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Friday 8/18/00 Saturday 8/19/00 Carl & I left Atlanta Friday after work & got to St. Louis at about 4:30 am Saturday. After a few winks in the car, we had breakfast and got to Six Flags before they opened. Within an hour, the only thing you could ride more than once was the "Line Ride". There were lines for the bathrooms, water fountains, phones, etc. We actually had to wait more than 90 minutes for McFreakinDonalds! By FAR the worst park on the trip. The day improved dramatically when we left the park and met my brother Stewart and his family for dinner. It was great catching up with him & Sheryl and seeing their kids Michael & Rachael. Saturday 8/19/00 Sunday 8/20/00 Monday 8/21/00 Tuesday 8/22 We left St. Louis Saturday night and drove to Kansas City, arriving again in the "wee hours" at my friend Mick's on Sunday. A few more winks and we were off to Worlds of Fun for the day. Ahh...great rides and short lines...the way it should be! We stayed another day (Monday) and bummed around Crown Center and the new Science Center (former Union Station). It was great seeing Mick again, and we had a great time. We left Tuesday morning & headed to Champaign, stopping again in St. Louis for dinner with Carl's friend Regina. Tuesday 8/22/00 Wednesday 8/23/00 Thursday 8/24/00 We got to Champaign, you guessed it, in the middle of the night on Tuesday. We went to Mom's on Wednesday and celebrated her friend Bill's birthday with an indoor/outdoor "Survivor Finale" party, complete with tiki torches labeled with each survivor's name. I also took the opportunity to drive around & show Carl where I grew up. It didn't seem to scare him (much). Just kidding! Thursday 8/24/00 Friday 8/25/00 Saturday 8/26/00 We'd planned to drive directly from Champaign to Chicago on Thursday, but made a detour to Indiana Beach. It hadn't changed much since I'd been there as a kid, and it was lots of fun...no lines at all! We left there in time to arrive in Chicago at the home of Carl's friend Don Peck on Thursday night. Don has a fabulous 31st-floor flat facing Lake Michigan. It was very comfortable, and Don was a very generous host. We went to Six Flags on Friday, then drove to LaGrange to have dinner with Dad, wife Dell, daughter Beth and granddaughter Cassie. It was great seeing them again as well, since we hadn't gotten together in about 7 or 8 years! Everyone looked great...am I the only one aging here? Before leaving Chicago on Saturday, we walked around Don's neighborhood (Water Tower area) and admired the fine homes, like the 1892 Frank Lloyd Wright house we came upon...way ahead of it's time. Saturday 8/26/00 Sunday 8/27/00 After leaving Chicago on Saturday, we headed to Michigan's Adventure in Muskegan, MI. Their 2-year-old wooden coaster, Shivering Timbers, is absolutely the best wooden coaster I've ever ridden. From the pictures, we'd expected a great ride. It's not a great ride...it's the PERFECT ride. It's huge, it's fast, and it's so perfectly engineered that you float over EVERY SINGLE HILL. Not just the drops...the WHOLE HILL EVERY HILL. We were there most of the day Sunday, and with no lines, we were able to crank out an amazing 15 rides on it before we left. From there, we headed to Sandusky, OH and got a room for Sunday & Monday nights. Monday 8/28/00 Tuesday 8/29/00 On Monday & Tuesday, we visited Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. Millenium Force, their 14th coaster, is new this year. It's 310' high, has a nearly vertical drop, and reaches an amazing 92 mph. With no sides on the cars, it's like skydiving in a lawn chair. One word of caution...bugs. At such high speeds, you feel like a human windshield. Raptor was lots of fun too, but many of their coasters have been ruined by over-braking. Wednesday 8/30/00 The next park on the list was Kennywood in Pittsburgh. Although one of the parks on the trip was in Cleveland, between Sandusky & Pittsburgh, it wasn't open during the week so we'd have to come back to it after Kennywood. We stopped in Cleveland anyway and visited the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before meeting Carl's friends Judie & Frank for lunch near Kent. After lunch, we headed to Pittsburgh and got to Carl's friend Joe's house Wednesday night. Thursday 8/31/00 Friday 9/1/00 We'd planned on spending Thursday at Kennywood, but found out that morning that they didn't open 'til 5pm. Oh well...that gave us time to drive to Bear Run, PA to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" (jealous Stew?). We spent that evening at Kennywood, then spent most of Friday visiting the Carnegie Center & Museum and other sightseeing. Friday 9/1/00 Saturday 9/2/00 On Friday night we headed back to Cleveland, and hit Six Flags Ohio on Saturday. It's a fun park with small crowds & big thrills. I loved "Batman, Knight Flight", and Carl loved "Superman, Ultimate Escape" (but I'm never getting on it again unless there's a substantial cash prize involved). Sunday 9/3/00 We left Cleveland on Saturday night and drove to Cincinnatti for our last park. We spent Sunday at Paramount's King's Island, and while it was too crowded, it was still not quite as bad as St. Louis was. Because we're members of ACE, we got an exclusive "walk back" to the new Son of Beast coaster for it's first ride of the day. It's currently the world's only wooden coaster with a vertical loop...what a ride. I'll have to admit that I was more partial to it's "father", The Beast (world's longest wooden coaster). We spent the whole day Sunday at the park before making the grueling drive back to Atlanta. Monday 9/4/00 By the time we'd returned home, the sun had come up already on Labor Day. We spent most of the day sleeping and doing laundry ("labor" day). The vacation was over, but the week was just beginning. Tuesday 9/5/00 Wednesday 9/6/00 Thursday 9/7/00 After 3 days of trying to catch up (and working all night on Wednesday, and Thursday), we headed right back out of town after work on Friday 9/8. Friday 9/8/00 Saturday 9/9/00 Sunday 9/10/00 Carl & I drove to Chattanooga, picked up my daughter Kari, and headed to Louisville's Six Flags KY Kingdom. We camped Friday night, spent Saturday at Six Flags, camped Saturday night, then headed back to Chattanooga on Sunday for a day at Lake Winnie. Love to all, John |