There are so many different ways I might have liked to title this post. I went with #11, because it is, in great part, about our 11th anniversary! Wow... 10 seemed like a big number last summer, but 11 seems just... wow... It's not at all that it feels as if we've been married "forever" as in this seems to go on and on and I'm getting tired of it. No, that's not it at all! 11 just seems like a
really big number, because everyone thought the odds were kind of stacked against us from the beginning, and even though we have gone through some outrageously adverse life situations, we're still together. And we always will be... first and foremost, because we love each other deeply... always have... All these years later, I still hold fast to the belief that God put us here for each other. Yeah... that's good. It just wouldn't have lasted with anybody else...
So what do you do for an 11th anniversary? Well... to tell you the truth, I don't know what the protocol is! When we first got married, I kind of had in mind that you should do something special for the 10th anniversary, and I figured we might take a trip of sorts. However, as anniversary #10 rolled around, it became increasingly obvious to us that this just wasn't going to happen, because anything we did was going to have to include a nursing baby in tow! After much thought (but not too much), we decided to wait another year... And so we did...
As we tossed around options about what we might do, only a few things really stood out. And, since we still can't really afford to fly across the ocean in order to take a ride in a gondola, we were just a bit limited... We narrowed it down to a couple of options, and in the end, Cedar Point won out! Please... if you feel the need to laugh now, go ahead. It won't hurt my feelings. CP was a very special place to us during our dating years, and even though I'm getting old, I am still an adrenaline junkie! It was the perfect choice...
We stayed at Castaway Bay, the last of the major indoor waterparks located in Sandusky that we had not yet visited. The accommodations we very nice, including a waterside view and a TV that broadcast more than DVDs and videos (see previous post), so I was able to catch some Olympic moments without being out to all hours of the night!
We spent our first day at Soak City, enjoying the raging river, the wave pool, and a few slides. I took the opportunity to slip down a body slide, because it has been quite some time since I last rode one, and I wanted to prep myself for "dolphin plunge" in the fall. I do not usually care for body slides, as I hate going under the water at the end and filling my nose... and then consequently my throat with H2O instead of oxygen! Ironically, I enjoyed this particular body slide more than most, and it was Phil who came up looking for air. I thought about riding another one but figured why spoil the experience! We returned to Castaway Bay in the late afternoon and decided to stay there for the evening instead of using our CP starlight tickets. We ate at the TGIFridays that is connected to the hotel and were less than satisfied, but it was OK. Unfortunately, TGIFridays tends to disappoint more often than not as of late. Then, we went to the Castaway Bay waterpark, which was very nice. We enjoyed another wave pool, where we tried to do a little body surfing. Phil did much, much better than I did, which is to be expected since I have absolutely no athletic ability and little balance or depth perception! It was still great fun trying. We also rode a water coater for the first time and relaxed in the hot tub.
On Saturday morning (our actual anniversary), we headed straight for Cedar Point and were admitted one hour early, since we were resort guests! I began the day with 3 rides left that I had never ridden at CP. I have been trying to "conquer the park" for many years, but every time I get close they build something new, and I miss a season, or I am only there with the kiddos, so there were just a few that I was missing. We made a beeline for Millennium Force, and after less that 15 minutes in line knocked that number down to 2! I have to say, that was a great coaster! The lift hill seems like it will never end, and it's not much different on the way down... except it's faster! I kept my arms up most of the way, but you'll notice in the picture that they are on their way down. I have a bit of an aversion to keeping my arms up in tunnels, but if I'd known the pic. was coming, I'd have left them up. Of course, I have the classic Lisa on a roller coater look, because I am trying to avoid having the wind knocked out of me. It works. I just always look like I am going to blow chunks! Phil looks like he is analyzing the ride, which I found pretty humorous! The only drawback was that when we went to view our pic., it was initially unavailable, because someone behind us apparently made an inappropriate gesture. Why do people do that? At any rate, they were able to crop it and sell it to us, which is good, because if they hadn't we were getting right back in line! Here we are:
From there, we headed toward Frontier Town, where we took a second spin on Maverick. Last summer we came off the coaster absolutely raving. Although it is still going to rank in my top 5, our experience was not as smooth this time around. Tip: keep your head back! The Maverick pic. was seriously almost identical to the one from last year, except I was trying to give Phil a high 5 in the second shot, but he didn't know it. We didn't buy that one! We then walked on to Sky Hawk, which doesn't always have a really long line, but I have never seen it like this. I absolutely loved it! The sensation is basically the same as a pirate boat ride, but it is much bigger, and there is nothing in front of you. And with that, I sliced my ride list to 1!
A quick trip on the Mine Ride, and then, feeling as if our limits had already been tested for the morning, we decided to eat lunch. We had Chick-Fil-A, which is, of course, comparable to a "contemporary classic" for us. I'll let you think on that one if you really want to... After filling up with lots and lots of ice water, we decided to ride the train... and then we decided to ride it back... and at this point, I think we realized that we'd better get off while we had the chance, or we might just ride the train for the rest of the day as a good friend did once...
We jumped on the Gemini, which is still the greatest ride in the park, and I will likely continue to say this until the day they tear it down. It seems as though most CP patrons have completely lost the nostalgia for slapping high fives as the two trains pass, but our blue train was so far out in the lead for the entire race, start to finish, that it would have been difficult to reach anyone on the red train from our front seat! As I board the Gemini, I often remember the days when I was a kid at CP and the fact that Gemini was the largest coaster in the world
(and I would never have dreamed of getting on it)! Ah... how the times have changed!
From there we took a spin on Magnum, an old friend that I had not boarded in over a decade. In fact, I had only ridden Magnum that one other time... with my eyes closed all the way! What a difference 10+ years makes! We bought the pic., as we thought it was a nice update... hands up, eyes open, front seat:
Enough intense riding for the moment, I dragged Phil to Paddlewheel Excursions, where we waited in line for quite a while... hehehe... who would've thought? At about this time, Phil mentioned that he hadn't seen Top Thrill Dragster running all day. Funny, I thought... neither had I. Now, the "I have to conquer the park" side of me felt mildly disappointed. I mean... of all the days! I think it is accurate that we visited CP 11 times last summer, so we must have watched the Dragster rise and fall on at least a billion occasions! And here we finally have the opportunity to ride it, and it's not running? Ugh... On the other hand, the "I'm scared out of my mind when I even thing about getting on that thing" side of me was mildly relieved, I hate to admit... Just about then, up went the Dragster... empty... and back down it came, on the wrong side of the track. Then, up it went again, loaded, and down it came just fine. And after that... nothing... We continued to wait, rode Paddlewheel, endured all of the stupid jokes, and got off... all with no movement on TTD.
Since I was getting tired of carrying pictures around, and it was pretty hot, making air conditioning sound appealing, we rode the Sky Ride and went out to the parking lot in search of some relief in the car. And search is the key word here. We couldn't remember where we parked! After walking around together for a few minutes, Phil climbed up on the back of a truck, and I kept walking around. To tell you the truth, I was feeling a bit disoriented, anyway, having hit my head on the Sky Ride on the way out and then standing around in the heat. Thankfully, Phil finally found the car and called for me, and after a few minutes I felt better having cooled down!
Ready for some more riding, we re-entered the park, jumped back on the Sky Ride, and checked out the lines for Iron Dragon and Mantis. Both of them were quite long, and we decided not to wait. We walked over to Power Tower and took a quick ride on the up side. This is always fun, and is one of Phil's favorite rides. It was a little odd this time, however, as the guy to my left was scared out of his mind, and the guy to his left was singing... Can't say I've ever experienced that before...
When we exited the ride, a bit of courage overtook me, and since I had seen Dragster go a couple of times more, I started to walk toward the entrance. Phil asked me what I was doing, and I simply told him, "It's time!" We waited outside the line entrance for a few minutes, because they weren't letting anybody in. I think they were trying to determine if Dragster was going to continue to run or not. Eventually, they opened the entrance. So... we stood in the heat, as a few rides went. And then there was a delay, and we couldn't hear what the ride operator was saying, but we decided that we were already in line, so we might as well wait it out. Over the next 10-15 minutes, quite a few people left the line, and we slowly and steadily moved forward (but not into the shade). Finally, the ride operator announced that they were going to load the next set of trains! We cheered along with everyone else on the platform. After waiting a few more turns, we were finally seated on TTD! And the rest is history, my friends! The ride was awesome. The take off was like nothing I've ever felt before... as we crested the hill, the view was amazing (even without my glasses, which were stuffed in my underwear... uh... TMI... very long story...), and I started screaming, "We're on top! We're on top!" actually before we even got there. I threw my arms up near the end, so it would look like I was really cool in the pic... hehehe... couldn't let myself get away with that! At the end of the ride, I was just screaming about how I had ridden every ride in the park, and maybe everybody thought I was nuts, but I don't really care. The experience was amazing! Here it is on film:
Phil mentioned later that even though my quest to conquer the park is only representative of a few pieces of metal situated on an island somewhere on the face of the planet, it is rare that you actually get to complete something in life. And it may sound silly to some, but this was a real accomplishment for me. I'm proud. And... I would definitely ride it again...
Buy the way... the ride operator was "awesome man"... Yeah... you really had to be there...
After this experience, I'm not sure we really cared what we did next. We rode the Sky Ride again! We ate at Midway Market Buffet, which I would not recommend to my friends... or maybe even my enemies... Not worth the money, but we had coupons, so we only paid $5.00 total... including tip!
Then we did some shopping! And let me tell ya something... I almost never buy anything at CP! I bought a postcard (to scrapbook) and a Coaster Challenge Check-Off T-Shirt (which doesn't even list all of the coasters, but that's another story in itself! We took the Sky Ride (if you've been counting this is time number 4, which is rather amazing, since traditionally I hate the Sky Ride) to the middle of the park, where I also bought a set of Peanuts glasses, which are really cute and weren't too expensive, and we got some bubble wands for the kids.
After that, we walked up near the front of the park and hung out at the arcade for a bit. Phil played Cyclone (an arcade game at which he excels... oh the memories... hehehe...) and won over 200 tickets on the first hit! We played a few other games and had our pics. taken in the photo booth (see beginning of post). Phil redeemed his tickets for a Maverick mug that is pretty cool! Then we took all of our souvenirs out to the car (which was not nearly so hard to find this time around).
And now I am getting confused about when we rode the Sky Ride and when we didn't. Perhaps we hadn't yet ridden it 4 times... or maybe we rode it again for time #5... or maybe we didn't ride it at all, but we decided to check out the lines for Mantis and Iron Dragon again and found that they were still just too long for our liking!
So we headed for Raptor, which was a very nice ride at dusk, just as it always is. They don't take pictures on Raptor anymore... or if they do, they don't show them at the end of the ride. Instead, there is a DVD. We hammed it up, but you only get to see a few seconds of your video when you exit... unless you want to put out 20 bucks for it, which we didn't!
And now, having ridden most of what we wanted to ride, and feeling sort of sleepy, I went in search of frozen lemonade... because it is oh so good! Unfortunately, when I ordered it at my usual lemonade stop, I was given a rather average looking, not frozen at all, cup of lemonade, which I refused! I decided that a frozen cherry fruit drink would do, but at the next stop, the cherry wasn't frozen... only blue raspberry... yuck! Stop number 3... just kiwi and strawberry! Does it never end? Finally, at stop number 4, I got my frozen cherry drink, which was delicious... In fact, so delicious that even Phil wanted a couple of sips!
To finish off our day, we waited in line for the Giant Wheel. Who doesn't want to ride the ferris wheel at night, right? It was a wonderful ride, and I always like to look out over the lake and then back at the park and to marvel at the wonder of everything God has made and everything He has also allowed us to create for enjoyment!
We left the park around 9:45, and went back to Castaway Bay...
The next morning, we woke up on the late side and decided to give the Castaway Bay waterpark one more shot. We rode the water coaster again, splashed around in the wave pool some more, and ended up in the hot tub. We did just a little bit of shopping in the gift shops and then decided that even though we had tickets left to use, it would be better to start our return journey and to take it slow. After all, we had a wonderful time at CP, so why blow it! We managed to get through a whole day without any whining or screaming (well... except on the coasters, of course), and that is unusual, because remember we have four little people who are typically tagging along, but the truth is, we did our share of fighting at CP
before we had the kids, so it really was a remarkable day... hehehe!
We took our time, stopping to shop and see a few trains along the way. Eventually, we ended up in Findlay, where we had dinner at Cheddars. I love Cheddars.
We arrived home around 7:30, in time to see the kids (and Grandma and Grandpa) and tell them about our trip before bed time.
Ah... It was a wonderful weekend!
Lisa
Lisa
