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.