Waffle House is Not That Great So There | How Much Did I Spend Last Week? Nov 11-17, 2024

In which I make at least one very bad snack decision

Monday

We’re still in Great Wolf Lodge for day two of our “epic” two-day stay and I wake up at around 7am to hear the sound of the television in the bedroom Brandin is sharing with Finn and Atlas (I’m in the “main” room with a bed all to myself, as is our 12-year-old).

It turns out that someone (they’re blaming Atlas but it could have been the previous guest) had the radio alarm set to go off at 6am, so all three of them woke up with a jolt and at least one of them (guess who) could not be convinced to go back to sleep, so they’ve been watching cartoons ever since.

I go in to cuddle with them, and at around 8.30am we wake up our eldest to get ready to go for breakfast at Waffle House, a trip they’re almost as excited about as they were about coming here in the first place (our nearest Waffle House is in Indianapolis so it’s not usually an option!).

When I tell you that I’m disappointed with our Waffle House experience, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea: I eat every single thing that’s put on my plate. It’s just that I’d built it up into something altogether more in my mind, and thought we were going for some kind of must-do American culinary experience, when in fact it’s just a run-of-the-mill diner with very run-of-the-mill food. Plus, it’s not cheap (although, to be fair, the total price is for five of us). ($71.39)

After breakfast, we head back to Great Wolf Lodge where we do some more water park splashing around until noon, and we go upstairs to eat some lunch (we brought some stuff with us – mac and cheese, ramen, fruit snacks etc) and I put Atlas down for a nap while the boys go back to the water park until we check out at 2pm.

After checkout, we go back for another 90 minutes or so of splashing, then get changed and head to the car for the three-and-a-half-hour drive back to Fort Wayne.

While the drive down was, truly, blissful – the boys were happy and excited, and engrossed in the books I’d bought them for the journey – the drive back is not quite as much fun, with a lot of moaning about how long it’s taking, how tired they are, how one brother or another won’t stop talking (or roaring like a dinosaur), how hungry they are, how they need to pee, and so on and so forth.

We stop twice – once for a quick pee break, and the next when we go through the Wendy’s drive-thru ($44.37) and then eat in the car park before I take one of the boys in to use the bathroom.

We get home at around 8pm and it’s straight in for baths, into PJs and off to bed (of course, those who were “soooooo tiiiiired” in the car are now wide awake and most aggrieved at being told it’s time to go to sleep, while Atlas, who was so good for the whole drive, has lost his mind and roars crying in the bath, which he usually loves, before falling into a borderline comatose state in his bed).

Once they’re all in bed, Brandin and I unpack and put on the first of the 75 loads of washing we now have to do, then go to bed ourselves, where I catch up with some of my social media and newsletter-reading, deciding to upgrade to a paid subscription to read Irish journalist and podcaster

Caroline Foran

’s latest piece on Substack. ($7)

All in all, a very successful 48 hours and, despite the slightly fractious homeward journey, I’d say it all went a lot smoother than I’d worried it would in terms of fights, naps and the overall mood. 10/10 would recommend.

Daily total: $122.76