WEDNESDAY - JUNE 21, 2000

WE SPENT TODAY at Paramount's Kings Island amusement park. Aunt Linda and Grandpa have season passes for all of us, so we can go as often as we like, and it's only fifteen minutes away. We will be visiting the park often, so we'll describe it all here just once instead of listing every day.

King's Island is the largest theme park in the Midwest. It covers 364 acres and more than three million people visit it every year. It seemed as if most of those people were in line with us as we waited to ride their newest roller coaster. Over twenty years ago, this park opened a very big, very fast wooden coaster named "The Beast". It quickly claimed the record for being the longest wooden coaster in the world (which it still holds -- it's in the Guiness Book of World Records). Even after all these years, The Beast still consistantly lives high in the upper half of every Top Ten Roller Coaster list, and USA Today ranks it as the #1 classic coaster of all time. The new roller coaster is called "Son of Beast",  and it's also a wooden coaster. Son of Beast, too, is designed to be a major record-breaker. In fact, it currently holds no less than four world roller coaster records! It's the fastest (78mph), the tallest wooden coaster ever made (218 ft), and has the tallest drop (214 ft) of any wooden coaster in the world. In fact, at just over 164 feet, even the second drop qualifies as the second-tallest wooden coaster drop in the world. And just in cast that wasn't enough, it's the only wooden coaster ever built featuring a full loop. At 1.3 miles in length, it's the second-longest wooden coaster in the world (at 7,400 feet, The Beast still holds that record).

The first time we went, there was no line at all. That's because the ride was closed for the morning, due to repairs. This is the first year, and it's a complex ride, so it seems they've had a lot of that. Later that afternoon, when it got hot and the lines started to get longer, we went back home. The ride was still closed when we left. We visited the park several times with Aunt Linda, but the next time Grandpa came with us was on Tuesday evening, and we did finally get to ride the Son of Beast. Of course "we" didn't include Rachael. Rachaels love the amusement park, but they don't love roller coasters. And after being suckered too often by assurances that she won't be killed, she has learned how to "just say, No" and mean it. At King's Island, you can wait in line with your party right up to where the ride starts, and then just cross over to the departure platform and wait there for them to return. Actually, quite a few people do that; and they're not all kids, either.

After the ride, Ryan wished he'd have skipped it, too. The lock-down bar was too tight and pinched him the whole ride, and he banged the side of his head on the railing. It pretty much spoiled the rest of the evening for him. He and Grandpa sat out on a park bench while Aunt Linda and Rachael went off to enjoy the Scrambler, Octupus, Bumper-Cars, and such. Grandpa also wasn't all that thrilled with the new ride. Unlike other wooden coasters, such as the Racer or The (original) Beast, there doesn't appear to much "hang-time", where you feel like you're floating up out of your seat. Instead, there's a lot of "crush-time", where the G-forces press you down into the seat. Rides with loops, such as all the steel coasters, tend to have a lot of that but you usually don't see it as much in wooden coasters. Anyway, Grandpa's purely personal opinion is that weightlessness is  lots scarier and more fun.

And speaking of steel coasters, Ryan rode the "Vortex" for the first time this year, riding with Grandpa. That was another ride that banged him around a bit, but at least he can say that he's been on every coaster at King's Island. There are twelve of them, you know. Seven are world-class and coaster enthusiasts travel from all over to ride them. Ryan also enjoyed the "King Cobra", which is a loop coaster that you ride standing up.

Of course there are lots of other fun things at King's Island. Especially the Water Park, where Aunt Linda took us many hot afternoons. The wave pool was a big hit and so were the inflatable rings. Ryan really liked the waterslides, but Rachael skipped those. After a couple days of having the skin sandpapered off our feet from the non-skid concrete, Aunt Linda bought water shoes for Rachael and herself, and a pair of official University of Cincinnati Wildcats plastic beach sandals for Ryan. Well, sort of official -- there probably aren't a lot of UC students with kid-size feet. Ryan really loves the sandals.

We also enjoyed the James Bond 007 simulator, which takes you on a wild motorcycle chase. No one knows why Rachael, who hates roller coasters, absolutely loves this ride. But she does.  And log flumes. And sailplanes. And bumper-cars. And the old-time putt-putt cars. And of course we all enjoy watching the fireworks when they close the park at night.

THE REST OF THE WEEK (and next week, too) we did things around the house.

We helped Aunt Linda in the garden and cleaned some of the trash out of the creek.

We played in the lawn sprinklers to cool off during hot afternoons.

We had cookouts on the deck, and watched movies on the VCR.

When it got dark, we lit sparklers and ran around the front yard with them. It was fun to toss them and watch the glowing arc. Of course, after they went out it was dark and hard to find where they landed.

Grandpa and Aunt Linda even let us wash their cars!!

Aunt Linda took us to the Halfprice Book Store and bought us a pile of books. Some are on Ryan's suggested summer reading list from school. He started reading The Wizard of Oz and was amazed at how different the book is from the movie.  Rachael reads for about a half-hour every night in her bed, before turning off her light and going to sleep. Rachael is sleeping in the guest bedroom; Ryan sleeps in the downstairs living room, in a fort he has built under the coffee table using sofa cushions.

On Friday, we all joined Grandpa and a couple of his workmates for lunch at the Dragon Chinese Buffet.

And nearly every night we all played Catch-Phrase, a really exciting game where you have to make your partner guess a word or phase before the time-buzzer sounds.

All text and photos ©2000 by John Lipman, except as noted. All rights reserved.