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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Vacation Tales Part I: Peace to my Stomach 

We took a couple of days off at the end of the week to head down to Williamsburg with some friends. We spent a day and a half at Busch Gardens (a big amusement park) and a day at Water Country USA (a big water park). It was one of those vacations that isn't really relaxing. We came home feeling a bit more tired than we felt when we left, but we also felt happier. It was great to spend so much continuous time with my girls.

Rather than a big long travel-log, I think I'll make a series of short posts over the next few days about a few of the more interesting events and thoughts related to the trip.

The first thought is my admission that I am not a big fan of big roller coasters. I'm quite fine with medium-sized roller coasters and even medium-big-sized roller coasters. But the ones that advertise themselves as the most death defying things ever just aren't for me.

There was one ride at Busch Gardens that I categorically refused to go on, even though the other adults in the party wanted nothing more than to ride it time and time again: the Griffon. I took one look at the 90-degree drop and knew I didn't need to have anything to do with this ride.



I'm not scared of big big roller coasters. I don't think I'm going to die or anything. I just know that they're going to make me feel feelings that I don't like. Once, back in my single days, when I was interning in L.A., I was trying to impress a girl and took her to Knott's Berry Farm. She wanted to go on the big free-fall ride they have, and I acquiesced, hoping that some relationship-related good would come out of it. Well, things never really worked out with her, and I've been regretting the decision to follow her on that ride ever since. I'm not so sure the few dates we went on after that point were worth the gut-wrenching feeling I felt at that moment as I hurtled downward and left my stomach at the top of the ride.

So not going on the Griffon was an easy choice for me. The girl I'm in now love with is already impressed with me, and I can still be assured of payoff in this relationship whether I do it or not. Shelly loved the Griffon. More power to her. I helped watch all the kids, and pointed up at the screaming people and told Ellie that "Those people are crazy."

And, for the record, I went on every other roller coaster they had there, and loved them all. I even loved the twisty, loopy, flingy Alpengeist more than Shelly did.


# Posted by Matt Astle at 11:44 PM

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