End of Carowinds Season

Although there was some speculation (by us and others) about whether we'd make it...we did. The Carowinds/Scarowinds season came to an end on November 1.

I think we'll put our experience at Carowinds in the That Was An Interesting Experience But We Don't Plan To Go Back category.

As I've mentioned before, this summer was difficult. It was hot. I mean really hot. And humid. For weeks. Our air conditioning, even after getting it fixed, just couldn't keep up. So, that's the sort of thing that just sucks the energy and good humor away rapidly.

In addition, the summer was stressful with three time-consuming and costly trips to Ohio for family events where our presence was minimally tolerated.

Neither of those things are Carowind's fault, but they added to the issues which made Carowinds an often less than inspiring place to work.

• Lack of leadership
• Rules that weren't enforced
• A general attitude of putting in our time on the clock and that's it.  
• Co-workers who sat around watching while the rest of us sweated our asses off, compounded by the fact that management was aware of these issues and did nothing. 

Stuff like that.

But, there were some good things about being here.

Overall, I liked my co-workers (with two notable exceptions mentioned above) and enjoyed working with them, even if I didn't always like working with the public.

Chris liked most of his co-workers and also didn't have to be around them much because he was driving the international students around. He enjoyed getting to know the students and hearing their impressions of the US.

The campground is nice. Large, level sites with plenty of space between us and our neighbors, excellent wifi.

We like this area and the fall weather has been outstanding.

I met some nice people. Many of them were repeat visitors who remembered me when they came back and that was nice too. One man stands out in my mind. I picked him up at Carowinds in the tram and he was by himself going back to the campground for something. During the four or five minutes we were together he told me that his wife had died a few years ago (he was probably about 70-75) and that he had re-connected with his high school girlfriend and now they were married, traveling and enjoying life. They were at Carowinds with assorted grandchildren. What touched me was when he said, "I never thought I'd be this happy again."

Even though the season is over, the campground is open year round so we'll stay here as long as we can while working our new jobs, and that's a nice perk for surviving the season. We still have to pay, but it's about 25% of what we'd pay at another campground.

Do we regret our time here? Absolutely not! We have met some people that we'll keep in touch with and we were glad for the opportunity to be here. And, if we hadn't been here, we wouldn't have met the people who led us to our new jobs. it all fits together.