Amusement Park Day

I remember that when I was a kid, my brothers and I earned points in the summer by doing house work until we earned enough to go to Wild World: a water park. By the time that I was in middle school, the park got some non-water rides and rollercoasters and was renamed to Adventure Land. A couple years afterward, Six Flags bought it and it became this Six Flags park in Bowie.

Steve and I went to Six Flags yesterday but we didn't take any pictures. This had been the first time that we went to an amusement park together in the 4.25 years that we've been married. Steve had never visited Six Flags before even though he's lived within 20 minutes from it for 20+ years.

As a teenager, I had a friend with a season pass that brought me along a few times. I remember how much I loved roller coasters. I'm a little older now and I don't enjoy them as much as I did. I still love being frightened and feeling the wind and watching the fastness. Whats different now is my attitude about rollercoasters. I'm no longer so obsessed with them. Also, I don't like how the rollercoasters shake my head around and totally kill my neck. The mind-eraser didn't do that; instead, it totally scraped up my ears--which was worse.

Highlights of the day:

We arrived at opening time (1030) and headed straight for the batwing. Someone heading back from it told us that they were performing maintenance on it, so we got on the Superman ride instead. This rollercoaster is the tallest one in the park. I love being at the top of it as it starts to fall. What a rush! We then checked out the Batwing and it appeared that it was running again. We also enjoyed this one. This rollercoaster is unique in that you ride it in the laying down position so that as it the coaster spins around, your body is suspended flat like you're flying. The joker's jinx was slightly more pleasant on the neck although it is more on the twisty-turny side. We realized that, perhaps, we should've started small and worked our way up to riding the Superman and Batwing rides because they were totally crazy.

Since we got these tickets from Steve's work, there was free food for us at a pavilion on the private picnic ground. We went there for two lunches. I didn't each second lunch because my stomach wasn't up to it.

At around four o'clock, we got our swimsuits from the car and entered the water-park part. Steve kept saying that he didn't care about going to the water-park but I made him anyways as I said that I wanted us to have a full Six Flags experience. We relaxed together floating around the lazy river and rode the water slides. Steve ended up really enjoying this cone-shaped water slide. I think that it was a new one since I don't remember it being there last time I went.

At the end of the day, we rerode the Superman and Batwing rides. What was crazy was when the conductor for the Batwing ride told us that Michael Jackson died. I was like "What? Michael Jackson?" She then starting singing a bunch of Michael Jackson songs. We didn't totally believe her until on our way home when the car radio was playing nothing by Michael Jackson songs.

What's pretty weird is that even though Steve and I put the same amount of sunscreen on a the same time, my face ended up getting burned and his didn't. This is weird because his skin is supposed to be fairer than mine since he has blue eyes and I have brown. Maybe walking around campus made him a little more sun resistant?

What I like most about being at the amusement park yesterday was being with Steve. I enjoy talking and laughing with him. What I like most about being with him is simply looking at each other. I could stare into his eyes for ages and ages and still feel the sparks. Even though it seems that Amusement Parks are for people to be indulgent, it is also a great way to spend time with family. A season pass is only $20 more than a ticket. This costs way less than the $200 to be a member of our local swimming pool. So, perhaps one day when we have kids and/or when we don't work as much, we'll get season passes.

FL Day 8: May 30

My Dad likes this picture.

In the morning, we visited the Okeefenokee Swamp Park. The admission package that we chose costs about $18/adult and included a 30-minute boat tour of the swamp, a train tour, and a nature show.

We saw alligators, turtles, and a river otter.

The boat tour showed us some of the swamp's beauty.

The tanic acid in the water makes it tea-like and safe to drink.

Old Roy was the dominant male in the '90s, I think.

Oscar was the latest dominant male to die. He was about 1000 lbs and will become the largest alligator skeleton.

There was also a petting zoo there.

This rabbit was just hopping around freely, not unlike the ones we have in Maryland.

In the afternoon, the alligators were out of the water absorbing and storing the sun's energy.

The nature show guy taught us things like how to preserve nature's balance by leaving snakes alone so that they can eat the rats. He also said that when we leave the alligators alone, they leave us alone because animals have a natural fear of humans. This reminded me of the part in Genesis that Steve and I had just read together about how the animals were given a fear of humans.

The nature guy was telling us that the swamp has everything anybody needs to live in it: plenty of food and a hut that would last eight years after building it. All the things that we have these days are unnecessary.

We started heading for home. Instead, of camping an extra night on the way, we drove straight through and arrived home a little after midnight.

This whole trip cost us about $600 dollars and an unpaid week from Steve. It was definitely worth it.

FL Day 7: May 29

I am so good looking!

The next morning after we packed up the tent and left Silver River State Park, we went to the Ocala National Forest and did the sink-hole hike. This is me at the giant sink-hole.

This hike had more spider webs in it than any other hike this week. The webs tended to be face-level too! Are the spiders trying to catch our faces?

We arrived at Laura S. Walker [GA] State Park and started making and eating dinner when a little kitty appeared. Steve made friends with it. Steve gave our extra hot dog to the kitty even though I told him not to.

Both Steve and the kitty were looking up at the camera for this next picture

The kitty hung out with us until we entered our tent for the night. Steve would've brought the kitty home if I wasn't allergic.

There was a lake at the campground.

Steve tends to make dopey-looking smiles in pictures, so I told him to make a serious face for this last one and it looks good! I didn't post most of the dopey pictures.

FL Day 6: May 28

After leaving Fort De Soto, we drove past St. Petersburg and Tampa towards Silver River State Park in Ocala.

We arrive at Silver River State Park in Ocala and go on a short hike. I guess that we forgot to take a picture of our campsite here. On this hike, we saw two armadillos chasing each other. Armadillos are actually pretty cute.

Many parts of the trail were flooded. We found ways around but not without finding poison ivy rashes on our ankles afterword. Actually, we don't know from which of the hikes we got it.

Lastly, here's another cute picture of me showing my knees amongst the cypress knees. Big eyes!

This is the day when I started getting bored. I didn't want to do many more hikes because I got tired of splashing through the water, getting annoyed at flies and mosquitos, and walking through webs, so we started playing cards and reading back at the campsite. It feels great to have absolutely nothing to do and nothing to worry about.

FL Day 5: May 27

We saw a few cardinals this week.

In the morning at Oscar Scherer State Park, we went canoeing. We luckily were able to join a little tour and do it for free. I really enjoy tours. I enjoy listening to the local nature wisdom that tour guides share.

After the canoe tour, we packed up the tent and returned to the beach to go swimming.

After the beach, we left and drove north towards St. Petersburg, crossed some bridges and paid some tolls before we arrived at Fort De Soto [Pinellas County] Park.

It was nice that these campsites were at the water.

We went swimming at the beach in the late afternoon. Don't worry: I don't get sunburned after 4 pm.