I mentioned yesterday in the Flourless Chocolate Cake post that the whole family took a trip down to Great Wolf Lodge this past weekend for my older brother’s 30th birthday. I thought I would share a bit about it today in case you were ever interested in going (and also I like to prove to myself that buying my fancy camera was worth it).
Great Wolf Lodge is a hotel with a massive 79,000 square foot indoor water park located in Williamsburg, VA (they have a couple locations across the country). The water park is only available to guests staying on the property but they do allow you to get into the water park early on your check in day (1pm) and stay as late as you like on your check out day.
Wanting to take advantage of the early water park hours, we drove the two and a half hours down to Williamsburg early Saturday afternoon. Once we got there, we were happy to learn that our suite was all ready so we dropped off our stuff and headed to the slides.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the water park but it ended up being a ton of fun.
They had a huge playground water park set up for the kiddos.
Tons of fun slides—Definitely recommend the howlin’ tornado. It spits you out into a funnel where you swish and slide 30 feet up the sides of the funnel. We were going up so high that I thought we were going to fall out every single time—terrifying and exhilarating at the same time (but not for the faint of heart). We are scary ride junkies so this was right up our alley. And that would be us coming out of the howlin’ tornado…you can see my brother still yelling.
They also had this wipeout pool where people practiced boogie boarding. I’ve seen too many people wipe out and lose their shorts on this one so I skipped over it.
And then they have a huge wading pool that produces beach style waves every 10 minutes. We spent a lot of time lounging here and bobbing up and down in the water.
After hours and hours of play, we had worked up quite an appetite so we decided to change and get ready for dinner.
If there’s one downfall to Great Wolf, it would be the lack of dining options. Granted we could have ventured into Williamsburg for tons of different restaurants but none of us really felt up to dressing up for the outside world. Our laziness meant that we only had two options for dinner—a takeout pizza joint (with a huge line) and a dine-in buffet for $20 a person.
Since our crowd is a tad more sensitive to claustrophobia, we opted for the buffet. Cheesy decor and all.
It wasn’t anything specular but at least no one left hungry-well at least not this kid. He always finds a way to squeeze in some chocolate, just like his Dad. That would be chocolate syrup getting poured on chocolate chip cookies.
The boys decided to venture to the arcade after dinner, where they managed to wipe the floor with their competition, ending up with a thousand tickets (that my brother sweetly offered to share with some other little girls).
With our gaming muscles clearly flexed, we all decided to hit the hay (I might have already been asleep…)
The next morning, we woke up and decided to hit the water park again. Great Wolf allows guests a 2pm check out for an extra $40. Figuring we wanted the extra pool time, my parents graciously forked over the money so we could enjoy some more slides.
After getting our chlorine fill, we decided to pack it in for the day and headed home. But before we made the two hour trek back to Northern Virginia, we decided to venture into Williamsburg for some lunch.
Mr. A found a local restaurant with great reviews on Trip Advisor so we made our way a few miles down the road to Food for Thought.
It turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip.
The tables had these moral/ethical conversation cards (get it—Food for Thought). The walls had quotes from political heroes and other notable figures (you know we were excited about that). And the food was completely my fare.
I ended up with the Incan Super Grain Salad with quinoa, greens, oranges, asparagus, and an orange vinaigrette. They also had a sweet potato cornbread that was really unique and quite scrumptious. I definitely recommend checking out Food for Thought if you are in Williamsburg.
Thanks again for the trip Mom and Dad. It was the perfect way to celebrate our first big 3-0.
