Love Rollercoaster

I am a week behind in the blogging once a week plan, but no one noticed probably. Moving on! This has been an exciting and unprecedented (pun intended) week. Last Tuesday I voted for all winners. Initially I was quite disappointed that my Tuesday improv class was still a go on election night. Therefore, to have an election party I would have to sacrifice class. Needless to say, I didn't have an election party. Well, I guess I did have quite a small one, after I got home, by myself whooping at the TV for a minute before going to bed. Not quite as good as the George Bush piñata from last time, but I'll take it for a good result.

That was certainly the highlight of my two weeks, even trumping making my first pumpkin pie entirely from scratch. That was an amazing experience that took almost the entire day and most of my sanity. The result though, was scrumptious, I must say.

So, I will tell you of my recent first foray into the world of roller coaster riding. My childhood vacations were filled with museums, historical houses, and cemeteries (for real). Despite the massive boredom I felt at times, these vacations hold a special place in my heart and still impact my traveling habits of today. (aka made me a huge nerd whom now enjoys said museums and historical houses). On these family vacations at least one day would be set aside for a typical vacation day at a beach or an amusement park. These days were the highlight for the younger me, of course. Despite this, I had never ridden an upsidedowny roller coaster before this year. Yes, I am 29. I'd been on wooden ones but never taken the 0.0002 second plunge into invertedness. (Yes, that's a word, as is upsidedowny). I guess this is because I am a huge nerd and a huge pansy. I was the happy coat and purse holder, maintaining a safe distance from the potential falling debris and puke zones of these monster coasters.

But last month, while visiting friends in Tennessee, we went to Dollywood. I loved this park, it is full on Americana and isn't too huge and has trees, and I just really liked it. Not to mention the company. The only drawback I found was that everywhere we went there was an opportunity to have your picture taken and then sold to you. Literally it is taken when you enter the park, then you can buy it on a key chain. Stand in front of this train, then get it on a t-shirt. And of course, ride this terrifying ride and buy your ridiculous face on a mug.

Something really possessed me there in Dollywood. Without too much encouragement, I got on my first, second, and third upsidedowny rollercoasters. Influenced by trustworthy friends, extremely short lines and the unfailing desire to get my money's worth out of things, I went blindly forth into the invertedness. I must say, those rides are awesome! So fast and so smooth, you don't even know what horrors await you until they're already over (most of the time). My friend did coerced me into get on the eagle ride there. This is upsidedowny and feet-dangly and I wasn't totally convinced of it at all. But, I waited in line and finally we got in the seats. I did enjoy how secure I felt, and that the seatbelt configuration actually tightened more if you breathed out too much. We were just settled in and ready to go when everything stopped and my friend said 'Hmm, someone up there is wearing medical gloves.' 'Oh, it looks like someone got sick.' 'Oh, they did! Just now!' We watched over the heads in front of us as some poor kid was escorted away after throwing up all over his seat before we even went anywhere. I was horrified to say the least. What if he had held on another minute? We could have been splattered! And what about those people waiting to get in the seat that just got covered in puke? Ew!

There must have been some kind of protocol for it, as it took 20 minutes to clean up. Then again, my only experience is at the fair when the carnies just hose the seat down, run the ride a couple of times, and it's good to go. The ride was great, even though I rode the whole way with my legs tucked under me as if none of the designers had measured the average human leg length and mine would be the exact length to take out a tree somewhere.
I'd ride it again, now that I am a proper, card holding upsidedowy rollercoaster rider.