The Summer From Hell Is Over!

The Summer From Hell Is Over!  Well, not officially, but with the closing of city pools and Raging Rivers Water Park's last day of business on Tuesday, Summer is over.  I have to admit that I get a little sad this time of year.  That little window when you can feel a chill start creeping into the air at night and the pools are closing, right before school starts.  When the sun begins to set (way to early for my liking) and evening pontoon rides on the Missouri River demand that you bring along a sweatshirt for the ride back to the dock.  The days right before the flurry of school activity kicks in always makes me a bit melancholy.  I think it is because we all know that Summer activities are coming to a close and Friday Night Lights and for me, hunting season, haven't kicked in yet.

Getting back to the topic of Summer winding down, this has been, to say the least, an odd one on the books.  Did we ever really have a Summer with Covid 19?  Definitely not in the conventional sense, but we all seemed to manage.  The river provided plenty of opportunities to have a sense of normalcy and every time I drove by Raging Rivers Water Park, there were plenty of kids enjoying themselves.  Despite the pandemic, their final day was no exception.

Raging Rivers did a great job implementing the CDC guidelines to keep their patrons safe this Summer.  Staff sanitized the kitchen and chairs and everything was cleaned daily and the number of patrons was reduced to allow for social distancing, which was left up to the customers.  Even though the park's capacity was reduced to 75%, the overall attendance wasn't affected very much, according to staff.

Raging Rivers was just one businesses example of how to "manage" the pandemic, but I'm glad that The Summer From Hell Is Over and I'm hopeful that next Summer get's closer to normal!