....when you are on a roller coaster.
I have usually written about things that I am crazy or passionate about because of the nature of my blog. This post is about something that I am NOT crazy about. Namely, roller coasters or thrill rides. The reason this has been on my mind of course is because it's summer people and it's a time for carnivals and of course rides that you wouldn't normally put your children on or in but for some strange reason we place the little darlings in their respective seat and buckle them in and tell them to have fun! You can imagine that they are thinking, "What in the world? This woman won't even let me cross the street."
My thrill ride experiences have been few and far between mostly because my parents have always been very protective of me and they aren't big thrill ride people either. I can also get motion sickness in a car so why would I pay to intentionally feel like barfing?
One of my memories is having the carnival come to town when I was in High School and having to be there because I was in the band and we ran a concession stand. There was a ride called the Zipper which I wouldn't have ridden if you had a gun to my head, but there was this boy. You know how stupid you can be when a boy is involved. I wanted to be with him and so of course I climbed into one of the cages of death and allowed myself to be hurled at the ground over and over to show that I was cool and that I liked him. That experience didn't go too bad. I screamed the whole time and the adrenaline rush was such that I didn't hurl. I felt so good about it that I agreed to go on the Octopus. It was a ride which spun round and round while you spun round and round in a cart. I barely made it off that ride without tossing my enchiladas all over him. Ah...youth.
When my husband and I were first married, we went to Dallas for our honeymoon. My friend took us to Six Flags over Texas. I was thrilled to be a "grownup" and on my own and was obviously feeling full of myself because when we got in line for the log flume and the line split to go to the Texas Giant, I agreed that it was something that I needed to experience. I figured I needed to get this over with so that I could always tell my children that Mommy had ridden the #1 wooden roller coaster in the world (in 1999) with an impressive drop of 79 degrees from 147 feet. Now, remember I hate roller coasters AND am terrified of heights. We ride this thing and at that time I was actually skinny and kept slipping under the bar that was supposed to keep us in. My husband tells me that the picture they snapped of us "enjoying" the ride consisted of him smiling big and me looking close to death. After riding it, I cried all night long.
My final foray into these confidence killers was at Disneyland. They had just created California Screamin and it looked like a pretty cool roller coaster. I didn't want my second oldest to be frightened of these things just because of me and so agreed to ride it with her. We finally get up to the cars and climb in. We make the first hill no problem and then after we climb up to the second hill the roller coaster stops DEAD. I'm thinking it's part of the ride and then figure out that no, we are stuck at the top of this thing. I'm trying really hard to keep my composure and not show my daughter how scared I am, but it's not working too well. Finally, someone climbs the stairs up to where we are and promptly clips himself to a bar and informs us that we need to climb down. WHAT? Where's my clippy thingy dude? We did eventually make it down the stairs and to the ground and I can honestly say that it was the last time I've felt the desire or need to ride one of these babies.
One of the great things about all this is that my shy daughter loves these rides and my outgoing daughter is reluctant to go on them. You just never know.
Do you love the thrill of the ride or are you a scaredy cat like me?
Crazed Momma
I have usually written about things that I am crazy or passionate about because of the nature of my blog. This post is about something that I am NOT crazy about. Namely, roller coasters or thrill rides. The reason this has been on my mind of course is because it's summer people and it's a time for carnivals and of course rides that you wouldn't normally put your children on or in but for some strange reason we place the little darlings in their respective seat and buckle them in and tell them to have fun! You can imagine that they are thinking, "What in the world? This woman won't even let me cross the street."
My thrill ride experiences have been few and far between mostly because my parents have always been very protective of me and they aren't big thrill ride people either. I can also get motion sickness in a car so why would I pay to intentionally feel like barfing?
One of my memories is having the carnival come to town when I was in High School and having to be there because I was in the band and we ran a concession stand. There was a ride called the Zipper which I wouldn't have ridden if you had a gun to my head, but there was this boy. You know how stupid you can be when a boy is involved. I wanted to be with him and so of course I climbed into one of the cages of death and allowed myself to be hurled at the ground over and over to show that I was cool and that I liked him. That experience didn't go too bad. I screamed the whole time and the adrenaline rush was such that I didn't hurl. I felt so good about it that I agreed to go on the Octopus. It was a ride which spun round and round while you spun round and round in a cart. I barely made it off that ride without tossing my enchiladas all over him. Ah...youth.
When my husband and I were first married, we went to Dallas for our honeymoon. My friend took us to Six Flags over Texas. I was thrilled to be a "grownup" and on my own and was obviously feeling full of myself because when we got in line for the log flume and the line split to go to the Texas Giant, I agreed that it was something that I needed to experience. I figured I needed to get this over with so that I could always tell my children that Mommy had ridden the #1 wooden roller coaster in the world (in 1999) with an impressive drop of 79 degrees from 147 feet. Now, remember I hate roller coasters AND am terrified of heights. We ride this thing and at that time I was actually skinny and kept slipping under the bar that was supposed to keep us in. My husband tells me that the picture they snapped of us "enjoying" the ride consisted of him smiling big and me looking close to death. After riding it, I cried all night long.
My final foray into these confidence killers was at Disneyland. They had just created California Screamin and it looked like a pretty cool roller coaster. I didn't want my second oldest to be frightened of these things just because of me and so agreed to ride it with her. We finally get up to the cars and climb in. We make the first hill no problem and then after we climb up to the second hill the roller coaster stops DEAD. I'm thinking it's part of the ride and then figure out that no, we are stuck at the top of this thing. I'm trying really hard to keep my composure and not show my daughter how scared I am, but it's not working too well. Finally, someone climbs the stairs up to where we are and promptly clips himself to a bar and informs us that we need to climb down. WHAT? Where's my clippy thingy dude? We did eventually make it down the stairs and to the ground and I can honestly say that it was the last time I've felt the desire or need to ride one of these babies.
One of the great things about all this is that my shy daughter loves these rides and my outgoing daughter is reluctant to go on them. You just never know.
Do you love the thrill of the ride or are you a scaredy cat like me?
The Texas Giant
I'm with you. Death traps!:)
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