deb will attest to the fact that virtually every possible detail has been researched in advance of one of our trips. train schedules and hours of operation, costs and ‘little known’ tips, metro maps, weather, electricity, currency, etc. etc. i’ll put together an itinerary of sorts, which will allow us to meet our objectives in the most efficient manner. sights and activities are usually categorized by ‘must see’, ‘would like to see’, ‘might see’, i do all this so that when i arrive, i can feel safe in the knowledge i have, and safer in deviating from it. after all, the details of life cannot be counted on to meet expectations. who knows when the most divine creperie might pop up in your path, or when a cemetery will be unexpectedly closed for renovations (i’m still not quite sure what that means), or how severely getting a flat on your rental car will impact the drive time between cork and dublin.
in the moment itself, i am flexible and cool. changes are acceptable, and often yield a better outcome than planning could have. but the planning is still important for my sanity.
every once in a blue moon, however, an opportunity arises that is immediate (or nearly so). and every once in awhile i manage not to talk myself out of it with logic (ie “i have so much to do”, or “i don’t know what to wear”). i have found that in all of these cases, i have been rewarded for setting aside my nature, with a fun and worthwhile experience.
last weekend is no exception.
scott, jennifer, florin, me, and cliff at magic mountainon friday night i got an email invitation for magic mountain on saturday. the invite came from a guy i had initially met online, and then met in person about a month ago. though he was based in idaho when we began talking, he has since moved to arizona and was in my neck of the woods with his friend scott, visiting his (scott's) sister.
normally, the late notice would have been enough reason to decline, but the weekend weather forecast called for being outdoors, and i do love roller coasters. i was hesitant since i’d not spent much time with cliff or scott in person, and didn’t know anyone else in the group. but i decided that worst case scenario, if i wasn’t having any fun, i could leave. so i accepted the invitation and met the group at the amusement park the next morning. the ‘group’ consisted of cliff, scott, scott’s sister jennifer, and jennifer’s co-worker/”friend” florin.
i could not have begun to predict how much fun we would have. first and foremost, the group dynamic was about as perfect as it gets. on top of that, this particular six flags has some flippin’ awesome rides (more on this in a moment). the park wasn’t remotely crowded and the weather was amazing. all those ingredients made for an absolutely delicious day.
the best ride at the park, hands down, is a ride called ‘tatsu’. tatsu (for those familiar with kings dominion) looks, at first glance, like ‘the volcano’. four chairs to a row, harness, dangling feet. but what makes it different is that before the ride begins, the rows/seats are hydraulically lifted upwards leaving the rider parallel to the ground. the entire ride is spent in this position (with the exception of one flippy point), and is most certainly the closest thing to superman type flying i’ve ever experienced. as you can imagine, this is by far the most popular ride. we went on it three times (as well as visiting other big coasters more than once), which just gives you an idea of the short lines. it’s safe to say that this is the best coaster i’ve ever been on. i stole the vid below from youtube...should give you a pretty good idea.aside from tatsu, there were several others that were nearly as good. the riddler—the stand-up coaster—didn’t bang my head like shockwave, and was, as a result, extremely enjoyable! batman, goliath, viper, etc. were all a blast as well.
given how ‘unplanned’ this adventure was, and how many unknown factors were in play, i’m still a bit shocked that it was sooo much fun! i enjoyed spending more time with cliff and scott, and getting to know jennifer and florin (who looks eerily like sean penn)as evidenced by the photos. of which, there are many (thanks to the compilation of mine, jennifer's, scott's, and cliff's).
we finished off the day with a delicious dinner at pf chang's and i headed home to my air mattress.
having had such a good time on saturday, i got a message from cliff on sunday morning asking if i wanted to come spend the day with the group (sans florin) in long beach. i couldn’t refuse and made my way north.i met up with cliff, scott, and jennifer at her place, and we headed down to the beach. once there, we rented a surrey, which is basically a four person buggy bicycle thing. we thought this would be a leisurely way to enjoy the company and the weather. though we did both, it became clear very early on that we should have gone another route. peddling the thing was the best workout i’ve had in a very very long time. it didn’t help that we started the journey with the brake on, or finished it with a broken peddle. 6 miles on a bicycle wouldn’t normally be too taxing, but in this case, we were spent.
the doom buggythere were a couple of near off-road adventures, a couple of footraces (as in, we tried to beat a jogger—unsuccessfully!!), and a couple of photo and pedal-fixing stops along the way, and all in all, i’d consider it quite the bonding experience:)
after returning our doom-buggy, we decided it was time to eat, and enjoyed some bbq (some enjoyed it more than others):
before heading back to jennifer’s to hang out.
it was a completely unexpected and absolutely phenomenal weekend spent in the company of some really fun, really great people.
who said i wasn’t spontaneous?! ;)
to check out the rest of the pics, click here and here.
