll see you there.
It was 10:17 a.m. and 76 degrees when I returned to Deep River Waterpark. The first thing I got to see was a car apparently parked horizontally it took up 3 spaces. I wonder if she was trying to save all those spaces or what but when lots of people are pouring in that isn't going to work. Today since I didn't get to ride the bowl slides yesterday I would start there. I once again noticed the short staffing as both bowl slides were functioning but only the red one was in operation due to lack of staff. In 11 days I have the bet with Jennifer that there will not be 41 lifeguards at Deep River Waterpark at 9:30 a.m. but I'd be willing to bet the staff will make sure I lose as that will be the only Thursday I will be at Deep River Waterpark and maybe Jennifer will be there too. I wonder where she has been all the days early on saw her every single day but she is no where to be found lately. The guy at the top of the slide I do not know his name he wore a name tag that was very nicely decorated and said Roneee. I would be surprised if that was his name tag but it certainly would be up for the best name tag in the park. He did realize I have many different shorts a different pair every day. I am at the park a lot and this is simpler. I do not know how many pairs of shorts I have I do know some are repeats and each day I have 2 pairs of shorts in the bag the primary and the back up. It has been a couple years I think but I have ripped the shorts a few times especially on that dragon slide. I was able to ride the red bowl slide 2x and the line quickly got long.
I rode around the action river I saw Christy at red bowl catch. She was cold. I moved along I saw Samanatha down 2 spots she was hot and then I saw well I finally learned her name today. She seems really short to me her name is Lauren and she was at the same spot I left her yesterday around 3:30 or so I would guess. Apparently she really likes that spot. I went to the storm and today I would be able to get the vortex in every once in awhile. It was primarily the abyss though with an occassional cyclone thrown in. Today the strom was busy but not as bad as yesterday. I am working on the return of "The Show" and I went on the dragon slide 3x this time on the curved slide. I went off the slide at the top so that is great. I am feeling much better and I think by the end of July "The Show" should be able to return and then I will really be able to rack up the stairs. The count went to 622 and I returned to the storm. I would ride the storm 6 times before going to my favorite ride whitewater.
The line for whitewater was a little longer than I like but I was just the 3rd person away from the stair and I really wanted to ride it today so I did so and the count went to 1,050 stairs. I then took "The Hike" and went to the West Side and now the yellow bowl slide was open and as you may have read I want to tame that slide and I think it has been tamed this season don't see the body board much over there like last season on August 4 it will be one year since the yellow bowl slide nearly took Mark T out for good but finally these last couple weeks feeling very good progress almost back to normal. I think around 90% good with the left shoulder now. I did go around the yellow bowl slid and then around the action river and it was slightly after noon and Lauren was at the same exact spot in the action river. She must really like it there.
I once again returned to the storm and this time rode it 4x moving the count up to 1,380 and today I wanted to get at least 1,900 stairs. I could tell this was going to be another tough stair climbing day. It was time to take a break. I saw Kaitlin at the wave pool and I am a man of my word and I must keep bits going so just don't tell anyone else if you saw what happened today ok? She was very happy said this wave pool is a "sweet spot" I loved that she used alliteration. She wished it would get sunny. Kaitlin does seem to get her wish as the sun did come out and the last time she wished for the sun it came out as well of course she then went to the top of the storm which is covered in shade. It was great to see her and then I continued on my break. I walked around the action river. I love to do that and today for awhile I sat at the entrance under an umbrella so was in the shade and then it was time to go back on the dragon.
This time it went curved, straight, and curved and that was pretty good 6x today no ill effects. The line got long so no need to push this. The stair count quickly rose to 1,662 and to the the storm I would go I would consider this group friendly to me. Did you know Lucas was suppose to start at 5:00 p.m. but he was there at 1 now that is some dedication. Do you want him to be Mark T's 2008 Male Lifeguard of the Year? He always seems to be be having a good time and I like that. I saw Samantha and Natalie at the bottom of the storm. This was much better than when the day started and there was one lifeguard at the bottom just in the middle of 3 slides. I like to outlast the lifeguard when I see Natalie. She was at the bottom of the abyss just had to sit there and the abyss today lived true to its billing as the stair climbers best friend. Most times I was just at the top. A few times I even practiced sticking the landing but did not do so well today. Sometimes I did have to wait for a tube but not very long. There was an attendant in the afternoon so no nonsense today he kept everyone in line pun intended. I like that
It took 12 times but I of course outlaste Natalie at the bottom of the abyss and then this was confusing because it wasn't planned that I could be in the middle of a different bit "Time to Climb" where I go up the stairs of the abyss 16x in a row. However, after 2 more times the line for tubes including singles went out of the cage and that is time for me to pack it in. It must have been around 2:00 p.m. then. Usually I can tell when the clock strikes 2:00 p.m as have an influx of people especially on these hot days after all you can save $2.00 after 2 p.m. and don't forget every Monday in July and there are 2 more you can save $5.00 on the price of admission by clicking the link on the front page and printing as many coupons as you would like.
The gals at guest services were planning college dorms. I am going to think that means they will be in college. They did have a customer so I had to move along or so I told myself and made it to the front gate lots of clicking was going on today. Today I made a not very happy group so I like that it would be 2:17 and 84 degrees when I left Deep River Waterpark. That would not be the end of my water adventures as tonight I would be with my nephews at Munster Community pool and they have 2 body slides. I rode this red one it is an unusual feel to me and you plummet into the water. Then my nephew Luke Tyler who is 2 just loved this blue winding body slide. At the Munster community pool I could have him ride with me and he absoluetly loved it. Despite the fact he was shivering in 87 degree weather he just kept saying again again. In all he and I went on the slide 6x and he really didn't want to stop but my parents said he must and I thought my shoulder was doing good but it might be giving out as after the second time he wanted me to carry him up all the way until we got to the slide as he leaned against me to try and stay warm. Other than that he may be the heir apparent to Mark T as that kid loves the water slides. Those stairs do not count though. The total count today is 2,558 at Deep River Waterpark leaving 34,342 to reach one million.
While I would love to return tomorrow and try for 5 days in a row 2 weeks in a row the odds are not looking good. However I will be back for Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosday #7 because It's Coming: 
an event so big it actually will be in 2 months and will last 13 days from July 22, 2008-August 3, 2008. With slide attendants no longer around maybe I'll have to come up with another name but during this time you will find what lifeguards and other staff are the best and what they do and who has the best stuff according to Your Host 
Don't let summer pass you by without giving Deep River Waterpark a try. There is no better rate for this month then on Monday's in July as you can get $5.00 off so go to the front page click on the link and print the coupons out and be on your way to The Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. I'll see you there.
The last time I missed a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Toooooooooooooooosday was August 1, 2006 and that night I declared it to hot. This night would not be to hot and it would mark take the consecutive Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Toooooooooooooooooosday streak to 19 in a row. It would begin at around 5:37 p.m. and I would be greeted by Kevin and the front gate and the gal there could see it was really me Mark T although that is not what my season pass reads just imagine if it did though. Today I would start at the storm and I would not like it there. All the tubes were gone from the cage and all the people seemed to be gathered at the top of the storm. I don't think you could find a line if you tried. I rode the vortex and the abyss and thought I needed to go away as this will be a better place to play later in the day.
I went to the action river and sometimes wishes do come true. Remember when I said I wished that I would see Erin more she was there in the action river and that was so great. This is the blonde Erin. I learned that she missed training so had to train all by herself and didn't start to the begining of July. Do you remember June at the begining when they had 2 lifeguards at nearly every stand and now IT'S HERE: an event so big it actually will be in 2 months and will last 13 days from July 22, 2008-August 3, 2008. With slide attendants no longer around maybe I'll have to come up with another name but during this time you will find what lifeguards and other staff are the best and what they do and who has the best stuff according to Your Host
Erin said she would be there all night long. I would ride the bowl slides not to bad of lines it would be yellow 4 red 1 but not in that order. I got Erin a tootsie pop I love her voic so much. I could just listen to her talk all day. Erin is so great and then I made the rounds to Chelsea at the bottom of red bowl slide. Her cheerleading skills came in handy as I could actually hear her as her voice carried normally I have to resort to lip reading and can't hear people unless they are in front of me I was impressed. I was ready to take "The Hike" when I ran into one sister and one nephew. The other one still wanted to play but there playign would be short lived tonight because of the weather. It was time to eat. No brother-in-law tonight so no rider this week and after tonight only 3 Tubin Tuesdays remain. One is during the Lake County Fair so not really expecting anyone that week as they love the Lake County Fair which seems to have taken one of my bits with the slogan "It's Showtime" Maybe they know I haven't been able to use that bit this season.
Eventually I would take "The Hike" and believe me it was long and lonely today. Not many people in the park and the wind which is not my friend it was a blowing and I would go the storm and "The Classic" I would perrom no slide would be blocked tonight. It seemed there was little to no waitaing. I did get a proposition from Lisa and it involved getting Timmy to come on down to provide some relief. He did so and he seemed to be everywhere. I did continue on the storm and rode it 18x in a row. Everyone working the storm took tootsie pops tonight and that was good and the I went to the dragon as hopefully once concludes I hope to be able to do "The Show" again. At the top of the dragon was Josh. He claimed he had been there all night. I liked his glasses. I wonder if I could pull off a look like that. Earlier in the day on one of "The Hikes' to the West Side a gal told me she liked my glasses and when I said thank you she was so elated. Tonight I pushed the envelope riding the dragon 4x in a row and alternating slides it was curved, steep, curved and steep. That may have pushed it to much. The results were not as good as desired. The stair count went very quickly to 2,026.
I went back to the storm just the vortex this time. I like things even but tonight I really needed the number to end with a 2. The count went to 2,090 and then I just had to give it a try my favorite ride of them all whitewater no waiting but these days that water is so frigid over there so imagine that. I did ride down and at the bottom look at this both Erins were in the park tonight. How close did they come to meeting? How could I get a picture of the 2 of them together? These questions were not answered tonight. It was a little difficult to get her a tootsie pop lots of blue tubes were abandoned near the slide so had to skip onto the steps of the lazy river but I got there safely all right for me. I would begin my journey to the West Side and someone I would meet. She asked if she could have a Tootsie Pop and I said sure why not? She said she was Theresa's twin sister. Thresea is a lifeguard and if these gals were not 17 I would tell you that with the glasses on I was blinded by beauty but since they are I did not say that. They were not standing next to one another but I could tell there hair was of a different color.
I learned this gal's name was Elena. I think that is beautiful. I think this is the 2nd Elena I have met. There was a Helena that worked at the park many years ago. The other Elena I know was a hostess at Sanfrantellos maybe 2 or 3 years ago she was going to beauty school. The only person I ever considered letting cut my hair other than my own mother who is the only person that touches my extremely beautiful hair. I even had her write Happy Birthday to my sister on a receipt once. I liked her alot but eventually her storyline ended as it should she was never to be seen again. This Elena was the older twin by one minute and if it were after February 8, 2009 when these twins turn 18 I would tell you that I am quite impressed with this gene pool but it is not so I can't say that. I imagine many a guy that has met these twins has a countdown like they did for time until the Olsen Twins turned 18.
I was surprised that Theresa also wanted a tootsie pop because if I read the notes I believe that on the first one she asked what is a tootsie pop and is the only person I had ever met that didn't know what a tootsie pop was. Nevertheless, Elena could guess which color her sister would want since they are twins and they might start dressing like one another. I think the twins that work at the park now are maybe Rachel and Rebecca I know starts with an R and someone finally told me because I just thought I was seeing one girl who liked to change her shoes frequently which reminds me of my own sister. However, I learned they actually are 2 people. I am not sure what Elena does she appeared to be bussing a tray but she was not wearing a Deep River Waterpark shirt so I did not think she worked there.
I managed to get to the West Side. I found Dustin at the bottom of Paddles so I have found him all 7 weeks this seaon. We only have 3 of these nights left. I gave out more tootsie pops all flavors except can you guess which one? Well blue but that is just because I wouldn't let people take those but chocolate did not move tonight? Where are all the chocolate lovers? This bag had 2 blue and just recently in a very rare find the bag I am putting up on July 31, 2008 when I bet Jennifer that there will not be 41 lifeguards at the park on that Thursday at 9:30 a.m. actually has 4 blue tootsie pops in it. I don't recall every finding a bag like this so will it remain with me and all 4 blue go to Joe Parker or will I loose and they all go to Jennifer to do with whateve she chooses we will see very soon.
Erin did wait for me at the action river she said she would and I was so happy she was still there. I did go to the bowl slides and I would ride them into the night actually it was first yellow and then red which I ended up riding 11 times in a row. On "The Last Ride" I did get stuck but Jessica never came down to get me so I easily just dislodged myself. I was stuck 2 out of 11 times. Jessica had on a big plastic ring and I though perhaps she was doing a character from Grease. She had a white ribbon in her hair and some interesting earring which I could not make out because it was getting dark but they appeared to be white in color perhaps ghosts. Things did work out well as I would end with a 2 to get things back to a round number. My count was off by 10 but with the calculator I know the number was 3,022 my count said 3,02 and then I said good night to Erin and asked if I could see her again. She said of course you can and this made me the happiest guy alive tonight. However, it will probably be at least a week before I see her again but thoughts of her will be in my head as I leave tonight. Her nail polish on toes and fingers was a metallic blue. I like that. Blue is my favorite color. She had a blue wristband which she called a bracelet. I was going to offer to buy her a bracelet if that is all she had in the jewlery box but she said it was not and then I thought I am not qualified to buy a bracelet i would be in2deep. It was 9:13 when I was at her stand so soon the sign was given that rides were closed.
With 3,022 stairs climbed the stairs remaining to reach 1 million goes to 31,320 and that is a lot which I am confident I an do this season but not certain about by August 1 as that is only 9 days away so in my mind I estimate July 6. I will try to be at the park more than I have in the past as I will try to make it 6 days in a row. It seems Monday is going to be the day that throws me or it could be 9 days in a row and that would be so great. I got a high 5 on exit is her name Kristen? She was off duty so no name tag she was allowed to have a tootsie pop but not the blue she could have purple. Blue is for Joe Parker I might see him tomorrow you know and that is when I will return and you can too. If you go to the front page and click on the coupon section there is a link for a $2.00 off admission coupon on Wednesday July 23, 2008 and Thursday July 24, 2008 so why not print it out and come on out to Deep River Waterpark. It was 9:32 p.m. and depending on which temperature you like on US30 between 65-67 degrees. Hopefully I will be right back in less than 13 hours and at around 10 a.m. I should be at Deep River Waterpark. I'll see you there.
12 hours and 34 minutes passed before I returned to Deep River Waterpark to play my favorite game "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" It was 10:06 and 76 degrees when I returned and I would see many familiar faces from last night to help with this game. Today I would start at the storm and if you remember last night "The Last Ride" went to Jessica on the red bowl slide and today she was at the bottom of the storm in between the slides as apparently they were short staffed. One week from tomorrow I have bet with Jennifer that there will not be 41 guards at Deep River Waterpark at 9:30 a.m. and I put my rare find a bag with 4 blue tootsie pops on the line on the only Thursday I will appear at Deep River Waterpark this year. I was able to complete "The Classic" that was a good warm up. They did a good job the two them up there keeping the line moving. I like that.
The Classic went into "Time to Climb" which is where I go up the stairs of the abyss 16x in a row and just like that the stair count went to 1,728 and that was great many stairs early and then on my rehabilitation I went to the dragon and now I am up to riding it 4x in a row. At the top was Natalie she was off last night so I could bring her a tootsie pop today. She would be at the top of the bowl slides between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m. I thought I could perhaps make it until then although my normal exit time is just slightly after 2:00 p.m. A good crowd was on hand today. I did ride the curved slide 3x and then the steep slide once moving the stair count to 2,104 and at the point I hit the wall. On any given day I like to believe I can climb 5,000 stairs but once I get to 4,000 often times it gets tougher. I have indicated my recovery is no longer what it once was and last night I climbed 3,022 stairs and it was really as if the day didn't end because as I went over the 5,000 in the 2 days I needed some rest so I took "The Hike" and I went around the action river and rode the yellow bowl slide once and then continued around the action river before taking "The Hike" back to the storm.
I did find Kaitlin at the same spot I found her last time at the wave pool. The waves were going so I left the rasberry tootsie pop on her bag. As you may know but can never tell since she doesn't work on Tuesday I pack that tootsie pop especially for her and usually it is in a little plastic bag and then I am so happy when I get to deliver it because I get to see Kaitlin. I would ride the storm 3x and then go on my favorite ride whitewater once pushing the count to 2,414 and then I was out of gas so I went to the nearest river and that was the lazy river and around I went and I saw Aleda and today she chose orange which would clear out the orange tootsie pops and I actually went around this lazry river 2x before going back to the storm. I would ride the storm 6 more times once I even got in the vortex. It was after 1 p.m. but we got no relief today there would not ever be 3 people at the top of the storm.
It was around 2:00 p.m. so I took "The Hike" over to the bowl slides as I said I would and normally I would not wait in line this long although the line was not that long for this time of day. I had told Natalie that I would try to make it ther and when she tells you do I suggest you listen. First I chose the yellow bowl slide. She was not there but I could see that she was on red and if I had wanted to play Outlast the Lifeguard it would have been rather simple for I went on her line once and it was great and then a second time and that was the last ride because it was over 3,000 stairs and you have a gal with red hair on the red bowl slide I love that and even Chelsea at the bottom of red bowl slide just like she was last night so a perfect ending to "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" the stair count 3,020 leaving 28,300 to reach 1 million stairs and I honestly don't think I can make it by August 1 but I won't stop tyring until then. My estimates say that leave me 6 days and need to climb an average of 4,717 stairs per day. That is a lot. My forecast is now Wednesday August 6, 2008 which would give me 10 days and require an average of 2,830 stairs per day.
I made my way to the restrooms where a small army had gathered. This was of maintenance staff and Breeane was their leader oh how I love a woman in charge. Apparently, they had just finished cleaning these bathrooms and that would be great. It seemed like a very efficient unit I like that. Breeanne was not at the park last night so I missed her but at least I got to see her today and I tried to be on good behavior since she was leading the staff. There were a limited number of tootsie pops available primarily chocolate and the maintenance crew cleaned me out pun intended and I was so happy that was finally able to move those chocolate tootsie pops and none of them will make there way to the office this week. Next week I am on Vacation Wedesday, Thursday and Friday so somehow have to move those tootsie pops perhaps with a very special Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Thursday? Could there be such a thing? I think there can be. While I can't be at the park tomorrow you can and you can save money too by clicking on the front page and clicking the link to a coupon for $2.00 off admission tomorrow only. I'll be back on Saturday and I'll see you there.
Last night I was in the town which I was born Gary Indiana as the Gary Southshore Railcats celebrated Christmas in July. I despise Christmas it is a lonely miserable time of year for me. The slides of Deep River Waterpark are not open but usually in this miserable time I get a season pass. If I had my choice no Christmas Tree would go up in my home but some people always come by and insist on putting it up. How I despise that season so and then to endure it last night uggh and I got home late. My favorite time of year is now here and that is an event so big it actually will be in 2 months and will last 13 days from July 22, 2008-August 3, 2008. This was the 3rd day out of 5 that I was able to be at Deep River Waterpark. I returned at 10:09 a.m. the temperature was 79 degrees and the crowd was very large and growing. The staff was minimal which would create quite a challenge today.
Last night at this Railcats game there was the debut of something called Railkittens which were 4 young ladies who threw out shirts to the crowd and did some sort of dance number on top of a dugout. I do not know what their point was but they could have been used as lifeguards today. Today I would begin at the storm first going up the abyss and if you count the attendant this attraction takes 6 lifeguards to run and today there would be 2 that is 33.33%. There was one gal at the top and one at the bottom and this park was very busy. This gal at the top she did seem to have a system as her face was red, her hair was disshelved, but she carried on running from slide to slide and even managed to keep the top of the slide clear. If you could tip a lifeguard I would have tipped her a good $10.00 but where would she put it and wouldn't that be inappropriate? She certainly put on a good perfomance but she could not control the crowd. The stairs to the abyss were open the times that I went up not to many people on that but you didn't want to see the lines on the cyclone or vortex adn already this early in the am there was Chaos at the Cage although at least this crowd was much nicer than last Saturday's crowd.
This was a wonderful performance I know this lifeguard's name starts with an M and that might have won her the lifeguard of the year award except I have already chosen the female lifeguard of the year. Do you know who? You will know very soon but not today. It was necessary to go to the dragon because the storm was way to busy to have only 2 lifeguards on it. To the dragon I went and at the top was Lucas and I had gotten up to being able to ride the dragon 4x in a row but today could it be the return of "The Show" where i go up the stairs of the dragon at least 8 times in a row. It seemed that would be necessary in order to get to 1,000 stairs today. I mean some things do make a comeback remember Hydrox cookies? Hydrox cookies were chocolate sandwich wafers much like Oreos and in 2003 Hydrox cookies were killed off. Yet after more than 1,300 phone calls and over 1,000 online signatures of a petition to bring Hydrox back. The Kellog company will bring back Hydrox cookies in August of this year. With me it was August 4, 2007 when the yellow bowl slide nearly took me out and put "The Show" on hiatus and now maybe it would be back today.
I did ride the curved slide 5x in a row and then so close but really I should stop at 6 as my arm felt like it was about to fall off. I just was thinking I would have liked to outlast the lifeguard on the storm with her running 3 slides and me on this dragon I could keep coming up but going down would be a problem just can't push off that many times at least I can do some these days. I was pretty sure I had seen that lifeguard at the bottom somewhere before and that also entered my mind as I tried to think of where oh I knew when but I am pretty sure haven't seen her on duty this year andI remembered she was named after an explorer but it wasn't Magellan nor De Soto not even Pochohantas and finally after the 10th time the stair count at 1,196 I realized her name was Kelsey and today "The Show" did go on but it will not be available the next few days as have some discomfort in the left shoulder so I will have to take myself off of that slide.
I took "The Hike" to the action river I saw Samantha so at least there was something happening it is such a long lonely walk. I saw only one gate of the bowl slides was open and the line was past all of the stairs. I went around the action river and I actually went around 2x as I was trying to recover. On the second time around I was next to a sandal just floating in the action river and Natalie took her whistle and blew it and told it to get in a tube and it did so and I watched it float around the action river on this tube but it went to the island so I do not know what happened to it after that. It's storyline had to end there. I took "The Hike" back to the storm not to bad of line for tubes but still a line but seemed orderly this week. I went on the abyss. Patrick who is a lead was at the top. He is pretty sure Jen will be losing the bet on Thursday. I don't think she has the staff to get 41 lifeguards there at 9:30 a.m. but if she does I'll turn over the precious bag of tootsie pops with 4 blue tootsie pops. If not I'll just give them away that day and maybe even on Friday as I know that I will at least be at the park 6 days in a row. I am hoping this is the start of 9 but you never know. Sometimes years they mix together. I am not sure this is the Patrick that had a very nice sister that was a lifeguard for a year maybe maybe not. We had gotten up 2 to people at the top and 2 people at the bottom so it was somewhat better. People continued to come into the park.
I rode the storm a few times adn then went over to whitewater where at the bottom I was glad to see that lifeguard from the morning running all 3 slides had survived and then in the end the abyss would be "The Last Ride" and thought better recover for a better day. The stair count today 1,560 but that means I have climbed more stairs this year than all of last year but still leaves me 26,740 away from 1 million stairs so lost some ground today. Tonight I went to church so I can play all day tomorrow. Maybe some ground will be made up or maybe not we will have to see. What I do know is there are not many days left this season for Deep River Waterpark so if you want to experience all the fun in 2008 come on out now before it's to late. It was 12:39 and 83 degrees when I left the park. I will be right back tomorrow. I'll see you there.
I was rather anxious to return to Deep River Waterpark so this morning I arrived at 9:40 a.m. it was 76 degrees a crowd was forming. I waited in the car until the water was turned on. Today I would begin at the storm and at the top would be Samantha all by herself and she would be pumped. I would ride the abyss 3x in a row before anyone came to the slide. By time 7 a crowd had come but at least I was able to get these slides in much better than yesterday so it paid to arrive early. I wanted to do "Time to Climb" where I go up the stairs of the abyss 16x in a row but that would not happen today as Samantha kept going but she wasn't as fast as she once was so I tried to yell words of encouragement just wishing I could run the cyclone just for a bit. I mean what harm could I do? I do know how to operate these slides and have ridden them alot it is not as if there was any help on the way. I went over to whitewater which I rode 2x. The stair count went to 984 and then I could see an abnormality in the park. The yellow bowl slide had opened. Don't think I didn't notice it was closed when the park opened. I'd like to know the last day that the park has opened with every attraction open. I think it has been awhile.
I went to the red bowl slide and I saw Natalie and she had some large black glasses adn she claimed that her other sunglasses were stolen and that these were the only pair that guest services had. Apparently, she did not like them. I was very pleased with the movement of the yellow bowl slide and I was able to ride it 6x in a row but then the line grew and I would take "The Hike" back to the storm. Samantha was still there but now she had some help which she did not send away and I continued on the storm. I mainly was on the abyss although once in awhaile I would get in the cyclone. The stair count went to 1,930 and I tooka walk around the park. It was busy. I did see that 101.9 FM was in the park. They were taking some pictures of their setup and seemed to be giving something away. 101.9 was played on the park radio. Normally it is Jack 104.3 now home to Steve Dahl mornings from 5:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. and then they play music. I like to start my commute at 5:30 a.m. when Steve Dahl hits the air. I switch between Steve Dahl and Steve Harvey on WGCI 107.9 FM. They are both rather funny. Sometimes on Steve Harvey I get to hear Eugene with birthdays I like that. Also, a bit on Steve Harvey I like to hear is the Pastors. Morning radio is very good but afternoon radio is brutal makes a long ride home.
I would return to the storm and ride 5 more times a few times I would get the cyclone and now Natalie was at the bottom of that and she was wearing the very glasses which had been stolen and she indicated that she found them in her bag. This would make one believe they were not stolen which is exactly what I told her when she was at yellow bowl slide. Did you hear she came in at 10:40 a.m. and was early so they sent her right out didn't wait until 11 a.m. well they sure could use some more staff at 10 a.m. because lately it hasn't been good. The stair count was 2,260 I went from Stephanie who had some new sunglasses I really liked them. I wonder if I should claim they are the best sunglasses in the park? At the bottom Natalie and that was a pretty good slide and that could be "The Last Ride" and I did leave the park at 1:50 p.m. it was 84 degrees and I drove to my home in Dyer Indiana. Please join us in Dyer Indiana on Friday August 1, 2008 from 4-8 p.m. at Northgate park for the gramatically incorrect First Annual Family Picnic and Corn Roast. My staff is coming in all the way from Elmhurst Illinois to be at this event. Unfortunately, I don't think I will make it to 1 milion stairs on that day but never say never until it arrives. I am having my teeth cleaned that morning and then will spend most of the day at the park. No matter what happens my home will be paid for on that day so I am super pumped about all the happenings on August 1, 2008. There will be no alcohol at this festival so if you drink please visit Sheffields. Maybe you can see my former regular waitress Kristin. She is 21 so she is in the bar most days now or one of my top crushes "Miss Valerie" who works in the bar and I just get to see her in the restaurant. My staff will be stopping in on the restaurant side for some desserts.
I returned to Deep River Waterpark at 4:04 p.m. it was 83 degress and now at least some people were exitiing. The lifeguards that were on the storm before were back where I had left them so it was as if I had never left. I was able to go down the cyclone 3x with Stephanie pushing me. She indicated she did not feel well the last week. I did not want to be sick because after Tuesday for the first time in nearly 8 years I will be away from Tranzact Technologies Inc for 3 consecutive business days. I have never been gone more than 2 so I am looking forward to being at Deep River Waterpark even more. I rode the abyss 9 more times in a row and despite the fact it was closing time the crowd was still large and often had to wait for a tube but I was happy that got over 3,000 stairs today. The count ended at 3,028 making me go over 100,000 stairs climbed this season and it is only the 4th time in 10 years have climed 100,000 or more stairs. The only years left to pass now are 2005 and 2006 those were some good stair climbing years but this will be the best. I am now 23,712 stairs away from 1 Million. Next, I want to put the one out in front hopefully will do that soon. I am hopeful I can return tomorrow to link 9 days in a row but if I can't I will be coming 6 days in a row as we continue to an event so big it actually will be in 2 months and will last 13 days from July 22, 2008-August 3, 2008.
On my way home I stopped at a store and I got to see current storyline favorite Megan F. She makes me happy and one day she even appeared at my church when I was lectoring. Anytime I see her it is a great day. You can have a great day by coming out to Deep River Waterpark. Hey there is one more Monday left in July so why not go to the front page click on the link and print out the coupon good for $5.00 off any Monday in July and then head on out to The Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course I'll see you there.
Monday July 28, 2008 In my world it is blue Monday. This year I have made it to Deep River Waterpark on very few Mondays but today I would be able to return for day #3 in a row and now I should be able to make it 9 days in a row that will be so wonderful. Speaking of wonderful the first thing I spotted at 3:38 p.m. with the temperature 85 degrees was a car near the front of the lot. It had a bow on it and there was a sign that Said Happy Sweet Sixteen Ashley love Mom and Dad. I bet you Ashley had to be super pumped when she came out of the waterpark and how many people wanted to be Ashley today. I think that as wonderful. Today, I could see to climb 1,000 stairs today would be quite the challenge and time it was very limited.
I began the day at the storm the abyss to be exact and I was able to ride it 3 times and that took approximately 40 minutes and then I went to the dragon and I rode the curved slide once. Most people that ride the dragon don't come alone they come in large groups and a group would be there and I would return to the abyss for one ride only and then I knew that this would be taking to long and the line had died down at the dragon so I went on the curved slide 4x. I had wanted to stay off the dragon today but I felt it was necessary in order to win the game and I certainly love to win. I haven't been defeated in this game in years and why should today be any different? The stair count went to 726 and then I was able to return to the storm. There was a brief period that there was no line for tubes. Today even though I arrived at 3:38 p.m. they couldn't manage to get 3 people up to the top of the storm. I must say that is pretty bad for a hot day in July with lots of people. Kudos should be given at least to the lifeguards actually doing double duty and working up there though. I did get on the cyclone a couple of times. No vortex today and in the end of the day I had ridden a mere 15 slides but the stair count was 1,110 and that will knock the number down to 22,602 left to reach 1 million. I can feel it as soon I can play almost all day starting tomorrow night and then I am off until Monday August 4 so I can be at Deep River Waterpark even more and you should be too. Tomorrow is Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Toooooooooooooooosday #7 which means there are only 3 left all year miss this one and you won't have many more chances. Admission is only $11.00 after 5 p.m. so come on out and cool off at the Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of courrse. I'll see you there.
Traffic was not good today. Luckily for me Deep River Waterpark is open late on Tuesday nights well 10 of them this year and this is number 8 and I continue my streak of not missing a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Tooooooooooooooooooooooosday since August 1, 2006. I also continue with
which is from July 22-August 3 or 13 days. This is day number 8 of 13 so we are more than half way through and you know what that means coming very soon in the next day or 2 you will find out the winners in various categories at the park this season. This was day #6 out of 8 that I was at the park during this event and the 4th day in a row that is 75% of the time I have been at Deep River Waterpark so that is absolutely wonderful and that streak should continue barring any unforseen circumstances. Today I arrived at 5:57 p.m. it was 88 degrees and boy was the park busy tonight.
There are certain numbers that I sometimes get stuck on and this year I am trying to get out of the 20,000+ stair to go range and it would prove difficult tonight. I would begin on the abyss after a wait in the line and I would ride the abyss just 2x by myself. Tonight it was only 2 people so you do the math busier than last week we had 3 people at the top this week 2. They were Alecia who had her hair in braided pig tails. You know I absoultely love that. Apparently, she has returned safely from her trip to visit Emily. Hopefully, the orange tootsie pops made it to Emily. The other wow I have seen her more recently my number one foil Kelsey. At least this time I would recognize her. To me she just looks like a lifeguard. I do not think I could pick her out of a lineup.
After 2x my brother-in-law found me so we waited in the double tube line which would slow things down. It would not be without adventures as the first time down the abyss I nearly went out of the catch pool as was on the very top step and I think we knocked some people out of the water. The second time we waited in a line a gal about maybe 12-14 would not give up the double tube so a lady in the line told her to give it up and she said she would not and continued on so this lady left the line and chased this girl and grabbed the tube but the girl would not give it up and she called for back up and the backup came and left. I don't know how that was resolved but it sure was Chaos at the cage. It was most surprsing that the waterpark didn't have some sort of staff there. Normally on hot Tuesday nights they at least send a maintenance person just to have some sort of presence as this Chaos on a heated night is a fight waiting to happen. The tube we got this time was kind of flat so we would not make it out of the catch pool but did get all the way to the stairs and then it was time to mee the family both sister, both nephews and both parents all here tonight. It means a lot to them and they know where to find me so that put a delay and I had some turkey.
My nephew Luke Tyler who is 2 and weighs 27lb wanted to go to the top of Paddles Play area. My sister was waiting for me to take him and since that is what he wanted to do I would take him and there is a lot of water that goes in that place. He did not like it at all especially when the bucket came down and he wanted me to carry him and protect him from this water. We had made it nearly to the top but not to the slide and I did everything to shield him from the water with my massive body and then as my heir apparent he wanted to go on the bowl slides. He loves the slides and so do I. There is a wait for bowl slides but for him I would wait and he was so excited and he actually loved it and has he was shivering he just wanted to go again. My sister went with her husband so we switched riders and with the brother-in-law we got 3 spins on the yellow bowl slide. Only have gotten 4 once this year. My nephew really liked his rides so you can see he has some Mark T in him but he has no weight to keep him warm so despite the fact that it was hot he was shivering and around the action river with his mom and dad he would go. He would be very happy though. I wonder if he will ever climb a million stairs at Deep River Waterpark?
I took a walk around the park to find Dustin but tonight it would not be a sucessful event so next week he will get 2 tootsie pops. I was informed that he was at the top of Paddles but he had gone from there and apparently disappeared into the night. I did happen to see Erin and it had been one week since I saw her. I learned that she will be 18 in 278 days on May 4, 2009. She has the same birthday as Lance Bass. I don't think Erin knows she is a character in this story but that is ok. She did not know where Dustin was. I saw Jessie across the river. I do not know how she got there and she also did not know where Dustin was. He was last sited at the top of paddles play area but like I said he had disappeared into the night. Jessie was going to go and dive in the catch pools how lucky is she? She said she would be around but after that I wouldn't see her again all night and that was sad but I have plenty of Tootsie Pops left over tonight as it was so busy and they must go tomorrow so we can open a brand new bag on Thursday cause I am sure that 41 lifeguards will not be present on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. I think Jennifer will lose the bet and the tootsie pops will remain in my possession to be given away. That means Joe Parker could have 4 blue tootsie pops in one day or will there a miracle and I have to turn the bag over to the Jennifer? We shall see very soon.
Last season was the shortest on record because a microburst which is a sudden violent downdraft of air over a small area destroyed alot of the park last season. This season is the shortest scheduled because Labor Day is September 1, 2008. In fact Deep River Waterpark will only be fully open 89 days this season and an additional 5 days when not all the rides will be open at once so we only have 24 more full days left this season. I did move on to the storm. The line for tubes was still there. Now at bottom of abyss was Amy. I thought she had already had her last day but there she was back again. Alecia and Kelsey were still at the top of the storm and apparently this is where they would be all night. I would only ride the abyss and I would go back and forth with Kelsey once her hair got in my eyes when she pushed me down the slide. I think she is a troublemaker. She claimed I didn't like her. I stated I never ever said that. Sometimes you need some trouble or in my case I need a foil. Remember Erin she not this Erin but from years agao who couldn't take it and demanded she never be written about on this website and I even bought her a pair of sandals because I disliked her pink sandal so much. Sometimes people that challenge or question are fun and liven up a storyline so Kelsey is a good foil for me I will miss her when she is gone but I still can't remember seeing her much in these 3 years that she has worked at the park.
I never asked her if she was a witch which witch would she be a good witch or a bad witch? What do you think her answer would be? I would go on the abyss 3 more times and the stair count would only go to 596 and it was like 8:30 or so and I couldn't believe on a Tuesday night I'd have to go to the Emergency exit which is the dragon and I would ride the curved slide 3x in a row and then I warned the lifeguard she would be scared as it was time for "The Full Effect" on the steep slide and that makes it so much fun to ride and it is pain free. I love that. I think I can now go on the dragon 6x in a row and be able to recover. I do try to stay off but it has been necessary lately. The stair count went to 972 and then I would ride the abyss for the rest of the night. Is his name Adam or Andrew that came to the top of the cyclone tonight. He had cut off all his hair. Hmm I don't know about that. As you probably know I am all about the hair. I have extremely beautiful hair and it is what keeps me going. I know one of those names is correct. I am pretty certain Adam and Andrew are brothers and this lifeguard frequently gets caught at the top of the abyss for hours. He likes the Cubs and sometimes the abyss is a slide. Cubs were victorious again tonight over their chief rival the Milwaulkee Brewers. Tom Wertz who I work with was at Miller Park tonight so he should have enjoyed that. I stole my current assistant away from him and it has been great for me.
Amy would keep me updated on the time remaining. Once she was going to save me but she had a shirt on. She can not go in the water like that and since it was dark out I can work blue I told her that would be way to provacative. I mean this white shirt. She said the next time she worked was well I don't even know maybe Saturday or Sunday someday she started at 1 p.m. and maybe I will wear my trademark yellow shorts on one of those days. They were worn yesterday so weren't available this evening maybe tomorrow. I would be able to ride the abyss 9x in a row and the rides were closed when I got sent down by Kelsey the very last time and she was bleeding and I stayed away from any of those set up line and since time had expired it was necessary that this be "The Last Ride" and the stair count tonight 1,548 and the 20,000+ still could not be eliminated as I now have 21,054 to reach 1 million stairs so maybe tomorow I can finally knock the 2 out. I think it would take a miracle to reach 1 million stairs by Friday August 1 as I would need to average 7,018 stairs per day and it's going to be hot. I think it would be a miracle if 41 lifeguards were on duty at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. However, when I became President for the second time of the Calumet Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants my first President messages simply said. "I believe in miracles thanks to all of you the Calumet Chapter continues into its 64th year.
We will see if miracles will happen in the next few days. What won't take a miracle is for you to come on out to Deep River Waterpark right now so gather the stuff and come on out before summer of 2008 is gone for good and you are to late to have a splashstastic time at The Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. I'll see you there.
Last night I left Deep River Waterpark at 9:33 p.m. Today I would return for "Let's Pretend the Day Didn't End" at 9:48 a.m. so a mere 12 hours and 15 minutes had elapsed since I was last at Deep River Waterpark. That was so great. I even donned my trademark yellow shorts. I did wonder where summer went as there are only 2 more times after today that I get to play this game in 2008. I started today on the West Side. I was pleasantly surprised to see both bowl slides were actually open today. Plus I now think his name is Adam from last night who had all his hair cut off was at the top of the yellow bowl slide so that works well when playing "Let's Pretend The Day Didn't End" I would mix it up today. It would go with 3 for yellow and 2 for red. Adam had a little buddy today who he claimed was not his child. The stair count went to 370 and I took "The Hike" over to the storm where at least today in the morning there were 2 people usually down to one these days. There was only one lifeguard at the bottom. While I wasn't counting I am sure this was not 41 people and that this park is not fully staffed.
I did half of "The Classic" vortex, abyss, cyclone, cyclone and abyss before going over to the dragon. Today I would ride the curved slide of the dragon 5x in a row and very quickly the stair count went to 1,160 and then I took "The Hike" and on the way I found Joe Parker at the tube shack with a gal that would not give me any lines to work with so she can never become a character. I tried. Joe was in agreement that there would not be 41 lifeguards at 9:30 a.m tomorrow and that means he will end up with 4 blue tootsie pops. This year I think I could have made that bet for July 5 and would have won. It each year gets a little worse. It used to be end of July that ran out of staff then middle and now it seems can't even make it to 4th of July what happened to those 100s of lifeguards? Where have they gone? I hear many more are just dropping off like flies.
I rode the action river to the bowl slides it was once on red and then once on yellow and then around the action river. I took "The Hike" back to the storm. I saw Lauren who is short and she had one of the youngsters with her who might have been taller than her. If he was not he was the same height. I worked on the storm for a while. It seemed there was a day camp there today so often a wait for tubes not as bad as last night. I was able to do "Time to Climb" where I climb the stairs of the abyss 16x in a row and with that the stair count went to 2,332 and today I would need to leave around 1 p.m. because I am an accountant who still represents clients and quarterly reports are due July 31 so I had to finish them up before I could play anymore. I took the drive down 30 and did what I needed to do. I did wait for the rain to pass over my hometown and then at 4:17 with the temperature of 78 degrees I returned to Deep River Waterpark.
The line for tubes now no longer existed so that was nice and I would go ont he storm in a sporadic pattern. I rode it 8x in a row before going over to the dragon and then I knew I should not have done that but these days I am really pushing it. I went on the curved slide 2x. One lady told me that it was easy for me to say there is nothing to be afraid of. I told her I have ridden the ride more than any person alive. Even though I have stayed off alot this year I have ridden the dragon 1,000s of times. The lifeguard nearly fell down the second time I was going down but she was ok so we could laugh that is good. The stair count went to 3,032. I would return to the storm. Lisa's last day is Sunday. She thought she was losing her mind and she is because though my shorts were yellow the last time she was at the bottom of the abyss. She was right these were now different shorts when I returned in the afternoon. I think I even saw the 5:30 crew Natalie and Jessica were on the storm structure. I managed 6 more rides and thought it had to be close to closing time so with 3,416 stairs climbed I would stop today. That leaves 17,638 to reach 1 million stairs. I am glad to get the 2 knocked out and am now focusing on making this a 4 digit number.
On my walk out I saw Kaitlin at the wave pool not in her usual spot so I doubled back and gave her a raspberry tootsie pop. She asked if I had a good day and what could I say now that I have seen you it is great. No I can't say that but it was a good day and tomorrow should be even better as I can play all day. Kaitlin is off tomorrow but today was not her last day so that was great news. It was a wonderful ending to this day. I am excited that tomorrow for the first time in over 3 years I will be at Deep River Waterpark on a Thursday. The last Thursday I was at Deep River Waterpark was July 28, 2005. As I often mention Thursday is my least favorite day of the week. Hopefully, by spending all day maybe at Deep river Waterpark it will be a great day. You can spend all day on Thursday at Deep River Waterpark as well. July is the last month that the park operates every day of the season and tomorrow is the last day in July so come on out to The Midwest's Favorite Waterpark Deep River Waterpark of course. Even though it will be Thursday I'll see you there.
Thursday is my least favorite day of the week and it had been over 3 years since I had been at Deep River Waterpark on a Thursday. Today I returned for my 6th day in a row at 9:58 a.m. It was 78 humid degrees. I quickly made a note that the park was not fully staffed I would see many empty stands this morning. I did make my way to the storm where I was able to ride all by myself for 3 times and then once got to 7 the lines they got long. I did keep going and finished "The Classic" I was able to ride 13x before their was a line for tubes. I did take "The Hike" at approximately 10:50 a.m. just to see what it looked like on the West Side. There were a couple of vacant stands on that side but at least both bowl slides were running. I did not find Jennifer. I had the bag of tootsie pops with 4 blue tootsie pops just in case a miracle happened. It did not so I will give the bag away on Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop Tubin Toooooooooooooooosday#9 which will be August 5, 2008.
I would return to the storm for 3 more rides and then I would ride the dragon the curved slide and the stair count would be 1,118. Today I counted 9 buses at the park and with an understaffed park on a hot day even though I love Deep River Waterpark if one is honest it is not a nice place to be as you see things you wish you wouldn't. Heat makes people more irratble and with no one that has any authority around you do get some rough days. It is really sad to see. I would still continue on for 3 more slide rides and it was about 11:50 a.m. and I went to the lazy river and was shocked to see that on top of a tube there was a chair floating. I haven't seen that before so you could really tell that the staff was low as that might have proven to be dangerous. The lunch break did not seem to come today so at 12:17 with the temperture 87 degrees I left Deep River Waterpark. I did plan to return but there was a thunderstorm. I rode with the thunderstorm to the park and sometimes it got ahead of me and I traveled with the sun. I returned to deep River Waterpark at 4:28 it was 68 degrees. The rides and attractions were closed and soon the sun would be shining brightly and the temperature would be rising but it seemed any excuse would be good enough and the park did not appear to be reopening tonight. Perhaps no buyout. That was disappointing but I was coming to Crown Point for the Lake County Fair anyway. When I exited the parking lot it was 49 degrees the sun was shining bright and it was now up to 74 degrees. Therefore, I only climbed 1,310 stairs today leaving the probably impossible 16,328 stairs to climb to reach 1 million. I believe that I can climb 1,000 stairs an hour and tomorrow I have about 4-5 hours so I will be delayed but we will see if I can still make it to 1 million this season. Things on this Thursday are not looking good. I think this will add to my dislike of Thursday as well. Tomorrow is another day and in the morning once again I will play and in the evening my staff is coming from Elmhurst Illinois to my hometown for the Dyer First Annual Family Picnic and Corn Roast at Northgate Park. It is from 4:00-8:00 p.m. and for $6.00 you get all you can eat corn, chips, pop, a hot dog or polish sausage and a cookie. So why not come to Deep River Waterpark in the morning and come to my hometown of Dyer Indiana in the evening. It will make for a great day. I'll see you there.
August 2008 Deep River Waterpark Daily