Mother Nature might not have agreed with what it said on the calendar, but according to her school and Six Flags New England, it was Spring Vacation that week. This was few years back. So we loaded the truck up with snacks and headed north, determined to take advantage of the only nice day forecast this week in the pursuit of thrills, adventure, and Dipping Dots.
We did, and apparently, every other person with children not required to attend school that day within a five-state radius did also.
There were a few thrills. Since the previous summer she’d gained that last inch needed to meet the height requirement for the Thunderbolt, Catwoman’s Whip remains one of her favorites and the short line and incessant pleading were enough to coerce me into the massive mistake that was the Blizzard River.
There was adventure. An epic quest to find an open beer stand, swarms of people hindering our progress and a suddenly soaked rear end slowly turning to ice crystals as the last of the rapids made their way down my ass crack.
Of course there were Dipping Dots, an amusement park staple and at least 30% of the reason that she enjoys going.
There was also a surprising amount of time spent on “little kid rides” with no lines. Tea Cups and Krazy Kars and even an old-fashioned carousel, the types of rides that we usually would bypass, opting instead to take our place waiting for higher speeds and free falls. A surprising amount of time that I spent just standing around, watching her laugh and wondering why I’m in such a rush for her to gain those last few inches she needs for the twenty story drop on Superman or get over her fear of loop-de-loops.
I love how brave she is, totally up for anything that doesn’t have a loop-de-loop, but it occurred to me that we have a lot of years ahead of us for all that, more if she’s still willing to hang out with her old man into her teenage years.
It wasn’t the day that I had planned, but it was a damn good one. She got her special ice cream, I eventually found a Sam Adams, and I was almost dry by the time we got back home.
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This post was previously published on Thirsty Daddy.
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Photo credit: iStock