The Beast

My girls scout troop planned a trip to King's Island the the year we all bridged to Cadettes (6th grade?). We didn't normally take trips, but we were going to dissolve the troop and this would be our farewell trip. I took the papers home to my mom and she broke the bad news. The trip was scheduled the same day as her college graduation.

My mom had worked her way through college in her 30's with 3 kids at home. It was a long road and she was exhausted and glad to be done. She was receiving a civil engineering degree from one of the top schools in that field.  She asked that I make a sacrifice and skip the trip to attend her graduation. She promised that we would go to King's Island sometime as a family to make up for it. 

Years have passed... 25 years, actually. It is time to take matters into my own hands. I invited my mom to join us at King's Island, and she agreed. She is not prominently featured in the video because she took MJMJ and Truman on kids rides most of the day, but if you know her, you can spot her in a few shots. 

The other highlight if the trip was riding the Beast at night. We did not get video of this because, well, it was dark. We were used to walking on all the big roller coasters during the last hour. The lines at King's Island seemed to get longer. When we stepped into line for the Beast at 9:25, they informed us that the line was 30 minutes, but that they were going pause operations at 9:45 for the fireworks, but would resume as soon as they got the "all clear" after 10:00. As long as we were in line at 9:59, we could ride it.

At our recent concert, the host had bragged about how much better the ride was after dark. We decided to wait it out.  He was right. The Beast is totally different at night! The air was cold, and the seats were warm. As the coaster hugged the landscape, the fog hit us in the face. We could see only hints of tree branches as we sped along. Then, the tunnels - pitch black! 

What a great ending to a long day!