I guess it’s because I have so few Dad & Son only memories that I try to make it a point to have special time with my son where it is just the two of us. Now don’t get me wrong, my Dad is great father, and I know we did have those special times, but my memories are such that I can only really remember a few of them.

Chances are Maverick won’t remember a lot of the things we did together, but at least this way one of those times will be documented should he ever forget, or want to put me in a crappy nursing home God forbid!

It was a morning either destined to be spent doing something fun, or doing work outside. I opted for the second for obvious reasons on the day of rest.

My wife had a business function so I decided to take Maverick to the Morton Arboretum. The crisp cool air and brightly shining sun were a perfect combination for hiking.

After quickly loading the car we were on our way, windows down, sunglasses on. Little did I know the negotiation was about to begin.

“Dad, can we go to the children’s garden first?” Maverick asked from the back seat.

“Well I really didn’t want you to get your feet wet before the hike” I replied with unfailing logic.

[Insert Pause]

“Dad, how about this — We go to the hand water area of the children’s garden, then go for a hike and after go to the feet water area of the children’s garden.”

Curses. His logic was sound, I had been out foxed by a six year old. I agreed to his plan, and we both felt satisfied.

Sitting down to watch Maverick at the hand water park, I started to plot out the hike I wanted to take. I had earlier talked to our friend Mary from marytree.blogspot.com and she suggested we go to “big rock”.

Having never been it sounded like a great idea. That is until I saw it was the furthest point from the visitor center. Easily three miles away.

Crap, would he be up for it? I worried about his shoes. He had worn ones more appropriate for the water. I decided to just take the hike slow and turn around when he wanted to.

It was time for a move to another play area that had sand. Again Maverick joined the multitude of kids playing in it and I brought the tunnel vision online and locked onto my target (my son).

When it was time to head out for the hike I made a fatal mistake. He had buried his feet in the sand and wanted to rinse them off. The smart thing to do would have been to go to the water jump.

What did I do? Let him go to the foot water area. As I watched him run around on the rocks, I saw a girl who was soaked from head to toe and got a bad feeling about this decision.

Sure enough he slipped and sat in the water. The back of his shorts were soaked through. What can you do in a situation like that but sigh, smile and shake your head at how great it is to watch him just being a boy.

So we started on our hike, I was sure it would be over in no time with his wet shorts. But between the Sun and the breeze they quickly dried.

Walking through the trails I loved our conversations on his favorite subjects (Star Wars), about the forest, about his friends, and about some of the things I knew had been bugging him. It was a nice non-threatening time and I think it was good for both of us.

When we were about halfway to the “big rock” the mosquitos hit us in full force. Now for some reason I have an immunity to whatever it is in the mosquito that causes those itching bumps from happening. I still get bit, but that is the extent of my affliction.

Maverick however is like his Mom, a mosquito magnet who is affected by their bite. I felt like such a dumb ass for forgetting the spray! But onward we went.

As we approached our destination a shortcut was offered to us, and we gladly took it. Big rock it would turn out, was just that. A big rock.

I don’t know why I had visions of a 40 foot tall rock, the reality was much, much less. Take a look at my flickr to the right and you can see it. Heading back I carried him on my shoulders for a while to give him a break much to his enjoyment.

We stopped for a strawberry fruit pop and some yogurt afterwards. Time had flown by, the children’s garden was now closed, but that didn’t stop Maverick. There was still a hill and kids rolling down it. That was enough for him.

It was a good day.

So this last weekend we were up at the Great Wolf water park again, this time with our good friends Dan & Julie and their boys, joining Maverick was his cousin Z-Dog. The water park was its usual cavalcade of fun — insane slides, a great pool, a lot of stairs.

What must be mentioned is Sunday morning. We awoke, hungry, dreaming of the Paul Bunyan Cook Shanty. With the recent memory of their awesome vittles dancing in our heads, we were stoked.

But we had a problem. A big problem.

It was 9:45 AM, and we had to be out of our room by 11:00 AM. No problem we thought, the last time were were there the place was dead. Big mistaken.

The line it would turn out was out the door when we finally made it to Paul’s shanty. Crap. I looked at my watch. Crap. Time for a backup plan.

Looking across the street the IHOP looked like our best bet. But then we saw something that till the day I die will haunt me — The Wild West Buffet.

Hey it was the Dells, might as well make it fun for the kids right? Wrong. The Wild West Buffet turned out to be the dirtiest, greasiest, nastiest buffet I have ever had the misfortune to frequent.

I mean you know you are in for a bad experience when you walk into the urine scented bathroom to see a guy sitting in an open stall taking a duke. Stop breathing, turn around.

Once they were able to find some clean spoons, we eventually ate if you can call that eating. Its safe to say an Army MRE would have been a better meal that that poor excuse for a buffet.

Driving home we could only laugh as we passed place after place that would have been a better choice. After my last visit to the Dells I was convinced it was one of the greatest places in the world. And don’t get me wrong, it is fun as hell. Just be aware that beneath that gleaming veneer are places that are rotten to the core. LOL.

Our Vermont adventure began on the 4th at 5:30AM. Having our son’s birthday party at another location than our house turned out to be an excellent idea. So much less mess, so much less drama. Without much fanfare, we started on our way.

Traveling on the 4th was great, we zipped along on roads that were close to empty. Now we had been warned about Ohio, our friends Kah-Nicki and Eric warned us that Ohio police would be on the prowl and they were out in force. So many people gave us dirty looks for only going a bit over the speed limit, but after seeing 6 people pulled over, I just didn’t care (Screw you Ohio!).

After around 8.5 hours of driving we pulled into Erie, PA. Turning off the toll road my son Maverick excitedly asked if the Holiday Inn with the indoor water park was our hotel. We explained that it was not, and as we turned down the road and saw the Country Inn & Suites that we were staying at I said:

“Wow! Check out our hotel, isn’t it cool!”

To which he replied:

“No. Our hotel is boring.”

LOL, too funny. Mental note for the next trip. The only saving grace we had was that our hotel did have a swimming pool. Even it provided comedy relief — my wife encountered not one but two stray long pieces of hair that she was quick to point out were not her own. Very funny to watch.

Rising up bright and early the next morning we were once again on the road. I won’t bore you with details of the trip, it went on and on and on (10.5 Hours!). It was very cool driving through the Adirondack mountains and along Lake George. It really made for a nice change from the bland tollway driving.

Crossing over the bridge to Vermont we could practically taste the Maple syrup in the air. Just being in Vermont had us excited we knew that it was just a matter of time before we were at our friends. I was stoked because Vermont is so different from Illinois. Illinois is flat, nature scrubbed, track-home laden and boring. From what I have seen of Vermont, it is wooded, green, mountainous and a complete 180 of what I am used to seeing in Illinois.

As we pulled into Jericho the thing that really threw me for a loop was the complete and utter lack of fast food restaurants and annoying billboards, signs and clutter. There just don’t exist, and as I would learn later it was on purpose. Wicked cool if you ask me.

In no time we found ourselves on Old Pump road, crossing a one lane bridge over the Browns river. We turned down the road to their house, road mind you, not driveway and I just fell in love with the land, the river and woods. When my friends moved from Illinois I was really bummed, but after seeing Vermont and their home I could not be more supportive of their move. In fact, I find myself thinking about moving here.

More of the Vermont Adventure to come in Part 2.