Roller Coasters and Me

Daniel and Erin were on vacation a couple of weeks ago and went to Kings Island with another couple. (Heather Wilkinson and her husband. I don't know his name.) Anywayyy....Daniel was telling me about the rollercoasters they rode and all and it reminded me of the last time I road a rollercoaster and I thought I would share it with all of you. We had taken the youth group on our annual Kings Island trip/August 2004. Well, Kaitlin (she is sitting in back by me on the Vortex) and I decided we were going to ride every rollercoaster in the park. We were on a mission! I think we may have started with the Son of Beast and went from there. Now don't get me wrong. I didn't say that they don't scare the socks off of me,(as you can tell by the picture below. While the rest of them are smiling, I'm the one in the back with the Don King do, with my mouth open for screaming) but I love(ed) to ride them. The thing about the Vortex is that I have to hold on but while doing that those foam covered bars that come down over you about beat my ears off my head, yanking me around and all. So after riding the Vortex, I believe it was on to the Flight of Fear, the indoor roller coaster. Now, I had never ridden it and I thought, "How bad can it be? It's indoors for goodness sake!" But once we got up closer to where they take off, I could see that that thing shot out of the starting gate like a bullet and people were screaming and shrieking. Still, what could be so terrifying? It's in a BUILDING. Well, let me tell ya, you go from 0 to I-don't-know-how-many-miles-an-hour-but-it's-alot in a matter of less than ten seconds. And it is this tall, yet compacted rollercoaster that just about jerks the insides out of you. I've said that I really do think I got whiplash from riding it. AND as if that wasn't ENOUGH! It caused my hair to come down! NOTHING has ever caused my hair to come down! Till this! So Kaitlin and I get off this thing and are standing inside on the platform while everyone else has taken off. Me with my hair all over the place. I told her that I wasn't leaving the building till I got my hair back in some semblance of presentable order, which I managed to do. Then it was on to ride Face-off, the last one!......or so we thought. It began to rain! They started shutting some of the rides down. It was about 7 o'clock, so we decided to go ahead and head for home. We got wet and by the time we got to the van my neck was really hurting. But what a time we had! I'll never forget it and that is what memories are made of!! Oh, and I might add.....my rollercoaster-riding days are pretty much over at this point. *grin* But I have some sweet memories to cherish.