Today. Was. Epic.
We started off by getting a ride to Enterprise to get the car. They’re super disorganized and didn’t have my contract ready to go. They ended up putting the car under someone else’s name and adding me as an authorized driver. But whatever, we had things to do and not much time to do it in!
We started off by going to REI outside LA. I got some Lone Peaks in a wide, a new stuff sack for my quilt, refillable squeeze tubes for peanut butter (so I can ditch jars), and new sunnies. I really didn’t like the other pair I had — they made all the warm tones cool. I like my oranges and yellows!
From there we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain.
It was a blast. And it was a ghost town. The longest we had to wait for a coaster was probably 15 minutes at most. Usually we just went up and were first or second in line, no matter the ride.
Sunrise is averse to going upside down because of motion sickness, so we alternated between rides that would put you upside down and rides that wouldn’t. It was a good system.
My favorite might be Tatsu. You get into a harness and it then lifts you so your facing the ground. As we rose, everyone was freaking out. I was just staring at the mountains. It was gorgeous. Then I felt like I was flying. Upside down, circles, a head dive…it was the most incredible sensation.
We also rode a Wonder Woman inspired coaster which is apparently the world’s longest single track coaster. On this one, you sit single file. You have no one next to you and that gives it a really special level of scariness. But this coaster was so smooth. It really was a work of art and you could tell the engineers loved making it. It was exhilarating.
I got to ride the upgraded Colossus. It used to be purely a wood coaster and, since I last rode it 18 years ago, they added metal components to give it a wonderful inversion. Sunrise didn’t realize it inverted and closed her eyes for the upside down part.
We loved Goliath with its massive drop. We loved it so much we rode it twice.
We rode a total of 11 rides in four and a half hours. At the end we were all a little zonked from being thrown about. Doctor and Turtlewolf sat out on a few coasters while Piñacolada and I rode all of them.
After that we went to In ‘N Out for dinner, then home. It was a perfect zero day.
There is some bad news. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a sitter for Rye in Washington, so I need to fly to Seattle tomorrow to drive him to Tucson. I’m hoping it’ll be a quick trip and I’ll be back on trail in a week!
What a zero! I, like Sunrise, do not care for carnival rides that go upside down — not strictly because they’re topsy turvy (that sounds FUN, tbh), but because my body immediately responds with NAUSEA. Urgh. Your joy is infectious in this post, tho! I’m so glad you had this day together as a crew. And Colada must have had a blast, it being his birthday (with a bit of a belated one for Rafael). I’m still sad you and your crew went your separate ways after this, but Rye and I missed you. Tons.