Great Scott!!!

It’s not just a normal Wednesday.

I mean I’m sure 9 a.m. might of looked and felt the same. I’m sure there were milestone birthdays being celebrated at Morton’s Steakhouse, but the nerd in me was excited for a completely different reason.

1.21 Gigawatts.

Yeah … Today was the day that the male version of myself, Marty McFly, and Doc Brown blasted Huey Lewis & The News and went Back To The Future. If you have no idea what a DeLorean is … then this might not be the post for you.

For the rest of who grew up in the Walkman era and phones with mile-long twisty-turny chords then you know the beauty of the this movie. the importance of the time-space continuum and the whoa-factor to this date. October 21, 2015 was the day that Marty and Doc  went back. This is the day when hoverboards, flying cars, and shoes that tied themselves were supposed to exist. The Cubs were supposed to win The Series. It was supposed to be The Jetsons Era.

The fact that it’s 2015 and most of the predictions have yet to happen just goes to show you that Zemeckis and Spielberg’s imagination gave us too much credit. But all the cool gadgets and futuristic innovations that we were supposed to exists wasn’t what drew me to the movie.

Nope.

I wanted to see what happened next.

I wanted to find out what was up with Marty.

The first movie was such a great story about how friendship and a moment of courage changes your life. You know I was going to tune in to see Part II. And that was a story, within a story, within a story. It was a cool concept for me. I wondered what I would see in 2015. I wondered where I’d be and what I’d be doing on that day. It was so far ahead I couldn’t imagine it, I couldn’t even picture it, but I knew I’d be something and be doing something with my life. Something futuristic, something cool I imagined.

The day came and went.No hoverboards, no hydrogen-powered cars, no shoes that tied themselves. Not even a visit to the Sharper Image Store. Nope. Nothing cool about fighting an ear infection.

So even though today wasn’t what I thought it would be, I still enjoyed Marty’s time travels. I watched those flicks again, trying to remember where I thought I would be in 2015, trying to get that feeling back. Remembering the theater and the popcorn and the people I went to see it with, I ended up going back in time myself, and the night ended on a good vibe.

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Sandbox Adventure List 25: Time Travel Without 1.21 Gigawatts

I didn’t have a DeLorean or 1.21 Gigawatts, but I managed to travel through time into The Land of the Lost and walk among the dinosaurs.

He wanted a time-machine Dinosaur Train Time Tunnel experience and this was the best I could do: Discover the Dinosaurs Exhibit at the convention center downtown. He enjoyed the life-sized dinosaur replicas of the Cretaceous Time Period and my daughter enjoyed practicing her terrible roars and trying to scare the dinosaurs. At the end of the day it turned out to be a good adventure, but in truth I prepared myself for the worst. The worst.

Why?

It was downtown, a place with one-way streets where drivers were crazy, parking costs 20 dollars, and crowds were sure to be massive. Massive and filled with other people’s kids who were probably going to throw tantrums and be jackasses and I so didn’t want to be in that environment, but it’s always a risk you take when going to events like these.

So … I prepared for the worst, but was pleasantly surprised when disaster didn’t strike among the hundreds of families in attendance. In fact I only saw one tantrum and that happened because a parent tried to capture a Kodak moment near the Brachiosaurus and her kid wasn’t in the mood to be caught on film. At that point I was grateful for the attitude-free afternoon and the pictures I had already taken. I think they were in a good mood because the exhibit was a hands-on experience and they were able to explore and pet the life-sized animatronic statues and they did not hear the “don’t touch the dinosaur, we’ll get in trouble” speech that they often hear from me at the Natural History Museum.

The only downside to the  Land of the Lost adventure was the inflatable jumper area. They had about six jumbo-sized jumpers with at least an hour-long wait for each one.

Dude.

Dude.

I had to prepare my kids for the “we’re-not-going-to-able-to-get-on-this-thing” speech, something that every parent dreads for fear having that a blowout may play out in front of hundreds or people. But they seemed to take it pretty well. I think it had to do with the shorter line at  the T-Rex ride, sort of like a mechanical bull for kids.

By the time we finished, they were tired of the crowds, ready for peanut butter sandwiches, and wanting the Jack Johnson ambience of our car ride home. Pretend time travel is pretty exhausting, even without time tunnels, 1.21 Gigawatts, or DeLoreans we were still able to travel to faraway places in my Dad’s Toyota.

 

We started our Land of The Lost Adventure with the big dog … T.Rex himself.

 

Checking out their favorite exhibit, before experiencing the dinos up close and personal.

 

The little dinos with fierce roars caught our attention.

 

This one was my favorite 🙂

 

But in the end this was everyone’s favorite … it was our final stop on the tour … a ride on the T.Rex. Both of my kids seemed to enjoy this the most.