I used to be a roller coaster fanatic. It all began at Busch Gardens in Florida when I was 8, continued on into my pre-teen years (the highlight of which was a season pass to Six Flags in St. Louis, which also included admission to the New Kids on the Block concert, the highlight of which was when Joey took off his shirt), and culminated in my high school physics class's field trip to Magic Mountain. Alas, except for the wooden roller coaster on the Santa Cruz boardwalk, I think my love affair is waning, proof of which is the fact that I live in Ohio and have not been to, nor have plans to go to, Cedar Point, roller coaster mecca. Yes, I would now rather ride the flume than the free-fall--am I old, or what? But hope lies in the next generation. With David the love affair is just beginning. Sure, he might have run screaming from a temple, and maybe he was too scared to touch a truck, but the "no ride is too scary" gene has clearly been passed on.
Our first evening in Pittsburgh we decided to splurge and go to Kennywood, a smallish amusement park above the river. Things looked grim at first. Due to road construction and a Pirates game (Who goes to mid-week daytime baseball games? Especially when it's 90 degrees? Who were these people??), what should have been a 20 minute drive took 2 hours! We had a bit of a crisis when we first arrived--it was 7 pm (nighttime half-price discount!) and we hadn't eaten dinner so we were starving but David was too excited to eat. But once we made it to Kiddieland, things got really, really fun.
David wanted to ride the helicopters first. I was convinced he was going to freak out and cry. But he marched right over to the gold one, climbed in, let the attendant buckle him in, and went about the very serious business of flying a helicopter. He loved it! I was amazed by how much joy I felt watching David so happy. I knew then that our splurge was worth it.
Mary was there, too, of course, thoughtfully, happily watching her brother. She got to come along too on a few things, like the carousel and the train ride. I can't wait until she's old enough to be the co-pilot!
Without the least bit of fear or hesitance, David proceeded to enjoy ride after ride. The airplanes, the turtle ride, the scrambler, the crazy trolley that goes really high and I was sure would freak him out but he totally loved, the crazy boat that was even worse than the crazy trolley and that he loved even more, the little Ferris wheel, the motorcycles. He also conquered his first roller coaster, which was the best part for me--I was with him, and it made me insanely happy to be with him on his first roller coaster ride. Like I was passing down some great, ancient family tradition or something. Greg and I also enjoyed taking him on this great old car ride with a wooden track originally built in 1927. David was so pleased to drive a car (especially since, that very morning, he had confidently announced to us that he was going to drive our car to Pittsburgh, which, of course, he did not do. Poor kid has no idea how long he has to wait for that one!)
One of the last rides he went on was the motorcycles, where he beat out all the girls for the pink one. One girl (and her parents) looked especially shocked. But, hey, it's first come, first served, and if my kid--who was first in line anyway--wants to drive the pink motorcycle, I'm sure your kid will survive on the yellow one.
Besides riding the kiddie roller coaster with David, my personal favorite was the train ride. It was awesome. It was this kitschy history of Pittsburgh tutorial, complete with a faded life-size diorama of a bloody workers strike and real-life majestic view of the area's only remaining raw steel mill. Pretty cool. Seriously. I thought it was so cool that we had to ride it again. Jeez! I must really be getting old. That's okay. I'll leave the thrill-seeking to David.
