adventures in life

Silverwood

By loraraeccoon / June 26, 2019 / getaways, outings / Leave a comment

Back durning all the snow, I planned a few trips for the year. Maybe out of boredom from being home for so many days. Whatever the reason, Silverwood was on the list. It’s a theme park in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I wanted to be sure we went before school was out for the summer and on a weekday. I don’t do crowds. An added bonus of homeschooling. Not to mention going in May is cheaper; ticket prices go up in June.

We left on a Wednesday afternoon and set out for the almost five hour drive. Lucky for us, the kiddos made it straight… we didn’t have to stop once. One of Laine’s buddies and her family joined us on the three-day trip. We both arrived at the hotel within minutes of each other. Which was super amazing since they left a few hours earlier than us, hitting a few spots they wanted to check out on the drive east.

It was dinnertime so off to Red Robin we went. Apparently on Wednesdays kids eat for $1.99 at Red Robin. They used to have this promotion in Redmond but it’s been gone for a while, so I didn’t think twice about it until the check came… it was only $31 for all six of us. Score.

Back at the hotel, the big kiddos went swimming with Laine’s friend and her sister while I stayed in the room and put Saige and Baby down for the night. We try to stay on schedule when we travel, for sanity purposes.

Thursday was Silverwood day. The park was open from 11am-6pm, and we milked it the entire time. We arrived just before 11am and walked right in; we had purchased tickets online so it was a quick scan on our phones. The park was great! Granted, I’m a sucker for theme parks. Without crowds. And we scored on that front, big time. Brian talked with one of the ride workers who said that on this day of the year, they usually have 5,000 guests in the park. This day, only about 1,100 guests visited. And it was obvious. There were barely any lines. The longest we had to wait was one round and most rides we walked right on, off, and back on again. It was glorious. Apparently on summer weekends, they expect up to 20,000 people. I can’t even imagine having to wait more than five minutes for rides. One of the may reasons I’ll never go to Disney. Aside from the fact that I can’t stand Disney.

We kicked off the day with a ride on the carousel before making our way to the rides. It was a perfect day. The kiddos were able to hit all the rides—sometimes up to five times—before we called it a day. I take that back, they missed out on the bumper cars. They went to ride them at 5:58pm and they had already closed the ride. Fair enough. Blaise and Laine also checked off their first upside down roller coaster—the Corkscrew—which they rode three times in a row. Brian took them on the upside down one. I wish I would have but I had gone on another roller coaster with the kiddos and it was so rickety that it made me feel off the rest of the day. I was sneaky and wore a shirt that hid my bump. I ran it past my doctor and he said it was totally fine at 16 weeks. That unless I broke my pelvic bone, the fetus was perfectly safe. But I really only went on the little kiddo rides where driving a car has more bumps and turns, with the exception of the rickety coaster. Even the little kiddo rides said you couldn’t ride if pregnant, lame.

We closed down the park and left to grab dinner before heading back to the hotel. The big kiddos went swimming again before we called it a night. I think everyone was out in about five minutes after heads hit pillows, including Brian and me.

Friday morning was all swimming, a few hours before we packed up and left for home. The kiddos had the pool all to themselves. It was a decent sized hotel pool for being inside. I was impressed. While they were swimming, the hotel pool guy came in to test the chemicals in the water. He ended up having six kiddos surround him and he gave them an impromptu lesson on pool maintenance. It was cute. The kids were really into it, and he seemed to enjoy having their interest.

Back on the road, we did have to stop once for a restroom break. Not too shabby, considering we drove a total of 10 hours there and back, and only one stop. I’ll take it. We were home by late afternoon, and it felt so good to be back. I enjoy trips, especially road trips, but nothing beats that moment when we get back home. I always clean like crazy before we go—even checking off all the laundry and dishes—so walking in to a super clean house feels amazing. Until the unpacking begins, which is never fun. But we power though.

It was a super fun, quick trip that we’ll definitely do again. Blaise is already asking to go back in October because apparently they run the Corkscrew coaster backwards then. I’m not sure how accurate this is but we will be back, just not in October. Maybe next May again.