Monday, March 28, 2016

Six Flags Rainy Adventure


A lack of blog posts generally means I'm away from home, and with Spring Break upon us, that's most certainly the case.  I added my first new US state in several years to my list of places I've visited:  Alabama!  We're in the Northeast corner and right in the heart of some really great mountainous territory.  I don't think of mountains when I think of Alabama, so consider me impressed!

We spent yesterday at Six Flags Over Georgia, an amusement park I had never visited.  Like most of the Six Flags parks, it looks a little run down.  There is some new construction going on, and it looks like they're trying to spruce it up, but it really needs some work.  When I go to parks like Busch Gardens, where everything looked new and beautiful, I'm a bit taken aback by how badly Six Flags looks in comparison.  And the employees don't seem to care.  I hope I'm wrong, but the attitude I see is not exactly towards customer service and safety.  Anyway, it was an overcast day, and rains were expected.  We rode some pretty great coasters before then, like the Georgia Scorcher, a standup coaster, which wasn't as beat up as others that have recently bit the dust (like Shockwave at Kings Dominion).  We rode a beat up looking Mindbender, which was actually kind of fun, and Batman the Ride, a suspended track coaster, which surprisingly got in the first row.  Goliath was a lot of fun, the park's hyper coaster (over 200' drop).


We ate lunch at a pizza place, and this is where Six Flags loses so many points with me:  their food is lousy.  I've never eaten anything at a Six Flags park that I would call tasty.  And it's expensive!  $25 for 2 measly slices of cheese pizza (because they didn't even have any specialty pizzas already made -- with no apologies!), fries, and two 8 oz "large" sodas.  And it was awful.


We rode the Monster Mansion, which was a ride-thru boat ride, then continued thru the park.  We saw a Wild West Shootout comedy show while we ate some ice cream, then the rains came.  We passed Ninja, which is receiving extensive rehabilitation and is not operating, and hopped on the Great American Scream Machine, a monstrous wooden coaster that really ended up being a highlight of the day.  Despite being pelleted by rain, and getting thoroughly soaked, we had a two great rides!


However, the rains became too great. Superman was already shutdown for the day, we just missed the last mine train coaster before it closed, and the same happened with Georgia's Cyclone.  The park was sparsely attended to begin with, but with the rains not expected to end until overnight, we called it a day.  At least we got five new coasters crossed off our list.  And we created a memory, which is more important than anything else.

I love traveling with my wonderful daughter, and am so thankful for the opportunity to spend time with her doing something we both love to do.  God blesses us every single moment of every single day!

Have a wonderful Easter, everyone!




Monday, March 21, 2016

Weekend Getaway



Williamsburg in the Spring can be beautiful, though the threat of snow might diminish that just a bit.  We had a great time, anyway.

It was opening weekend at Busch Gardens, and since it's our favorite park, we were excited to be there.  It also was our first amusement park visit since we became card-carrying members of ACE, the American Coaster Enthusiasts.  We had a fantastic time hanging with some really great people, all of whom have a passion for riding roller coasters.

We also got the scoop on Busch Garden's big announcement regarding a first for the park:  a new wooden coaster!
It will be built in the New France part of the park for 2017, and will feature a Viking theme.  There's also a naming contest at the BG website... https://seaworldparks.com/buschgardens-williamsburg/pages/project2017?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=bgw.31416.project2017home&m=1

Anyway, it was a great weekend!

Have a great week, everyone!


Sunday, March 13, 2016

Tomorrow is Pi Day

Tomorrow is Pi Day.  You know, 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286 208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481 117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233 786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006 606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146 951941511609433057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548074462379962749 567351885752724891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946395224737190 702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827 785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923 542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049 951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035261931188171010 003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303598253490428755468731159562863882 353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198938095257201 065485863278865936153381827968... well, I could keep this up all day.  Pi Day will begin on March 14, at 1:59 p.m. (3.14159).  My office has a tradition of celebrating Pi Day each year by having a pie cook-off.  It's a lot of fun, and we usually have about a dozen different pies to try, with voting determining which pie is the best, and the pie chef who wins is the Pi King or Queen for this year.

Last year, Pi Day was on a Saturday, so the office celebrated on the day before.  This year we get to celebrate on the actual day.  On March 14 last year, I made a couple of very hastily prepared chocolate cream pies made with instant chocolate pudding and Redi Whip whipped cream to celebrate at home.  My daughter was very excited and surprised, and we had a nice time celebrating for really no reason at all.  And isn't that how life ought to be?

Have a great evening, everyone!


Thursday, March 10, 2016

A Top Down Kind Of Day


Today became one of those really difficult, too-much-to-do-and-frustrated-about-it kind of days.  And when the stress gets to be too much, two things occur:  I turn it over to the Lord, and I put the top down and forget about the bad stuff.  Given my struggles with health issues, it's almost mandatory that I find a way to stave off the stress.  Driving home on a beautiful day is one way to mitigate those struggles.  And today was beautiful!

Have a great evening, everyone!

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Lady Terps B1G Champs!


One week ago tonight, my daughter and I attended the Maryland Terrapins Women's Basketball Team's Senior Night, at XFINITY Center at the University of Maryland, in College Park.  It was a great night, and the Terps beat a clearly overmatched Minnesota Golden Gophers team.  We had a great time, and it was clear to us the Terps had a special team.  They went into the Big Ten Tournament over the past half week and played really well.  Today was the championship game, and the #5 nationally ranked Terps soundly defeated a Michigan State team that had beaten them twice this year, winning their second straight Big Ten Championship.  The victory may give the Terps a #1 seeding in the NCAA Tournament games coming up in the next few weeks.  They are a clear Final Four team, and we're hoping that they do well.  Well enough to, maybe, bring home another National Championship.  Congratulations, Lady Terps, the 2016 Big Ten Champions!

Have a great evening, everyone!

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Winter's Last Gasp


Winter gave us one last gasp yesterday, and it was a beautiful way to end.  I love the snow, and while we certainly got plenty this winter, it didn't seem like enough.


With 70 degree days coming next week, it appears we will be coming up to serious traveling season.  And 2016 promises to be filled with road trips.  The wanderlust has hit me hard, and I'm making plans for plenty of opportunities.  I promised my daughter that she would see all 50 US states by the time she reaches her 18th birthday, and after this summer, she'll be at 43 (I'll be at 46).  The only states we'll have left are North Dakota, Idaho, Alaska, and Hawaii (both of us), plus Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington (her).  One big trip to the Northwest will take care of most of them.  Maybe next year.  And I still want to take that Alaskan road trip.  And I have to figure out how to take that road trip to Hawaii...

Have a great weekend, everyone!