Indiana Jones and the Knoebel’s Grove Adventure

Can you believe it is already August?  We have accomplished 20 out of 26 tasks on our Summer A-Z List, but time is slowly running out. I knew we had to get this particular summer favorite in fast, because I think the kids just may have refused to strap on their backpacks and climb on the school bus if we hadn’t.

Knoebel’s Grove (and you do pronounce the K) is an old-fashioned, medium-sized amusement park,  found in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.  We didn’t need any sunscreen because the park is smack-dab in the middle of a leafy, pretty forest.

We have our favorite rides that we do every year, and one of them is the Hamster Wheel.  Jack was finally old enough to do this one this year!

If you rock it fast enough, you will get it to go upside down.  They are crazy.

Jack was also big enough for The Claw!

Crazy, I tell ya.

I’m betting Agnes and Bob bring their grandchildren to visit Knoebel’s every year!

So let me tell you how our day ended.  Our last ride of the day is usually the train, because it’s calm and quiet and you can sit down and rest your barking dogs, and it’s right next to the park entrance so it’s right on our way out.  The train actually winds its way through the park, under a roller coaster, and then leaves the park behind, heading out to the woods, where it’s all by itself.  So calm.  So relaxing!

Oh, darn.  I only took two pictures of the train ride.

Would you like to know why I only took two pictures?

BECAUSE MY CAMERA SLID OFF MY LAP AND FELL OFF THE STINKIN’ TRAIN!

Jack was sitting next to me and was horrified!  He screamed “Stop the train!” many times.   Ben and Maddie were behind us.  Ben started wringing his hands and yelling, “Your camera!  Mom! Your camera!”  Unfortunately, we were seated in the last train car, so the engineer had no idea that a minor catastrophe had taken place behind him.

The train was actually going pretty fast.  It was too fast for me to jump out, because believe me, I considered it.  A nice man sitting behind Ben and Maddie, though, reminded me that when the train goes around the bend to head back into the park, it slows down quite a bit.  I looked at Maddie and told her I was going to jump, that she was in charge and was to get the boys off the train back at the station and keep them there until I arrived.  When the train slowed down, I pulled on my backpack, kissed Jack goodbye, told them all to be good and that Mommy loved them, and they must all go to college and brush their teeth every night and please remind Daddy about the first day of school and that the washer uses High Efficiency detergent, not the regular kind, or there will be bubbles everywhere.   Kidding!  But I did kiss Jack, who was very scared to see me jump off the train, and then I did it.

It would be so totally cool to tell you that I hit the ground, tucked myself into a ball, and rolled until I came to a stop.  But, really, I hit the ground running, and then I jogged about two minutes back to my camera, which was lying on the ground all alone and sad, but not broken even a smidge. 

After about a five minute hike, I arrived back at the station where Jack jumped in my arms and had a little cry, Ben told me it was awesome when I jumped off the train, Maddie asked if the camera was okay, and then thank goodness we were ready to head to the parking lot because being Indiana Jones is tiring and a little nerve-wracking and I won’t ever complain that nothing exciting happens to me ever again.