"I Don't Want To Go UP or Doooowwwn"
Written: Jul 30 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Educational, Free to wander as you please
Cons: ladders and steps to climb
|
|
|
| PPerky1954's Full Review: Mobile |
Snips and Snail and Puppy Dog Tails…yes, that’s what my boys were made of. Indeed my two little puppy dog tails would love to see a battleship. They play with toy soldiers and tanks, I just knew they would enjoy a visit to Battleship Park in Mobile. So I get the brochures and show my 3 and 5 year old boys the pictures.
“How would you two like to go see a REAL battleship and submarine?”
“YES! Let’s go NOW!”
“No, No, we must wait until this weekend. But we are going to see the battleship and a submarine. How does that sound?”
I suppose I don’t have to say that it sounded exceptionally good to them. Friday arrives and off we go. Mobile is about a four hour drive from where we live and we arrive in Mobile with no major delays.
My first mistake was to decide that we shall spend the night at the beautiful and elegant Riverfront Inn, which overlooks the ships in the Mobile Bay. We enter the lobby and are awestruck at the beauty of this hotel. A huge open vestibule with plants and birds. Very elegant. As I was registering at the desk, I glance down and see only one child standing next to me. Elegance goes right out the window and Mommy panic takes over.
I ask my son “Where is your brother??” He promptly points at the escalator which leads to the second floor. I look up and see this child (and I use this term reluctantly, I believe he was part monkey – spawn of Curious George) riding alone, up the escalator, shoe strings untied and dangling precariously around the collapsing steps. Mommy panic multiplies.
Now I am usually a rather quiet person. I don’t raise my voice and have a good reputation for having the ability to calm others down when they are upset. I don’t like to draw attention to myself and am proud of my quiet demeanor. Nonetheless, I had this terrible mental image of my sons foot being horrible mangled, if not amputated, because of a shoestring getting caught in a moving stairway.
Before I know it, and before I can stop it, I hear myself yell my son’s name, which reverberated throughout the hotel lobby, all the way across and up to the second floor. In return, dead silence….other than my son’s laughter as he scampers back down the up escalator and leaps to the floor. All eyes of the other patrons are focused in my direction. I glance around and notice this, and I notice, too, that each set of eyes has a “What is that country hick, name yelling, crazy woman doing in here?” question in them.
I gather my rambling monkey back to me, try to gain my composure back, and quietly admonish him for exploring without permission. I crouch down to tie his shoes (truth be it known I crouched down lower than necessary wishing at that moment that the floor would just swallow me up).
With this harrowing event behind us, we turn our attention back to getting a room. Ah, but the only room available that faces the bay is a room with one queen sized bed. Well, that is o.k. The kids are still small and don’t take up much room, we shall take that room. (Mistake Number Two)
We ride the open elevator up to the 11th floor (no escalators pa-lease) and deposit our bags. The room is beautiful. A large picture window overlooking the bay. A table, lamp and chairs are next to the window so that we may enjoy the view while eating or watching television. The bed is huge and very comfortable. The room is spotlessly clean.
We didn’t stay too long in our spotlessly clean room because we had plans to go to the Battleship Park that afternoon. We leave the room, go eat lunch and off we go to the park. With all the previous commotion and rushing to stay on our schedule, I hadn’t noticed that my youngest son had been being unusually quiet. (Mistake Number 3)
Ahhh, we finally reach our destination…Battleship Park. The ship was named the U.S.S. Alabama. It was majestic. Our tickets cost $5.00 for the adult ticket and $2.00 for children (I believe this price has gone up a few dollars now). This was going to be so much fun to explore. We clambered up the gangplank which lead to the deck of the ship. There were oval shaped entryways which lead inside the ship, ladders to climb up to higher levels, and huge cannons, chains and anchors on the deck. A young boy’s delight.
As we stroll across the deck, my youngest son did not seem to be taking much pleasure and was not excited about being there. He would follow me around, standing right up against my leg, and refused to look around the ship. His eyes stayed on the deck in front of his feet. I told him, “Look, there’s a ladder, lets go up it and see the what is up there!” His response . . . “I don’t want to go up.”
“Look! Your brother is going up the ladder!”
“I don’t want to go up.”
Ok, well he doesn’t want to go up. Maybe he is afraid he will fall. “Ah, you must come back down from there big brother, some of us don’t care to go up.”
So, we go to the back part of the deck, son number 2 still hanging onto my leg, staring at the deck in front of his feet. I then spot a small stairwell going down into the ship. “Oh look! Steps not ladders! Lets go see what is in there.”
“I don’t want to go UP…..or doooowwwn.”
“But it is steps and they will be easier to take. Lets just try them.”
“Not UP. . . . or dooowwn.”
And this goes on for several minutes. I am trying to get an understanding from him of why he doesn’t want to go ‘UP or down”. Well, the oldest son reluctantly relents and explores the main deck with its chains, anchors, big cannons, and valve handles.
Now I can probably draw a detailed map of the main deck of the U.S.S. Alabama, but please don’t ask me to tell you about any part of the ship that was “UP, or doooowwwn.”
We reluctantly leave the U.S.S. Alabama behind to wander over to the submarine, the U.S.S. Drum, which was parked directly behind the ship. There is a small crowd of people waiting for the previous group to leave the submarine so that they may enter. We join this group and finally get the go ahead to board the submarine. Another gangplank to cross which leads us on to the top of the submarine. (Again, son number 2 is walking in my shadow, staring at his feet. ) As we approach the entryway that leads into the submarine, I realize “uh oh, steps”. Not only steps, but steps that lead into the dark. I did not have to wonder for more than a second what type of reaction I would get.
Mr. Impulsive, the spawn of Curious George, delightfully shouts “OH COOL” and takes off running down the steps, while at the exact same moment Mr. “Not UP or down” shouts “IT’S TOO DARK” and takes off running across the gangplank back to the shore.
Yikes! What do I do? Who should I go after? I could feel that ‘backwoods mamma holler’ welling up in my throat again. But luck was on my side this time. A very wonderful young man and his wife said to me (they must have seen the panic on my face) “You go after him (pointing to “No UP or down) and we will get him (pointing down in the dark where George Jr. disappeared). A few minutes later the young couple appeared with my oldest child, who was happy that he had been inside of the submarine.
Now for my description of the submarine: It was a flat piece of metal, with a dark hole in it.
As this was all I saw of it.
Well, mom is tired by now. We stop off to get something to eat. Mr. Not UP or Down only stares at his food. He is still very quiet. I am trying to determine why he is so sad. Why isn’t he enjoying this trip? I am baffled. George Jr. does not notice, he is just chattering away.
Back to the lovely Riverfront Inn we go to get some much needed rest. showers, pajamas, bed. One last thing to do and we can all go to sleep. I put my youngest son on the bed as George Jr. and I are looking through the bundle of children’s books we brought. (Our nightly reading ritual) Which brings us back to mistake number 2: Accepting a room with only one bed.
As we are discussing the attributes of “Where the Wild Things Are” versus “The Wonderful House”, we hear this “bleeeeeeeeech” behind us. I turn to find that my youngest son had just gotten sick, right smack dab in the center of the bed. AAAhhhhh, so THIS is why he has been a small cling on in my shadow all day and did not want to go up or down and wouldn’t eat and hardly talked (whew). Poor baby. I checked and yes, he also had a fever. How could I have not realized this? Mistake Number 3 revealed.
I get him cleaned up, pull the sheets and covers off of the bed, and call housekeeping to request clean sheets and covers. I told them what happened and requested they put the sheets outside the door and I would change the bedding.
We all get dressed again and make a mad dash for the nearest drug store to purchase some children’s tylenol. When we return I notice we still have no clean sheets. I call housekeeping again, keeping in mind that the housekeepers probably have heard about the lobby incident and are afraid to go near “that crazy woman’s” room. So I politely ask “We are really tired, will it be long until you deliver clean sheets?” I am assured that the sheets are on their way.
After 45 minutes goes by and the smell of upchuck is wafting from the restroom, I take the soiled sheets and toss them into a pile in the hall. Another 30 minutes goes by until I finally hear a tap and the word “housekeeping” echo through the door.
Ahhh, clean sheets and sleep. Finally. The next morning we pack up and head for home. No use trying to vacation with a sick child. He needed to be at home to rest and get well.
I do recommend that families visit the Battleship Park. I recommend that they see the inside of the ship as well. However, I believe that the adult/child ratio should be equal when you visit so that if one child is afraid of the steps or doesn’t feel well, it won’t stop the enjoyment of another child from exploring the ship.
I don’t recommend that families stay in the Riverfront Inn. They are not very service oriented when it comes to families. I believe they are used to catering to businessmen in their business suits wearing their business ties and spit shined shoes (leaving big tips). If they had brought us some clean sheets more promptly, I would have given the housekeeper a tip. But as it took two hours, I thanked her and closed the door. (Old hag that I am.)
Thank you for reading.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
PPerky1954
|
|
Member: Patricia
Location: sometimes FL, sometimes AL
Reviews written: 54
Trusted by: 236 members
About Me:
I rather adore the fellow who was holding the camera for this shot.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.