A Visit from Sarah & Cedar Point

The family welcomed our wonderful friend, Sarah, to the homestead for a few days last week. We spent Thursday in downtown Cleveland at the Great Lakes Science Center; this is a fantastic location for family as the center is packed with fascinating (and simple) science experiments that are fun to conduct on your own. It's all hands-on and you're free to wander the building at your leisure - no groups to follow or schedules to keep.

On Friday we ventured to Cedar Point, which is a historic amusement park here on the north coast. It's about 45 miles west of Cleveland and I have to say that Cedar Point's billing as the #1 roller coaster park in the world continues to be true. It features 17 roller coasters, 5 of which were former #1 coasters in the world, and the current reigning champion - Top Thrill Dragster. (I'm not really sure how much bigger or faster these rides can get without causing cardiac arrest or strokes...seriously, it's stunning what these rides are like now.)

Sarah gladly waited the short 40 minutes to ride the Top Thrill Dragster and was overwhelmed by the experience - the ride accelerates from 0 to 120MPH in less then 4 seconds, then straight up 420 feet, then over the top, followed by a drop of 420 feet (while spiraling), and finishing back at the starting line. "It's the most amazing ride I've ever had", she said...slightly dazed and queezy. (See our video excerpts of Top Thrill Dragster below).

Tina and I rode the Magnum XL (a former #1) which was highly enjoyable. Sarah also joined each of us for a couple rotations on the Raptor (another former #1).

The rollercoaster fun was not lost on Madison - Cedar Point has thrill rides for kids, too. She rode the Jr Gemini with some of her neighborhood friends we ended up seeing at the park, then rode it again with Mommy later in the day. They also enjoyed a spin on the 'Octopus'




Madison and Avery enjoyed the day immensely. Avery took in all the sites and loved the Cleveland Browns teddy bear that Daddy won for her. The game attendant actually tried to convince us to take a Boston Red Sox teddy bear. She threw out some line that 'orphans' made the Red Sox teddies - to which I said, "That's their fault".



In a game of 'Guess your Age', Daddy was victorious and won Madison a snake.



Unfortunately for Daddy, the victory was quite hollow, as the game attendant guessed Daddy's age at 44. Ouch.

Our day at Cedar Point was another 'brilliant' memory brought to us by Sarah. Thank you, Sarah - we miss you already!