The Epic Summer Road Trip - Going Home on the TARDIS: Day 7
Saturday, July 11th
I broke Elias. Again.
I don't mean to do these things. It just happens. We go so hard for so long that I forget to stop and relax. Not everything has to be done on a trip. Not everything can be done. So there we sit, at lunch at Famous Dave's right outside the gates at Cedar Point. I look at Elias and he isn't saying anything. And I knew before I even asked the question, "Are you done??"
He was. Then again, so was I.
Would it have been different if we would have checked out of the hotel in time to have eaten breakfast with Mark and his family?? Maybe. Would it have been different if we had gone to the Soak City side of Cedar Point versus just riding the rides?? Maybe. But we didn't do these things.
We quietly ate our food, walked back through the park to the exit, found the car, and began our drive home. We didn't even have funnel cake.
The trip ended with a bit of a whimper. Which...totally ok. Cause this was one of our best road trips ever.
But before I broke Elias, and before we sat on the Windseeker for 15 minutes while they kept trying to figure out which riders were a bit too large to safely ride the ride, and before we waited in a one hour line in traffic to actually get to Cedar Point, we went on a bit of a scavenger hunt.
We went looking for the TARDIS.
Ok, so get this. This is the greatest concept for the summer and I strongly urge other park districts to follow suite (you hear me, Fox Valley??). Medina County Parks in Ohio built a TARDIS that would travel around their park district for the summer. The goal was to find it, then tweet/Facebook/Instagram the pictures.
I had read about this somewhere and it was in the back of my head as something we could do/find. I mean, Elias and I went to Wales last year just so we could visit the Doctor Who Experience. And this was before Elias had even gotten into Doctor Who (he is on Series 3 right now, so no Spoilers for him!!). We kind of wanted to find a TARDIS in Ohio. Especially since this one you can walk into.
We were getting ready for bed on the first night in Cleveland when I started looking for the TARDIS online. Twitter was the first stop - #tardisinthepark. I saw nothing referencing the current park. Even when people asked, the park district was a bit cryptic. But I took a different tactic when I asked on Twitter.
I didn't think I'd get a response. But there is was. Greenleaf Park.
The only time we could visit the TARDIS would be on Saturday, after breakfast and before Cedar Point. Though the reality was, we were going to go a good 30 minutes out of our way to get to this park. Ok, more like 45 minutes. But we didn't have a specific timeframe. We could do what we wanted. And we wanted to find the TARDIS.
Like it was a few days before with the Flight 93 Memorial, the phone's GPS was a lifesaver. We would not have found the TARDIS without it. Turn here. Then here. And go here. Then here. I am thrilled to put aside the days of paper maps on a road trip. Even though technology can muck things up. Because, we found the park.
Apparently, early Saturday morning is not prime time for this park. Because other than a couple waaaaaay in the distance, Elias and I were the only ones at Greenleaf Park. And we definitely were the only ones hanging around the TARDIS.
He saw it first, quietly sitting under the trees. So we giddily made our way to it and took pictures. Many pictures.
The cool part was that you can open the TARDIS and go inside. So not only do you get great Facebook profile pics like these...
But you can also see what people have written inside the TARDIS...
I hope it's cool with the park that people have written on the inside. Cause it was so much fun to see what people had to say.
It wasn't garbage or profanity. People drew Daleks and left their favorite quotes. It was fun to see and laugh at what was being said.
Overall, we stayed in the park for 15 minutes or so. We didn't stay long, because we did have a full afternoon of amusement parking to do (little did we know). But we paid our respects to the TARDIS in the Park. And it was awesome.
I don't mean to do these things. It just happens. We go so hard for so long that I forget to stop and relax. Not everything has to be done on a trip. Not everything can be done. So there we sit, at lunch at Famous Dave's right outside the gates at Cedar Point. I look at Elias and he isn't saying anything. And I knew before I even asked the question, "Are you done??"
He was. Then again, so was I.
Would it have been different if we would have checked out of the hotel in time to have eaten breakfast with Mark and his family?? Maybe. Would it have been different if we had gone to the Soak City side of Cedar Point versus just riding the rides?? Maybe. But we didn't do these things.
We quietly ate our food, walked back through the park to the exit, found the car, and began our drive home. We didn't even have funnel cake.
The trip ended with a bit of a whimper. Which...totally ok. Cause this was one of our best road trips ever.
But before I broke Elias, and before we sat on the Windseeker for 15 minutes while they kept trying to figure out which riders were a bit too large to safely ride the ride, and before we waited in a one hour line in traffic to actually get to Cedar Point, we went on a bit of a scavenger hunt.
We went looking for the TARDIS.
Ok, so get this. This is the greatest concept for the summer and I strongly urge other park districts to follow suite (you hear me, Fox Valley??). Medina County Parks in Ohio built a TARDIS that would travel around their park district for the summer. The goal was to find it, then tweet/Facebook/Instagram the pictures.
I had read about this somewhere and it was in the back of my head as something we could do/find. I mean, Elias and I went to Wales last year just so we could visit the Doctor Who Experience. And this was before Elias had even gotten into Doctor Who (he is on Series 3 right now, so no Spoilers for him!!). We kind of wanted to find a TARDIS in Ohio. Especially since this one you can walk into.
We were getting ready for bed on the first night in Cleveland when I started looking for the TARDIS online. Twitter was the first stop - #tardisinthepark. I saw nothing referencing the current park. Even when people asked, the park district was a bit cryptic. But I took a different tactic when I asked on Twitter.
I didn't think I'd get a response. But there is was. Greenleaf Park.
The only time we could visit the TARDIS would be on Saturday, after breakfast and before Cedar Point. Though the reality was, we were going to go a good 30 minutes out of our way to get to this park. Ok, more like 45 minutes. But we didn't have a specific timeframe. We could do what we wanted. And we wanted to find the TARDIS.
Like it was a few days before with the Flight 93 Memorial, the phone's GPS was a lifesaver. We would not have found the TARDIS without it. Turn here. Then here. And go here. Then here. I am thrilled to put aside the days of paper maps on a road trip. Even though technology can muck things up. Because, we found the park.
Apparently, early Saturday morning is not prime time for this park. Because other than a couple waaaaaay in the distance, Elias and I were the only ones at Greenleaf Park. And we definitely were the only ones hanging around the TARDIS.
He saw it first, quietly sitting under the trees. So we giddily made our way to it and took pictures. Many pictures.
The cool part was that you can open the TARDIS and go inside. So not only do you get great Facebook profile pics like these...
But you can also see what people have written inside the TARDIS...
I hope it's cool with the park that people have written on the inside. Cause it was so much fun to see what people had to say.
It wasn't garbage or profanity. People drew Daleks and left their favorite quotes. It was fun to see and laugh at what was being said.
Overall, we stayed in the park for 15 minutes or so. We didn't stay long, because we did have a full afternoon of amusement parking to do (little did we know). But we paid our respects to the TARDIS in the Park. And it was awesome.
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