Cedar Point Fix

Eric and I headed out to Ohio this week with our friends Joe and Greg. We met Brian in Cleveland on Wednesday evening for the night before heading to Cedar Point Thursday morning. I always grumble about waiting in lines and we timed the trip fairly well to avoid that. Thursday was cloudy and a little dismal looking which kept the amusement park fairly uncrowded. Eric is a BIG roller coaster fan, so we were there to check out the new coaster - Maverick, along with some of Cedar Point's classics - including Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster. I had apprehensions about The Dragster. After all, it kept breaking down during our last trip. I thought that was a bad sign. However, Friday morning - we entered the park early and got in line quickly for the scary ride and took a spin. Interesting to say the least. I will say from the trip i learned that I do not believe i come from a family of adrenaline seekers. In fact, I think that rush everyone likes so much - just makes me sick. I did like some of the other coasters however. The new coaster Maverick was different and I liked it quite a bit. We skipped the Power Tower this year and tried the Mean Streak coaster. The Mean Streak is a very large traditional coaster and it was indeed very mean. Basically a violent thrashing and bashing ride that leaved you bruised and with a large headache. It was my first and last ride on it. I always like the Magnum and the Gemini as well.

Eric and I finished the night with a ride on the The Raptor. The ride has cameras installed in every seat - so we bought this snippet of us catching bugs in the mouth and put in on YouTube.



Saturday we attempted a trip to Put-in Bay. But the fate gods were against us. The 12:30 boat sold out in front of us so we bought tickets for the 1:15 boat. Seeing how the 12:30 boat was running 20+ minutes late - we took our time at lunch and strolled back at 1:17 to find that the 1:15 boat was running on time and left without us. Ooops. SO - after exchanging our tickets for the 2:30 boat and waiting around for over 30 minutes - we [ along with err .. 300 other people] watched the Slow boat return at 2:00 and promptly crash into the pier. [This was no little nautical love tap either. ...] Parts of the pier moved that were not supposed to move. SO - with the slow boat looking like it lost a fight with a large can opener, our 2:30 boat ride immediately turned onto a 4:30 ride - with no explanation of when our return trip might be postponed to.. so taking a cue from the now-wrinkled-boat, we &*@%# canned the whole idea and headed to Cleveland. We got in to our hotel with some time to spare - so we stopped by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just around the corner. An interesting place.

Camping in Virginia [2006]

Just got a photo Cd from my friend Cristian from our camping trip last summer. I drove Chilipepper down to Virginia and met Cristian and Patricia at a chain camp ground in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Route 81. Our friend Lynn happened to be in NYC for the summer, so she grabbed a rental car and met us for the weekend. A great trip complete with Japanese Beer, Gas station Sangria and Doggie ice cream. Cristian has a great talent for experimenting with photography and took some really nice pictures. They capture the feel of the weekend very well. Check out the night sky in the larger pics. Beautiful.