the great wolf lodge - opening in grand mound, wa

A couple months (December 2007) ago I started looking for a good vacation spot for the family.

It's our 10th anniversary, plus I wanted to do some fun things.

However - work is kind of slow - so I didn't want to spend alot of money and go to Disneyland, Hawaii, or Paris as I had originally wanted to.

For some reason I started looking up waterparks - I remember the West Edmonton Mall which has a huge indoor waterpark and theme park.

However the thought of driving more than 4 hours (it's about 14 hours from Vancouver) put me off.

I kept googling. And then I found The Great Wolf Lodge. At the time, the lodge wasn't open yet but it was coming in the spring. I bookmarked it and forgot about it.

Finally spring break was 2 weeks away coming, and I was in desperate need of a vacation, and I looked around again, and my bookmatk http://www.greatwolf.com/Locations/Grandmound/ came up - and they were having opening day specials!

We got to arrive on March 18th, their very first day, and play in the new waterpark, and ride the Howling Tornado.

We paid $209 a night, for 2 nights and 3 days.

Pros:
- kiddie area
- wave pool
- play pool
- fort mackenzie - 2 slides + tub
- 2 two person tube slides
- 1 (+1 coming later) four person tube slides
- giant cuckoo clock with animatronic singing
- reasonable food prices
- friendly staff
- listening to my family howl going on the tornado
- seeing my kids grin coming out of the tube slides!

Cons:
- water is too cold - but maybe this is just because it is warming up?
- slow in room internet
- far away from other activities when you want a pool break
- not enough for my wife to do
- no sauna
- no steam room
- heavy European food (no sushi!)
- the proslide (all the slides) equipment is not integrated into the theme


Conclusion:
- I will come back if I can get $209/night again!!

what am i obsessing about now...

of course i am obsessing about increasing global warmer, creating more air pollution, and generally destroying the environment just for my personal enjoyment ergo i want a new car!!!

my 1996 camry (177,000 kms automatic, green, dented, front suspension problem, broken aerial) needs new brakes and tires. of course i wouldn't dream of fixing it. i would never throw good money after bad. i quickly realized after good service for 9 years i needed a new car.

my wife's 2006 rav4 is a nice car - but it's too nice - and i bought it for her. i want a new car thats mine.

by new car i don't mean new new - i mean new used. i want a car thats new to me - not a car that depreciates 20% after you buy it.

here's my list of requirements:

• left hand drive - ICBC reports 40% increase in accidents from RHD
• diesel - i want to buy bio diesel so i can do something with all my deep fat frying oil
• air bags - as strong is my death wish is - i don't want to die mangled in a car accident - i want to die gloriously in battle - my sword deep in my enemies chest
• traction control - see above
• good service and maintenance record - i don't want a money pit
• $25,000 max - and ideally closer to $15,000 - i can't bear the thought of spending money on a car

ideal but now required

• station wagon for the dog i don't have and for the lugging around the old 150 lb ibm servers i do have
  
• all wheel drive / 4 wheel drive - i just want it ok?

so given those criteria what are my choices?

• Mercedes E class diesel 4matic station wagon from 1984-1995 ideally from japan - since volume came 1994 with introduction to US - 2009 should be good for importing from japan
  
• VW jetta wagon
• VW passat wagon

however - i just might start a new business - a computer recycling business - and get a cube van with bench seating (so 3 people can ride in front) for that. i can advertise the computer recycling business on it, the troubleshooting business, the software business, the hosting busines and monica's real estate business!