My 7-year-old son, Braden, went to Noah’s Ark in Wisconsin Dells for the first time in his young life earlier this week. His trip, taken with his daycare classmates, inspired plenty of chatter upon his return, and made me realize how old I’m getting.
My wife, Jenny, and I expected him to be worn out after the nine-hour trip there and back, as often is the case with little boys who spend the entire day playing in the sun. To our surprise, he was more energetic than he was before leaving that morning.
“Dad, have you ever been to Wisconsin Dells?” he asked after picking him up.
“I’ve been there a couple of times,” I replied, ready to ask him how he liked it. I didn’t have an opportunity to do so, as he fired a barrage of questions at me as though he were the host of a quiz show in which speed was a factor.
“How old were you? Did they have the giant snake slide? Did they have mini-golf? Did you go in the wave pool?”
The last time I went to Noah’s Ark was when I was in eighth grade, in 1989 – 23 years ago for people doing the math. Astonished it had been that long since I was last there, especially since the memory of the experience is so vivid in my mind, I tried to explain that many of those slides, rides and fun opportunities weren’t there when I was younger.
“Was everything in black and white then?” he asked.
I hesitated, and then laughed. It was the same question I asked my mother when I was a kid. Assuming color was a modern invention, as distinguished between old television shows and films that were black and white in the “olden days” and “modern era” shows and films that are in color, I thought, like he must have also, that cameras caught everything as it was.
My mom laughed at my question, which I repeated on many occasions later not because I didn’t genuinely know the answer but to elicit a laugh and also make fun of her being “old.” Hearing the same question from Braden made me realize history has a knack for repeating itself, even if the players change a little bit. Because I laughed at the question and because he’s smart enough to figure out he can tease me for being “old’ by asking it, I’m sure I will hear it again.
I told Braden about my last trip to Noah’s Ark 23 years ago. It had wave pools then, but they were pretty new at the time. It also had lots of slides and the lazy river, which it still has, although I’m sure many of the slides have been upgraded since then. I heard they had a slide that has a loop, although Braden didn’t know anything about it.
It cost about $12 back then to spend a day at the water park. We paid $19 for Braden to go, but both these costs are difficult to compare because one or both of them may have come with a group discount, and one of them may have been an adult price. The park’s website lists its undiscounted adult price as being $33.99. Regardless, inflation is definitely present at Noah’s Ark. I don’t even want to guess what food and beverage costs there are now.
For hours after picking him up, we heard about the greatness of Noah’s Ark. Thinking back, I’m sure I did the same. Some things never change.
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Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, June 15, 2012, .
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