Two months gone... (part five)

Two months gone. We are up to part five and I still have told you nothing about any progress on the Parastars. This was supposed to be a blog about the Parastars, wasn't it?

Bear with me a little longer, I promise to get back to the Parastars soon. But before I do, let me just say one word: Sheikra! If that doesn't ring any bells let me try two other words: Busch Gardens.

Anyone into roller coasters has probably heard that in May Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay unveiled their newest ride called Sheikra. The ad for this roller coaster is, "200 feet up, 90 degrees straight down." Sounds scary, right? Well, it is scary but not at the first 200 foot freefall where you would expect the biggest screams to occur. The really scary part is the second, smaller 90 degree drop that threads straight down through what appears to be a smoke stack or a busted up grain silo, plummets underground and emerges into a turn that skims the car over the top of shops, restaurants and heads of park visitors.

As part of the Discovery Cove package, we were entitled to 7 consecutive days at Busch Gardens. Rather than waste it, we planned to go on Thursday and asked d and c to join us. Not having been there in a while, they decided that now was as good a time as any and purchased their tickets. C, who is now doing caricatures in the park, joined us for part of the day.

Here's one of C's caricatures (I don't know who the subjects are and I hope that I am not violating some copyright law by posting this):


Since Sheikra was new, we decided to hit that first. The line was short but there were technical problems that delayed us for about 20 minutes. It was a good ride but my favorite is still Montu which we rode twice (or was it three times?). Lines were so short for everything other than Sheikra and the flume ride that we waited for the front row of Montu. It was worth the few extra minutes. From the front row you can really see everything coming at you and I found myself lifting my feet every time we passed something.

The only thing that bugged me about riding the coasters was that sometime during the ride they take your picture. I still can't figure out how they know it but they invariably snap the shutter when I look like I'm about to shit my pants. Look at anyone else in the picture and you see them laughing or screaming or doing things that appear normal. Me? All you see is white-knuckled terror. I hang there with my face pulled back in a grimace of death and big, bugged out eyes. From the pictures, it doesn't look like any fun at all... but it was!

It was so much fun that we paid the extra couple of dollars to get another day pass to the park and are looking forward to another trip to Tampa soon.

Coasters anyone?