Well… where has the summer gone?

I sit here and realize that all of a sudden, three months have gone by so quickly.

I have been busy.  Three (yes, three!) coaster trips, two of which were with ACE (the American Coaster Enthusiasts).  Add to that family obligations, work (which really kicked me in the nuts in July, but we will not talk about that here), and whatnot, and it has been hard to take the time to write… something which I like doing.

Except for recently.  I have to admit the desire to do this has waned a lot, at least during this time.  Besides being busy as hell, when I have had free time, I have either been tired as hell (therefore no patience to write), or there has been something on my mind, in which case it can be a little dangerous to write.  Yeah, I have regretted some of the things I have written here in the past, but I have kept them on here as they are a part of me.  I must say, though, I have learned from the experiences…..

So, yes, it has been an interesting time for me….between all my trips, I have tried to grow as a person.  In particular, I have been trying to be more forgiving, in particular towards one person.  It has been damn hard, but I am trying.  I think that person knows it, too, or at least I hope they know that it is hard, but that I am trying.  It is amazing how having the turmoil in your mind just knocks the crap out of you.  I have had days where I feel lost, with everything going on in my mind.  Hopefully I can keep it up, as a side benefit of this has been that I have actually been enjoying myself lately.

Anyways, three coaster trips have gone by, without much word as to my experiences in them… so, here goes, in a much shorter form than I have usually used here:

In June, I went to ACE’s annual Coaster Con, in Missouri, USA.  We went to Silver Dollar City in Branson, and Worlds Of Fun in Kansas City.

Let me tell you something…. The red carpet was rolled out for us!  Tons of ERT (exclusive ride time), giveaways, private shows, and some of the best food I have ever had at an ACE event.  Highlights included walking off of the lift hill on Powder Keg when they had to evacuate us from it (after which I was the envy of all of my friends), and the night we had exclusive time in the water park at Worlds Of Fun, which included a Hawaiian luau complete with the band and a roasted pig.  Definitely days to remember.

Also, I had a ton of friends there, from previous ACE trips, as well as from a coaster board that I frequent.  Social time was at a maximum!  My friends Kevin and Beth brought their kids, and their son Daniel really bonded with me.  We even have our own secret greeting!  If you have ever been on Adventure Express at King’s Island, you might have an idea what it is (think the lift hill at the end of the ride).

As the Con ended, we had an optional day to go on a construction tour of the new Schlitterbahn water park resort under construction in Kansas City, Kansas.  I went there, expecting to see a bunch of dirt and some slide pieces on the ground…and, while that was definitely there, what was there that I did not expect was an enthusiastic host and his staff, who gave us free food, free booze, and a gift bag full of free stuff!  We toured the site, and, I must say, once it is done the place will be amazing!

We headed over to Six Flags St Louis after that, for an add-on day called DareDevil Daze.  Met up with more friends there, and had a great time for what was a cheap price ($10).  ERT was shortened at night due to lightning in the area, but I left the place rather impressed.

The following day was spent sightseeing, namely at the St Louis Gateway Arch (very cool!), before driving off  to southern Indiana for…..

Holiday World!  Yup, you knew I had to find a way of getting there.  My trip mate (Ken) and I met up with a couple of other ACErs there (friends Stan and Carol), and my friend Mike made it up from Tennessee for the day.  All in all a great day there, too.  Got to spend quality time on Voyage…in fact, broke it (ride #2 broken on the trip for those keeping score) when, on what ended up being the final ride of the night, my train started smoking as it made its’ way around the circuit, and when we hit the brakes, a cloud of smoke enveloped us.  Must have been a jammed upstop wheel.  Also got to try the new water ride, Pilgrims Plunge, which gets two wet thumbs up from me.

The following day, we headed off to Indiana Beach.  Had a great time there, too, with a new coaster (Steel Hawg ….very nice!), and very light crowds.  I just love the atmosphere there….everything jammed on a pier.  Oh, broke another coaster, Tig’gr, when the lift cable snapped and fell to the ground just after we cleared the top of the hill, but before we turned around to make the drop.  Emergency brakes stopped us before we dropped, as the staff ensured that the cable did not fall onto the track that we were about to traverse.

Now, lets move onto late July, early August.  Normally there is an ACE event that time of year, but this year they went to Spain, and I was just not up to it.  So, some friends of mine and I made our own trip!

I took off one day and went to Waldameer in Erie, PA.  Met up with my friend Jeremy there.  Ravine Flyer II rocks!

From there, went to Sharon, PA, and picked up Ken and Corey.  Drove from there to the NYC area.  The next day was spent at Rye Playland, which was an interesting park.  Lots of history, mediocre coasters, decent dark rides (ok I loved the Old Mill).  If you have ever seen Mariah Carey’s video for “Fantasy”, it was shot there, and on the Dragon coaster.

The following day, we met up with Kevin, Paul and Brian at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ.  This park, while having some great coasters, is just not that good of a park, and I cannot put my finger on why it is so.

Well, one reason is the way some coasters run, or in the case of Kingda Ka, don’t.  Ka was down due to mechanical issues that have plagued it for god knows how long.  Then there is El Toro.  It is such a beautiful coaster.  It has a massive amount of air time.  But, I cannot enjoy it as they literally have to staple every person into their seats for the trains to be released.  VERY uncomfortable!

From there, we tried to go to Coney Island, but when we got there that night, we found everything closed early due to weather, so we grabbed a hot dog, and decided to come back the next morning.

The following morning, we came back, and had a great time baptising Ken (he had never seen the ocean before), before hitting landmarks like the Wonder Wheel, and the world famous Cyclone.

After having our fun there, we drove off to Connecticut to finish our day at Lake Compounce, where I got to introduce the boys to my #2 coaster, Boulder Dash. Oh, how I love that ride!  The airtime on it is magnificent.  I let some of the guys explore the park, while the rest of us got token rides on a few of the main attractions, but in the limited time we had, we decided that Boulder Dash was the place to be.  Hard to beat the “mountain coaster”.  With that coaster, the atmosphere at the park, the free drinks, plus a good selection of other attractions, I wish I lived near that place.

The following morning, we were up early, and off to Six Flags New England, near Springfield, Massachusetts. 

This Six Flags park I would rank higher than the one in New Jersey.  Well,  I used to at least.  They have some decent coasters, including the #1 ranked steel coaster in the world (Superman).  But, in the offseason, they rethemed the Superman coaster to his alter-ego Bizzarro, and put new trains on it that require being stapled into your seat.  Sound familiar?  All the great airtime moments on the ride became painful. 

As for the rest of the park… decent.  I loved Pandemonium (love the spinning coasters!), Batman was good, and so was Thunderbolt.  We kept it short and sweet, because we made a change in our plans and took off in the afternoon when we all suddenly decided to make the two hour drive to The Great Escape in Glens Falls, NY.

Having Six Flags passes really helped in that decision (well, for the whole trip really!), as it meant free admission for us.

We got there with an hour and a half before closing, and right after a major storm, which completely cleared out the park.  So, with me being the only one in the group having been there before, I took the boys on a credit run (“credit” being coaster lingo for “adding to your score” and usually means hitting each coaster just once, especially in instances where the rides are not really all that memorable), I took them to the back of the park.  To the parks’ showpiece.  The Comet.



Make that the Crystal Beach Comet, as the coaster used to reside near me in Ontario, at Crystal Beach, until the park closed in 1989.  The story about its move is long, but lets just say someone interested in preserving it sent the very well recognized coaster 500 km to the east and now we can still enjoy it.  The ride is such a masterpiece.  And, with the park empty, we sat on the ride without getting out for 45 minutes.  Pure heaven!

At this point, the group split, with Paul and Kevin heading back west  (Brian split the day before), and I took Corey and Ken back to Sharon, PA, but not before making yet another stop this year at Knoebels… I just cannot get enough of that park, with the Phoenix, and the Flyers, and the Skooters!

Fast forward to last weekend.  Another ACE event.  This time, the Summer Conference at La Ronde (Montreal, QC)  and then back again to the Great Escape!

My friend and I took off last Friday (the 11th) at 7 AM to go to Montreal.  We got there shortly before 1 PM, and with an hour to go before check in, we went to lunch at my favourite place there, Schwartz’ Deli, home of THE authentic Montreal smoked meat sandwich.  That done, we headed off to La Ronde, where we had pretty much exclusive park time from 3 PM to 12:30 AM.  Campouts included about an hour on Le Vampire, as well as an hour on Goliath, which ended my night.  It was heaven.

I cashed in some rewards points to stay at the Hotel Intercontinental for free (!!).  Let me say… awesome hotel!  We headed back to La Ronde for the morning, before heading south to the Great Escape.

On the way down, we had a cool experience at the border.  The guard saw my name badge and my shirt, and recognized us as being with ACE.  Apparently, we all chose about the same time to go through the border, so he was getting used to us.  Instead of the standard questioning, he talked to us about coasters, and how he used to live in Buffalo and when he did he would go to Crystal Beach in Ontario to ride the Comet!

So, we got there mid afternoon, and the Great Escape rolled out the red carpet for us (much like La Ronde did).  An added touch was the park president talking to us, and then humouring not only me, but my little friend Jordan, as we asked him lots of questions.  Anyways, we got our kicks on a bunch of rides, but, really, the star of the show is the Comet, and that is where  I spent most of my time that night, and the next morning before we had to call it a trip and start driving home………

Anyways, the summer was more than just about roller coasters.  I also partook in my “other” hobby, and went to see Bryan Adams three nights in a row in August!

As for the shows… spectacular!  They were acoustic gigs, with only Adams and his keyboardist there.  Two shows at Massey Hall, and one at Roy Thompson Hall (after which I met him and got an autograph!).  I can go on and on about how I loved the songs and their arrangements, but I want to point out what was not only the highlight of the shows, but also one of the probably “top 5” moments I have ever had at one of his shows.

Halfway through the set, Bryan introduced his long-time writing partner to us, Jim Vallance, each night to a standing ovation.  He came out, and Bryan would start talking about the early days writing, when they were struggling.  He then talks about a song that they are going to do, about a Vancouver girl who got pushed into modelling by her boyfriend, where she then made it big and became a Playboy Playmate, after which her jealous (now) husband murdered her before killing himself.  Bryan and Jim were deeply touched by the event and wrote a song for her, called The Best Was Yet To Come.  Well, until the first of those three shows, I had never heard that song performed live in my 22 years of going to his concerts.  I had been waiting for this moment for that long.  When you combine that with the fact that I had just gone to my friend’s funeral earlier that week (the song is about losing somebody… “whats so good about goodbye….”), I actually had tears streaming down my face the first night I heard it.  Hearing that song meant so much to me, as when I also lost one of my best friends in 1993, that song helped me out quite a bit.

Now, of course, it wasn’t just all about the concerts.  With the concerts comes all of the fans!  I got to spend time with so many people…too many names to mention here, but I should point out those who came from far away, like Izumi from Mexico, Ang from the USA,  and Julie, Linda, and Mandy from Europe.  It was great seeing everyone and I wished we could all just hang out forever and keep having fun.

So, yes, it has been a very busy summer that has flown by.  I had zero free time, which left me exhausted at times, but at least I had fun!  With more free time on the way to me, hopefully I can deal with some of the issues I mentioned much earlier… I think it is worth it, but you know my brain works, sometimes I doubt things…. Oh well, we shall see what happens!

Until next time! (hopefully much sooner!)

I have a friend.

He is a good man.  Donates his time to worthwhile causes.  Loving dad.  He has a big heart.

I have known him since 1995.  Over the years we have experienced a lot together.  Good times, like a Bryan Adams concert in 2001.  Playing street hockey with his youngest son (who ended up breaking another friends’ arm!).  A few beers here and there.   Many a good talk.

He managed to stay composed on the outside as his marriage failed.  He resigned himself to its’ failure.  He was a strong man.

Also, a big man, too…. Weighed in at about 300 pounds.  He loved his food!

Slowly, I started to notice the cracks.  He had to leave his house.  Went from being a homeowner to a room renter.  Told me that between paying support for his wife and for his youngest kid, there was not much left over.  My heart broke for a friend who was such a good man, yet was getting screwed in life.

Then one day I come home from vacation, and I find out he is in jail.  No way, I think to myself.  What could he have done?  He apparently started a fire in the room he was renting in a house.  Inside of the home was ruined, and several students had to find a new place to live.

He would not accept visitors at the prison he was at.  So, I patiently waited and got little bits of news here and there about him.  When he was set free - all charges dropped against him (or so he told me) after spending 7 or 8 months in jail.  I duno, maybe he got a suspended sentence.  He wouldn’t say.

One good thing that jail did for him… he lost a lot of weight.  Looked really good.  He was a new man.

A new man without a home.

Another friend took him in.  Tried to give him a hand up.  Things went well.  Then things went missing.  He was asked to leave.

He couch surfed from one friend to another, until he exhausted friends he could use.  He moved into a homeless shelter.

I thought to myself… a man with a $54,000/year job, living in a shelter????

He told me his support payments were killing him.

Then, he started to show up to work, drunk.  I had heard about it, but brushed it off.  Then one day he and I went out for a beer.  In the time it took me to finish a pint, he finished three.  Wow.

We offered him help, as his drinking was starting to affect his job.  He was being suspended from work many times.  The managers were counselling him, even paid for therapy.

He still continued to show up drunk.  He was also gaining his weight back.

I had a talk with him, and he assured me he had no problem.

He then started to graze at work (opening packages to eat).  He was caught.

Several times.

Once is enough to get you fired.  But, we chose to keep trying to help him.  The HR manager even came in from head office to talk to him directly, and to give him assistance.  He paid lip service to the offer of assistance.

He was a big supporter of the Children’s Miracle Network, a charity for children’s hospitals.  Every year he raised lots of money for them through work.

In 2008, we held a eat-a-thon for the charity.  He took pledges, and was good at it… perhaps too good.  Raised a lot of money.  Did not show up for the contest.  He was under suspension at the time, again, also.

When he returned to work, he did not have the money.  Reminded that the money was owed, and not his, was was taken to the bank, where he freaked out at the teller who told him that there was no money in his account.

I asked him, man, what is happening?  He said he was ok.

Then he was caught taking money from the till.  That was his final chance, and we fired him.

Apparently, he did not understand why he was being fired, and threw a fit.  I guess he thought that he would be slapped on the wrist again.  I guess that is what alcohol dependency does to your brain.

All his closest friends, myself included, were in shock.  We knew it was coming, but it still stung like a bee.

Reports would come in from friends who saw him pushing a shopping cart around, leaning on it (he had bad knees).    If anyone talked to him, he asked them for money.

He owed a lot of people money, including me.

He was also often seen at his favourite bar, drinking his days away.  His weight ballooned.  Someone told me he was over 400 pounds.  Man, beer has a lot of calories…..

I saw him once, a few months later,  when he decided to pay a visit to work.  Before security could escort him out (he was given a do not trespass notice), I had a talk with him.  He said he was enrolling in the local community college.  Going to learn a trade, or upgrade his skills.  Wanted to turn things around.

Too bad it was all a lie.  I knew he was drinking his life away.  He looked horrible.  And there was not a damn thing I could do about it.  No one could.  We had all given up.

Anyways, I talked to him for a few minutes, before he was kicked out, cursing and threatening legal action. 

Man, how a great man had fallen.  The image of him walking out like that stuck with me.  It was sad.

But, it was not as sad as today, for today I attended his funeral.

He died a few days ago.  His body gave up from the abuse.

It was a nice service.  A long time friend of his spoke, and then his eldest son spoke.  The only indication of his dad’s problems was when he said, breaking, “I didn’t think it would happen this fast.”

All of us knew it would happen at some time.  None of us thought it would be this fast.

At the end of the service, I went up to the front to say my final goodbye to him.  Looking at the beautiful  flowers, including the ones that we, as friends, sent, I saw a name tag that someone had printed off at work, with his name on it, and the subtitle saying “forever in our hearts”.

With tears streaming down my face, I said my goodbye to him, and wondered to myself… was there anything that we as friends, or I as a friend, could have done to have prevented this?????

It is killing me inside, not knowing if I should have pushed harder.

Rest in peace, my friend.  I am really going to miss you.

Hey everyone....

Just got back from my vacation tonight.  Extremely tired!  Anyways, here is the text from the interview I mentioned in my last update:

Thrill of the Behemoth

Riders seek to break records on Canada's biggest coaster

Last Updated: Monday, August 3, 2009 | 10:01 AM ET Comments12Recommend35

By Ellin Bessner, CBC News

There are three little words that mean more to me than anything else in the world.

“It’s coaster season!”

(what were you expecting?)

The long off season has ended, and I have just come back from my first American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) event of the season….the Spring Conference at Hersheypark and Knoebel’s, in Pennsylvania.

The event was held from May 15-17.  The day before the event, my parents dropped my nieces off at my work (hey, I am not doing Knoebel’s without them-it is their favourite place!). We took off, did the border with little hassle.  I picked up a pay as you go phone in Buffalo (decided it was best to have a cell that works in the USA), and we stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel… and then we were on our way.

The drive there was something….fog throughout south central NY state as well as north central/central PA.  Very few cars on the road, and even came across a bizarre accident scene that should have looked like it came out of a Halloween attraction (but it didn’t, everyone was fine).  We arrived at our hotel in Harrisburg, PA at 2 AM on the Friday.

7:30 AM rolled around way too quickly for me.  As I reminded my nieces, I did not have the luxury of sleeping the whole way there.  We got ourselves ready and out the door and got to Hersheypark at 9:30 AM.  There, we picked up our registration goodies, and met with my friends from the Negative G coaster board ( http://www.negative-g.com ) , Ken, Mike, and Nick.  We would meet up with another friend, Jeremy, later, and his friend Zach.



No morning ERT session was scheduled, as our arrival time coincided with the opening of the park, so once the gates opened, we ran in to get our fill of rides.

We started off with rides on the first three coasters we saw: Comet, Great Bear, and Superdooperlooper (whoever thought of that name should have their head checked).



We then had a couple trips on the Reese Xtreme Cup challenge-a GREAT shoot-em-up dark ride that pits two cars against each other in the eternal battle for supremacy, that of chocolate lovers vs. peanut butter lovers.  A well done ride!

We then made our way to the back of the park to check out Fahrenheit.




The line was a little too long, so we decided to go back later, and opted to go further back to try out the wild mouse, Lightning Racer, and WildCat.  After having our fill, we went back to wait for Fahrenheit.  Wow…what a ride!  The 97 degree drop just takes your breath away!  A definite must if you ever go there!



We took the time to check out the other attractions at the park, like the Kissing Tower, the monorail (which actually leaves the park and goes downtown), the bumper cars (lame!), the Trailblazer coaster, and so on… and before we knew it, dinner time had rolled around, and so we headed to the pavilion for another ACE tradition… the buffet dinner!



Dinner was alright.  I enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich, pasta salad, and, well, I forget the rest…  Best part of the dinner was when my niece Brittany had her ticket number called for a door prize.  She screamed when her number was called, and went up and collected her prize :  a Hershey gift basket, filled with chocolate (all Hershey brands of course!), plus a mug, a shirt, stuffed toys, and fridge magnets.  She was a happy girl!



After dinner, with the park closed and all the customers swept out, it was time for Exclusive Ride Time (ERT).

First off was a behind the scenes tour of the Reese Xtreme Cup Challenge dark ride.  We got to walk through the whole attraction and see it without all the bells and whistles working.  Very interesting.



After that, it was time for ERT on the three coasters in the front of the park :  Comet, Great Bear, and Superdooperlooper , as well as the Tilt-A-Whirl.

All three are good coasters.  Great Bear is a great inverted coaster with lots of speed and force.  Comet is a classic woodie.  Superdooperlooper, while tame, evokes the charm and talent of its creator (Schwartzkopf).

Hershey also put out a kickass midnight junk food buffet for us… homemade cookies…chips…pretzels….beverages.  I left…full……..

The next morning, we assembled in the tram loop at Hersheypark at 7:30 AM, to be escorted to the rear of the park for morning ERT. 

Things started off at Fahrenheit, which was a nice jolt to wake us up.  Breakfast was provided, and then other attractions in the area opened up for us, like the Howler spin and puke ride, the Claw, the flyers, the wild mouse, WildCat, and Lightning Racer.

I think Lightning Racer became the star of the morning ERT for us.  The ride is a twisted mess of two coaster tracks that provides “pass-bys” or “near misses” on several occasions, as the trains race to the finish.  Katelyn and I took one train, while the boys and Brittany took the other.  I lost track of the amount of rides we got… we were on it for about a half hour!

We finished off ERT on their Music Express.  Once that was done, the park opened, and I asked the girls what else they wanted to do before we left Hersheypark.  Without hesitation, they said they wanted to go on the Reese Xtreme Cup Challenge once again…and so we did.  Oh, did I mention they kept beating me at it?

At that point, we left the park, and went next door to Chocolate World!



This is what you will find in Chocolate World:

A 10 minute ride (free of charge!) that takes you through a fake chocolate factory, showing you how chocolate is made, from the field to the store.





There is also a mini Hershey’s Kiss production line for the kids, a 4-D theatre that is all about chocolate,  a chocolate tasting seminar, a food court that features Hershey products…..and a giant Hershey Store!  Needless to say, the girls went nuts in there!



After about two hours in Chocolate World, we took off.  The girls fell asleep in the car, and 75 minutes later, we were at the second park of the conference, Knoebels.

Those who have been reading this blog over the last few years know that the girls and I LOVE Knoebels.  It is such a throwback to days gone by there, with classic rides not seen anywhere else, inexpensive prices for food...heck, a great selection of food at that…an old game called Fascination that is just not seen in very many places….oh, man I can go on about this place.  Anyways, this was our first time there with ACE, and so we were looking forward to the experience there.

After whetting our appetites with attractions such as the Skooters, Flyers, Looper, and the Phoenix, we were treated to a walkthrough tour of Knoebels’ long term coaster construction project, the Flying Turns.





Now, as you can see, the Flying Turns is a coaster with no track.  When it runs, it will be like a bobsled run, but only on wood.  These coasters were popping up everywhere in the 1920s, but, sadly, the last one was put out of service in the 1960s.  So, with no coaster around to copy, Knoebels has been winging it for the past three years on this coaster, trying to get everything right, and to make the classic ride meet today’s safety standards.  It was supposed to be open for us this year, but they had a structural setback in the late winter, and had to do a major reprofiling of a section of the ride.  They hope to have the ride open later this year…and maybe I will go back next year and be able to finally ride this coaster!

After the tour, we got a few rides in, and then met up for the group photo in front of the Phoenix.  Always a tedious thing to do (it takes about 15 minutes to set up the shot), it is fun to see the photo in ROLLERCOASTER! (the magazine) and look back at a great day.  A few more rides were taken, and then it was off to the pavilion for dinner.

During our buffet dinner, the skies opened up and the thunder and lightning and rain that was promised in the forecast finally came down.  We were expecting a full day of it, and waiting for it to come.  We were also concerned that ERT would be cancelled for the night, as the weather radar showed two fronts coming at us.  Dinner concluded after a talk with Dick Knoebel (owner of the park), and the skies cleared for us just in time.  We were warned of the approaching second front, but it ended up missing us, and we went on to enjoy two hours of ERT on the Skooters (vintage bumper cars), Flyers, Haunted Mansion, and the Twister and Phoenix roller coasters.

We all went for a lap on the Haunted House (ranked the best traditional haunted house in the world by DAFE), before heading over to the Skooters.



The Skooters are ranked as the best bumper cars in America, and I believe it.  The girls and I love them.  The vehicles date to the 1940s, and are made of metal.  When you hit someone, you HIT them HARD.  With practise, you can also make people spin out.  We got a few rides on them, and then us guys left, and the girls stayed behind, as all they wanted to do was ride the Skooters.

We went off and rode the Flyers (best ones out there!).  Major cable snapping  going on, despite pleas from the ACE president to take it easy on the ride.  You just can’t help it!  We also got several rides in on the Twister, which ran very well after the rainstorm, providing airtime not normally seen on the ride.

We went back and joined the girls on the skooters after some time on the haunted house again, and before long we talked them into joining us for some time on the Phoenix.





Now, the Phoenix has been revered by enthusiasts for ages, and, while I have always thought it was a good coaster, I never saw the greatness in it.  Well, ladies and gentlemen, after an evening of rain, I got to experience my best rides ever on the Phoenix.  Wow…the airtime was phenomenal!  All of us had a great time, and we easily got ten rides apiece during the final half hour of ERT.  The atmosphere was electric, with hand slaps not only coming from the ride operators, but also occurring at the point where the lift hill climbs directly next to the station.  Pure happiness!



We made our way to our hotel, the Super 8 in Mifflinville, PA, which has to be one of the nicer Super 8’s we have been to, despite the initial outside appearance.  Washrooms that look similar to ones found at home, and a flat screen TV greeted us.  Anyways, we were there only to sleep, and that we did until our wakeup and return to Knoebels in the morning for ERT that begun at 10 AM.

We get there, get our hand stamps, and the girls immediately want to go to the Skooters.  It was a lot cooler, so everyone (but me of course!) had their jackets on, and I kept hearing comments about how good the girls were on the Skooters. 

After about an hour, we decided to hit up the Phoenix for some more ERT, followed by the Twister.  



ERT finished up at noon when the park opened.    With the weather having cooled down, and it being Sunday, the park was not busy at all for the day, and we rarely had more than a one-cycle wait for anything.  Later, after having dinner at the Alamo (a restaurant so good that people go to the park just to eat there), and getting last rides on the Flyers and Skooters (a tradition, having last rides for the day on that one), the event was over.



From there, the girls and I drove north to Rochester, NY (a 4 hour drive), to get to our hotel for the night, and then the next day to Niagara Falls, NY, where the girls could participate in their favourite sport….. Outlet Mall shopping!  After that, we headed home, where I promptly crashed………

And, to think, I plan on doing this on a grander scale in 3 weeks, at Coaster Con!

As I told a girl at work today….. I really must love my nieces a lot.

Now, I enjoy spending spending time with them… I mean, hey, look at the trips I take with them.  However, this past Friday, I subjected myself to the Girl Zone.

I took off first thing in the morning, and went to my parents place.  Had lunch, and took off with my nieces.  We then picked up two of their friends, and headed to Toronto… to go to the Vaughan Mills mall.

Yes, me and FOUR sixteen year olds in a mall that has been specifically designed with women’s tastes in mind.  There is one store at the end of the rectangular-shaped mall that caters to the husbands and chaperones -- the Bass Pro shop -- the rest of the mega mall caters to women.

So, I suffered in the mall for about 2 ½ hours.  I walked around, girl watched (that there is reason alone for me to go there!), and even popped into the HMV store.  When asked if I wanted some help, I said no, I am browsing while four teenage girls do their shopping.  The sales help smiled and looked at me knowingly.

Why do I do it?  Well, yes I love my nieces a lot.  They also live in the middle of nowhere, and do not get to do the whole “mall crawl” with their friends at all.  It is an important social experience for them and their friends (who all know me).  I enjoy watching their excited smiles as they shop around.  And I know that they appreciate the experience.

It also gives them an opportunity to indulge in some fast food (Taco Bell for them), something that they rarely have.  It also gives me a reason to indulge in that, too… I rarely eat that stuff, too.

So, once dinner was over with…. We headed across the street to go to Canada’s Wonderland to open the 2009 season at 6:00 pm for Season Passholder’s Night.

Now, last year, this night was held on a picture perfect night, and it was the first day of operation for Behemoth, their new roller coaster.  It was a madhouse… like going to the park on a summer Saturday.  Behemoth had  a 2-3 hour wait at one point, even with three train operation.

This year, there was the threat of rain (which never materialized there, but my parents say they got it), and no new attraction.  As a result of that (and perhaps the crappy economy), the park was dead.  Using the skills I have picked up from years of park hopping with ACE, I figured that there was maybe 2000 people maximum there.

Behemoth had the longest line, at just under 10 minutes.  Now, one would think that I would marathon that ride under these circumstances, as I truly love the ride.  However, I was there with the 4 girls, and they wanted to do as much as they could in the 4 hours we had there (yes, a short night)…. And every other attraction was a walk-on.  Hard to argue with that.

Lets see if I can tally up a score:

Once:

Behemoth
Flight Deck
Psyclone
Sledgehammer
Dragon Fire
Spinnovator
KrachenWagen
NightMares
Vortex
Caroussel


Twice:

The Fly
Wild Beast
Mighty Canadian Minebuster


Not bad… when you take out the time that we spent having funnel cakes, and bathroom breaks (man, girls have to pee a lot!), we probably averaged a ride every ten minutes.

It was great having the run of the park… no stress of having to wait an hour for a mediocre ride.  No listening to the girls whine about waiting (I have really spoiled them with the ERT sessions with ACE).  Just a night of fun.

Summer has arrived!

A little humour for the weekend:


more fail, owned and pwned pics and videos

Holy smokes!  I just realized it has been over 2 months since I have written anything here…..

I have always wanted to sit down and collect my thoughts, but when push came to shove, the motivation has not been there. Even going to three Bryan Adams concerts in March couldn’t do it.

Yeah, those concerts kicked ass.  I had 9th row in Hamilton, front row in Barrie, and crappy 20th row in London.  I got to hang out with all my Adams friends, and even met some lovely ladies who came all the way from Europe to see him!  And, of course, Adams rocked our world.  It is kind of a shame that he will be touring without the band for the rest of the year.  As much as I like the acoustic gigs, the full band gigs are still the best.  That said, if he feels that he needs to revitalize himself by going on the road with nothing but a guitar slung over his shoulder, more power to him.  I look forward to seeing a couple more acoustic gigs in August.

Anyways, that was over a month ago… and I have just gotten around to writing a short blurb about it now.  There has been lots going on, yet on one hand it is worthy to mention, and on the other hand it is not worthy.  I guess you can say that I have been moody! I just have not felt like writing….

One bright thing on the horizon is that my official start to summer is next week.  Next Friday, my nieces and I (and 2 of their friends) will be making the trek to Canada’s Wonderland (the local amusement park) for Season Pass Holder’s Night … a tradition of sorts for us.  We will mark the beginning of summer by riding a few roller coasters, including their new addition for last year, Behemoth.  And with that, joy will return to my life for yet another season.

Two weeks after that, we hit ACE’s Spring Con, to really kick the summer into gear….and, with that, I think you be seeing a lot more of me here, again…..

Ok, so I have been home from Florida for two weeks now, and I haven’t written about it…..

Well, that is what happens when you go to work for nine days straight coming out of vacation.  It saps the life out of you, and you end up not wanting to do much at all with what little free time you have.

So, how was it?  Great, of course!  Had a lot of seafood, went to see the alligators in the Everglades, rode a roller coaster (the Dania Beach Hurricane,  *le sigh*), even caught up with Ang from NYC!  Spent a lot of time with my buddy there, just hanging about… which is all it really is about for me.  Visiting the beach, the coaster, all that is nice, but I am there because of my friend…… and we had a great time together.  Always sad to leave!

So, I get home, and promptly go back to work for a 9 day stretch!  Yuk!  It was not supposed to be that way, but someone got injured and I filled in.  Such a nice guy I am!  I ended up working 9 out of 10 days.  By the end of it, on the last day, I had a member yelling and screaming and swearing at me because I chose to defend one of my employees. I gave it back to her (minus the yelling and swearing)….. No one does that to me, ever…. And when I have to be up at 6 am on a Saturday, after working so long, I am not going to roll over and take it up the ass.  The end result, was, of course, in my favour J.

So, I go up north to my parents place for the weekend.  Of course, my mother steers the conversation towards me and girlfriends and marriage.  So, I tell my mother that I doubt if I will ever get married.  She didn’t seem surprised.  I think my parents have been preparing themselves for that one.  I have not let them in too much on my relationship failures, but I have offered some nuggets here and there, if only because I have to explain why they will never see a particular girl again.  My mother did say that I am probably better off happy and single, rather than miserable in marriage.  And, she is right.

I look at what was probably my closest chance to getting married, and that was Shannon.  I say that, because I went as far as to go shopping for a ring.  Never bought one though *whew*.  Looking back, I saw the signs that she was a troubled person early on in the relationship.  Things that I overlooked the first time around, I can now say were signs.  And, then there was the matter of the final 4 ½ months of the relationship, when she decided to take out all of the things her ex’s did to her, on me.  She was really cracking under the stress of it all, and showed me how poorly she handled crisis.  I can’t really put it into words to properly describe it and what happened…lets just say it was one of the worst times of my life and I was lucky to escape with my sanity.  I look back at the experience, and I think to myself…wow, I really dodged a bullet there.  If I married her, I would be miserable!

Anyways, that is only an example.  I know not all women are nut jobs.  I am just saying I am happy with the way life is at the moment, that is all.

Now, watch her find this blog, and write to me, bitching to me about it.  Bring it on! Hahaha……

So, anyways, the other topic of discussion while I was there, was of me taking my nieces away with me this May, for a long weekend trip.  This will be for our coaster club’s (ACE) Spring Preservation Conference.  This year, the Spring Con (the preservation part got added, as there will not be a separate one this summer) is in Pennsylvania, at two lovely parks, Hersheypark, and Knoebels.

Hersheypark is a nice, large, if somewhat corporate park.  I was last there 4 years ago… ironically during my birthday week, when I should have been with Shannon, but she cancelled it on me, so I decided on a coaster trip by myself.  Anyways, they have some great coasters there, and we get ERT (exclusive ride time) on most of them.

Not to mention, there is a lot of chocolate there ;-)

Now, as for Knoebels, long time readers of this blog know that the girls and I LOVE that place.  It is a very traditional park, with lots of charm.  The girls and I always have a great time there.  Now, we get to enjoy the park with ACE for the first time.  I showed the girls the schedule (it came out last week).  There is a total of FOUR hours of ERT on their favourite ride there… the Skooters.  The Skooters are Knoebels’ 1940’s vintage bumper cars that have been rated the best in the world.  They are amazing!  Anyways, the girls nearly shit their pants when they saw the four hours of ERT.  That got them really excited for the trip.  As for me, I will enjoy the Skooters, too, but I will also enjoy ERT on their coasters, and the Haunted Mansion (best traditional one in America!)….

Ah…………  May is still so long away…… but I have something to look forward to!

Until next time……..