Trip Report 50 Nifty United States....or at least 5 of them

Disclaimer: I have never done a trip report before. This may not be interesting to anyone. This might be ridiculously long and rambly. This might just be plain old ridiculous. So if you absolutely hate it...why are you still reading??

This trip was a long time in the planning. You don't go overseas for a month without a LOT of planning. At least -I- don't. I made lists. I made more lists. I read blogs. I studied menus. I made more lists. I bought books. I made more lists. Because that's what I do.
The first half of our trip was for me to go "home" to visit family. The 2nd half was to do Disney.
So we drove to my in-laws' house and spent the night there since they would be driving us to the airport in the morning.

We started out early in the morning on July 10th, with the in-laws and 2 cars to take us to the airport. Within 15 minutes, we were at a gas station fixing a flat tire. Good start. But, if that's the worst thing to happen, we're doing well, and we had allowed plenty of time for just such an occurrence. (Didn't I say I was a planner??) Good thing one of said in-laws used to be a mechanic...we weren't stopped long.

So we were off to see the wizard....er...the airport. Not exactly a yellow brick road, but we followed it anyway. We got checked in to our flight (with an upgrade to economy plus because the kids are not old enough to sit by themselves. Thanks, kids...stop growing. I want more of these upgrades.) While we were waiting for our flight, we went to McDonalds for breakfast and let the kids play on the interactive floor.

And this is where it gets boring and rambly because we had several flights, because otherwise we couldn't do both Disney AND home. So...we went Amsterdam to Chicago and Chicago to Orlando, Got a hotel room for a few hours of sleep and headed back to the airport to fly to Denver, then drove about 6 hours from Denver to Gillette, Wyoming where we were staying with friends. Just in case you were wondering (which if you were, I have to wonder about your sanity, because really, how could we NOT be exhausted?) we were SHOT after this and I would not recommend 36 hours of pretty much non-stop traveling by air and THEN have to get in a car. But...we made it. Yay.

 

[Songbird76]

Day...whatever this was...I have no idea. It was day 4 of South Dakota though. We went to Story Book Island in the morning, which is fantastic. It's free! And it has all the fairy tales/nursery rhymes. As you enter, there's the Billy Goats Gruff, and then inside there's the crooked man who lived in a crooked house, there's the little engine that could, there's Jack and the beanstalk, Cinderella, the Wizard of Oz, Yogi Bear, Peter Pumpkin eater, Jack and Jill, etc, plus little shows that are cheesy and fun, though those do cost a bit.

 

[kimberlymautz]

Following!

 

[Songbird76]

This was also the day where it got up over 100 degrees and I felt miserable. My head was pounding, I felt nauseated and just overheated. My kids weren't enjoying the park nearly as much as my niece (3) and our Iowa cousin's daughter (5) but they were so good about making it fun for them even though they didn't really like it themselves. We had a big picnic lunch and my Illinois Cousin's girlfriend had brought Suzy Qs, which I had been looking for the whole trip. So she gave me what was left of the box and I bit into one and it was HORRIBLE...I looked at it and there was mold. HOW? I thought those things were supposed to be able to survive a nuclear war! Not pleasant.
After Story Book, we headed up to Dinosaur Park, which really isn't much..just some statues of a few Dinos and a gift shop. We didn't spend much time there, it was more for nostalgia that we went.

Then we made our traditional drive through Deerfield over to Spearfish to have dinner. South Dakota is full of pretty drives.

And that's pretty much it for South Dakota. We said goodbye to the cousins and went to sleep and headed back to Wyoming the next day where we stopped at Devil's Tower to take a quick picture.

I actually took lots of pictures of landscapes, and we'll get to those, but this cracked me up. We stopped at a gas station and there was this guy at the pump, leg hanging out the window, reading a book. Only in Wyoming.

 

[littleroo]

Great trip report so far! Love the pics! I am following. Your family is adorable!!

 

[Songbird76]

Great trip report so far! Love the pics! I am following. Your family is adorable!!

Thank you!! I need to get my husband to help me get the pics off the other camera. We borrowed one from my in-laws so each of the kids had a camera to use, but I don't know how to use that one and it stopped working halfway through the vacation. I know there are some pictures on it, but I have no idea how to transfer them to the computer. There's no SD card, and I am a tech squib. (zero technical ability) I may just have to add random pictures later.

 

[Songbird76]

Devils tower...wow....what a change. Not the tower itself, because that is exactly the same as it's always been. But when I was a kid, we visited regularly, did a walk around the base, laughed at the prairie dogs....there was really nothing there but the tower and the visitors center, and while I think you paid a fee to get into the park, it wasn't much and it was never busy. So we planned to visit on our way through as we headed from South Dakota down to Laramie, Wyoming, via my home town for lunch. I was taking pictures of the drive, and then we get to Devils tower and there is a line of cars waiting to enter the park and there are all these signs for old west-style photos, and who knows WHAT all that I'm pretty sure never existed before. We didn't have time to hike around the tower and just wanted pictures, so we opted not even to go in. We made a U-turn, took our pictures on the side of the road, and left. Sad, but why pay $20 to take some pictures when we could take them for free? No prairie dog town for us...good thing we saw the ones in Custer State Park!
So...pictures of the drive:

 

[Songbird76]

Ok, those were all the ones up around Devils Tower...now were headed south of Gillette, to my home town and then beyond, because the only thing between Gillette and Douglas are coal mines, my home town, and a town called Bill which barely counts as a town because I think the population is something like 7 and up until about 5 years ago, the only thing there was a bar and a school...now they've added a hotel for the railroad workers, but that's it. If you blink, you'll miss it. So it's really wide open prairie land up to Douglas (home of the jackelope) when you get on the interstate.
Coal mine:

A whole lot of nothing:

Haul truck from a coal mine. This one has a 170 ton capacity...they use larger ones now.

Dragline at the mines...you can see some trailer houses next to it...this is how big the draglines are....one of those haul trucks where the tires are larger than my children can drive up into a garage like cabin in the back of the dragline...the truck is around the same height as one of those trailers, and the dragline towers above it.

Unfortunately it was pretty misty, so the mountains aren't as clear as I would have liked.

The jackelope statue in Douglas...my kids were not wanting to have their pictures taken. It was REALLY hot, we had been in the car for HOURS and they really just didn't want to travel anymore, but they humored me. The have jackelope hunting licenses from my brother. (Mama, are these real?)

 

[Songbird76]

I was really upset that my window reflected off this picture. We were on the interstate, so I couldn't roll down the window, but there is some really cool scenery outside Douglas, Glendo, etc and I wish I had better pictures of it.

Ok, disclaimer here, I am a NERD. I just thought the clouds here looked pretty cool.

Glendo Reservoir

 

[Songbird76]

Ok, these are all between Glendo and Laramie. I'm not sure if they are before or after Wheatland...I took a LOT of pictures. I THINK these are mostly heading into or out of Sybille Canyon. What is neat is the weather...on one side of the highway, the sky is blue, it's sunny. On the other, it's storming. That's so Wyoming!! We have this expression...if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes. It will change. We didn't stop at the wildlife refuge because there was nothing out. Good news for the wildlife, bad for the tourists. We saw a coyote on the road, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

And this is about where we almost murdered my son again. Son: "...<unintelligable whining>..." Husband: "I can't understand you, what?" Son: "I NEED TO PEE!!!!" and PPPSSSSHHHHHH. All in the span of about 15 seconds. In a rental car. 15 minutes from Laramie. So as soon as we got to Laramie, we headed for Kmart, which is the closest place with a public bathroom on that side of town, and we got him cleaned up and in dry clothes and went off for our dinner reservation with our friends. People...if you are ever in Laramie Wyoming, and you need a place to eat, GO TO ALTITUDES!! It was SOOOOO good. They had peperjack sticks instead of mozzarella....OMG, the words are not even pg13. And they were HUGE.

I can't even remember what I had for dinner because those were so awesome, and because I forgot to take a picture. It was good, but oh, the fried pepperjack sticks. And then the dessert. DD and I decided to share, because we didn't have much room, and I'm glad we shared, because it was also HUGEMUNGOUS!! We had a smores pie thing that I'm pretty sure is what they serve at dinner parties in Heaven. That's how good it was. When it got to the table, I said something like "Oh my gosh, that is HUGEMUNGOUS!" and our server starts laughing and asks "Did you just say "Hugemungous??" and I said "Yes I did!" and she had apparently never heard this word and her coworkers laugh at her for her "made up" words, so she decided she needed to adopt a new word in her vocabulary. She was lots of fun. Phenomenal food, great service....I recommend it. I think my son actually ate the chicken nuggets there, too...woohoo.
So then we followed our friends back from Laramie to Cheyenne. The next night, we drove down to Fort Collins, Colorado to eat at another favorite where I've been going since college. Bisettis. If you like Italian food, this place is amazing. I have never had better lasagna. Or alfredo. Or pretty much anything. And they give you SO MUCH. I always get the sampler. It has Alfredo, Lasagna, eggplant parmesean, manicotti, and your choice of a meatball or sausage. I forgot to take a picture of the initial plate, but here are just the leftovers:

That's like...half the lasagna, half the mannicotti, most of the alfredo and sausage, and half the eggplant. I have never had a bad meal at this place...everything is always amazing. We didn't get dessert here, not because it's not great, but because we didn't have room. And, it's also next door to Kilwins chocolate shop where we buy fudge. Buy 2, get one slab free. So we got one salted caramel, one plain milk chocolate, and one chocolate peanut butter, and a bar of plain dark chocolate for hubby who doesn't like "stuff" in his chocolate and likes it as dark as he can get it.

The next day, we headed to Hobby Lobby. (Don't judge. It's what's available in Wyoming!) Ok, the GIRLS headed to Hobby lobby. The boys went to play baseball. Then we took the kids swimming. Now...maybe it's me, just living over here for so many years, but...is the US really THAT lawsuit happy? You can't even get ICE...plain old ICE for a bumped head without filling out a 4 page accident report with home address, etc and we weren't allowed to let DS just splash pool water on his face to cool it...no, if we wanted to cool it, we had to go to first aid and fill out the report. For a bumped head. There wasn't even a mark. A kid accidentally caught him in the side of the head with an elbow just as the whistle blew for break, so they couldn't get in the water. The life guard came and talked to my son and told him if something like that happens to let them know because it's unacceptable of the kid who hit him. It's unacceptable to be playing and accidentally bump someone now?
I asked if I could just splash some pool water on his face...no, it's break time, they can't be in the water, but you can get ice at first aid. And then a 4 page questionnaire and report ensues before he can get a baggie full of ice that I could just get from a cup at a fast food restaurant. But, they have to know what happened and they have to cover their tushies so we don't sue them if the ice gives him frostbite. A tiny bump that should be just brushed off so he can play turns into a major event, makes it a MUCH bigger deal that it is, and now my son will never forget that it happened and he will remember it as a catastrophe instead of the every day clutz annoyance that it was. CALM DOWN. Accidents happen. My son is FINE. He's had worse. And we are not going to sue you because some other kid was playing and not watching what he was doing. News Flash: Kids don't watch what they are doing. Because they are having fun and being kids. Our job isn't to wrap them in bubble wrap or litigate the pants off of anyone who lets their guard down so that nothing bad ever happens. It's to teach them that when they bump into someone, they say "Sorry. Are you ok? Should I get some ice for you?"
Rant over. Moving on.
Then we went back to Laramie to have dinner with my "sister". (she's not REALLY my sister, biologically, hence the quotation marks.) She does not eat carbs because carbs don't like her body. And man, can this woman cook. She made us Meatza. LOTS of Meatza. Meatza is pizza made of meat. So instead of a bread crust, she uses chicken breast that she slices into 3 slices and she lines the pan with chicken breast slices and bakes them and then puts the toppings on them. She used pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers, sausage, pepperjack cheese, and I don't know what all...she had several different kinds. I just remember chowing down. Again, I am a food selfie FAILURE. So you will have to take my word for it...if I didn't tell you there was no regular crust, you would not know it. It's just REALLY good, and really filling.
So we went back to Cheyenne with full tummies and spent one more night with our friends. The next day, we drove down to Denver. We made plans with Hubby's cousin, who married an American and now lives in Colorado, to go to dinner. Their first suggestion was something like...Watercourse Foods or something where they like to go because the wife is Vegan. We looked at the menu online and realized we would make TERRIBLE vegans...there was NOTHING on that menu that any of us besides my husband would eat and nothing he would particularly ENJOY eating. So we looked up the Cheesecake factory menu to find vegan options and suggested that as an alternative where we could ALL eat. We ended up being about an hour later than we had arranged, because of a beer truck accident on the highway

but it was ok because the cousins hit the same snafu and got to the restaurant 5 minutes before we did. So we did that. I just got a side of mashed potatoes because I love their mashed potatoes and it's a huge amount. We had a great time and then we said goodbye and we headed to my cousin's house, which it turned out was not too far away!

 

[Songbird76]

My cousins live in a beautiful house in Denver. We got there at about bed time for the kiddos, so they just brought us straight to the guest rooms to let the kids pick out where they wanted to sleep. You would think they decorated these rooms specifically for my children. One room was decorated with sheep, which for inexplicable reasons is my son's favorite favorite animal. (which was why we tried so hard, in vain, to find big horn sheep in Custer State Park) He immediately chose that room. One of the others had light purple walls (DD's favorite color) with clouds splashed across them, and a 4 poster bed with frills and lace. She claimed that room. After a great night's sleep, we ventured out for breakfast to a place called Pete's Kitchen, which has been voted People's Choice for best breakfast in Denver, which is within walking distance of my cousin's house. My cousin is not really fond of it, but her husband LOVES it, and it was close and it's an experience, so we went there. I actually remembered food pics here. (I know, you're amazed! Let the ooooing and aaaaahing begin!!) The first thing I noticed cracked me up. Don't believe I'd have chosen that name for my business:

Hubby got the breakfast burrito, DD got french toast, DS got pancakes, and I had biscuits and gravy.

Then my cousin's husband took us to a museum, I can't remember the name of it, but it has something to do with science and there were a bunch of wildlife displays as well. I've been there before and I've watched IMAX movies there...it's a fantastic museum. We were only there for the Robot exhibit. However, we had a bit of time before our tickets were valid, so we looked around a bit first and the kids quickly discovered that there were pokey stops there, and while our devices don't support it, the cousin's did and he was all about pokemon go, so they played. Here's a 60-something year old running around with my two monkeys...I don't know who had more fun...him or them. Here are some pictures of the displays before we got into the robot exhibit.

 

[MinnieM123]

This is a fun TR, and I like your photos. I've been out to Colorado before, but not Wyoming, so this is interesting seeing that area from your camera lens. Oh, I cracked up over the Story Book Island little park. It reminded me of old attractions up here in the Northeast years ago, when I was a kid. I love old parks like that!

 

[Gabe1]

oy double post

 

[Gabe1]

The next day, we headed to Hobby Lobby. (Don't judge. It's what's available in Wyoming!) Ok, the GIRLS headed to Hobby lobby. The boys went to play baseball. Then we took the kids swimming. Now...maybe it's me, just living over here for so many years, but...is the US really THAT lawsuit happy? You can't even get ICE...plain old ICE for a bumped head without filling out a 4 page accident report with home address, etc and we weren't allowed to let DS just splash pool water on his face to cool it...no, if we wanted to cool it, we had to go to first aid and fill out the report. For a bumped head. There wasn't even a mark. A kid accidentally caught him in the side of the head with an elbow just as the whistle blew for break, so they couldn't get in the water. The life guard came and talked to my son and told him if something like that happens to let them know because it's unacceptable of the kid who hit him. It's unacceptable to be playing and accidentally bump someone now?
I asked if I could just splash some pool water on his face...no, it's break time, they can't be in the water, but you can get ice at first aid. And then a 4 page questionnaire and report ensues before he can get a baggie full of ice that I could just get from a cup at a fast food restaurant. But, they have to know what happened and they have to cover their tushies so we don't sue them if the ice gives him frostbite. A tiny bump that should be just brushed off so he can play turns into a major event, makes it a MUCH bigger deal that it is, and now my son will never forget that it happened and he will remember it as a catastrophe instead of the every day clutz annoyance that it was. CALM DOWN. Accidents happen. My son is FINE. He's had worse. And we are not going to sue you because some other kid was playing and not watching what he was doing. News Flash: Kids don't watch what they are doing. Because they are having fun and being kids. Our job isn't to wrap them in bubble wrap or litigate the pants off of anyone who lets their guard down so that nothing bad ever happens. It's to teach them that when they bump into someone, they say "Sorry. Are you ok? Should I get some ice for you?"
Rant over. Moving on.
y!

I'm rolling with your rant. I've read it twice. I can't wait to show this to my kids. You are a great story teller. My DD still part time manages a large waterpark and my DS had and a parks & rec major in college. (still laughing) Yes, they are required to record every accident reported to them or they see occur. ..........it is their job and they are required to follow procedures. Ranting at them doesn't change the policies. Risk management create the procedures. School nurses have to record everything too. Most companies also if an employe is injured a report is filled out. While well trained they are not doctors so they have procedures for them that they must follow.
But 4 pages?

My Sons very first day ever in Disney World:

My first encounter with this was at DTD. Son 14 months walking one day prior to trip. Falls bumps head-knot on head. Cry. I go to a stand and ask for some ice. They say no and direct me to first aid. They were so nice. They said just a minute and they scurry off. Few minutes later I see an ambulance roll up. Now I understand the delay someone is really sick. Ha! The paramedics come in and they point to my son. And I'm like you have got to be kidding? I just want some ice. They we great, they looked him over checked his eyes with a flashlight. Offered to transport him to hospital for further evaluation. Me, sign off no to transport. Given a crack-ice and DS got to see the ambulance and firemen. This was over 25 years ago so it was like this long before you ever left the States. Disney sets the bar, others follow.

 

[Songbird76]

This is a fun TR, and I like your photos. I've been out to Colorado before, but not Wyoming, so this is interesting seeing that area from your camera lens. Oh, I cracked up over the Story Book Island little park. It reminded me of old attractions up here in the Northeast years ago, when I was a kid. I love old parks like that!

Thanks! Story Book Island is very cute. We used to LOVE it as kids. When my husband came to visit for the first time (before we were married, obviously) we took him touring everywhere and we took him to Story Book. I have pictures of him on slides and swings and just being a big kid. So much fun. We also took him to Flintstone village in Custer, which is a park based on the tv show with Fred and Barney, etc...it went out of business last year. I was so sad because I wanted to take the kids this year! Oh well.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm rolling with your rant. I've read it twice. I can't wait to show this to my kids. You are a great story teller. My DD still part time manages a large waterpark and my DS had and a parks & rec major in college. (still laughing) Yes, they are required to record every accident reported to them or they see occur. ..........it is their job and they are required to follow procedures. Ranting at them doesn't change the policies. Risk management create the procedures. School nurses have to record everything too. Most companies also if an employe is injured a report is filled out. While well trained they are not doctors so they have procedures for them that they must follow.
But 4 pages?

My Sons very first day ever in Disney World:

My first encounter with this was at DTD. Son 14 months walking one day prior to trip. Falls bumps head-knot on head. Cry. I go to a stand and ask for some ice. They say no and direct me to first aid. They were so nice. They said just a minute and they scurry off. Few minutes later I see an ambulance roll up. Now I understand the delay someone is really sick. Ha! The paramedics come in and they point to my son. And I'm like you have got to be kidding? I just want some ice. They we great, they looked him over checked his eyes with a flashlight. Offered to transport him to hospital for further evaluation. Me, sign off no to transport. Given a crack-ice and DS got to see the ambulance and firemen. This was over 25 years ago so it was like this long before you ever left the States. Disney sets the bar, others follow.

It just seems a bit of overkill for a bump on the head...I know they have to cover their tushies because there are a lot of sue-happy people our there, but that's the thing. WHY are they so determined to make sure no accident ever happens? You CAN'T prevent every accident. We didn't rant at the pool people...they are just doing their jobs, but that's why I rant here...because until people stop suing for every little bump or bruise, businesses have to cover their tushies, which makes the rest of us have to write novels in order to get a handful of ice. But they wanted our address, and phone number in the US...hubby says "But...we don't LIVE in the US." *confused look "Oh." No idea how to proceed. The whole thing was just ridonculous. We hadn't even reported it...the lifeguard saw DS crying and came over to ask if he was ok and what happened. It was my asking if I could just splash some cold water on it that started the major event. Next time, I'll take him to the consession stand, order some ice water and dump out the water. Problem solved.

 

[Songbird76]

Looks like I left off at the Robots! This exhibit was SO much fun. The kids had a blast and we spent HOURS there. Completely skipped Lunch. It was kind of dark in there, and of course pictures don't really capture what exactly the robots do, so I am afraid these pictures won't be great.
Ok, this one we actually saw on the news a few months ago, so it was cool to see it at the exhibit. This one is a robotic pet. A lot of patients in hospitals, such as people with dementia, benefit from having a pet because it's been proven that cuddling a furry creature can decrease stress and increase brain activity, so it's good for them to have pets, but if they forget to feed it, or need to walk it, that doesn't work...it's not safe for the pets. So they have robot pets that react to stimulus like petting, etc, but they don't have the physical needs of a real live pet, so it's a great alternative.

This one played tic tac toe.

This one you pressed a button and it performed a corresponding action, like making a goalie save, or standing on its head, or moonwalking.

Here you got to program a robot to do a task...you had to get it from point A to Point B, programming it to walk forward, turn left or right, repeat instructions, etc.

And then there was a station to build your own robot.

There was also a show about drones, robots that played soccer, a robot that wasn't working but was supposed to solve a rubics cube, and then some displays about how robotics are used in different fields like medicine, automotives, etc.
When we got back from the Robots, the kids were ALL about Pokemon Go, so my cousin's husband took them through the neighborhood in search of whatever the things are called. Then they discovered that the neighborhood ice cream shop is a Pokemon Go gym...so they HAD to go in. We got a message that they were going for ice cream. My children are easily bought. But since cousin was having fun, I didn't worry too much about them taking advantage of him...I think he was happy to finally have an excuse to play! They came home and we had dinner, which I apparently forgot to take a picture of. We went to the Cherry Cricket, which turned out to be SO good. I had been craving Mexican food our entire trip, but not having many Mexicans in Wyoming, there isn't much that passes for Mexican food since our favorite little place in Laramie (run by a Mexican family, one of their kids was in a choir with me) closed down. So this was mostly a burger joint, but they did have a few Mexican food items, so I got a combo plate that had a burrito, an enchilada, a tostada, some rice and some beans...and I ate it ALL. I was stuffed, but happy.
We had an early flight out of Denver in the morning, so we had to get packed and get to bed early, as we would be leaving around 2:00am. So we got everything redistributed, got rid of excess junk, left a package to have sent directly home as we didn't need to take it with us, but couldn't replace it and didn't have room for it in the suitcases, and we went to bed. At some point, DS got scared by noises outside and Hubby switched places with him and then I woke up with my son's head on my hip. He is NOT an ideal bed mate. He kicks, he wiggles, he turns around, he's all over the bed. But we got up and got going to the airport on time and even had to wait for quite a while. Which is another minor rant. Dear Airlines, when you send an email out telling people you are expecting delays or long wait times at checkin and security, and you ask people to please come at least 3 hours before their flight to ensure that they will get through on time, it means you actually have to be there too. See...we can't check in if there's no one to check us in. All the extra TSA agents and bomb-sniffing dogs aren't going to do you a bit of good if you don't check people in so they can go through security. If you are worried about getting everyone through check-in and security, it helps to actually check them in when you tell them to be there. Otherwise you just get cranky customers who have been standing in line for an hour waiting like a stood-up date. This does not help customer relations, nor does it make for happy guests on their flights. Yes...it's early in the morning. We got up early, too...but WE were on time, which is considerate when you have an agreement. And if you generally don't open until such and such a time, DON'T tell people to be there before that time. Rant over.
And then we were off to Disneyworld!!!

 

[Gabe1]

It just seems a bit of overkill for a bump on the head...I know they have to cover their tushies because there are a lot of sue-happy people our there, but that's the thing. WHY are they so determined to make sure no accident ever happens? You CAN'T prevent every accident. We didn't rant at the pool people...they are just doing their jobs, but that's why I rant here...because until people stop suing for every little bump or bruise, businesses have to cover their tushies, which makes the rest of us have to write novels in order to get a handful of ice. But they wanted our address, and phone number in the US...hubby says "But...we don't LIVE in the US." *confused look "Oh." No idea how to proceed. The whole thing was just ridonculous. We hadn't even reported it...the lifeguard saw DS crying and came over to ask if he was ok and what happened. It was my asking if I could just splash some cold water on it that started the major event. Next time, I'll take him to the consession stand, order some ice water and dump out the water. Problem solved.

Awe I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with the lifeguards.

Head injuries here in the US maybe handled a bit different than in the Netherlands. You will be hard pressed to find any municipality, city, school, state or sport that doesn't take every single head injury beyond seriously. It isn't all about being sued. Coaching staffs and lifeguards know the risks of head injuries and even more caution is given to minors. While we can all see a bump on the head most are hard pressed to know what is happening within the brain as far as concussion or bleeding. I was dumbfounded when the paramedics were called and came to examine my DS bump to the head at Downtown Disney. I guess I'd rather Disney error on the side of better care than poor care or not caring, and my DS was crying about his bump to his head.

As far as why there is such determination to make sure accidents don't happen/can't prevent everything? I'm not sure how to answer your question. Lifeguards enforce rules about running, roughhousing, diving in shallow water because they want the patrons to be safe I would venture to guess. While at the waterpark I hear constantly WALK on the deck. Years ago I saw a boy knock his teeth out while running hitting a leg of a chair on deck. Or the boy that died at Disney 'cause he dove into shallow water. So no you can't prevent everything but they can try to prevent it in the first place. DD said when they have visitors from other countries the patrons usually provide the number and address where they are staying, friend, relative etc. If a patron winds up later in an ER or Doctor's office they mail procedures for filing an insurance claim with their carrier. The insurance company then takes the info provided by Doc's, accident report from facility and claim form from the patrons. Pretty much how medical claims are handled here when a 3rd party like a pool is involved.

Sure hope your pool experiences at Disney went much better. Am enjoying your trip report, never been to Wyoming.

 

[Gabe1]

I want.

 

[Figgy1]

Following as long as the with fi holds may have to leycjup when we get home you're off to a great start

 

[Songbird76]

I want.

I want again!!! They were so good. I had never heard of using pepperjack instead of Mozz. I'm a convert, for sure!!!