Other Fun Stuff

Roller coasters , , , Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, , I LOVE Them. I've ridden every coaster at every park I've ever been at. And I even found a new, for me, experience at the Six-Flags over Georgia this past fall. Called the "Dare-Devil-Drop" or something like that, it was an incredible ride. After being rigged into a harness similar to those used hanggliding you're attached to (hung from) a pair of steel cables and then a third cable connects you to a tower behind you. Once you're ready, which better be quickly, the cable behind you is reeled in pulling you up to the top of the tower behind you, and about 110 feet off the ground. You can see the supporting cables draped in front of you with a slight droop in them, , , , then, , , you hear from a speaker behind you, , "Flyer Ready? 3 , , 2 , , 1 , , FLY ! ! ! now you pull a small ripcord, like a parachute, and WHEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee . . . . . .

The first 1/2 second as you fall the cables tension and straighten, so though you're not really in free fall you do experience a momentary weightless sensation and then you swing in a Huge arc up and over the park. I think the top speed from that height is about 55 mph, but doing 55mph hanging form a cable a few feet above the ground?? *sigh* Well worth the extra few dollars it cost to take that ride. If you do it a few times you learn that you can direct the way you face as you swing back and forth in an arc and get the feeling of flying. . Now I'm looking for a park with a higher version of the same thing. If you've experienced one of these please shoot me an e-mail of where to do it. I'd like to find one 250 feet or higher.

Finally got my son to be interested in roller coasters too. Now I have a buddy to ride with, and he insists on riding the front seat, , heheh I love that kid.   "But honey, , he said we HAD to wait in the line for the front seats, , I wouldn't want to disappoint him would I?"  hehehehhehe. He used to try one roller coaster per park, but he bragged once too often about being fearless and then after really trying the faster coasters he fell in love with them. Our most frequent park to visit is Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida, since it's the closest. But we travel often enough and far enough that no park is out of the question to be invaded. We're not much into the older rattle your bones and shake your fillings out kind of coasters, but the smoothness and acceleration of the more modern designs keep it fun enough. And we do ride the old ones too just so we can brag we rode them all.

One of my ways to keep myself amused and out of serious trouble is by writing. Some humor, poetry, fiction, short stories, and working on a novel length SF novel. Maybe one day I'll work up the nerve to send some of it to a publisher and find out how bad it really is. Then again, most of my writing is for my own personal amusement and entertainment, so I may not publish, or try to publish. After all, if I keep it to myself, or share it with a few friends, it's much less likely to have to deal with the rejection notices. *g* I get enough mail as it is, why generate more with mail I wouldn't want anyway?? *chuckle* At some future point I'll have a page with some of my humor and poetry, if you're a glutton for the written abuse of the English language, feel free to visit that area. I'll set a link to those pages from here when I get around to writing them.