Saturday Laura’s Venture Crew group spent the entire day at
Cedar Point. Her bestie, Victoria, went with her. The band marched the night
before; they went to bed “lateish” and left for the day about nine a.m. I
smiled and closed the door behind them.
Cedar Point bills itself the roller coaster capital of the
world. I checked it on the internet, and find the only roller coaster I ever
rode, the Blue Streak, remains in service. I rode it in 1964, the year it
opened. We stood in line for hours; it was the fastest on the planet and
everyone wanted the ride. The ride lasts 1:45 minutes. The drop is 72 feet, the
speed 40 mph.
Laura rated it OK. “It wouldn’t scare you, Grandma.” The ride is
seated. Her pick is a suspended ride, all body parts flying as you drop 200
feet at 75 mph, for going on three minutes.
I didn’t tell her I rode the Blue Streak, in the dark ages,
before I was married, before I had children.
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| "You can see Lake Erie and Canada!" |
I knew her car of kids was leaving at midnight, the end of
the end. I woke at 2:55 a.m. and looked in Laura’s room. Empty. No news is good
news; plenty of sensible adults on hand; I went back to bed. The front door
opened before I was asleep again.
All the adventure tumbled out in the morning. “Thank you for
letting us go!” This amused me. Why wouldn’t I? “You might sit all day by the
gate and wait for us!” When pigs fly. “There were old people there with white
hair. I wonder if they just rode the carousel?”
It was a Halloween scary thriller weekend at the park. Laura
loves “terror.” “It’s not real and can’t hurt me.” Victoria is terrified of
being terrified. She stuck for every ride but one. I love that girl.
I was back at Cedar Point with friends and family in the
seventies. Everyone was aboard the Blue Streak, except mom and me, comfortably
settled on a bench in the sun.
“I rode the Blue Streak once, before Jim and I were married,”
I observed.
“I rode a roller coaster once, too,” Mom offered.
“In the delivery room all I could think was ‘This is exactly
like riding the roller coaster.’”
“Exactly what I thought,” Mom observed.
The ride ended and everyone got back in line, to wait
another turn. Mom and I wandered off for Sno-Cones.
Yes! I, too, only needed to ride a roller coaster one time. That was enough for a lifetime. Mine was in south Houston about 1960. Never was I tempted to do it again. Watched daughters--- and Old Man in his sixties!--- ride the Shock Wave(upside down!) years later. For me, I get enough frights driving on the highways. There is no need to seek and pay for getting a fright!
ReplyDeleteI hate roller coasters....but I learned a valuable lesson, that it's a true fear of falling off; because I've done those 'rooms' where the seats move and the giant screen simulates a roller coaster, and I have no problem with that, knowing I'm buckled in and the floor is 2 feet below me. LOL
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDelete&*> oh this one has me grinning from 'ere to there! You would never ever, nor ever will, find me anywhere near any such ride. Flying, fine; being hurtled at all angles, not at all. The ghost train though - that might be one thing I'd do. If pushed to it... YAM xx
I rode one when I was like 8 and it didn't scare me too badly, but never again. A few years ago I accidentally got on one at Disney World (could have opted out when I realized what it was but decided to man up) it was basically a sissy ride more for little kids than their parents...it scared the crap outta me!
ReplyDeleteI adore roller coasters and carousels. Ferris wheels actually scare me the most, but I kind of enjoy that scary thrill, too. RnR is right about driving though - the driving to get there is probably the real danger.
ReplyDeleteThere are some things you only need to do once.
ReplyDeleteIt is so funny that you and your mother both rode a roller coaster one time. Me too! Once was more than sufficient. My grandchildren go to Halloween at Cedar Point every year. Lord knows why.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have roller coaster rides anywhere near us, so I never had the chance. But I loved the Ferris Wheel. I think it's a lot tamer, though :)
ReplyDeleteP. S. Childbirth seemed to me more like someone was tearing me apart with their bare hands :)
ReplyDeleteI loved the roller coaster at Pontchartrain Beach in New Orleans when I was young. But after riding the one at Disney World with my kids years later (Space Mountain maybe?), I never rode one again. Speed is no longer my friend.
ReplyDeleteWhat goes around comes around.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful to see all this again through the eyes of a kid??
ReplyDeleteI'm with you for roller coasters, Joanne. Once is enough!
ReplyDelete"old people there with white hair" - oh that's just kids dressing up as old people for Halloween. Turning old is scary.
ReplyDeleteI remember my last roller coaster ride and I thought if I ever get off of this thing, I'll never ride another. Period.
ReplyDeleteLabor and delivery really is like riding a roller coaster. I know exactly what you mean.
ReplyDeleteNever ridden a roller coaster. Or had children. One of them I regret.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with the fact that you could go back to sleep in the middle of the night when Laura was still MIA.
ReplyDeleteI have never ridden a roller coaster and never wanted to, I'm not the thrill seeker type, but my kids and I share Laura's view of terror and we happily all sat through horror movie nights on TV even when they were very young.
ReplyDeleteI like your 'no news is good news' attitude to Laura coming home late. I was the same while hubby checked clocks and door every five minutes.
Our Blue Streak used to go at about 400 miles per hour and kill people. Does yours?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy it while you're young. I was happy in an amusement until I hit ~40.
ReplyDeleteI used to love to be scared when I was young. Now that I am old, I am always scared.
ReplyDeleteSounded like a fun time for Laura and her friends. She was brave to ride that one ride; never even in my youth would I have attempted it.
ReplyDeletebetty
I am scared of roller coaster when i was young. But now a days i have not tried one...
ReplyDeleteI love roller coasters though I haven't been on one in years. my favorite is/was Greased Lightning. Very short ride, you shot off the starting line at high speed, did a complete loop, and then repeated it in reverse.
ReplyDeleteI like my feet planted on the ground! My 13 year old grandson agrees with me, he is up front with his friends and tells them "Just so you know, I don't do roller coasters." He is Gramma's favorite.
ReplyDeleteWould you ride a roller coaster now, Joanne? I don't know why but I get nauseous on rides now. I used to enjoy them when I was a kid. So childbirth is like a roller coaster...I never thought of that but I get it.
ReplyDeleteNo, my park riding days are over. Ever since I rode the roller coaster. For the record, my second baby was anterior. Now, that will change your opinion of childbirth.
DeleteOh , no ! Even watching people wirling round and and round on a carousel turns me green ...
ReplyDelete