Showing posts with label Silver Dollar City. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Silver Dollar City. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Forget the Joneses—Keep Up with the Grandkids

Early in our careers we focused on climbing the corporate ladder and getting ahead in life. Now that we boomers are aging, we are in the retirement zone and concentrate on building a healthy 401k. We no longer try to keep up with the Joneses and realize life is what it is—and find ourselves comfortable with our standard of living. Now, our goal is to stay healthy and fit enough to keep up with our grandkids.

I just went to Branson with my grandkids. My daughter-in-law, Stacey, and I took three of them to Silver Dollar City on Friday. We migrated from the kiddie section where we all rode rides for the younger crowd. Now, you would think this would mean carousels, little cars, etc. But no, the rides are high-flying swings, pirate ships that zip around in circles throwing you against the person riding with you, a big ship that rocks back and forth higher and higher above the trees, a small rollercoaster and other rides that left me a little on the dizzy side.

Later, we moved toward the big rollercoasters and I watched the two little ones while Stacey and twelve-year-old granddaughter got onto a rollercoaster that rocketed off the platform before going through a series of twists and turns. Then they rode one that did a loop-de-loop letting them see the world from an up-side-down vantage point.

It seemed to me that we walked uphill all day in 100 degree heat. At one time, I was so hot that I was drenched with sweat and my skin felt like it was being pricked with a billion pinheads. By the time we left, I was exhausted and felt like the calves of legs had been in a car wreck.

The highlight of the day for me was stopping at Steak and Shake and drinking two glasses of ice water with lemon in it. Yep, it was quite a day. The only thing I can say is I kept up with the grandkids. Geeze, I don’t think the Joneses can compete at all with that feeling of accomplishment.

Copyright © August 2010 L. S. Fisher
http://boomerobics.blogspot.com

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Baby, the Rain Must Fall

The lyrics to Glenn Yarbrough’s song, "Baby, the Rain Must Fall," have been on my mind for the first two days of my three day weekend. I had my heart set on Silver Dollar City and even drove out there Friday. Just as I saw the “Free Parking on the Right” sign, the sky opened up and small rivers flowed freely on the highway as the windshield wipers frantically tried to wipe away the torrential rain.

Well, somehow I wasn’t convinced that my travel size umbrella and small plastic poncho would keep very much of my body dry so the Ozark adventure was postponed for a day. Saturday, I had a writers meeting to attend, but the rain was back with a few rumbles of thunder thrown in for good measure.

Sunday is the day of last chance—at least for this weekend. I’ve planned to log a few miles of walking for the fitness challenge at work. It takes five miles to earn a railcar and my train is really short—two cars to be exact.

All week, I was so busy, I skipped the gym, but was confident that Friday, I’d walk five miles at Silver Dollar City. Now, I don’t see any railcars in my immediate future.

Who knows, my schedule for the upcoming week might allow me to go to the gym or the walking track a few nights. Well, I do have two meetings scheduled and there is American Idol to vie for my time.

On workdays, it seems that beautiful spring weather sends out a siren call beckoning me to be outdoors. Yet on the weekend, my lone anticipated outside activity is rained out. It may not rain more on the weekend—but it sure seems that way. And, baby, if the rain must fall, why can’t it just darn well fall on a workday and leave my weekend alone?

copyright (c) May 2010 L. S. Fisher
http://boomerobics.blogspot.com
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com