THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2008
4:55 AM EST
ON THE RAMP AT DETROIT METRO-WAYNE COUNTY AIRPORT
ROMULUS, MICHIGAN
It’s been a short rest period onboard Northwest Airlines flight #208, a red-eye from Seattle to Detroit. As I gather up my stuff on this very empty 757, I take inventory of what I’ve got before I leave the plane. Rolloff? Check. Winter coat? Check. Messenger bag? Messenger bag…uh-oh….
Five hours earlier at SeaTac airport…
Bread bowls of Ivar’s clam chowder are one of the greatest things ever invented. First you have Ivar’s clam chowder, which is the best clam chowder known to man. Second, you have a bread bowl. Put ‘em together, and how much better can you get? Anyhow, I’d put my messenger bag on the chair across the table from me, and after I’d scarfed down the chowder I grabbed my coat and rolloff and head for the gate. The only problem is that I forgot to pick up my messenger bag, which means that my iPod, headphones, and a bunch of other semi-important things will be spending the weekend at SeaTac Airport, if not in someone else’s bag.
However, seeing that there wasn’t anything I could do about it until 11 AM Eastern (thanks to the time difference) I figured I better find a nice, quiet, unused gate and try to sleep for a while. Fortunately, even though Northwest has flights to just about everywhere out of DTW, several gates do go unoccupied, and I’m able to zonk out for a while, until it’s time to go get the rental car.
I get the rental car (a Mazda G6), and I decide to drive the freeway around downtown Detroit. Good grief, is that a depressing drive. I went around the waterfront past the Cobo Hall and Joe Louis Arena, and is that downtown ever dead. This is at 9:00 on a Thursday morning and NOTHING is happening.
I decide to get out of there while I still have all my limbs attached, and go back out I-94 towards Ann Arbor. By this time, the lost-and-found offices at SeaTac have opened, and I’m able to call the missing-object report in from a Denny’s on the way to Ann Arbor.
Getting off the freeway, and I drive up M-243 into the campus of the University of Michigan. The campus is fairly accessible by vehicle, and I do some scouting out of locations of potential bar visits later in the evening. I must admit, the University of Michigan campus is nothing to write home about. However, most Big Ten campuses aren’t much to see in the dead of winter, either, so that isn’t a very good comparison point.
I grab some lunch at Wendy’s back out by the freeway, then I meet the rest of the trip at the Hampton Inn on Victors Way. It had been a 12-hour trip by coach bus from Minneapolis, and the folks aboard certainly looked the part. One friend of mine started to drink as soon as the buses had left Williams Arena 12 hours before (about the same time I left Seattle), and had not had a good time of it a few hours later. We got checked in, got our room assignments, took our crap up there, and then got back on the bus to go on a tour of Michigan’s athletic facilities.
The bus pulled up to the loading dock of Crisler Arena, and we get out and meet our tour guide, Bill. We go on a tour of the Wolverine athletic facilities, including their pool (The UMN Aquatic Center is nicer), fieldhouse (a wash), and their studying facilities. I wasn’t overly impressed by any of this until we went into Yost Ice Arena, home of Wolverine hockey. As the Barnyard student section, we have a keen appreciation for ambiance of older arenas, and what we saw at Yost definitely had that. Wolverine fans think very highly of Yost, similar to how Gopher fans revel in The Barn’s atmosphere. Everyone on the tour agreed that Yost was the coolest thing that we saw the whole time there.
Back over to Crisler Arena we went. Our tour guide explained to us that due to construction in the Big House, it was impossible for us to go in there. This was disappointing, both to us and to him. We went around Crisler Arena, and were thoroughly unimpressed by the place. The place appears to have been built in the same timeframe as the old St. Paul Civic Center and the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, and also hasn’t been reupholstered since then. The colors of the arena are straight out of the late 60s.
This concluded our campus tour, and we retreated to the hotel. I went to the liquor store across the freeway and helped re-stock a few portable medicine cabinets, then returned to the hotel for Wendy’s supper and getting ready for the game. By the time 6:00 rolled around, we were all feeling pretty good. Jump on the buses, and they roll up into the parking lot of the high school kitty corner from the Big House. Erin goes up to the ticket office and gets our tickets while we make the cold walk across the parking lot and to the entrance of Crisler Arena.
I knew beforehand that Wolverine basketball was a distant third in importance behind football and hockey, but I had no idea just how far down the totem pole it was. By the time I got through the ticket turnstile and into the concourse on the opposite end of the arena from where the Barnyard was sitting, it was clear that we were going to have complete control of the crowd noise. In fact, I think we got some of the ushers very mad for yelling, cheering, chanting, and carrying on, and it was 15 minutes before tipoff.
We stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and then it’s game time. The Barnyard is quite merciless on the few thousand that bother to show up to Crisler for this Thursday night game. In addition to your “Defense,” “Let’s go Gophers,” and other standard basketball chants, we also go after the miserable crowd with “Where’s your students?” among other things not repeatable on a family message board. At the end, some of the folks on the bus are aware of the fact that if the Gophers win, this will be win #400 for coach Tubby Smith, so as the clock ticks down, chants of “Win 400!” go up. The team and Tubby appear very grateful that we made the trek there, as they make their way up the tunnel. We for everyone to leave, then sing the Rouser while everyone is hanging around the tunnel.
Back to the hotel, where everyone got ready to go to the bar. Our bunch decided to go to the Brown Jug, and over the course of the evening, most of the people on the trip end up there. It’s a good thing that I brought a change of clothes, because Michigan’s indoor smoking ban stops at 10:00 PM, so you can smoke in the bar after that time. In this day in age, wherever you can smoke, people will. The bar quickly assumed Flying Burrito Brothers proportions (Dim lights, thick smoke, and loud, loud music). As for the atmosphere, anywhere outside Minnesota where the Minnesota block M is prominently displayed is fine by me. The patrons were surprised that there were so many Minnesota people at the bar. Once we explained to them why we were there, they were glad to drink with us. Drinkers in Ann Arbor are most cordial to Gopher fans, unlike receptions in certain other Big Ten cities. In fact, we got several drinks and shots bought for us for that exact reason. At bar close, we stumbled across the street to this New York-style pizza place, which had very good pizza for 3 AM.
Waking up the next morning, I was glad to hit the shower, and bid adieu to the Barnyard crew. The rest of the Barnyard packed up to get on the buses back to Minneapolis, while I was going to go up to East Lansing and look around the campus of Michigan State. Unfortunately, I dropped the key to my rental car somewhere in the snow around the car (it had snowed overnight), and wasted the rest of the morning, a goodly portion of the afternoon, and too much of my money getting the mess resolved. By the time I got things squared away, it was too late to go to East Lansing. So I lit out for my accommodations that evening, which was at Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark and Resort at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.
Around Toledo and onto the Ohio Turnpike I went. By all accounts, it was a miserable day, even more miserable than Seattle was at that time of the year. The sky was gray, the traffic was heavy, and what made it worse was that the terrain was as flat as a pancake. At least the cloud layer in Washington State is above the mountains, so there’s something to look at. Not so much across northern Ohio. Fortunately, the Ohio Turnpike operates by a Pennsylvania-model toll road system (ticket in, ticket out). I get off at SR-4 and begin making the convoluted journey into the town of Sandusky.
If there was ever a town that relied on one thing to keep it going, so does Sandusky rely on Cedar Point. During the indirect drive from the Turnpike to the Lake Erie resort district, I lost count of how many businesses (including several hotels) were closed down for the season. By the time I drove out to the Cedar Point Causeway to see the world-famous roller coaster skyline of The Point, I was convinced that by virtue of the desolation of the town, a handful of cannon could hold the town against an army, for there was little on the streets for the shots to hit.
Castaway Bay is one of few signs of life in the town on a Friday night in February. I hadn’t been in an indoor waterpark that resembled the size of this one (Sorry Wisconsin Dells), so I took my time exploring the place. The indoor waterpark was certainly big, but nothing out of line from what I was expecting. More details of it can be found on their website.
The following morning, I drove from Sandusky to the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus. Driving down US 250 between Sandusky and where it picks up I-71 (Mansfield?), I find out some of the peculiarities of Ohio. The highway grid is an interesting combination of the right angles prescribed by the North West Ordinance, but overlaid with important point-to-point highways, similar to the highway grid of Pennsylvania, except sans mountains.
I slogged my way to I-71 and roared into Columbus and the campus of The Ohio State University. I came in on the road north of The Shoe, and had to walk around to try seeing the stadium. Everything the Big House isn’t The Shoe is. My first impression of the place is “Whoa!” It presents an aura of intimidation that the Big House sorely lacks. Sadly, I was unable to get into the seating bowl to take a look around. However, I was able to peek inside the fence between the open end of the horseshoe and the south stands.
After walking across the campus to some sub shop on College Ave. (I think, the exact name escapes me), the sun finally came out for the remainder of the drive across Ohio to Cincinnati. It was an unseasonably warm day (54 degrees and sunny on February 2), but it made for a pleasant drive down I-71 into Cincinnati. The freeway is flat and boring for much of the way, but starts getting very hilly near the Kings Island amusement park. While driving past it, it is hard to ignore just how spread out the park is. It took two full minutes at 72 MPH to go the length of it. The terrain keeps getting hillier the rest of the way into downtown Cincinnati. I intentionally go past the exit I’m supposed to turn off at so I can cross the Ohio River and claim that I’ve been in Kentucky.
After this little expedition (27 down, 23 to go), I backtrack along I-71 to the exit that eventually takes me to a friend’s place that I know through the coaster circles. The reason that I’ve come to Cincinnati is that he has season basketball tickets at Xavier University, his alma mater. Seeing that there is a home game on this Saturday evening, and I was within driving distance, I contacted him to see if he could get a ticket so I could see yet another college basketball venue. I pulled into the driveway (he had a large XU flag hanging on his porch), went inside, and we discussed things for a while before heading over to the XU campus.
Xavier University is a small Jesuit college on the north side of Cincinnati that has a fairly extensive basketball history. A poster on the Gopher Hole suggested that the accolades that get heaped on Gonzaga should go XU’s way. They’ve got a couple of NIT titles, as well as a very new arena/dining hall, the Cintas Center. We got over to campus a little bit early, and he was able to show me around the relatively small campus. Before the game, we stop at the student union for a blue beer. It’s just Bud Light with a bit of food coloring in the tap, but it’s certainly interesting.
Then it’s over to the Cintas Center. The seating at Cintas is an interesting configuration. The lower bowl goes all the way around the court, but the upper deck ends at the baselines on the north end, and a large ballroom occupies the space the “upper” deck should be. The student section is in the lower bowl below the ballroom, and the area is designated by benches, instead of the chairbacks around the rest of the arena. The XU student section is a lot like the hockey student section at Mariucci Arena: unorganized, unoriginal, and full of drunk people too busy to care about the game. Too busy, except for one minute detail: what my friend David refers to as the Wheel of Death. This is essentially a large, flat pinwheel with a spiral painted on it. When the opponent is shooting free throws, the general idea is that the wheel is stood up and spun in line with the shooter’s eye and the backboard, distracting him and making him miss. This wasn’t working the time I was there.
What I liked about Cintas is that it didn’t try to be what it wasn’t. It didn’t try to overwhelm you with either numbers or blaring pyrotechnics. They knew (and let you know) that you were in the home of the Xavier Musketeers, but let it go at that. The crowd was smart, and knew when to get in with the ebb and flow of the game.
Tonight’s game was against LaSalle, and it was a game that the Muskies drew off to a hard-fought win. Another thing I liked about CIntas is the fact that they provide halftime stats to the crowd. At the end of the concourse, near the entrance to the ballroom, there is a printer that kicks out copies of the halftime stats page, available to anyone who asks.
After the end of the game, we got back in my rental, and I drove to a Skyline Chili parlor to give Cincinnati-style chili a try. For those of you who haven’t sampled it, chili done Cincinnati-style means it’s poured over a pile of spaghetti. It’s not overly spicy but it’s very tasty, and I devour it with gusto.
We go back to the friend’s house, where I use his laptop to check my email, the Gopher Hole, and check into my flight back to Seattle from Detroit at noon the following afternoon. I thank him for the use of his place to stay, the tickets, and that I’ll see him again soon. Six hours of topsy-turvy sleep go by, then a long, boring drive up I-75 back to the Detroit airport. I’m finally able to get officially-printed highway maps of Ohio and Michigan at a couple of rest areas along the way.
I return my car, and I go upstairs to see if there’s any way to update my seating assignment (Northwest’s 757s are configured such that a very tall guy like me would like an exit row if at all possible). Seeing that the flight is completely full, I print my boarding pass and head for the shortest security line I can find. This takes me to the upper departure level, where two lines are significantly shorter than the others. I soon find out why. The reason that these lines are so short is that in addition to the metal detector, these lines have what I call a “huffer.” It blasts little puffs of air around your person and analyzes the collected sample for any sort of explosive residue. I hadn’t seen anything like this before, and I didn’t think the TSA agents had either, because it took a LONG time to get through the line.
The flight back to Seattle was its usual long, boring self. It was Super Bowl Sunday, and immediately upon arrival in Seattle, I drove up to a restaurant in South Lake Union to watch it with some friends. While at this restaurant, I was wearing a Xavier sweatshirt I had picked up the previous evening. On the way to the bathroom once, a guy coming out of the john saw my sweatshirt and said “Go Flyers!” I knew from before that the Xavier Musketeers and the Dayton Flyers had been archenemies for a very long time, but that was the first time I’d ever seen it firsthand. The Giants beat the Patriots, I went over to Mass at the UDub Newman Center, and then I went home exhausted, ending the four-day odyssey known as the Super-Sized Barnyard Road Trip.
Paul
Monday, July 21, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
TR: Minnesota @ Iowa, 11/9/07
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2007
KINNICK STADIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
IOWA CITY, IOWA
This past weekend, I traveled east to a football game I’d been looking forward to for a long, long time: my third trip to Kinnick Stadium for the Floyd of Rosedale game between the Minnesota Gophers and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
My plans for staying on Friday night in Iowa City went by the boards on Wednesday night. I called my good friend Gatorama (from the CollegeFootballNews.com message boards), who I knew would be in Madison this weekend for Wisconsin-Michigan, and asked if I could come up there and crash in his hotel room on Friday night. He agreed, and so I roared up the Illinois Tollway to Madison after I finally got out of O’Hare.
After jawing with Gator for a while out at the hotel, we headed into campus. While driving around, I got a call from a friend of mine who runs track for the Badgers, and we met her at a Noodles west of campus. It had been some time since I’d seen her, so it was nice catching up on things. Also, one of 847badgerfan’s friends came out and met us at this particular Noodles.
Lindsey went back to her place, and we went back to the hotel, where by this time 847 had gotten in from Chicago, so we jawboned with him for some time while he got some of his breakfast ready for tomorrow morning at the tailgate. We then went over to this supper club in Sun Prairie, where the special was your typical Friday fish fry. Perch was the fish of choice, and when it was brought forth, the slices were thin, over-breaded, and over-cooked. The Spotted Cow was the sole redeeming feature of the dinner.
After dinner, the Rollicking SUV O’Fun headed into campus. I was dropped off at Brothers to meet another friend who goes to grad school at UW. Unlike the last time I was in the Madison Brothers, the bar wasn’t jammed to the gunnels, so one could actually move around. I hung out with my friend for a bit, then trekked across campus to the Big 10, which is where 847, Gator, et al. went after dropping me off. They had fallen in with a group of Michigan fans, and they were having a good time discussing Gator’s exploits, and the prospects for the next day’s game. We stayed here until we called it quits around 11:30.
3 AM wake-up calls on consecutive mornings are hard on a man. They’re even harder when the second one occurs in a time zone that is two hours earlier than what your body has been. Still, with apologies to a schooner of coffee, I made it into Iowa City as the sun rose over a gorgeous Saturday morning in Big Ten country. I ended up parking in a grassy field at the end of Olive Court, and walked into the campus and the stadium.
Iowa City is similar to Madison in that there is no one spot where all the tailgating takes place. Every nook and cranny is filled with tailgaters, including my group of guys I was tailgating with. Call me a bit strange, but that kind of cold (sharp, brisk, dry cold) actually felt pretty good compared with the wet, damp crud that often settles into Seattle. Plus the sun was out, which you all know if a rarity in a Pacific Northwest winter.
After drinking, carousing, and carrying on, it was time to go into Kinnick Stadium. Another friend of mine from Davenport met me on the way into the place, and we went up to our seats. However, I had to use the bathroom first. BIG mistake. The men’s room under Section 109 was, without question, the WORST line I have ever seen at a men’s bathroom. I didn’t do the end-around, which meant it was over 10 agonizing minutes by the time I finally got up to one of the individual urinals. It was bad.
The game has been discussed ad nauseam. When I first bought the tickets, all I asked for was a competitive game for coming all the way from Seattle. Watching college football on a beautiful November afternoon, when your Gophers play the most competitive game they’ve played in some time in a road rivalry game, it does not get much better than that.
After the game was over, my friend from Davenport took me out to this restaurant on Mormon Trek Road (or whatever it’s called) just south of I-80, the name of which I cannot remember to save myself. Either way, the food was tasty and reasonably-priced. During the dinner, I could also feel the coffee schooner wearing off rather hurriedly, which meant that by the time the check came, I had the 40-foot stare of an exhausted guy.
The friend drove me back to Olive Court, and while walking to my car, I was summoned over by an Iowa fan parked in a yard, who noticed all my Gopher gear. He asked if I had a good time in IC, and I assured him that I had indeed. He said that he was from a small town about 50 miles southwest of Lake Okoboji, and that he liked seeing visiting fans make their way to Kinnick. He (and his companions with him) was genuinely impressed when I told him that I had come all the way from Seattle just for the game, and that I was already planning on Madison in 2008. Both of us agreed that with college football, it is the pre-and-postgame experience that matters, and we had a very nice chat, ending with him wishing me safe travels back to Washington. I have had experiences like that on all three of my visits to Iowa City.
I drove out to my hotel on the Coralville Strip, and after napping, showing, and changing clothes, Saturday night was your typical fun-filled, alcohol-fueled evening on the downtown Ped Mall.
After Mass at the UI Newman Center the following morning, I went over to the Hamburg Inn on Lynn Street for breakfast, to make another notch in my belt of Legendary Big Ten Breakfast Establishments. The Hamburg Inn seems to be the epicenter of presidential visits to Iowa City, with the Coffee Bean Caucus under the front counter, all the bumper stickers from the major-party candidates, and more pictures of past Presidents than can be hung on the wall. Oh, and the food isn’t bad either. Pancakes almost as thick as Mickey’s in Madison, and hash browns just as good as the ones at Al’s. Plus it’s CHEAP. What cost me $5 and change would have run me twice that out here in Seattle. Hamburg Inn is definitely a winner.
Iowa and North Dakota may be a couple of the worst states to drive across, but Illinois has to be right there. On the East-West Tollway back to O’Hare on Sunday afternoon/evening, I was cooking along at 75-80 MPH all the way between Davenport and the outskirts of Chicago, and it seemed as if I was going NOWHERE in a hurry. Plus if new tollways ever get built, they better go with the Pennsylvania model (ticket in, ticket out) instead of the Chicago model (stop every 20 miles and toss a fistful of coins into the hopper). Much more efficient that way.
Do new cars right off the line take a while to get up to their optimum fuel mileage? I rented a Pontiac Grand Am, and it had 225 miles on it when I left the Alamo rental facility at O’Hare at noon Friday. In the three segments of the trip (O’Hare-Madison, Madison-Iowa City, and IC-O’Hare), the car got 19, 20, and 23 MPG respectively. If I’d have known that, I’d have kept the rental as an econo-box, instead of giving a car its “shakedown cruise.”
Overall, this was another fun trip to Iowa City, and with this my live college football viewing has ended for the season. I’ve seen more different teams in person this year (Gophers, Iowa, Washington, Boise State, Ohio State, USC, Oregon, Texas, and Nebraska) than I’ve seen in any other year before this, and I’m very grateful for the ability to be able to do this. Good night, and Go Gophers!
KINNICK STADIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
IOWA CITY, IOWA
This past weekend, I traveled east to a football game I’d been looking forward to for a long, long time: my third trip to Kinnick Stadium for the Floyd of Rosedale game between the Minnesota Gophers and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
My plans for staying on Friday night in Iowa City went by the boards on Wednesday night. I called my good friend Gatorama (from the CollegeFootballNews.com message boards), who I knew would be in Madison this weekend for Wisconsin-Michigan, and asked if I could come up there and crash in his hotel room on Friday night. He agreed, and so I roared up the Illinois Tollway to Madison after I finally got out of O’Hare.
After jawing with Gator for a while out at the hotel, we headed into campus. While driving around, I got a call from a friend of mine who runs track for the Badgers, and we met her at a Noodles west of campus. It had been some time since I’d seen her, so it was nice catching up on things. Also, one of 847badgerfan’s friends came out and met us at this particular Noodles.
Lindsey went back to her place, and we went back to the hotel, where by this time 847 had gotten in from Chicago, so we jawboned with him for some time while he got some of his breakfast ready for tomorrow morning at the tailgate. We then went over to this supper club in Sun Prairie, where the special was your typical Friday fish fry. Perch was the fish of choice, and when it was brought forth, the slices were thin, over-breaded, and over-cooked. The Spotted Cow was the sole redeeming feature of the dinner.
After dinner, the Rollicking SUV O’Fun headed into campus. I was dropped off at Brothers to meet another friend who goes to grad school at UW. Unlike the last time I was in the Madison Brothers, the bar wasn’t jammed to the gunnels, so one could actually move around. I hung out with my friend for a bit, then trekked across campus to the Big 10, which is where 847, Gator, et al. went after dropping me off. They had fallen in with a group of Michigan fans, and they were having a good time discussing Gator’s exploits, and the prospects for the next day’s game. We stayed here until we called it quits around 11:30.
3 AM wake-up calls on consecutive mornings are hard on a man. They’re even harder when the second one occurs in a time zone that is two hours earlier than what your body has been. Still, with apologies to a schooner of coffee, I made it into Iowa City as the sun rose over a gorgeous Saturday morning in Big Ten country. I ended up parking in a grassy field at the end of Olive Court, and walked into the campus and the stadium.
Iowa City is similar to Madison in that there is no one spot where all the tailgating takes place. Every nook and cranny is filled with tailgaters, including my group of guys I was tailgating with. Call me a bit strange, but that kind of cold (sharp, brisk, dry cold) actually felt pretty good compared with the wet, damp crud that often settles into Seattle. Plus the sun was out, which you all know if a rarity in a Pacific Northwest winter.
After drinking, carousing, and carrying on, it was time to go into Kinnick Stadium. Another friend of mine from Davenport met me on the way into the place, and we went up to our seats. However, I had to use the bathroom first. BIG mistake. The men’s room under Section 109 was, without question, the WORST line I have ever seen at a men’s bathroom. I didn’t do the end-around, which meant it was over 10 agonizing minutes by the time I finally got up to one of the individual urinals. It was bad.
The game has been discussed ad nauseam. When I first bought the tickets, all I asked for was a competitive game for coming all the way from Seattle. Watching college football on a beautiful November afternoon, when your Gophers play the most competitive game they’ve played in some time in a road rivalry game, it does not get much better than that.
After the game was over, my friend from Davenport took me out to this restaurant on Mormon Trek Road (or whatever it’s called) just south of I-80, the name of which I cannot remember to save myself. Either way, the food was tasty and reasonably-priced. During the dinner, I could also feel the coffee schooner wearing off rather hurriedly, which meant that by the time the check came, I had the 40-foot stare of an exhausted guy.
The friend drove me back to Olive Court, and while walking to my car, I was summoned over by an Iowa fan parked in a yard, who noticed all my Gopher gear. He asked if I had a good time in IC, and I assured him that I had indeed. He said that he was from a small town about 50 miles southwest of Lake Okoboji, and that he liked seeing visiting fans make their way to Kinnick. He (and his companions with him) was genuinely impressed when I told him that I had come all the way from Seattle just for the game, and that I was already planning on Madison in 2008. Both of us agreed that with college football, it is the pre-and-postgame experience that matters, and we had a very nice chat, ending with him wishing me safe travels back to Washington. I have had experiences like that on all three of my visits to Iowa City.
I drove out to my hotel on the Coralville Strip, and after napping, showing, and changing clothes, Saturday night was your typical fun-filled, alcohol-fueled evening on the downtown Ped Mall.
After Mass at the UI Newman Center the following morning, I went over to the Hamburg Inn on Lynn Street for breakfast, to make another notch in my belt of Legendary Big Ten Breakfast Establishments. The Hamburg Inn seems to be the epicenter of presidential visits to Iowa City, with the Coffee Bean Caucus under the front counter, all the bumper stickers from the major-party candidates, and more pictures of past Presidents than can be hung on the wall. Oh, and the food isn’t bad either. Pancakes almost as thick as Mickey’s in Madison, and hash browns just as good as the ones at Al’s. Plus it’s CHEAP. What cost me $5 and change would have run me twice that out here in Seattle. Hamburg Inn is definitely a winner.
Iowa and North Dakota may be a couple of the worst states to drive across, but Illinois has to be right there. On the East-West Tollway back to O’Hare on Sunday afternoon/evening, I was cooking along at 75-80 MPH all the way between Davenport and the outskirts of Chicago, and it seemed as if I was going NOWHERE in a hurry. Plus if new tollways ever get built, they better go with the Pennsylvania model (ticket in, ticket out) instead of the Chicago model (stop every 20 miles and toss a fistful of coins into the hopper). Much more efficient that way.
Do new cars right off the line take a while to get up to their optimum fuel mileage? I rented a Pontiac Grand Am, and it had 225 miles on it when I left the Alamo rental facility at O’Hare at noon Friday. In the three segments of the trip (O’Hare-Madison, Madison-Iowa City, and IC-O’Hare), the car got 19, 20, and 23 MPG respectively. If I’d have known that, I’d have kept the rental as an econo-box, instead of giving a car its “shakedown cruise.”
Overall, this was another fun trip to Iowa City, and with this my live college football viewing has ended for the season. I’ve seen more different teams in person this year (Gophers, Iowa, Washington, Boise State, Ohio State, USC, Oregon, Texas, and Nebraska) than I’ve seen in any other year before this, and I’m very grateful for the ability to be able to do this. Good night, and Go Gophers!
TR: CFN Board Meeting Austin 2007; 10/25/07-10/28/07
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007
SEVERAL VENUES AROUND THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
In my 23 years on this earth, I’ve done my share of gutsy, unusual things. Forked out good money to see your team play even though you know they’re going to get butchered? Check. Skydived? Check. Moved halfway across the country by myself? Check. Ride a roller coaster 17 straight times without leaving the loading platform? Check. But flown halfway across the country to meet some folks who post on the same message board as I do? Haven’t done that yet. Therefore, as my Southwest Airlines place roared off the deck at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, I really wasn’t sure what the hell I was getting myself into.
I actually flew to Austin on Thursday night, and was met at the airport by Erin (UTerin03). I had my first taste of authentic Austin food at the Magnolia Café on South Congress on Thursday night. I could definitely tell that everything I ate had been prepared fresh, with quality makings. All of Erin’s friends bailed out on her for going to the bar that night, which was for the better, as I was pretty wiped out after a long day at the office and 5 hours of flights.
Friday morning I finally met razorchique, KSULady, and Gatorama in the hotel lobby, and I rode with them down to Ruby’s. I took a liking to the place immediately. It is your typical Texas hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint, and I’m partial to places like that. I also had my first taste of the national beer of Texas, Lone Star, and it does a good job of washing down some of that FANTASTIC brisket.
Roby’s is where most of the Board Meeting met up for the first time. The four of us ran into MikeDeTiger, SunDevilFroggy, 847badgerfan, hooky, BurntEyes, and several others that I can't remember off hand.
After Ruby’s, a few of us went over to Cain and Abel’s to have a drink and chill out for a while. I must say that Cain and Abel’s is my kind of bar. Good atmosphere, $2 pints of Dos Equis, and a jukebox where “I’ll Just Sit Here and Drink” by Merle Haggard was the song that stuck in my craw.
BurntEyes and badgerfan needed to get some smokes, plus I wanted to walk through the campus, so BurntEyes led badgerfan, and myself (correct me if there were more of us) through the campus. It’s a very nice campus, and definitely has a big-league feel to it (compared with my foray into Eugene). Badgerfan said that it definitely felt like a Big Ten campus, but with a Southwestern flavor to it.
En route to the tailgate site, we stopped at the souvenir shop at Darrel K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. It’s your typical team store, but trying to find the bathroom was a confusing maze. I picked up a t-shirt to verify that I have indeed been to Texas.
The laws of Texas are significantly different than anywhere else I’ve been to when it comes to drinking in public. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Washington lawmen would give you a $300 open-container ticket for drinking on the sidewalk (and be harda$$es in the process). Seattle cops would give you an additional ticket for not putting the drink in a plastic cup. Texas lawmen will let you drink on the sidewalk, but not on the state parking lots until they open for tailgaters to set up at 6 PM Friday night. This peculiar setup was demonstrated to us when we got to utee’s tailgate site about 5:00 Friday afternoon. Several of the tailgating setups were parked along the sidewalk waiting for the 6:00 bell, and they were already having a good ‘ol time, throwing washers and drinking beer. We helped utee get his tents set up, then went to Badgerfan’s hotel for him to change, then went to dinner.
Dinner was up at Trudy’s, just down the block from Rudy’s. Erin had raved so much about their Mexican martinis, I had no choice but to try one. Very tasty. I also had a mixed grill plate, and that was fantastic. If anyone complains about not eating or drinking well this weekend, it’s their own damn fault.
The party then shifted to Cheers on 6th Street. The waitress with the shot tray made out like gangbusters. When she came upstairs where the group was, someone suggested buying the whole tray. My hat was passed around, and there was a fair bit more collected than what she was willing to sell us the shots for. This happened twice over the course of the evening. I also had a nice talk with the barman about how the RRS is conducted up in Dallas.
Shortly before midnight, the folks who were riding in Gator’s car back to the hotel decided to call it a night, in preparation for the next day’s long haul.
Wow. A page and a half, and this is only Friday. Hard to tell how long this thing is gonna go for the Saturday recap.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2007
DARRELL K. ROYAL TEXAS MEMORIAL STADIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, albeit a bit chilly, on the plains of central Texas. It took a little while for me to fully come around, after short rest the past two nights and lots of cold beer the previous day.
When I saw Gator outside my hotel room shortly after 9:00 Saturday morning, he reported that I looked awful. I didn’t disagree with him, but assured him that once I got some food and some beer in me, I’d look and feel better. The whole bunch of us that were riding in Gator’s car piled in, and off to downtown we went. We ended up parking in a lot on 15th and Congress for the staggering cost of $5. Who said game-day parking had to be expensive?
After we piled out of the car (a la the clowns piling out of the Volkswagen), we made up an impressive menagerie of different school colors. Shirts, jackets, and hats from Florida, Minnesota, Kansas State, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona State, and Auburn made up our little group as we walked the three blocks or so over to utee’s tailgate. Several times we were asked if we were lost, and once we explained what our motive for being in Austin was, they thought it was very cool. In fact, we were offered beers at several points during the walk, but we declined.
I mentioned earlier that we helped utee set his tents up on Friday evening. By the time we got over there about 9:30 Saturday morning, he had a very impressive spread out there. Beer kegs on ice, plus more cans in an iced tub in the event we drank the kegs out, plus lots of other beverages. A dish set in a bucket of sand to pick up ESPN and all the early games of the day. Lots of chairs, and the breakfast tacos out and ready to eat. An impressive setup indeed. Utee’s organization donates all proceeds from the tailgate to noteworthy Austin-area charities, and we were all glad to contribute. I also thought utee’s Texas hockey sweater (for those of you who aren’t too familiar with hockey, it’s frequently called a sweater) was one of the more unique things I’ve seen.
The rest of the group trickled in from their hotel rooms over the next hour or so. By 10:00, everyone was there and wearing their respective gear. I believe the final tally of schools represented at the tailgate was 12 (Host school Texas, Florida, Minnesota, Kansas State, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona State, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Nebraska, and Wisconsin). Also, there were folks there in gear of Penn State, Illinois, and Oregon, but I don’t know how they fit into this whole situation. It was an impressive blend of colors, and the only regret of the weekend was that we didn’t get a group shot of all of us in our gear.
Around 10:30, utee and the other Longhorns in the group led us on a walkaround of the tailgating going on in that part of campus. I’ve never seen so many meat smokers in one place in my entire life. As with before, our group got a lot of jokes, jests, and stares as we maneuvered our way through south Austin. We walked past the State Museum of Texas, which looks to be the kind of place I could lose myself in for a full day or two. While we were told that the number of elaborate setups is down from many big games (Ohio State, A&M), there were still a lot of big rigs there.
We got back in time to see the early games get under way. Badgerfan and Gator sat down to take in Wisconsin-Indiana on the big TV, while Texas Tech-Colorado occupied the other one. By now, the main food had been set out, and we set out to devouring the catered Tex-Mex, and washing it down with all that cold beer.
I had to find an ATM, and I was told there was one down at the Scholzgarten, a few blocks down San Jacinto from the tailgate. I stepped in the door and into a sea of red. Turns out I had wandered into the semi-official Big Red Bar in Austin. I later learned that after the Big 12 was formed, the first time that Nebraska came to Austin, Texas fans were surprised that the visiting team had even found a bar to congregate at, much less show up in the sheer numbers that Cornhusker fans tend to.
At this point, it was getting really crowded around the tailgate. We stood around enjoying the tailgating scene, discussing football in general, and finding tickets for the members of our party who wanted them and didn’t already have them.
A little after 1:30, our group (Erin, Mike, TigerKing, SDF, Razor, and myself) headed into the stadium. I figured our seats were going to be a ways up in the upper deck, but after huffing, puffing, and damn near blowing the house down, it occurred to me that Row 54 was not only high up in the stadium, it was the VERY TOP ROW. The view of the field was good, though. It was just like watching a game on TV from Ohio State.
The University of Texas Marching Band, the Show Band of the Southwest, has a very nice pregame show. However, am I the only one who found it more than a little awkward to announce the emergency evacuation procedures AFTER the band has taken the field and began their pregame show? Also, “The Eyes of Texas” does a good job of pulling double duty. When played at a fast pace, it’s a good fight song. When played at a slow, deliberate pace, it makes for a fine school alma mater. The tune for “Eyes” also happens to be the same as that of “I’ve Been Working On The Railroad.”
The game has been discussed ad nauseam, and the second quarter was so exciting that I apparently fell asleep while leaning against the top wall. Erin brought binoculars, and they were used frequently throughout the game. SDF also used his cell phone to find the answer to this past week’s Resident Genius question.
For as many people as DKR seats, I didn’t find that it was much more than average. I realize that this may have been a function of being at the very top of the stadium, but the place wasn’t very loud either. Husky Stadium in Seattle is still the loudest college stadium I’ve been to, and also the most unique/scenic. After the end of the game, it took quite a while for us to get down to the concourse of the upper deck. We waited for the women to use the facilities, and took some pictures as the sun set on a gorgeous day for football in Texas.
On the way back to the tailgate, we stopped at one of the T-shirt wagons so that TigreRex could get a souvenir of his visit to Austin. While we were waiting, a man who was so drunk he could hardly stand accosted MDT and started talking smack about LSU and Texas. After a few minutes, his accomplices were able to drag him away from our group, and we all completely cracked up and laughed all the way back.
We thanked utee for letting us crash his tailgate party, found our way to Gator’s car, and after driving around what seemed like half of Austin, ended up at Sports Bar. It was crowded, and it took a while to get our food, but the turkey melt sure did hit the spot, and the onion rings were fabulous. Mr. and Mrs. Badgerfan both left during this time, and it was too bad we didn’t see them again before I left for Seattle the next morning. The rest of us were perfectly content to sit at our tables/booth, drink beer, and watch football.
Strangely enough, for a bar in Texas on Saturday during college football season, the sound from Game 3 of the World Series was being put on the house sound system, instead of any of the many, many football games on the different TVs. At the back of the bar, there were a big crowd of Red Sox fans cheering on the other big projection in the back of the bar. There were also delegations from both Ohio State and Penn State in the bar, watching the OSU-PSU game from Happy Valley on one of the big projection monitors. Since it was Halloween weekend, one guy had dressed up like Coach Tressel, sweater vest and all, and I had to get a picture with him (it’s in my Photobucket album).
Let no one accuse KSULady of not being a passionate Wildcats fan. You could see her blood pressure going up during the third quarter of the KU-A&M game when the Wildcats were taking it to the Aggies, and most other folks in the bar cheering for the Jayhawks out of their hatred of A&M.
We sat there and drank until halftime of Cal-Arizona State, at which point we headed back to our hotel for a nightcap. Mex had a hard time getting more beer to take back to Razor and KSULady’s hotel room, but get it he did. SDF was able to watch the end of the beatdown his Sun Devils put on Cal, and we sat, drank, talked, laughed, and basically agreed that we were going to SEC country for next year’s Board Meeting. I also suggested not bringing the Board Meeting to Seattle unless we had a booooooooat to stern-gate from near Husky Stadium.
Fate is strange. 48 hours earlier, I hadn’t met any of these crazy folks before in my life. Hell, I’d never been within 500 miles of any of them in my life. I’d only read what scraps they’d posted on an Internet message board. But saying goodbye to everyone that night was like bidding adieu to dear friends that you’ve known forever. Because we are all friends. We have GOT to get together sometime in the spring for a half-year meeting or something. I had way too much fun to wait a year for it.
It’s hard to top Washington State for natural beauty. The approach into Seattle took us south of Stampede Pass before turning over Issaquah and Lake Sammamish. Since it was a clear day, you could see well into the North Cascades National Park to the plane’s right, and the impressive profiles of Mounts Adams, St. Helens, and Rainier to the left. Absolutely beautiful mountain scenery. After leaving the airport, I realized that the fall colors are still in peak around Puget Sound, which meant that the 405 from SeaTac airport around to Eastgate was awash in natural colors. Seattle is badly underrated when it comes to fall colors.
So there it is. My bloated epic of a two-day visit to central Texas. Any questions, comments, or complaints? Send ‘em my way. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great weekend.
SEVERAL VENUES AROUND THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
In my 23 years on this earth, I’ve done my share of gutsy, unusual things. Forked out good money to see your team play even though you know they’re going to get butchered? Check. Skydived? Check. Moved halfway across the country by myself? Check. Ride a roller coaster 17 straight times without leaving the loading platform? Check. But flown halfway across the country to meet some folks who post on the same message board as I do? Haven’t done that yet. Therefore, as my Southwest Airlines place roared off the deck at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, I really wasn’t sure what the hell I was getting myself into.
I actually flew to Austin on Thursday night, and was met at the airport by Erin (UTerin03). I had my first taste of authentic Austin food at the Magnolia Café on South Congress on Thursday night. I could definitely tell that everything I ate had been prepared fresh, with quality makings. All of Erin’s friends bailed out on her for going to the bar that night, which was for the better, as I was pretty wiped out after a long day at the office and 5 hours of flights.
Friday morning I finally met razorchique, KSULady, and Gatorama in the hotel lobby, and I rode with them down to Ruby’s. I took a liking to the place immediately. It is your typical Texas hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint, and I’m partial to places like that. I also had my first taste of the national beer of Texas, Lone Star, and it does a good job of washing down some of that FANTASTIC brisket.
Roby’s is where most of the Board Meeting met up for the first time. The four of us ran into MikeDeTiger, SunDevilFroggy, 847badgerfan, hooky, BurntEyes, and several others that I can't remember off hand.
After Ruby’s, a few of us went over to Cain and Abel’s to have a drink and chill out for a while. I must say that Cain and Abel’s is my kind of bar. Good atmosphere, $2 pints of Dos Equis, and a jukebox where “I’ll Just Sit Here and Drink” by Merle Haggard was the song that stuck in my craw.
BurntEyes and badgerfan needed to get some smokes, plus I wanted to walk through the campus, so BurntEyes led badgerfan, and myself (correct me if there were more of us) through the campus. It’s a very nice campus, and definitely has a big-league feel to it (compared with my foray into Eugene). Badgerfan said that it definitely felt like a Big Ten campus, but with a Southwestern flavor to it.
En route to the tailgate site, we stopped at the souvenir shop at Darrel K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. It’s your typical team store, but trying to find the bathroom was a confusing maze. I picked up a t-shirt to verify that I have indeed been to Texas.
The laws of Texas are significantly different than anywhere else I’ve been to when it comes to drinking in public. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Washington lawmen would give you a $300 open-container ticket for drinking on the sidewalk (and be harda$$es in the process). Seattle cops would give you an additional ticket for not putting the drink in a plastic cup. Texas lawmen will let you drink on the sidewalk, but not on the state parking lots until they open for tailgaters to set up at 6 PM Friday night. This peculiar setup was demonstrated to us when we got to utee’s tailgate site about 5:00 Friday afternoon. Several of the tailgating setups were parked along the sidewalk waiting for the 6:00 bell, and they were already having a good ‘ol time, throwing washers and drinking beer. We helped utee get his tents set up, then went to Badgerfan’s hotel for him to change, then went to dinner.
Dinner was up at Trudy’s, just down the block from Rudy’s. Erin had raved so much about their Mexican martinis, I had no choice but to try one. Very tasty. I also had a mixed grill plate, and that was fantastic. If anyone complains about not eating or drinking well this weekend, it’s their own damn fault.
The party then shifted to Cheers on 6th Street. The waitress with the shot tray made out like gangbusters. When she came upstairs where the group was, someone suggested buying the whole tray. My hat was passed around, and there was a fair bit more collected than what she was willing to sell us the shots for. This happened twice over the course of the evening. I also had a nice talk with the barman about how the RRS is conducted up in Dallas.
Shortly before midnight, the folks who were riding in Gator’s car back to the hotel decided to call it a night, in preparation for the next day’s long haul.
Wow. A page and a half, and this is only Friday. Hard to tell how long this thing is gonna go for the Saturday recap.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2007
DARRELL K. ROYAL TEXAS MEMORIAL STADIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, albeit a bit chilly, on the plains of central Texas. It took a little while for me to fully come around, after short rest the past two nights and lots of cold beer the previous day.
When I saw Gator outside my hotel room shortly after 9:00 Saturday morning, he reported that I looked awful. I didn’t disagree with him, but assured him that once I got some food and some beer in me, I’d look and feel better. The whole bunch of us that were riding in Gator’s car piled in, and off to downtown we went. We ended up parking in a lot on 15th and Congress for the staggering cost of $5. Who said game-day parking had to be expensive?
After we piled out of the car (a la the clowns piling out of the Volkswagen), we made up an impressive menagerie of different school colors. Shirts, jackets, and hats from Florida, Minnesota, Kansas State, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona State, and Auburn made up our little group as we walked the three blocks or so over to utee’s tailgate. Several times we were asked if we were lost, and once we explained what our motive for being in Austin was, they thought it was very cool. In fact, we were offered beers at several points during the walk, but we declined.
I mentioned earlier that we helped utee set his tents up on Friday evening. By the time we got over there about 9:30 Saturday morning, he had a very impressive spread out there. Beer kegs on ice, plus more cans in an iced tub in the event we drank the kegs out, plus lots of other beverages. A dish set in a bucket of sand to pick up ESPN and all the early games of the day. Lots of chairs, and the breakfast tacos out and ready to eat. An impressive setup indeed. Utee’s organization donates all proceeds from the tailgate to noteworthy Austin-area charities, and we were all glad to contribute. I also thought utee’s Texas hockey sweater (for those of you who aren’t too familiar with hockey, it’s frequently called a sweater) was one of the more unique things I’ve seen.
The rest of the group trickled in from their hotel rooms over the next hour or so. By 10:00, everyone was there and wearing their respective gear. I believe the final tally of schools represented at the tailgate was 12 (Host school Texas, Florida, Minnesota, Kansas State, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona State, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Nebraska, and Wisconsin). Also, there were folks there in gear of Penn State, Illinois, and Oregon, but I don’t know how they fit into this whole situation. It was an impressive blend of colors, and the only regret of the weekend was that we didn’t get a group shot of all of us in our gear.
Around 10:30, utee and the other Longhorns in the group led us on a walkaround of the tailgating going on in that part of campus. I’ve never seen so many meat smokers in one place in my entire life. As with before, our group got a lot of jokes, jests, and stares as we maneuvered our way through south Austin. We walked past the State Museum of Texas, which looks to be the kind of place I could lose myself in for a full day or two. While we were told that the number of elaborate setups is down from many big games (Ohio State, A&M), there were still a lot of big rigs there.
We got back in time to see the early games get under way. Badgerfan and Gator sat down to take in Wisconsin-Indiana on the big TV, while Texas Tech-Colorado occupied the other one. By now, the main food had been set out, and we set out to devouring the catered Tex-Mex, and washing it down with all that cold beer.
I had to find an ATM, and I was told there was one down at the Scholzgarten, a few blocks down San Jacinto from the tailgate. I stepped in the door and into a sea of red. Turns out I had wandered into the semi-official Big Red Bar in Austin. I later learned that after the Big 12 was formed, the first time that Nebraska came to Austin, Texas fans were surprised that the visiting team had even found a bar to congregate at, much less show up in the sheer numbers that Cornhusker fans tend to.
At this point, it was getting really crowded around the tailgate. We stood around enjoying the tailgating scene, discussing football in general, and finding tickets for the members of our party who wanted them and didn’t already have them.
A little after 1:30, our group (Erin, Mike, TigerKing, SDF, Razor, and myself) headed into the stadium. I figured our seats were going to be a ways up in the upper deck, but after huffing, puffing, and damn near blowing the house down, it occurred to me that Row 54 was not only high up in the stadium, it was the VERY TOP ROW. The view of the field was good, though. It was just like watching a game on TV from Ohio State.
The University of Texas Marching Band, the Show Band of the Southwest, has a very nice pregame show. However, am I the only one who found it more than a little awkward to announce the emergency evacuation procedures AFTER the band has taken the field and began their pregame show? Also, “The Eyes of Texas” does a good job of pulling double duty. When played at a fast pace, it’s a good fight song. When played at a slow, deliberate pace, it makes for a fine school alma mater. The tune for “Eyes” also happens to be the same as that of “I’ve Been Working On The Railroad.”
The game has been discussed ad nauseam, and the second quarter was so exciting that I apparently fell asleep while leaning against the top wall. Erin brought binoculars, and they were used frequently throughout the game. SDF also used his cell phone to find the answer to this past week’s Resident Genius question.
For as many people as DKR seats, I didn’t find that it was much more than average. I realize that this may have been a function of being at the very top of the stadium, but the place wasn’t very loud either. Husky Stadium in Seattle is still the loudest college stadium I’ve been to, and also the most unique/scenic. After the end of the game, it took quite a while for us to get down to the concourse of the upper deck. We waited for the women to use the facilities, and took some pictures as the sun set on a gorgeous day for football in Texas.
On the way back to the tailgate, we stopped at one of the T-shirt wagons so that TigreRex could get a souvenir of his visit to Austin. While we were waiting, a man who was so drunk he could hardly stand accosted MDT and started talking smack about LSU and Texas. After a few minutes, his accomplices were able to drag him away from our group, and we all completely cracked up and laughed all the way back.
We thanked utee for letting us crash his tailgate party, found our way to Gator’s car, and after driving around what seemed like half of Austin, ended up at Sports Bar. It was crowded, and it took a while to get our food, but the turkey melt sure did hit the spot, and the onion rings were fabulous. Mr. and Mrs. Badgerfan both left during this time, and it was too bad we didn’t see them again before I left for Seattle the next morning. The rest of us were perfectly content to sit at our tables/booth, drink beer, and watch football.
Strangely enough, for a bar in Texas on Saturday during college football season, the sound from Game 3 of the World Series was being put on the house sound system, instead of any of the many, many football games on the different TVs. At the back of the bar, there were a big crowd of Red Sox fans cheering on the other big projection in the back of the bar. There were also delegations from both Ohio State and Penn State in the bar, watching the OSU-PSU game from Happy Valley on one of the big projection monitors. Since it was Halloween weekend, one guy had dressed up like Coach Tressel, sweater vest and all, and I had to get a picture with him (it’s in my Photobucket album).
Let no one accuse KSULady of not being a passionate Wildcats fan. You could see her blood pressure going up during the third quarter of the KU-A&M game when the Wildcats were taking it to the Aggies, and most other folks in the bar cheering for the Jayhawks out of their hatred of A&M.
We sat there and drank until halftime of Cal-Arizona State, at which point we headed back to our hotel for a nightcap. Mex had a hard time getting more beer to take back to Razor and KSULady’s hotel room, but get it he did. SDF was able to watch the end of the beatdown his Sun Devils put on Cal, and we sat, drank, talked, laughed, and basically agreed that we were going to SEC country for next year’s Board Meeting. I also suggested not bringing the Board Meeting to Seattle unless we had a booooooooat to stern-gate from near Husky Stadium.
Fate is strange. 48 hours earlier, I hadn’t met any of these crazy folks before in my life. Hell, I’d never been within 500 miles of any of them in my life. I’d only read what scraps they’d posted on an Internet message board. But saying goodbye to everyone that night was like bidding adieu to dear friends that you’ve known forever. Because we are all friends. We have GOT to get together sometime in the spring for a half-year meeting or something. I had way too much fun to wait a year for it.
It’s hard to top Washington State for natural beauty. The approach into Seattle took us south of Stampede Pass before turning over Issaquah and Lake Sammamish. Since it was a clear day, you could see well into the North Cascades National Park to the plane’s right, and the impressive profiles of Mounts Adams, St. Helens, and Rainier to the left. Absolutely beautiful mountain scenery. After leaving the airport, I realized that the fall colors are still in peak around Puget Sound, which meant that the 405 from SeaTac airport around to Eastgate was awash in natural colors. Seattle is badly underrated when it comes to fall colors.
So there it is. My bloated epic of a two-day visit to central Texas. Any questions, comments, or complaints? Send ‘em my way. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great weekend.
TR: Ducks-Dawgs, 10-20-07
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2007
HUSKY STADIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Yesterday, I attended my fourth Washington Husky game of the season, a 55-31 defeat at the hands of the Oregon Ducks.
· The often-ugly rivalry between Oregon and Washington began in the fall of 1948. That year, both Cal and Oregon had gone unbeaten in Pacific Coast Conference play, and it was decided that the presidents of the universities would vote on who would go to the Rose Bowl. It was suspected that the vote would be split between the California schools and the Northwest schools. As it turned out, UW voted for Cal instead of Oregon, sending the Bears to Pasadena, where they would lose 20-10 to Northwestern. Ten years later, the PCC dissolved in a slush fund scandal, and the big schools of the West Coast (Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, and UDub) voted the smaller Northwest schools out of their new AAWU, but reneged during the ‘60s and became the Pac-8, and later the Pac-10.
· This political underhandedness has translated to the gridiron over the years. Washington leads the series 58-37-5, and dancing on the home team’s midfield logo (or worse) was often commonplace. There was a period between 1924 and 1967 where UDub refused to go to Eugene, playing at Portland instead. In 1973, Oregon smoked the Dawgs 58-0 at Eugene. This was followed in 1974 by the Ducks getting roasted 66-0 in Seattle. Due to scheduling quirks, only one of the last 6 meetings has been in Seattle, and three straight have been in Eugene…until yesterday.
· Weather was typical Seattle football weather: rain and cold wind off Lake Washington. Husky Stadium is a hulking behemoth on the shore of the lake, but it’s showing it’s age (1920) in some elements, and there is a lot of debate as to what to do with it, either renovate it, wipe it out and rebuild it, or (GASP) move to Seahawk Stadium downtown. That’s enough material for its own column, and I will treat it as such.
· Tailgating around the place is not unlike most college tailgates. It’s very picturesque to see al the boats out on Union Bay that have anchored there and are drinking and carousing before the game, particularly on a day when the weather is clear (i.e. against Boise State back in September). Several waterfront restaurants, the most notable of which is Ivar’s Salmon House, run special gameday charters to Husky Stadium that include pre-sailing buffets. On land, the E-1 and E-12 lots, immediately to the north and south of the athletic facilities, is where most of the tailgating takes place. Seattle has an ordinance against any open containers, so everything must be poured into plastic cups prior to consumption.
· I went into Husky Stadium anticipating coming back to the Gopher Hole and posting something to the effect of “UO’s uniforms are even uglier in the flesh than they are on TV.” Instead, Oregon actually came out with respectable-looking all-white uniforms.
· The same cannot be said for the Oregon Marching Band. The OMB has, without question, the ugliest marching band uniforms of any BCS-conference marching band I’ve seen. In fact, what they wore to Husky Stadium yesterday was so ugly that Google couldn’t even find an image of it. The Oregon Marching Band’s website hasn’t been updated since at least 2006. The band did a short pre-game on-field show, and the crowd booed vehemently the whole time. As for their marching style, they behave a lot more like a drum and bugle corps than a traditional marching band, with fast formation changes, no high-stepping, and a battery of orchestral percussion (xylophones, timpanis, two large hanging bass drums, etc.) set up on the bench area of the field during their halftime show.
· The Husky Marching Band is a traditional marching band that can certainly be mentioned in the same breath as some of their Big Ten brethern as far as quality goes. They employ the typical chair-step marching style, and do a fairly good pre-game show (not nearly as long or as elaborate as the Gopher band, but they do a good job).
· I’m already a page into this and I’m just getting to the game. Oregon won the toss, received, and promptly drew off to a 14-0 lead after their first two possessions. This had all the feeling of a Gopher game in Madison the last decade, except for then Jake Locker unloaded an 82-yard bomb that landed straight into one of UW’s receivers to wake the crowd back up and make it 14-7.
· Dennis Dixon put on one of the most impressive quarterback showings I’ve ever seen in person. Many times over the course of the game he faked handoffs to his backs, and everyone in the stadium bit on it, including cameramen and play-by-play guys. Except Dixon still had the ball and was scrambling 20 yards to the outside.
· Jake Locker, the freshman phenom QB for the Huskies, was no slouch himself. He had been working on his passing touch in the three weeks since I last saw him play against USC, and he wasn’t airmailing passes (like he did twice with potential TDs against the Trojans). Both Boise State and Ohio State fans were heard to remark that they were glad they were playing Locker now, instead of next year or year after, because Locker is scary good. If Tyrone Willingham can get some talent around Locker, the Dawgs will be back in the Pac-10 race before too long.
· The third quarter was a wild shootout if there ever was one. However, by the time time had wound down to around 7 minutes left in the game, Washington had just score to draw within 38-31. At that point, the Ducks had over 600 yards of total offense, and the Dawg defensive backfield looked physically and mentally fried. During the TV timeout after the TD, I had a hunch the Huskies would try a dribble-kick on the ensuing kickoff to try and keep the ball out of Duck hands. Sure enough, they did. One of the Duck up-backs made a spectacular lunge to tip the ball to one of his teammates, and that was the only thing that kept the Dawgs from recovering. This call was NOT popular where I was sitting, although had I been Ty Willingham, I’d have sent in the exact same play.
· For all of its deficiencies, Husky Stadium is LOUD. My seats have all been under the upper deck overhang on the south side, and holy cow did that place ever get loud! Granted, it was louder against USC, but Husky Stadium was howlin’, no pun intended. Camp Randall and Kinnick couldn’t untie Husky Stadium’s boots.
· King County Metro Transit has a substantial network of special game-day services to many of their park-and-rides in the Puget Sound region. Since I live close to one of them (Eastgate Park and Ride), and I’m not tailgating, it makes sense to partake of this service. After the end of the game, Montlake Boulevard is closed to through traffic while a whole fleet of KC Metro buses take folks back to their park-and-rides.
So that’s how my visit to Husky Stadium went. Next weekend I’ll be in Austin, Texas, two weeks after that in Iowa City, and (maybe) the Badger game the week after. Here are some additional links for some of the organizations referenced in this write-up:
Husky Marching Band: http://www.huskymarchingband.com/
Oregon Marching Band: http://omb.uoregon.edu/
Thread at CFN that discusses the animosity between Oregon and Washington:
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=451#s=451&f=2366&t=652154
HUSKY STADIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Yesterday, I attended my fourth Washington Husky game of the season, a 55-31 defeat at the hands of the Oregon Ducks.
· The often-ugly rivalry between Oregon and Washington began in the fall of 1948. That year, both Cal and Oregon had gone unbeaten in Pacific Coast Conference play, and it was decided that the presidents of the universities would vote on who would go to the Rose Bowl. It was suspected that the vote would be split between the California schools and the Northwest schools. As it turned out, UW voted for Cal instead of Oregon, sending the Bears to Pasadena, where they would lose 20-10 to Northwestern. Ten years later, the PCC dissolved in a slush fund scandal, and the big schools of the West Coast (Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, and UDub) voted the smaller Northwest schools out of their new AAWU, but reneged during the ‘60s and became the Pac-8, and later the Pac-10.
· This political underhandedness has translated to the gridiron over the years. Washington leads the series 58-37-5, and dancing on the home team’s midfield logo (or worse) was often commonplace. There was a period between 1924 and 1967 where UDub refused to go to Eugene, playing at Portland instead. In 1973, Oregon smoked the Dawgs 58-0 at Eugene. This was followed in 1974 by the Ducks getting roasted 66-0 in Seattle. Due to scheduling quirks, only one of the last 6 meetings has been in Seattle, and three straight have been in Eugene…until yesterday.
· Weather was typical Seattle football weather: rain and cold wind off Lake Washington. Husky Stadium is a hulking behemoth on the shore of the lake, but it’s showing it’s age (1920) in some elements, and there is a lot of debate as to what to do with it, either renovate it, wipe it out and rebuild it, or (GASP) move to Seahawk Stadium downtown. That’s enough material for its own column, and I will treat it as such.
· Tailgating around the place is not unlike most college tailgates. It’s very picturesque to see al the boats out on Union Bay that have anchored there and are drinking and carousing before the game, particularly on a day when the weather is clear (i.e. against Boise State back in September). Several waterfront restaurants, the most notable of which is Ivar’s Salmon House, run special gameday charters to Husky Stadium that include pre-sailing buffets. On land, the E-1 and E-12 lots, immediately to the north and south of the athletic facilities, is where most of the tailgating takes place. Seattle has an ordinance against any open containers, so everything must be poured into plastic cups prior to consumption.
· I went into Husky Stadium anticipating coming back to the Gopher Hole and posting something to the effect of “UO’s uniforms are even uglier in the flesh than they are on TV.” Instead, Oregon actually came out with respectable-looking all-white uniforms.
· The same cannot be said for the Oregon Marching Band. The OMB has, without question, the ugliest marching band uniforms of any BCS-conference marching band I’ve seen. In fact, what they wore to Husky Stadium yesterday was so ugly that Google couldn’t even find an image of it. The Oregon Marching Band’s website hasn’t been updated since at least 2006. The band did a short pre-game on-field show, and the crowd booed vehemently the whole time. As for their marching style, they behave a lot more like a drum and bugle corps than a traditional marching band, with fast formation changes, no high-stepping, and a battery of orchestral percussion (xylophones, timpanis, two large hanging bass drums, etc.) set up on the bench area of the field during their halftime show.
· The Husky Marching Band is a traditional marching band that can certainly be mentioned in the same breath as some of their Big Ten brethern as far as quality goes. They employ the typical chair-step marching style, and do a fairly good pre-game show (not nearly as long or as elaborate as the Gopher band, but they do a good job).
· I’m already a page into this and I’m just getting to the game. Oregon won the toss, received, and promptly drew off to a 14-0 lead after their first two possessions. This had all the feeling of a Gopher game in Madison the last decade, except for then Jake Locker unloaded an 82-yard bomb that landed straight into one of UW’s receivers to wake the crowd back up and make it 14-7.
· Dennis Dixon put on one of the most impressive quarterback showings I’ve ever seen in person. Many times over the course of the game he faked handoffs to his backs, and everyone in the stadium bit on it, including cameramen and play-by-play guys. Except Dixon still had the ball and was scrambling 20 yards to the outside.
· Jake Locker, the freshman phenom QB for the Huskies, was no slouch himself. He had been working on his passing touch in the three weeks since I last saw him play against USC, and he wasn’t airmailing passes (like he did twice with potential TDs against the Trojans). Both Boise State and Ohio State fans were heard to remark that they were glad they were playing Locker now, instead of next year or year after, because Locker is scary good. If Tyrone Willingham can get some talent around Locker, the Dawgs will be back in the Pac-10 race before too long.
· The third quarter was a wild shootout if there ever was one. However, by the time time had wound down to around 7 minutes left in the game, Washington had just score to draw within 38-31. At that point, the Ducks had over 600 yards of total offense, and the Dawg defensive backfield looked physically and mentally fried. During the TV timeout after the TD, I had a hunch the Huskies would try a dribble-kick on the ensuing kickoff to try and keep the ball out of Duck hands. Sure enough, they did. One of the Duck up-backs made a spectacular lunge to tip the ball to one of his teammates, and that was the only thing that kept the Dawgs from recovering. This call was NOT popular where I was sitting, although had I been Ty Willingham, I’d have sent in the exact same play.
· For all of its deficiencies, Husky Stadium is LOUD. My seats have all been under the upper deck overhang on the south side, and holy cow did that place ever get loud! Granted, it was louder against USC, but Husky Stadium was howlin’, no pun intended. Camp Randall and Kinnick couldn’t untie Husky Stadium’s boots.
· King County Metro Transit has a substantial network of special game-day services to many of their park-and-rides in the Puget Sound region. Since I live close to one of them (Eastgate Park and Ride), and I’m not tailgating, it makes sense to partake of this service. After the end of the game, Montlake Boulevard is closed to through traffic while a whole fleet of KC Metro buses take folks back to their park-and-rides.
So that’s how my visit to Husky Stadium went. Next weekend I’ll be in Austin, Texas, two weeks after that in Iowa City, and (maybe) the Badger game the week after. Here are some additional links for some of the organizations referenced in this write-up:
Husky Marching Band: http://www.huskymarchingband.com/
Oregon Marching Band: http://omb.uoregon.edu/
Thread at CFN that discusses the animosity between Oregon and Washington:
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=451#s=451&f=2366&t=652154
TR: UO, OSU, Autzen, and Reser, 8/4/07
One of the things that I wanted to do once I got settled down here in Seattle was to go check out all of the big-league campuses of the Northwest. Pullmangopher is working on Wazzu, and my tickets for four Husky games are in the mail, and yesterday I got in the car and drove down the I-5 into Oregon, to Eugene and Corvallis and the campuses of the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.
Once you get out of the Portland metro area, I-5 driving through the Willamette Valley is a lot like driving across the Palouse in Eastern Washington on I-90. It is flat, the bridge overpasses are prime Highway Patrol radar spots, and the concept of going faster than 60 mph in the left lane is unheard of.
Of all the BCS-conference universities that I’ve been to the campuses of (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Colorado, USC, UCLA, and Washington), they all have the feel (setting, architecture, etc.) of being at a big-time university. After walking around UO for a bit, I got the feel of being at an overgrown community college campus. There just wasn’t the feel to it. No grandiose architecture, no big open assembly spaces, and no charm. The majority of the place looked like it had been thrown up in the immediate aftermath of World War II. I also didn’t like how the campus was integrated into the rest of Eugene. It seems as if the campus was scratched together on the cheapest hunk of land the Board of Regents could find, and then the town just built it’s way out to campus.
Mac Court was one of the few exceptions to this trend. The Art Deco exterior was one of the few scraps of charm in the place. Unfortunately, all the doors were locked, so I can’t report on how the playing surface is.
Hayward Field, the legendary track and field stadium and collegiate stomping grounds of Steve Prefontaine, was being torn up and re-built in preparation for the 2008 US Olympic Trials.
The dirtiest secret that nobody in the Pac-10 wants you to know is that the legendary Autzen Stadium isn’t on campus. The Willamette River and a large park separate the campus from the stadium. Prefontaine’s legacy still looms large over Eugene, 30 years after his death. The woodchip running trails are all dedicated to his memory, and several of the plaques in the park keep mentioning him as an inspiration.
Despite it’s location, Autzen Stadium a.k.a. The House That Phil Knight Built, is everything that is advertised. A gate was open, and I was able to go down onto the field and take a look around. This place is everything that the Big House, Camp Randall, and LA Coliseum are not. Autzen does not try to overwhelm you with sheer numbers. Rather, it’s a small place with the seating going straight up. It actually felt a lot like Kinnick Stadium, except smaller, steeper, and more claustrophobic. I can see why visiting teams have so many problems up there. When the crowd gets going, that bandbox would be hell on earth.
After this, I drove over to the UO Bookstore, and while I waited for AAA to break the keys out of my car, I partook in a Mount Saint Helens pizza at Pegasus Pizza (14th Ave and Alder St.). I’m partial towards pizza with lots and lots of meat on it, and St. Helens failed to disappoint. I think I’m still full from eating all that pizza.
I then made the 45-minute drive up Highway 99W to Corvallis and Oregon State. Going from Eugene to Corvallis would be akin to the U of M bring in Alexandria, and then the St. Paul campus being called Minnesota State and being set in Long Prairie. Highway 99W was, for much of the way, a two lane road through the rural Willamette Valley.
When I arrived at the campus of Oregon State University, there were a lot of cars parked around Reser Stadium and the Gill Coliseum. It soon became clear why. OSU was having an open scrimmage/practice, similar to what the Gophers were doing up at St. John’s, so I didn’t need to sneak around to check out the interior of the stadium.
Prior to the most recent renovations, which took place after the Beavers wiped out Notre Dame in the 2000 Fiesta Bowl, Reser was the poster child for “overgrown high school college football stadium.” Fortunately, the renovations, which redid the far side of the field (behind the visitors bench), remedied that problem. Despite being the smallest football stadium in the Pac-10, it works very nicely for what OSU wants.
I also thought that OSU had much more of a college feel than their brethren in Eugene did. I also kept in mind to expect something more along the lines of the St. Paul campus of the U of M, and I thought the Corvallis campus was very nice.
I could not say the same for the town of Corvallis. The town looked like one of those that needed SOMETHING to be there in the absolute worst possible way. Thankfully for them, the university is an enormous revenue driver, and the businesses I saw in town were clinging hard to the student dollar.
One thing that I’ve noticed in all of the 3 Northwest schools I’ve visited so far is that there aren’t many college bars to be found. Maybe I’m not looking in the right spot, but considering the size of football crowds on Eugene and Corvallis on game days, I’m surprised that there aren’t more bars to be seen. I’d love to be corrected by this by some of the Duck and Beav posters here. Where do you drink (in legal establishments) in either town?
Overall, I enjoyed the day trip down to OSU and UO. I will definitely have to get down to the two places for a game sometime this year.
Once you get out of the Portland metro area, I-5 driving through the Willamette Valley is a lot like driving across the Palouse in Eastern Washington on I-90. It is flat, the bridge overpasses are prime Highway Patrol radar spots, and the concept of going faster than 60 mph in the left lane is unheard of.
Of all the BCS-conference universities that I’ve been to the campuses of (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Colorado, USC, UCLA, and Washington), they all have the feel (setting, architecture, etc.) of being at a big-time university. After walking around UO for a bit, I got the feel of being at an overgrown community college campus. There just wasn’t the feel to it. No grandiose architecture, no big open assembly spaces, and no charm. The majority of the place looked like it had been thrown up in the immediate aftermath of World War II. I also didn’t like how the campus was integrated into the rest of Eugene. It seems as if the campus was scratched together on the cheapest hunk of land the Board of Regents could find, and then the town just built it’s way out to campus.
Mac Court was one of the few exceptions to this trend. The Art Deco exterior was one of the few scraps of charm in the place. Unfortunately, all the doors were locked, so I can’t report on how the playing surface is.
Hayward Field, the legendary track and field stadium and collegiate stomping grounds of Steve Prefontaine, was being torn up and re-built in preparation for the 2008 US Olympic Trials.
The dirtiest secret that nobody in the Pac-10 wants you to know is that the legendary Autzen Stadium isn’t on campus. The Willamette River and a large park separate the campus from the stadium. Prefontaine’s legacy still looms large over Eugene, 30 years after his death. The woodchip running trails are all dedicated to his memory, and several of the plaques in the park keep mentioning him as an inspiration.
Despite it’s location, Autzen Stadium a.k.a. The House That Phil Knight Built, is everything that is advertised. A gate was open, and I was able to go down onto the field and take a look around. This place is everything that the Big House, Camp Randall, and LA Coliseum are not. Autzen does not try to overwhelm you with sheer numbers. Rather, it’s a small place with the seating going straight up. It actually felt a lot like Kinnick Stadium, except smaller, steeper, and more claustrophobic. I can see why visiting teams have so many problems up there. When the crowd gets going, that bandbox would be hell on earth.
After this, I drove over to the UO Bookstore, and while I waited for AAA to break the keys out of my car, I partook in a Mount Saint Helens pizza at Pegasus Pizza (14th Ave and Alder St.). I’m partial towards pizza with lots and lots of meat on it, and St. Helens failed to disappoint. I think I’m still full from eating all that pizza.
I then made the 45-minute drive up Highway 99W to Corvallis and Oregon State. Going from Eugene to Corvallis would be akin to the U of M bring in Alexandria, and then the St. Paul campus being called Minnesota State and being set in Long Prairie. Highway 99W was, for much of the way, a two lane road through the rural Willamette Valley.
When I arrived at the campus of Oregon State University, there were a lot of cars parked around Reser Stadium and the Gill Coliseum. It soon became clear why. OSU was having an open scrimmage/practice, similar to what the Gophers were doing up at St. John’s, so I didn’t need to sneak around to check out the interior of the stadium.
Prior to the most recent renovations, which took place after the Beavers wiped out Notre Dame in the 2000 Fiesta Bowl, Reser was the poster child for “overgrown high school college football stadium.” Fortunately, the renovations, which redid the far side of the field (behind the visitors bench), remedied that problem. Despite being the smallest football stadium in the Pac-10, it works very nicely for what OSU wants.
I also thought that OSU had much more of a college feel than their brethren in Eugene did. I also kept in mind to expect something more along the lines of the St. Paul campus of the U of M, and I thought the Corvallis campus was very nice.
I could not say the same for the town of Corvallis. The town looked like one of those that needed SOMETHING to be there in the absolute worst possible way. Thankfully for them, the university is an enormous revenue driver, and the businesses I saw in town were clinging hard to the student dollar.
One thing that I’ve noticed in all of the 3 Northwest schools I’ve visited so far is that there aren’t many college bars to be found. Maybe I’m not looking in the right spot, but considering the size of football crowds on Eugene and Corvallis on game days, I’m surprised that there aren’t more bars to be seen. I’d love to be corrected by this by some of the Duck and Beav posters here. Where do you drink (in legal establishments) in either town?
Overall, I enjoyed the day trip down to OSU and UO. I will definitely have to get down to the two places for a game sometime this year.
TR: Six Flags Great America, 6/30/08
FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2006
SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA
GURNEE, ILLINOIS
Last week I made my annual visit to the Wisconsin Dells, and when I was there, somehow the seed got planted on pushing on another few hours to Six Flags Great America. I spent the next week trying to contact friends who live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, to no avail. So I bit the bullet and got the cheapest hotel on Expedia within driving distance of SFGAm, which was the Microtel Inn in Racine, Wisconsin. Racine is about 35 minutes north of Gurnee.
I took off at lunchtime on Thursday from my normal job at MnDOT, and after goofing around a bit, headed east on I-94. I have a newfound respect for U of Minnesota students who come here from the east coast of Wisconsin, because the drive was a pain in the butt. However, making the Ho-Chunk Nation pay for some of your expenses en route doesn’t hurt. I get to Racine intact, but exhausted, and don’t stay up very long.
Friday morning, after jamming myself full of IHOP pancakes, I took the free highway down to SFGAm. I paid the $15 (gulp) to the troll at the toll plaza, and parked front and center, which was considerably closer to the front gate than the $20 preferred parking lot. I got there about 9:10, and by 9:30, the area between the ticket windows and metal detectors was filled with people. Being used to the size of Valleyfair, where a crowd like this at T-minus 30 minutes usually meant a very crowded park, I thought that was going to happen here. The metal detectors opened up at 9:40, and let the crowd fill in the front plaza. At 9:50, the pre-open show started with a perfect way to open the long 4th of July weekend, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” A family from Sedalia, Missouri had been taken up to the upper deck of the carousel to be the official “first ride of the day. This took place to much fanfare, and promptly at 10 AM CDT, the rope dropped, and the crowd took off.
Having read the SFGAm tip thread, I took off for Superman: Ultimate Flight (coaster credit #44), as well as half the crowd in the front plaza. We arrived at the entrance to S:UF, and stopped. And waited. The line kept getting longer and longer, and by the time the queue opened, 20 minutes later, the crowd was all the way back to the carousel. Since I was close enough to the front of the line, I decided to go to the front row, since there was just about no one else in the front row line.
When I got to the front of line, three trains later, I emptied my pockets to the cubbyholes, and sat in the very comfortable seats, but then the seats turned forwards. This was my first flyer, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the restraints. They were very unusual in that your butt is completely out of the chair during most of the ride. The flying sensation is awesome, and then you hit the pretzel. Holy crap, was that fun. After that, the ride just fizzles out. After we got back, the line was already back into the queue mazes near the front. When I was waiting impatiently outside the line at the open, my logic was either wait 20 minutes now or wait for 2 hours later.
Keeping in with the tradition of hitting the low-capacity stuff first, I headed over to Vertical Velocity, but along the way I got my credit on Rajun Cajun (#45). Standard Reverchon spinning mouse, as in it spins like a crazy dude. Then over to V2 (#46). Same ride as Steel Venom here at VF, but with a slightly different belt configuration. I was enlisted as a partner for a group of three where one rider didn’t want to be flying solo. V2 seemed to have a little stronger kick of air than Venom did in Row 4.
Next on the circuit was Iron Wolf (#47), a primitive B&M standup. This ‘ol boy was no Riddler. It has not aged well. Back on Revolution, I was tall enough to sit over the top of the OTSRs. On Iron Wolf, I had the exact opposite problem. I was tall enough to get my ears boxed out. Also, the trains were not exactly aesthetically pleasing. One and done.
Since I had seen Déjà Vu (#48) running, I figured I better get that credit before it goes down mechanical. The station for this looks like the starting gate at your friendly neighborhood horse racing track. The operations were such that the line was long, but they were doing a good job of cranking people through the ride. I had no problems with height (I’m close to the 76” listed maximum height). These Deja Vus get kind of a bum rap as far as the ride goes. It’s a fun ride, I had no headbanging, and it was doing a good job of chewing through a line.
After the Vu, I headed over to the Great Southwest for some B&M goodness, Raging Bull (#49). The line was back to where the queue goes down the steps. It looked like it was going to be a long wait, but boy was I wrong. The line was one of the fastest moving ones I’ve ever seen, and I was through the ride in less than half an hour. As for the ride itself, wow! Lots of kick and floater airtime, smooth as glass, and a great crew! If this isn’t a Top 10 steel, it’s a rotten shame.
I’ve cleaned up the steel credits, so it’s time to get the woodies. Since Viper (#50) was close by, I headed there. The line looked very long, though. But I was proved wrong again. This was another fast-moving line. I sat in the very back, and the ride was nothing too spectacular.
Next came the long, long walk back to American Eagle. This is the one of the longest queues I have ever seen. It’s a long hike out to where the line splits for the Red and Blue trains. LONG hike. I started on the Blue side (#51), and got a ride a lot like Viper. Kinda smooth, fast, but not much in the way of either floater air or kicks of air. Same with the Red side (#52). However, contrary to reports seen here on TPR and elsewhere, my second ride on the Red train actually ran racing against the Blue train, and it wasn’t until this happened that I noticed the trim on the Red side going into the helix. Either way, either side of Eagle wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t SO DAMN FAR TO GET BACK TO THE LOADING PLATFORM!
It’s a hot day, and I’m thinking about going over to SFGAm’s new Hurricane Harbor waterpark. But first, I decide to go over to the original Batman: The Ride (#53). I notice that unlike the queue out at SFMM, which is themed like a disaster area, the theme for the SFGAm queue is a construction site by Gotham Public Works. The line had some great techno music in the queue, until the CD ran out. Next CD up: the batman soundtrack with “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal on it. It was a bit unusual hearing “Kiss from a Rose” in the queue line for a major roller coaster. But the ride was just as I expected it to be: fast, forceful, and fun. Rode in Row 2 first, then row 8. Great ride.
After this, I decide to get Demon (#54) out of the way before heading to the car to change equipment. Semi-standard Arrow looper, except in the very front, where for some reason, the nose cone has been closed off part of the way. There was still plenty of room for my legs, though. I liked the lights in the tunnel after the second vertical loop, but otherwise, nothing too spectacular.
The crowds up to this point hadn’t been too bad, and I soon found out why. I then went to the car and grabbed my trunks to head to Hurricane Harbor, the waterpark. I got there, and holy cats! The place is a nuthouse! I change, and go over to the waterslide tower with the two body slides, two raft bowls, and two other raft slides. I first go up the body slide staircase, and experience the second-longest wait of the day. There seemed to be some confusion on trying to get people to both slides. I got back down to the bottom, and I grab a hold of one of the double tubes, and I head up the stairs. The line on this side of the tower is almost as long as the body slide line, but faster moving. While in line, I somehow get to talking to the foursome in front of me. We have one of those fun but brief waiting-in-line conversations, and they split up to go down the bowls.
I got through the bowl, and as I scrambled out of the pool, dragging the twin tube along with me, here come two of the foursome over to the tube pile. They ask me if I want to go on some rides with them, and since I’m there myself, I gladly take up their offer. We introduce ourselves, and we get to talking. They’re from Battle Creek, Michigan, they had some campground/hotel problems last night, and they get to make the 4-hour drive back to Battle Creek tonight after leaving SFGAm. We decide to ride the big tube slide, and of the two on the tower, we go for the purple one, the one with the long airtime run. It’s a great time talking with these folks on the way up. We have to split into twos to ride the slide. Me and Tyler, the other guy in our group of five, opt to go last. We come out of the tunnel absolutely flying, and we get some MONSTER air. So much air that had we all gone in one tube, as had been originally suggested, we would have likely been scraped up somewhere around the Wisconsin border. The lifeguards get SOAKED, and we all collapse in hysterical laughter. We got so much air that Tyler hurt his shoulder on impact.
After we change, we split up. I have to go out to my car to get some of my stuff (camera, phone, wallet), so we exchange phone numbers so we can meet back up after I get back in the park. After making the swap, I call Tyler’s phone about a dozen times, to no avail. By this time, the sun is going down, and I get some inspiration on what to shoot for video and pictures. One of the songs that just came on the park’s background sound is “Shadow Dancing” by Andy Gibb. I started shooting lots of sundown footage with this inspiration. After circling the park getting lots of footage, I run into Tyler and company by accident. They are getting tired, and are ready to head back to Michigan. It was very nice meeting you all. If you are reading this TR, message me.
Anyway, after bidding the Michigan Four adieu, I shoot footage until my camera battery dies, and then I start taking night rides. Viper really came alive as the sun went down. I rode in row 6, and it went from a “meh” ride in the back row to a “Wow!” ride in row 6. Had it not been so damn far back to Eagle, I’d have gone back there to partake in some more wooden madness. I went on two more rides on Raging Bull (rows 8 then 9), with the ride getting better and better.
At this point, it’s 9 PM. Apparently there are going to be fireworks and a show near the one train station at 9, so I wander over to see what it’s all about. The show is unwatchable, so I start positioning myself for a fast run over to Superman after the end of the fireworks, thinking that people are going to start pouring out of the gate after the end of the fireworks, and will draw people out of the park. The fireworks were decent enough, and as soon as the last shot is fired, I walk very quickly over to the Superman queue. The line has indeed shrank (it’s been back in the queue mazes all day) to about half the distance to the station, but it still takes half an hour to get up to the platform.
When I get up to the station, I go to Row 7 of the train. Lo and behold, I line up along side the same three people I’d ridden in the front row with way back at the open. We make lots of comments about how the day is best book ended by rides on Superman. The flying sensation is still great in row 7, but going through the pretzel I thought I was going to black out. Force, force, and did I mention force? A great final ride of the day before I decide to quit it.
I get back to my car, then I start making my way back to the Microtel in Racine. That open-faced turkey sandwich at the Perkins at Kenosha, WI never tasted so good. The remainder of the trip featured stops at the Wisconsin State Fair Park/Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Lake Zumbrota in rural Wabasha County, Minnesota. All in all, a fine trip to celebrate America’s independence.
THE END
SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA
GURNEE, ILLINOIS
Last week I made my annual visit to the Wisconsin Dells, and when I was there, somehow the seed got planted on pushing on another few hours to Six Flags Great America. I spent the next week trying to contact friends who live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, to no avail. So I bit the bullet and got the cheapest hotel on Expedia within driving distance of SFGAm, which was the Microtel Inn in Racine, Wisconsin. Racine is about 35 minutes north of Gurnee.
I took off at lunchtime on Thursday from my normal job at MnDOT, and after goofing around a bit, headed east on I-94. I have a newfound respect for U of Minnesota students who come here from the east coast of Wisconsin, because the drive was a pain in the butt. However, making the Ho-Chunk Nation pay for some of your expenses en route doesn’t hurt. I get to Racine intact, but exhausted, and don’t stay up very long.
Friday morning, after jamming myself full of IHOP pancakes, I took the free highway down to SFGAm. I paid the $15 (gulp) to the troll at the toll plaza, and parked front and center, which was considerably closer to the front gate than the $20 preferred parking lot. I got there about 9:10, and by 9:30, the area between the ticket windows and metal detectors was filled with people. Being used to the size of Valleyfair, where a crowd like this at T-minus 30 minutes usually meant a very crowded park, I thought that was going to happen here. The metal detectors opened up at 9:40, and let the crowd fill in the front plaza. At 9:50, the pre-open show started with a perfect way to open the long 4th of July weekend, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” A family from Sedalia, Missouri had been taken up to the upper deck of the carousel to be the official “first ride of the day. This took place to much fanfare, and promptly at 10 AM CDT, the rope dropped, and the crowd took off.
Having read the SFGAm tip thread, I took off for Superman: Ultimate Flight (coaster credit #44), as well as half the crowd in the front plaza. We arrived at the entrance to S:UF, and stopped. And waited. The line kept getting longer and longer, and by the time the queue opened, 20 minutes later, the crowd was all the way back to the carousel. Since I was close enough to the front of the line, I decided to go to the front row, since there was just about no one else in the front row line.
When I got to the front of line, three trains later, I emptied my pockets to the cubbyholes, and sat in the very comfortable seats, but then the seats turned forwards. This was my first flyer, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the restraints. They were very unusual in that your butt is completely out of the chair during most of the ride. The flying sensation is awesome, and then you hit the pretzel. Holy crap, was that fun. After that, the ride just fizzles out. After we got back, the line was already back into the queue mazes near the front. When I was waiting impatiently outside the line at the open, my logic was either wait 20 minutes now or wait for 2 hours later.
Keeping in with the tradition of hitting the low-capacity stuff first, I headed over to Vertical Velocity, but along the way I got my credit on Rajun Cajun (#45). Standard Reverchon spinning mouse, as in it spins like a crazy dude. Then over to V2 (#46). Same ride as Steel Venom here at VF, but with a slightly different belt configuration. I was enlisted as a partner for a group of three where one rider didn’t want to be flying solo. V2 seemed to have a little stronger kick of air than Venom did in Row 4.
Next on the circuit was Iron Wolf (#47), a primitive B&M standup. This ‘ol boy was no Riddler. It has not aged well. Back on Revolution, I was tall enough to sit over the top of the OTSRs. On Iron Wolf, I had the exact opposite problem. I was tall enough to get my ears boxed out. Also, the trains were not exactly aesthetically pleasing. One and done.
Since I had seen Déjà Vu (#48) running, I figured I better get that credit before it goes down mechanical. The station for this looks like the starting gate at your friendly neighborhood horse racing track. The operations were such that the line was long, but they were doing a good job of cranking people through the ride. I had no problems with height (I’m close to the 76” listed maximum height). These Deja Vus get kind of a bum rap as far as the ride goes. It’s a fun ride, I had no headbanging, and it was doing a good job of chewing through a line.
After the Vu, I headed over to the Great Southwest for some B&M goodness, Raging Bull (#49). The line was back to where the queue goes down the steps. It looked like it was going to be a long wait, but boy was I wrong. The line was one of the fastest moving ones I’ve ever seen, and I was through the ride in less than half an hour. As for the ride itself, wow! Lots of kick and floater airtime, smooth as glass, and a great crew! If this isn’t a Top 10 steel, it’s a rotten shame.
I’ve cleaned up the steel credits, so it’s time to get the woodies. Since Viper (#50) was close by, I headed there. The line looked very long, though. But I was proved wrong again. This was another fast-moving line. I sat in the very back, and the ride was nothing too spectacular.
Next came the long, long walk back to American Eagle. This is the one of the longest queues I have ever seen. It’s a long hike out to where the line splits for the Red and Blue trains. LONG hike. I started on the Blue side (#51), and got a ride a lot like Viper. Kinda smooth, fast, but not much in the way of either floater air or kicks of air. Same with the Red side (#52). However, contrary to reports seen here on TPR and elsewhere, my second ride on the Red train actually ran racing against the Blue train, and it wasn’t until this happened that I noticed the trim on the Red side going into the helix. Either way, either side of Eagle wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t SO DAMN FAR TO GET BACK TO THE LOADING PLATFORM!
It’s a hot day, and I’m thinking about going over to SFGAm’s new Hurricane Harbor waterpark. But first, I decide to go over to the original Batman: The Ride (#53). I notice that unlike the queue out at SFMM, which is themed like a disaster area, the theme for the SFGAm queue is a construction site by Gotham Public Works. The line had some great techno music in the queue, until the CD ran out. Next CD up: the batman soundtrack with “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal on it. It was a bit unusual hearing “Kiss from a Rose” in the queue line for a major roller coaster. But the ride was just as I expected it to be: fast, forceful, and fun. Rode in Row 2 first, then row 8. Great ride.
After this, I decide to get Demon (#54) out of the way before heading to the car to change equipment. Semi-standard Arrow looper, except in the very front, where for some reason, the nose cone has been closed off part of the way. There was still plenty of room for my legs, though. I liked the lights in the tunnel after the second vertical loop, but otherwise, nothing too spectacular.
The crowds up to this point hadn’t been too bad, and I soon found out why. I then went to the car and grabbed my trunks to head to Hurricane Harbor, the waterpark. I got there, and holy cats! The place is a nuthouse! I change, and go over to the waterslide tower with the two body slides, two raft bowls, and two other raft slides. I first go up the body slide staircase, and experience the second-longest wait of the day. There seemed to be some confusion on trying to get people to both slides. I got back down to the bottom, and I grab a hold of one of the double tubes, and I head up the stairs. The line on this side of the tower is almost as long as the body slide line, but faster moving. While in line, I somehow get to talking to the foursome in front of me. We have one of those fun but brief waiting-in-line conversations, and they split up to go down the bowls.
I got through the bowl, and as I scrambled out of the pool, dragging the twin tube along with me, here come two of the foursome over to the tube pile. They ask me if I want to go on some rides with them, and since I’m there myself, I gladly take up their offer. We introduce ourselves, and we get to talking. They’re from Battle Creek, Michigan, they had some campground/hotel problems last night, and they get to make the 4-hour drive back to Battle Creek tonight after leaving SFGAm. We decide to ride the big tube slide, and of the two on the tower, we go for the purple one, the one with the long airtime run. It’s a great time talking with these folks on the way up. We have to split into twos to ride the slide. Me and Tyler, the other guy in our group of five, opt to go last. We come out of the tunnel absolutely flying, and we get some MONSTER air. So much air that had we all gone in one tube, as had been originally suggested, we would have likely been scraped up somewhere around the Wisconsin border. The lifeguards get SOAKED, and we all collapse in hysterical laughter. We got so much air that Tyler hurt his shoulder on impact.
After we change, we split up. I have to go out to my car to get some of my stuff (camera, phone, wallet), so we exchange phone numbers so we can meet back up after I get back in the park. After making the swap, I call Tyler’s phone about a dozen times, to no avail. By this time, the sun is going down, and I get some inspiration on what to shoot for video and pictures. One of the songs that just came on the park’s background sound is “Shadow Dancing” by Andy Gibb. I started shooting lots of sundown footage with this inspiration. After circling the park getting lots of footage, I run into Tyler and company by accident. They are getting tired, and are ready to head back to Michigan. It was very nice meeting you all. If you are reading this TR, message me.
Anyway, after bidding the Michigan Four adieu, I shoot footage until my camera battery dies, and then I start taking night rides. Viper really came alive as the sun went down. I rode in row 6, and it went from a “meh” ride in the back row to a “Wow!” ride in row 6. Had it not been so damn far back to Eagle, I’d have gone back there to partake in some more wooden madness. I went on two more rides on Raging Bull (rows 8 then 9), with the ride getting better and better.
At this point, it’s 9 PM. Apparently there are going to be fireworks and a show near the one train station at 9, so I wander over to see what it’s all about. The show is unwatchable, so I start positioning myself for a fast run over to Superman after the end of the fireworks, thinking that people are going to start pouring out of the gate after the end of the fireworks, and will draw people out of the park. The fireworks were decent enough, and as soon as the last shot is fired, I walk very quickly over to the Superman queue. The line has indeed shrank (it’s been back in the queue mazes all day) to about half the distance to the station, but it still takes half an hour to get up to the platform.
When I get up to the station, I go to Row 7 of the train. Lo and behold, I line up along side the same three people I’d ridden in the front row with way back at the open. We make lots of comments about how the day is best book ended by rides on Superman. The flying sensation is still great in row 7, but going through the pretzel I thought I was going to black out. Force, force, and did I mention force? A great final ride of the day before I decide to quit it.
I get back to my car, then I start making my way back to the Microtel in Racine. That open-faced turkey sandwich at the Perkins at Kenosha, WI never tasted so good. The remainder of the trip featured stops at the Wisconsin State Fair Park/Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Lake Zumbrota in rural Wabasha County, Minnesota. All in all, a fine trip to celebrate America’s independence.
THE END
TR: The 3rd Barnyard Road Trip: Iowa 2007 (1/13/2007)
SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 2007
CARVER-HAWKEYE ARENA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
IOWA CITY, IOWA
This was my second Barnyard road trip that I have partaken in. Last year, I went to Northwestern with the gang, and had a great time, despite the fact that the crowd at Northwestern was the worst thing since Long Island Iced Tea Mix In a Bottle. With that thought in mind, I trudged my way over to Williams Arena on a viciously cold Saturday morning to board the coach buses that would take us to Iowa City.There were two buses packed to the gills with Barnyard members.
The trip through southern Minnesota was a quiet one, but as soon as we hit the Iowa state line, the several Marching Band members who were on our bus started singing, and any premonition of waiting for a while to start the festivities promptly went by the boards. The trip down was fun, and included a conversation between several of us in the front of the bus regarding the origins of some of our Gopher Hole aliases. After we went through Waterloo, it began to snow/freezing rain, and by the time we got to Iowa City, there was a coating of slop/ice on the ground.
Killed a little time at a McDonalds in Coralville, then we went over to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. At first, we weren't sure if this was indeed Carver-Hawkeye Arena that we were driving towards. Oh, that ugly lattice gidrerwork is what holds up the roof? Anyway, we go in and find our seats (the top of Section II, for those of you with a seating chart close at hand.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena has elements of the New Mexico Pit (dug out of the ground), Mariucci Arena (open concourse around the top of the arena), and the old St. Paul Civic Center (a constant oval bowl). Carver-Hawkeye is also the most acoustically dead sports arena I have ever had the misfortune of going into. Abraham Lincoln is more alive than the sound in that arena was. We couldn't hear the ref's whistles, the pep band, or any announcements. I'm not sure what caused the place to be that way, but any noise the crowd made was promptly sucked into the abyss, never to be heard again. There is no way for a rowdy crowd to feed of itself. Between the 8 and 4 minute timeouts of the first half, I went around behind the pep band to see if I could hear any noise the Barnyard was making, and I could hear nothing. I'll take the Barn any day of the week. For that matter, I'll take Welsh-Ryan any day of the week, I just don't want that crowd. Also, is "In Heaven There Is No Beer" the UI alma mater?
There are enough discussion threads about the game to take care of that, although I was STUNNED to see in today's Des Moines Register that we out-rebounded the Hawks.
After the conclusion of the game, another Barnyard member and I were grabbed by a man who told us something to the effect of "As a Minnesota alum, I was very disappointed in you today." Now aside from a few chants that were quite off-color and probably should have been left on the bus (particularly with two small children seated immediately in front of us), I thought we did a good job representing the U of M. He didn't bother to elaborate on that point.
One of many things that the Univerity of Iowa is renowned for is the inability to disperse a big crowd, at least compared with the U and those red skunks in Madison. It took 30 minutes to move the 200 or so yards from where the busses were parked to the light on US 6. During this time, one guy told us that despite Northwestern taking Becky to the wire, they couldn't finish the deal.
We arrive at the hotel, and what a clusterf***! The computers were broken down, room keys were screwed up, etc, etc, etc. I won't elaborate, but it involved a LOT of POed people. At this point, the gathering broke up, with some going downtown to get loaded for bear, and others going to get dinner first. I highly recommend the El Dorado Mexican restaurant across the street from our hotel. Excellent meal for a reasonable price.
I ended up going with alltimetwinsfan to the Fieldhouse for a while, then back out to our hotel on the Coralville strip and Old Chicago where the evening ended with a rousing game of shuffleboard. Someone in the Twin Cities has to get one of those shuffleboard tables. That was, without queston, the highlight of the night, which speaks volumes about the nightlife in Iowa City.
It was quite a bit warmer in Iowa City than it was in Minnapolis, warm enough for the precipitation to stay as freezing rain. By 10:00 PM, there was a protective coating of ice on Iowa City, which made crossing the street a dicey proposition. The ice was still there by morning, but as of the time of this writing (the buses were passing Charles City), the roads haven't gotten too bad as of yet.Overall, I had a great time, and would do this again in a heartbeat. Thanks to all the Barnyard folks for organizing this trip, and hopfully things will work out again next season.
CARVER-HAWKEYE ARENA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
IOWA CITY, IOWA
This was my second Barnyard road trip that I have partaken in. Last year, I went to Northwestern with the gang, and had a great time, despite the fact that the crowd at Northwestern was the worst thing since Long Island Iced Tea Mix In a Bottle. With that thought in mind, I trudged my way over to Williams Arena on a viciously cold Saturday morning to board the coach buses that would take us to Iowa City.There were two buses packed to the gills with Barnyard members.
The trip through southern Minnesota was a quiet one, but as soon as we hit the Iowa state line, the several Marching Band members who were on our bus started singing, and any premonition of waiting for a while to start the festivities promptly went by the boards. The trip down was fun, and included a conversation between several of us in the front of the bus regarding the origins of some of our Gopher Hole aliases. After we went through Waterloo, it began to snow/freezing rain, and by the time we got to Iowa City, there was a coating of slop/ice on the ground.
Killed a little time at a McDonalds in Coralville, then we went over to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. At first, we weren't sure if this was indeed Carver-Hawkeye Arena that we were driving towards. Oh, that ugly lattice gidrerwork is what holds up the roof? Anyway, we go in and find our seats (the top of Section II, for those of you with a seating chart close at hand.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena has elements of the New Mexico Pit (dug out of the ground), Mariucci Arena (open concourse around the top of the arena), and the old St. Paul Civic Center (a constant oval bowl). Carver-Hawkeye is also the most acoustically dead sports arena I have ever had the misfortune of going into. Abraham Lincoln is more alive than the sound in that arena was. We couldn't hear the ref's whistles, the pep band, or any announcements. I'm not sure what caused the place to be that way, but any noise the crowd made was promptly sucked into the abyss, never to be heard again. There is no way for a rowdy crowd to feed of itself. Between the 8 and 4 minute timeouts of the first half, I went around behind the pep band to see if I could hear any noise the Barnyard was making, and I could hear nothing. I'll take the Barn any day of the week. For that matter, I'll take Welsh-Ryan any day of the week, I just don't want that crowd. Also, is "In Heaven There Is No Beer" the UI alma mater?
There are enough discussion threads about the game to take care of that, although I was STUNNED to see in today's Des Moines Register that we out-rebounded the Hawks.
After the conclusion of the game, another Barnyard member and I were grabbed by a man who told us something to the effect of "As a Minnesota alum, I was very disappointed in you today." Now aside from a few chants that were quite off-color and probably should have been left on the bus (particularly with two small children seated immediately in front of us), I thought we did a good job representing the U of M. He didn't bother to elaborate on that point.
One of many things that the Univerity of Iowa is renowned for is the inability to disperse a big crowd, at least compared with the U and those red skunks in Madison. It took 30 minutes to move the 200 or so yards from where the busses were parked to the light on US 6. During this time, one guy told us that despite Northwestern taking Becky to the wire, they couldn't finish the deal.
We arrive at the hotel, and what a clusterf***! The computers were broken down, room keys were screwed up, etc, etc, etc. I won't elaborate, but it involved a LOT of POed people. At this point, the gathering broke up, with some going downtown to get loaded for bear, and others going to get dinner first. I highly recommend the El Dorado Mexican restaurant across the street from our hotel. Excellent meal for a reasonable price.
I ended up going with alltimetwinsfan to the Fieldhouse for a while, then back out to our hotel on the Coralville strip and Old Chicago where the evening ended with a rousing game of shuffleboard. Someone in the Twin Cities has to get one of those shuffleboard tables. That was, without queston, the highlight of the night, which speaks volumes about the nightlife in Iowa City.
It was quite a bit warmer in Iowa City than it was in Minnapolis, warm enough for the precipitation to stay as freezing rain. By 10:00 PM, there was a protective coating of ice on Iowa City, which made crossing the street a dicey proposition. The ice was still there by morning, but as of the time of this writing (the buses were passing Charles City), the roads haven't gotten too bad as of yet.Overall, I had a great time, and would do this again in a heartbeat. Thanks to all the Barnyard folks for organizing this trip, and hopfully things will work out again next season.
TR: Gopher-Badger Non-Game Thoughts, 10/14/06
There is enough venom floating around on this board today to kill an elephant, and it is justifiable after the fifth straight dismembering of the Gophs at Camp Randall. What this thread is about is some of my non-gameplay thoughts about my weekend in Madison.
I drove down Friday afternoon, and got stuck in the work zone near Black River Falls. Arrived at my buddy’s house in Madison around 8:30, and was toasted within an hour. Had a hard time cheering for either team in the hockey game that someone had on TV (Bucky was hosting Boys Named Sue).
State Street Brats does not serve brats after 9 or 10 PM. I found this out Friday night, much to the disappointment of my stomach, as I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. However, Toppers Pizza on Regent and Randall is open until 3 AM. Their pizza tasted pretty darn good, although I put that down to the fact that I was drunk and half-starved.
UW students are late risers. Camp Minnesota had the beer flowing by 7 AM, and it was almost 9 before we saw anyone under the age of 35 out in the street in front of the house. Also, there was plenty of empty seating in the student section, and a portion of is under the second deck stayed open throughout the slaughter.
The only ticket I could get for less than an arm and a leg was a student ticket. Being that I am a referee, I can give and take verbal punishment with the best of them. That said, you would think the UW student section would be more creative in what they taunt opposing fans with, other than “A$$hole! A$$hole!” Jump Around wasn’t all that exciting, although I write that one off due to the fact that I was near the very top of the student section.
The Badger band makes the Gopher band look bush league. Relative to the Badger band, the Gopher band is also asleep standing up in their spats. I know it takes a lot more energy to sustain the high-step throughout the halftime show, but it looks a LOT better than the shuffle-stepping the Gopher band does. I was impressed with the Fifth Quarter, and the fact that more than a few token people hung around the whole duration. I hope that someday, the Gopher faithful can sing “Hail Minnesota” with the same gusto Badger faithful sing “Varsity.”
UW fans sure trash that city on game day. On Saturday around sundown, I’ve never seen so much garbage, stale beer, and other crap lying around in the streets. And that was just in the streets. The big bar compounds on Regent (Big 10, Lucky’s, the Stadium, et al.) had their outside fenced-in areas turned into a massive pile of empty beer cans. I found it disgusting.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Anyone who is complaining about how big the U of M campus is should be sent to Madison immediately to walk the campus.
Just like Iowa City was clearly Budweiser territory out of St. Louis, Madison is definitely Miller territory.
When eating breakfast at Mickey’s Dairy Bar (Regent and Monroe, across from Camp Randall Stadium), unless you can eat a massive pile of pancakes, just order 1. The pancakes are a foot across and 3/8 of an inch thick. They are tasty, but at some point your stomach absolutely refuses to take any more. The rolls are very good too, and there are two of them sitting on my counter waiting to be eaten for breakfast tomorrow.
The more we rely on ethanol, the less fuel efficiency we’ll have. My car, a 1991 Buick Park Avenue, got about 26 MPG on the freeway run to Madison on Minnesota gas, which is either 10% or 15% corn liquor. While this certainly isn’t bad, I filled up in Madison on Wisconsin gas (0 ethanol), and got 31 MPG on the run home. Explain to me how my gas mileage can go up 20% without doing anything significant to the car, aside from putting in 0 ethanol gas.
The fall colors, while a little after the peak, made the drive back this morning a little more palatable. Highlight spots included the downhill on 90/94 going down to the Wisconsin River, the tree tunnel north of the Dells, the Black River Falls area, just east of Eau Claire, and the uphill grade west of Menomonie.
So those are my random, non-gameplay thoughts about a weekend in Mad-town. Overall, I thought Iowa was slightly better than Madison, but that could go either way, depending on the crowd you’re with.
I drove down Friday afternoon, and got stuck in the work zone near Black River Falls. Arrived at my buddy’s house in Madison around 8:30, and was toasted within an hour. Had a hard time cheering for either team in the hockey game that someone had on TV (Bucky was hosting Boys Named Sue).
State Street Brats does not serve brats after 9 or 10 PM. I found this out Friday night, much to the disappointment of my stomach, as I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. However, Toppers Pizza on Regent and Randall is open until 3 AM. Their pizza tasted pretty darn good, although I put that down to the fact that I was drunk and half-starved.
UW students are late risers. Camp Minnesota had the beer flowing by 7 AM, and it was almost 9 before we saw anyone under the age of 35 out in the street in front of the house. Also, there was plenty of empty seating in the student section, and a portion of is under the second deck stayed open throughout the slaughter.
The only ticket I could get for less than an arm and a leg was a student ticket. Being that I am a referee, I can give and take verbal punishment with the best of them. That said, you would think the UW student section would be more creative in what they taunt opposing fans with, other than “A$$hole! A$$hole!” Jump Around wasn’t all that exciting, although I write that one off due to the fact that I was near the very top of the student section.
The Badger band makes the Gopher band look bush league. Relative to the Badger band, the Gopher band is also asleep standing up in their spats. I know it takes a lot more energy to sustain the high-step throughout the halftime show, but it looks a LOT better than the shuffle-stepping the Gopher band does. I was impressed with the Fifth Quarter, and the fact that more than a few token people hung around the whole duration. I hope that someday, the Gopher faithful can sing “Hail Minnesota” with the same gusto Badger faithful sing “Varsity.”
UW fans sure trash that city on game day. On Saturday around sundown, I’ve never seen so much garbage, stale beer, and other crap lying around in the streets. And that was just in the streets. The big bar compounds on Regent (Big 10, Lucky’s, the Stadium, et al.) had their outside fenced-in areas turned into a massive pile of empty beer cans. I found it disgusting.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Anyone who is complaining about how big the U of M campus is should be sent to Madison immediately to walk the campus.
Just like Iowa City was clearly Budweiser territory out of St. Louis, Madison is definitely Miller territory.
When eating breakfast at Mickey’s Dairy Bar (Regent and Monroe, across from Camp Randall Stadium), unless you can eat a massive pile of pancakes, just order 1. The pancakes are a foot across and 3/8 of an inch thick. They are tasty, but at some point your stomach absolutely refuses to take any more. The rolls are very good too, and there are two of them sitting on my counter waiting to be eaten for breakfast tomorrow.
The more we rely on ethanol, the less fuel efficiency we’ll have. My car, a 1991 Buick Park Avenue, got about 26 MPG on the freeway run to Madison on Minnesota gas, which is either 10% or 15% corn liquor. While this certainly isn’t bad, I filled up in Madison on Wisconsin gas (0 ethanol), and got 31 MPG on the run home. Explain to me how my gas mileage can go up 20% without doing anything significant to the car, aside from putting in 0 ethanol gas.
The fall colors, while a little after the peak, made the drive back this morning a little more palatable. Highlight spots included the downhill on 90/94 going down to the Wisconsin River, the tree tunnel north of the Dells, the Black River Falls area, just east of Eau Claire, and the uphill grade west of Menomonie.
So those are my random, non-gameplay thoughts about a weekend in Mad-town. Overall, I thought Iowa was slightly better than Madison, but that could go either way, depending on the crowd you’re with.
TR: The Great Florida Adventure, 2/9/06-2/12/06
PAUL, DAVID, AND JERRY INVADE FLORIDA
PART 1: FLORIDA STATE FAIR or THIS IS FLORIDA?!
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2006
3:30 AM
YOUR FEARLESS NARRATOR’S APARTMENT
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
It is the rather annoying sound of an alarm clock rousting me out of a tumultuous sleep at half past 3 AM that starts our adventure. Jerry and David convinced me (actually, I did a fair amount of convincing myself) to go to Florida with them to visit the Florida State Fair, Busch Gardens in Tampa, and a certain 300-foot tall A-frame on the Irlo Bronson Highway in Kissimmee. An itinerary was found that reasonably matched David and Jerry’s that was also reasonably priced. Seats were booked, passes were bought, and schedules were cleared.
The best-fit fare this time around went on US Air through Mayberry, er, Charlotte, North Carolina. The flight crew on the 6:20 AM departure from MSP to Charlotte had a very good sense of humor. The lead flight attendant referred to the crew as “Pilot Fred, Co-Pilot Barney, and Flight Attendants Wilma and Betty. Also, if you needed to smoke, and couldn’t make it to Charlotte without a smoke, you are more than welcome to step out onto our beautiful smoking wing…”
After arrival in Charlotte, the rear flight attendant came over the speaker and boldy declared, “OK, who brought Minneapolis with them?” Barely visible outside the windows of the small CRJ were snow flurries. Knowing the reputation on how southern airports deal with snow (they don’t), I suddenly had a couple of nagging doubts about my flight to Orlando. However, said snow flurries immediately ceased, and the flight to Orlando went off without a hitch. One cool thing about the Charlotte airport was in the main shopping area near the security checkpoints, they have white rocking chairs under trees. I like that little touch to try and improve the otherwise sterile interior of that airport.
But back to Orlando. I met with David Bowers and Jerry Dorf at the Hertz rental car facility, and we head for Tampa. There isn’t much to see on I-4 between the two central Florida metropolises, so most of the time was spent discussing the subtle nuances of our trip. Our first destination on arrival in Tampa was the Baymont Inn on the western side of Busch Gardens. After several false starts, wrong turns, and missed exits, we finally end up on Busch Boulevard.
I realize that Busch Gardens Tampa had been in its current location since around 1959, and that Tampa had grown out to surround the park. Still, I was quite surprised at the state of that part of Tampa. I guess I had been expecting something like what Beach Blvd. is around Knott’s, or worse yet, the Wisconsin Dells Strip. Instead, the street is lined with pawn brokers and check-cashing parlors. Generally, the types of businesses on a street are a fairly good indicator of the type of neighborhood that the street runs through. Also, a large concrete wall has been built around the Busch Gardens complex. For those of you keeping score, there used to be an access to the entrance across from the McDonalds. Jerry and David were both using that fact to base hotel placement, to try and avoid $8 a day in parking fees. Alas, this was not to be. However, splitting $16 in parking three ways makes the ding a little more bearable
We check in and head for the Florida State Fairgrounds. We had already passed the grounds on our way to Busch Gardens, and now we returned to the site. My initial reaction on getting out of the car was the fact that it was not very warm. In fact, it was only going to get colder as the evening progressed. It didn’t help that the winds were howling out of the northwest at better than 20 mph. But anyway, we enter the fair through the enormous Expo Hall, and emerge onto a strip that is packed wall-to-wall with food joints. There are a LOT of foods available on this fair, but I don’t like how everything is jammed into the lot. The fairgrounds claims to be 330 or so acres, but
Down this strip, and over onto the main midway. I have been on several good-sized midways, and I have never seen a midway that was so crowded with stuff. I am not talking the crowd (the crowds were very light tonight), I am talking the joints. It seems like the committee told all the shows that brought equipment to bring every joint they had, and to get as many of them as we can physically fit on the lot. From this setup, no one was going to make any money. All the jointees were working their joints extremely aggressively, but the crowd was just not there on this cool and breezy Thursday night. Even by our Midwestern standards, it was getting mighty chilly.
Despite this crowded midway, the selection of flat rides on the lot was hard to beat. Huss Rainbow, Enterprise, and Tornado, SDC Moonraker, Mondial Top Scan and Shake (Magnum), three gorgeous music rides, Crazy Mouse and Zyklon coasters, Chance Rok-n-Roll, three claw rides (KMG Afterburner and Freak Out, and Zamperla Nitro). On Opening Night of the fair, unlimited ride wristbands were $15 and gate admission was $5. Parking was free during the fair, so it makes the elaborate booths at the entrance to the grounds irrelevant. So the potential for POP abuse was imminent. As a flatride fan, we thoroughly abused the wristbands. Later in the evening, we were over at the Chance Rok ‘n Roll. Jerry and David had already ridden it twice, and the guys running it recognized them immediately when they came up for ride #3.
Over the course of the evening, we met up with many members of Matt’s Carnival Warehouse, as well as some show owners. Matt Cook, Ryan Vawter, cny_chris, Mike Reiss, and Top Spin Jay were all there, as well as Mike Wood and Jim Murphy.
However, something was missing about this fair. David and I couldn’t figure out what the heck it was. Perhaps it was the lack of greenery on the fairgrounds. Yeah, the lake was there, but it seemed little more than a “token” object. Or maybe it was no “buzz” of the crowd. Or maybe it was the lack of other stuff on the fairgrounds, aside from token appearances. Throw in a little bit of the brisk weather (I won’t say cold, because the wind chill outside my apartment as I write this is -32F), and I think it’s a combination of all these factors.
Overall, the Florida State Fair was a good time, and not a bad investment in $25 (I throw on an additional $5, because you HAVE to eat something). We returned to the Baymont Inn and made preparations to hit Busch Gardens the next morning.
Paul
COMING SOON:
PART 2: BUSCH GARDENS AND MORE FSF
PAUL, JERRY, AND DAVID TAKE FLORIDA
PART 2.1: BUSCH GARDENS, DAY 1
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2006
BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY
TAMPA, FLORIDA
Confucius once said that if a man is tired enough, he will sleep anywhere. Well, I was beat after an early wake-up call and lots of walking yesterday at the FSF, so despite the fact that I was on the floor, sleep came very easily. And so did breakfast the next morning. After partaking in some of the Baymont’s continental breakfast, we get in the car and make the agonizingly long, drawn-out, 5 minute drive to the BGT parking lots.
After giving the trolls at the toll plaza $8, we proceed to park very close to the tram station. We then ride up to the main park entrance plaza. There is a slight chill in the air, but the warm Florida sun is rapidly dispersing said chill. It’s going to be a fine day. Anyway, up to the ticket plaza to get our vouchers processed. I was anticipating something along the lines of Valleyfair’s season pass processing, where my wonderful mug shot would get taken and placed on a hard plastic card. Instead, when I hand over my driver’s license and Fun Card voucher, the lady in the office returns with something that I thought came out of a parking garage ticket dispenser. No photo (although the back side of the card has a nice Busch Gardens photo), just my name, a barcode, and “Photo ID Required” printed in boldface above the barcode.
Since it was still about 15 minutes before the park officially opened, we bided our time. At about 9:20 (park open was 9:30), a brass quintet came out and entertained the small crowd that was gathered at the gate with such songs as “Sweet Georgia Brown” and the themes from Perry Mason and Mission: Impossible. They played for 5 or 6 minutes, and then went back into the park. They were seen over by Sheikra later in the afternoon.
During the band’s performance, an older gentleman was pacing around behind the turnstiles with a nervous look on his face. He looked like the starter at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, so naturally I assumed he would be the one that would give the signal to start taking tickets. At promptly 9:30 AM, he yelled out to “Open ‘em up!” At this, the ticket takers began processing tickets. I dug my license out again, and went up to the turnstile. The lady scanned the pass, and then told me to put my hand in some strange-looking doohickey next to the barcode scanner. This is a hand scanner, and I had never seen anything like it before. I had trouble getting all the lights to go out, so my Minnesota driver’s license made for a good stand-in, and the three of us were admitted.
Busch Gardens is laid out in an uneven circular layout, with Montu to the right from the front gate, and Sheikra, Gwazi, and most other stuff to the left. We opt to head towards Sheikra, since it’s the new thing, the crowds will flock to it. However, we get as far as Gwazi and see that a large rope has been stretched across the midway, along with a sign that stated something to the effect of “This area of the park will open 30 minutes after park opening.”
However, the rope is past the entrance to the queue house for Gwazi. And at this fateful juncture in time, we see a train go out from the station. The three of us head straight up to the loading platform on the Lion side, and jump in the train. Gwazi Lion isn’t a bad wooden coaster. Not terribly forceful but fairly smooth.
After riding Gwazi, we decide to try our luck at Montu. We make our way towards Montu. By all appearances, Busch Gardens is a zoo that just happens to have some some sweet B&M thrill rides. This is likely one of the reasons why BGT management took great care in their theming. The theming in this park is fantastic. Whoever did the theming in the Egypt area where Montu is had an eye for detail.
Since it’s still close to the open, the park is deserted, which means there is almost no one in the queue house. We go to the back row of the train, and wait. However, the train stays in the station, and a man from park maintenance is futzing with something in the control. Then an announcement is played, stating that Montu is temporarily down. Being the patient people we are, we wait for a spell, as several trains are ghosted. Then the announcement changes to “The ride is closed, come back later.” So no Montu ride in the “hot seat” right now.
We walk over to the skyride station, built by our friends at Von Roll, and determine that the three of us must split up, as the listed weight limit is 650 pounds. David and I go in one car, and Jerry follows in the next car. The skyride goes over the Serengeti plains, and we get a good look at the animals on the “Serengeti plains.” After getting off the Skyride, we parked our stuff at a locker bank near Sheikra, and headed into the queue. Sheikra is the second B&M dive machine, and it looks great. What looks even better is the near-empty queue. Walk-around for all three rows in the second train. Sheikra loads two trains at once, one in front of the other. Six rows of 8 seats a row means that this thing can crank the people through in a hurry.
Since it’s a walk-on, we ride in the front row. The seats are almost like a Mondial seat, with a wicked lean back. We roll over to the lift hill, and are forced back by the incredibly steep grade that the lift hill has. Obviously Busch Gardens didn’t want to waste much real estate on the lift hill. We hit the top, and roll around to the top of the drop, where the train lurches to a halt, and begins to creeeeeeeeeeep over the edge. And we hang in our OTSRs as the people in the train start to babble among themselves, then BAM! Crazy airtime followed by a very forceful element. It’s a wild roll into the mid-course brakes, where the train lurches to another stop, then slowly rolls into the second plunge. Coming out of the tunnel, I always seem to take a droplet of water square in the forehead. The water effect doesn’t do much on the train, and we roll back into the station. Busch Gardens has a winner on their hands, and a high-capacity one at that.
We continue to reride until the queue bridges get full (about 6 or 7 rides), then head back towards Kumba. However, en route to Kumba, we take our obligatory stop at Python, as I don’t have the credit for it. It’s an Arrow corkscrew, and I think it’s similar to the original Corkscrew at Knott’s Berry Farm. After looking at RCDB, it is. It may have been the biggest thing since sliced bread back in its day, but if I had to wait more than 5 minutes for this waste of time, I would demand my money back. One-trick pony.
After wasting our time at Python, we find our way to the back corner, and a freshly painted Kumba. Kumba is a beautiful piece of B&M work that’s just been freshly refurbished. It looks beautiful. The line for Kumba is a confusing one. There are no immediate signs declaring what line is for what, and we end up in the line for the front row. Which just so happens to be the only queue with any people in it. It’s a four train wait to get to the front, and it’s worth it. Fabulously smooth with a powerful punch. We go around again, and again, and again. Seven straight times in all. It’s almost as if we were riding Avalanche at Wisky Dells instead of Kumba at BGT.
After all the fun at Kumba, we go back to Sheikra to get our stuff out of the lockers, and then we go to the Timbuktu section of the park. We see a mouse coaster, and jump aboard. This is a Gerstlauer Wild Maus, which has been themed Cheetah Chase and given a blaze orange paint job, in tune with the Timbuktu theming. After loading up the car, it heads up to the top of the hill, and flies through the top-level flat spins. I’m thinking that this thing has some potential for the rest of the course. But as we take the first drop, we start to hit brakes, and the ride just kind of fizzles out to nothing. File this one alongside Python.
Nearby is Scorpion, a single-loop, single-train Schwartzkopf coaster. The station is very small, so the train loads from the front to the back. I get in the first row of the second car, and promptly get stuck. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it appears that for the first time, thanks to my insanely long legs, I am stuck in a car. The Schwartzkopf train on Monte wasn’t much bigger than this, but it was big enough as to not get stuck. Being stuck kinda ruins any fun effect that Scorpion may have given out. But getting tossed out of the coaster isn’t an issue on an Anton creation. Lots of force and headchoppers. David, who is sitting along side of me, has to get out before I can turn and get my legs un-wedged.
We then decide to make our way towards the front of the park, and the Anheuser-Busch Hospitality House. For those of you who are of legal U.S. drinking age, A-B offers free beer in the Hospitality House. Yes, FREE BEER. Granted, they aren’t giving you a free “mas” of beer, but free beer is free beer. Several different types of Busch beers are on tap, and I found it ironic that a pizza joint had been placed in the house. Hmmm. Pizza and beer go hand in hand, so why not put a pizza joint next to the free beer? Someone up in corporate gets a gold star for a genius bit of marketing.
By this time, we hope that whatever mechanical issues they were having on Montu would be ironed out. So we head over there, deposit our stuff in a locker (again), and head to the back row line, so my first ride can be in the so-called “hot seat.” Folks, we have winner #3 of the day. While some coasters go for copious amounts of air time, some try brute speed, and some just plain suck, Montu is all about force. The fierce kick of airtime at the batwing is incredible, and I can’t imagine what it was prior to the mid-course brakes being turned on. Since there were decent amounts of people in the queue house, we had to walk around, although it was never more than a one-train wait for any seat behind the front row. Did I say that the theming of this ride was fantastic?
David wanted to see what the Rhino Rally was all about. So we meander over there, and the queue time indicated by the clock says 20 minutes. It’s a nice day, so we don’t mind waiting. We get part of the way through the line (it’s moving along fairly well), before the line stops, and an announcement comes saying that the ride has just gone down mechanical. This virtually clears out the queue, and we are in the second Land Rover/Humvee/Jeep to go out after the ride comes back online. Our navigator was a kid with an unpronounceable Islamic first name, so he’s affectionately known simply as Skippy. Rhino Rally is a cool, unique ride that I won’t go into much detail about. It’s worth waiting a few minutes for, but not necessarily two hours.
It is at this juncture of time and space that we depart Busch Gardens and head back to the Florida State Fair for an evening of photography and POP abuse. We’ll head over there, after a word from our sponsor.
Paul
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Now, part 2.2 of “Paul, Jerry, and David Take Florida”
PAUL, JERRY, AND DAVID TAKE FLORIDA
PART 2.2: FLORIDA STATE FAIR, FRIDAY NIGHT
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005
FLORIDA STATE FAIRGROUNDS
TAMPA, FLORIDA
Coming around the exit ramp, we see that there are a LOT more people at the fairgrounds today than there were yesterday. A LOT more. We end up parking in what is widely regarded as the “Back 40,” a long way from the gate. We get to the gate, get our tickets, and come up to a “security checkpoint” that wasn’t there the previous evening. It’s basically the same as the one over at Busch Gardens (paw through bags and hooded sweatshirts), with one additional twist. They have you raise your shirt and expose your beltline, to expose any contraband that you may have stashed in your belt. Not that it would have done a bit of good. If you use your brain a bit, you can get a substantial weapon past that gate without them being any the wiser.
Through the expo hall, and back to the midway. We stop to partake in some fine stromboli, and then we embark on the mission of the evening, which is to take pictures and get footage of the rides. Since the sun was at an unusual angle, we were taking pictures looking east. We shot pictures until about sundown. At this point, David and Jerry got their wristbands. I had obtained a Mountain Dew can the previous afternoon giving $5 off the evening wristband, so I tried to redeem this can at a friendly ticket window. However, the lady at the ticket window told me that I needed to go out to the front gate to a tent, where I would get a voucher to present at the ticket window.
David and Jerry went over towards the Rok n Roll while I went to the front gate to get my voucher. I approached the front gate and attempted to figure out the re-entry procedures. I could definitely tell that the crowds were very different tonight than before. I overheard the exit procedures explained. What happened was that you got your hand stamped, then you were given a re-entry pass good for the next 20 minutes. If you took longer than 20 minutes, too bad. It was clear that they were discouraging re-entry, but since I was only getting a POP voucher, I didn’t need the re-entry stamp.
After getting cleared back through “security”, I go meet David and Jerry back at the Rok n Roll. Getting there was starting to be a challenge, as the place was getting more crowded by the minute. Since the sun was setting, we continue to take photos, as that is our primary objective for the evening.
The weather is gorgeous, which means we have a very different crowd on the midway tonight. For one, there are a LOT of people on the midway. Check that. There are a lot of teenagers on the midway. Apparently, Hillsborough County Public Schools had the day off and a $5 break at the gate. Put them together, along with the $5 off POP armbands, and you get a midway that is absolutely PACKED. Long lines for everything, short cycles on all the rides, and a lot of people spending their money. Or not spending their money. As the evening progressed, the crowd got bigger and bigger, but the crowd also brought a nasty attitude with them.
We finished taking pictures, and I volunteered to make the run to the car to dump cameras, loose objects, etc. After returning, and clearing “security” again, I meet up with Jerry and David back by the Space Roller. The crowd has gotten even more brazen, as David and Jerry witnesses a fight in front of the Roller. I then try to ride the roller, and I have to act like a blocker and force my way up to the entry point. There is no order to the line whatsoever. Every man for himself.
There is a Huss Twister ride down the line, and David and I try to get a good spin ride in. But we can’t get that sucker to spin to save ourselves. David and I sit on one side of the car, but all that happens is that we slosh back and forth. Blah. Then over to the other side, and we wait for the one-of-a-kind Moonraker. We had seen it run earlier in the day, and we decided we were going to try to ride it. We camped out at the bottom of the stairs, and after about 15 minutes, it finally opened up. It’s basically a sit-down Round-Up with OTSRs. Only 7 seats were operating. Just to show you how crowded the place was, by the time we got off the ride, about 3 minutes, the line had grown into a large scrum.
We then move across the road to the Flip ‘N Out, where another ugly line incident developed. It was all I could do to get to the front of the line. After the Flip ‘n Out ride that I had to use an offensive lineman’s skills to get to the ride, we decided to cut our losses and get the hell out of there. The crowd kept getting uglier and uglier, and it seemed that a massive conflagration was imminent. I witnessed a stampede towards a fight that I couldn’t see while waiting for the Moonraker. At the end, the crowd had a “We’re going to do whatever we want and you can go screw yourself” attitude. I regularly go through some of the crummiest parts of the Twin Cities, and that was the first time that my gut was telling me to run for your life. I took the lead blocker position, moving as fast as I could, hitting gaps wherever I could find them, and not slowing down until we got out of the mess. David and Jerry followed at close proximity. We finally ended up at the Boar’s Head Hot Dog booth, where David and I partook in some fine hot dogs, and we discussed the fair, hot dogs, and how the brand was working its way into the Midwest.
Since it’s getting late (after 10:00), we decide to call it a day, and head back towards the expo hall. Problem is, all the doors to the Expo Hall are closed. So we try to go around the south end of the building, only to find the path goes into an auxiliary exhibit hall, which is also locked. A Hillsborough County Sheriff deputy was stating that the hall was closed, and wasn’t giving any directions on how to get out of the place. Earlier in the afternoon, I had noticed what looked like an exhibitor entrance behind the Springshot. The Springshot is located across the pond to the north of the expo hall. Sure enough, there is a paved road going back towards the road. After a couple of dead ends, we make our way back to the gate side of the expo hall.
To me, this sets off all kinds of alarms in my brain. If you needed to clear the grounds in a hurry at this hour, pushing 10,000 people into a dead-end that is the expo hall or down a dark, unmarked path, that is asking for trouble. Also, with the midway set up the way it was, if you needed to clear out the midway in a hurry, there really was not many places to go. There was too much stuff jammed into that lot. If you needed to clear that place out in a hurry, there could be some BIG trouble.
But after all of this, we make it back to the car alive and in one piece. We head back to the hotel, and watch the end of the 2006 Torino Olympics opening ceremony. I don’t worry, though. I figured out how to activate the timer on my VCR so I can watch the opening when I get back to Minnesota.
Paul
PAUL, JERRY, AND DAVID TAKE FLORIDA, PART 3
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2006
BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY
TAMPA, FLORIDA
After staying up until well after NBC’s midnight sign off from Torino, we were a little bit groggy when it came time to head over to the Busch Gardens for our full day there. This morning, we were masquerading as theme park tourists, cameras and all, instead of being the aggressive, go-for-broke coaster junkies we are. J
We start the morning over at Montu. Now, while we were definitely going to take pictures, we were not going to pass on a power-riding session should the opportunity present itself. And an empty queue house was opportunity presenting itself. We started the day with six straight rides in the “hot seat”, and 11 straight overall, all without leaving the loading platform. My T-shirt had yellow stains on it where the bottom of the OTSR squeezed up against it.
Then the photo safari began. And we mean safari. Plenty of pictures of the beautiful theming by Montu. After loading up on Montu pics, we try to take the skyride back to Sheikra and Kumba. However due to the very breezy conditions, the skyride was closed. So, we head around through the front of the park, past the crocodile pit, Hospitality House, and aviary, to Sheikra. Plenty of pictures are taken of Sheikra from the Stanleyville area of the park. Also, during the photo shoot, David took a picture of the wait time clock at Sheikra. The clock said 0. Truly a wonderful sight.
The photo safari was briefly put on sabbatical while we hit Sheikra for another power-riding session. We rode Sheikra until the line got “long.” By long we meant that it was about a two or three train wait, depending on what row you were waiting for. I think we’re getting spoiled when a long line only fills up the bridges going over to the Sheikra loading platform. The power-ride session moved back to Kumba, where several more rides were taken before the queue house filled sufficiently to prevent immediate rerides.
After this, we got our cameras from the Sheikra locker bank, and worked our way back towards Kumba on the photo safari. This took us past the tiger pit and Congo River Falls, BGT’s large raft river ride. Large amounts of Corona merchandise were seen in a gift shop near the Congo River Falls exit. This is indeed a strange sight, considering that neither Anheuser-Busch nor any of its subsidiaries distribute Corona beer in the United States. This anomaly aside, we kept taking pictures of Kumba. It is at this point of the photo safari that I run out of fresh batteries, so my camera is done for the duration of this trip.
The armchair photographers work their way into the Timbuktu portion of the park. Included were pictures of us walking into Timbuktu, so you can impress your friends by saying that you have indeed gone to Timbuktu. Never mind that it was at Busch Gardens. It was TIMBUKTU, man! Aside from Scorpion and Cheetah Chase, this part of the park has some of the most pitiful flat rides I have ever had the misfortune of seeing with my two eyes. Jerry and David decide to go on Scorpion. Based on my misadventures with it yesterday (getting stuck), I decide to partake in a bag of popcorn. It’s very good popcorn, albeit a bit salty.
While all this is going on it becomes painfully clear to all of us that it is going to storm sometime in the near future. The wind has picked up, the sun has vanished, and the clouds keep getting darker. The question is not if it’s going to rain, but when. So after Jerry and David get out of Scorpion, we head through some of the animal exhibits back towards the front of the park. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Busch Gardens is an absolutely beautiful park in the middle of a crappy part of Tampa. Lots of greenery, as if BGT is a zoo first, theme park later.
We head past the Morocco Theater and the croc pit, and decide we are going to ride Gwazi. Since we’ve already ridden the Lion side, we head over to the blue Tiger side. I thought that the Lion side was OK, but boy was the Tiger side rough. Very rough. Since our cameras have been stashed in a locker down below the station, we head around to take another ride on the Tiger side. Ah, much smoother. We are second in line for another ride on Tiger when the announcement comes. “Due to approaching severe weather, this ride is closed” or something to that effect. We notice that it has started to rain. Since the Hospitality House is close by, we decide to head over there, as there is no such thing as a bad glass of free beer. It is raining fairly hard as we walk fast/run over to the House, and no sooner than we step inside than the heavens open and the rain comes POURING down.
Shortly thereafter, fate takes a decisive turn against the prohibitionists in the park. There is a flash of lightning, and the power goes out. If you know anything about beer taps, you know that electricity is not required to operate said taps. However, I overhear one of the bartenders say something like, “Keep that beer flowing, because once the beer gets warmer than 40 degrees, we can’t serve it.” Having consumed large amounts of beer that was nowhere near 40 degrees during my college career, it wouldn’t bother me in the least if beer was warmer than 40 degrees. That threshold must be a corporate policy.
While we are standing outside the House (it’s getting quite stuffy in there from lack of ventilation), we notice large amounts of people heading towards the exit of the park. This option briefly crosses our mind, until we realize that if the power is out here at the park, then it may very well be out in the surrounding neighborhoods. So we decide to bide our time, and perhaps the park will clear sufficiently to power-ride some more before the afternoon is out. David and I decide to try some of the Bare Knuckle Stout beer. While I will never denounce free beer, Bare Knuckle was certainly a lot of work to drink. While we were drinking our stout, the power came back on, and a loud cheer went up from the masses. We waited an additional half-hour after the power came back on to allow for everything to start up again, then we head to Sheikra.
It is during our second ride on Sheikra during this power-ride session that our Flirtation with the Lawyers (or the Women) takes place. While waiting to load, two women about my age were waiting in front of me. One of them was psyching herself into thinking that she was going to die on that drop. Since I am fairly certain that nothing serious will come out of it, I egg her along a little bit. She then asks me if I go to Michigan. Keep in mind that I’m wearing a T-shirt with a maroon Minnesota block M on it, which looks nothing like a Michigan M. I chuckle and tell her that at least she’s in the right conference. I was sitting in the third seat from the left, front row, with the two women. After the initial drop, she’s carrying on as you would expect she would. Just our luck, we hit the mid-course brakes and grind to a halt. I continue to carry on the conversation (they catch on about the Minnesota M) until the announcement comes: “We are sorry. The ride has temporarily shut down.” Since the seats are quite comfortable for coaster chairs, we chat for a while until the announcement comes that the train is moving again, and to brace for movement. By the time we get back to the station, the line has lengthened quite a bit, but since Sheikra is a line eater, the line dissolves very quickly.
We ride Sheikra a few more times, then head back to Kumba. Things have picked up at Kumba, but we can still walk around. Just as we are about to get on the train, a park patron decides that they have had enough Kumba for one day. The unloading deck and train are hosed off and disinfected, and the train is ghosted, cutting the capacity in half. This train is ghosted two or three times, and by the time we finally get on the train, we can see the rain start again. This is not going to be a pleasant ride on Kumba. Since I had never ridden a fast-moving B&M in the rain, I close my eyes and hope I don’t get sandblasted too badly. The Kumba Kar Wash is open for business as we scurry out of the station. None of us thought much of the Kumba Kar Wash, and it is agreed we are done on the coasters for the day (the forecast is that when it starts to rain, it’s not going to stop til morning).
Unlike during the last rain squall, we decide that this is it, and head out of the park. We browse the gift shops, duly noting that any kind of merchandise with any sort of Budweiser logo on it can be purchased here. David also conjectures that they are willing to assist you in shipping, in the event that you know you can’t fit your purchase into your bag for the trip home. We ride the parking tram back to the car, noting that the weather has turned from a warm sunny day into a cold, dank, dreary all-night rain. We then decide to give Steak ‘n Shake a try. This particular Steak ‘n Shake, on Hillsborough Ave. near the turn to BGT, was not the most pleasant dining establishment I have ever eaten in. The food wasn’t bad, although I attribute that to being half-starved. We retire to the hotel after a purchase of blank digital media to get photos back home.
Paul
PAUL, JERRY, AND DAVID TAKE FLORIDA
PART 4: THE GRAND FINALE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2005
OSCEOLA HERITAGE PARK
KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA
The fourth day of our invasion of Florida dawns downright cold. The cold front that caused all the rain yesterday and last night is gone, replaced by the Canuck Express. Freeze warnings out over much of the state, which is quite unheard of for Florida. What’s worse is that a cold wind is howling out of the northwest. High wind warnings are out for most of the state as well. The walk to breakfast this morning was chilly, even by my ridiculously low standards. Mind you, this was in the still of a hotel.
After checking out of the hotel, we drive out to I-4. Since there isn’t a whole lot to see between Tampa and Orlando, I spend a fair bit of the drive sitting in the back seat, dozing off. We rolled into Orlando and onto International Drive. International Drive is Florida’s version of the Wisconsin Dells Strip, i.e. a vacuum cleaner for your wallet. At one such location on I-Drive is a Funtime Star Flyer, which is a Wave Swinger with a twist: Instead of just rotating the flat pane of rotation, the seats go up and down a very tall central tower.
We arrived at Magical Midway a few minutes prior to the open, and all of us are seriously doubting if the Star Flyer will run. Wind advisories are out for most of Florida, which means sustained winds greater than 25 mph. 10:00 AM comes, and we wander about the place for a bit. There really isn’t much here. Other than the Star Flyer, and a Funtime Spring Shot (cable-mounted Ejection Seat), not much. We go to the ticket window and ask if the Flyer will be running today due to the high winds. Much to our surprise, the Flyer runs! We purchase our tickets, go up to the deck, and sit in the flimsy-looking chairs. The Flyer went through it’s cycle, and it was a very interesting ride. A cold, stiff wind at 25 mph made for an unusual cycle.
We had read that Strates Shows is playing at the Osceola County Fair down in Kissimmee, and is offering a pay-one-price promotion from noon to 5. After leaving Magic Midway, we work our way on back roads over to the Osceola Heritage Park. Since it’s about 11:00 on a Sunday morning, the place is deserted. The way the “fair” is set up, it is little more than a glorified still date. $5 at the gate, $15 for an all-you-can-ride armband.
The midway starts to show some signs of life, and we begin our pursuit of as many rides as we can stomach. Believe it or not, there was a second Rok n Roll there. From never seeing one to seeing two different ones over the course of a long weekend is very unusual. This one is run by operators who don’t seem too enthusiastic about trying to get it to roll as much as possible. Over the course of the afternoon, we get our money’s worth out of our POP bands. This includes a ride on Strates’ Giant Wheel, which claims to be 125’ tall. The top of the wheel yields a good view of the Osceola Heritage Park, which is where the “fair” is. The Houston Astros train here, and their spring training facility dominates the facility. There is a small expo hall adjacent to the carnival, and an indoor rodeo facility outside the pay area of the fair. It is also VERY cold and windy when on the upper reaches of the wheel.
By the time we are done at the Osceola County Fair, it’s about 3:00, and we are are hungry, cold, and wind-burned. David’s curiosity gets the best of him, and he tries out some deep-fried alligator meat. He thoroughly enjoys it, and it fills the car up with the fine smell of deep-fried alligator meat. If authenticity was in question, the trailer the alligator came from had Louisiana license plates.
Since we’re all quite hungry, we decide to stop at a Steak ‘n Shake on the main drag. If you remember, last night we ate a Steak ‘n Shake in Tampa that left much to be desired. This Steak ‘n Shake was in much better shape than the Tampa one, and the food reflected that. After the Steak n Shake we head west on the Irlo Bronson Highway in search of our Baymont Inn. However, since we can’t find the thing, we proceed directly to Old Town.
We park near the end of the street, and take a look at everything that Old Town has to offer. At the end is the Windshear roller coaster, but we didn’t find it worthwhile to ride it, as both Jerry and David had the credit, I was running low on cash, and it would have cost almost as much to ride the Windshear as it would have been to ride a certain attraction located on land along side Old Town.
Located along side Old Town are a few other attractions. One of them is the G-Force. This simulates a drag race, going from 0 to 120 mph in about 2 seconds. It’s based out of a former merchandise trailer that was for the Steve Park NASCAR entry back when he was still with DEI. Anyway, it looked cool, but the cost was prohibitive, so we all decided to take a pass. There’s another attraction on the lot next to Old Town. This certain attraction is the 300-foot tall Skycoaster. We go into the office and inquire if the Skycoaster will fly. I’m having some serious doubts, because the wind has not abated, and there are some crazy lateral deflections in the cables.
She says that due to said crazy winds, the Skycoaster will fly, but only with 3 people. I still have my doubts, so we retire back to Old Town for further deliberations. After some application of pressure by Jerry and David, as well as a reduction in wind speed to almost zero, I decide to fly. We go to the shack, get our tickets, and then go get harnessed in at the tent. Then, out to the loading platform. Jerry and David are making sure that everyone out on the platform knows that this is my first Skycoaster flight. We get clipped together, and right about the time that I think they’re telling us to lean forward…
THUD!
That thud you heard was me leaning forward too soon, drawing a 5-yard false start penalty, as well as a skinned knee. Since we’re all clipped together, it’s a royal pain to get back up and properly hooked to the cable. Then, we get told to lean forward, and instead of plopping on the floor, we hang by the cable and begin to be winched up the tower. Damn, it’s a long way up there. Jerry pulls the rip cord, and I take my first Skycoaster flight. Not gonna lie to ya, it was pretty damn fun. Apparently, we hit 66 mph on the radar gun mounted at the bottom of the apex. We swing ourselves out of momentum, and get unhitched.
After I watch my first flight, we head back over to the Old Town proper. Located over alongside the main highway is a Funtime Spring Shot. The reported maximum capsule height is about 365 feet (convert 115 meters to feet), and I decide to try it out. I fork over my money, David gets into the seat to my left, and we get launched. It is a VERY smooth launch, but there is no kick of airtime at the top of the launch. I have had more airtime on Sheikra.
We’ve seen everything we need to see at Old Town. After I get a quick souvenir (and a drink for everyone), we go back to the car and finally find our hotel. A long, hot shower never felt so good. Except for that time after tramping around Phalen Park on the coldest day of the year looking for the St. Paul Winter Carnival Medallion, but that’s another story for another day.
Next morning, after breakfast, we get back to the Orlando airport. My flight goes on US Air via Charlotte. In Charlotte, I hustle like the dickens to the commuter plane terminal, only to see that my original 50-minute connection has turned into a 2:20 connection. I go back to the center food court and partake in some Brookwood Farms Authentic North Carolina Barbecue. Unlike the lousy swill at Famous Dave’s (Minnesota’s premiere barbecue chain), this is actually good stuff. On the very small plane from Charlotte back to Minneapolis, I sit next to a fellow Gopher. It happens to be that our school apartments are only half a block apart, and we enjoy a nice chat on the light rail and bus all the way back to the turn point. At this point, I am glad to see my apartment.
THE END
PART 1: FLORIDA STATE FAIR or THIS IS FLORIDA?!
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2006
3:30 AM
YOUR FEARLESS NARRATOR’S APARTMENT
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
It is the rather annoying sound of an alarm clock rousting me out of a tumultuous sleep at half past 3 AM that starts our adventure. Jerry and David convinced me (actually, I did a fair amount of convincing myself) to go to Florida with them to visit the Florida State Fair, Busch Gardens in Tampa, and a certain 300-foot tall A-frame on the Irlo Bronson Highway in Kissimmee. An itinerary was found that reasonably matched David and Jerry’s that was also reasonably priced. Seats were booked, passes were bought, and schedules were cleared.
The best-fit fare this time around went on US Air through Mayberry, er, Charlotte, North Carolina. The flight crew on the 6:20 AM departure from MSP to Charlotte had a very good sense of humor. The lead flight attendant referred to the crew as “Pilot Fred, Co-Pilot Barney, and Flight Attendants Wilma and Betty. Also, if you needed to smoke, and couldn’t make it to Charlotte without a smoke, you are more than welcome to step out onto our beautiful smoking wing…”
After arrival in Charlotte, the rear flight attendant came over the speaker and boldy declared, “OK, who brought Minneapolis with them?” Barely visible outside the windows of the small CRJ were snow flurries. Knowing the reputation on how southern airports deal with snow (they don’t), I suddenly had a couple of nagging doubts about my flight to Orlando. However, said snow flurries immediately ceased, and the flight to Orlando went off without a hitch. One cool thing about the Charlotte airport was in the main shopping area near the security checkpoints, they have white rocking chairs under trees. I like that little touch to try and improve the otherwise sterile interior of that airport.
But back to Orlando. I met with David Bowers and Jerry Dorf at the Hertz rental car facility, and we head for Tampa. There isn’t much to see on I-4 between the two central Florida metropolises, so most of the time was spent discussing the subtle nuances of our trip. Our first destination on arrival in Tampa was the Baymont Inn on the western side of Busch Gardens. After several false starts, wrong turns, and missed exits, we finally end up on Busch Boulevard.
I realize that Busch Gardens Tampa had been in its current location since around 1959, and that Tampa had grown out to surround the park. Still, I was quite surprised at the state of that part of Tampa. I guess I had been expecting something like what Beach Blvd. is around Knott’s, or worse yet, the Wisconsin Dells Strip. Instead, the street is lined with pawn brokers and check-cashing parlors. Generally, the types of businesses on a street are a fairly good indicator of the type of neighborhood that the street runs through. Also, a large concrete wall has been built around the Busch Gardens complex. For those of you keeping score, there used to be an access to the entrance across from the McDonalds. Jerry and David were both using that fact to base hotel placement, to try and avoid $8 a day in parking fees. Alas, this was not to be. However, splitting $16 in parking three ways makes the ding a little more bearable
We check in and head for the Florida State Fairgrounds. We had already passed the grounds on our way to Busch Gardens, and now we returned to the site. My initial reaction on getting out of the car was the fact that it was not very warm. In fact, it was only going to get colder as the evening progressed. It didn’t help that the winds were howling out of the northwest at better than 20 mph. But anyway, we enter the fair through the enormous Expo Hall, and emerge onto a strip that is packed wall-to-wall with food joints. There are a LOT of foods available on this fair, but I don’t like how everything is jammed into the lot. The fairgrounds claims to be 330 or so acres, but
Down this strip, and over onto the main midway. I have been on several good-sized midways, and I have never seen a midway that was so crowded with stuff. I am not talking the crowd (the crowds were very light tonight), I am talking the joints. It seems like the committee told all the shows that brought equipment to bring every joint they had, and to get as many of them as we can physically fit on the lot. From this setup, no one was going to make any money. All the jointees were working their joints extremely aggressively, but the crowd was just not there on this cool and breezy Thursday night. Even by our Midwestern standards, it was getting mighty chilly.
Despite this crowded midway, the selection of flat rides on the lot was hard to beat. Huss Rainbow, Enterprise, and Tornado, SDC Moonraker, Mondial Top Scan and Shake (Magnum), three gorgeous music rides, Crazy Mouse and Zyklon coasters, Chance Rok-n-Roll, three claw rides (KMG Afterburner and Freak Out, and Zamperla Nitro). On Opening Night of the fair, unlimited ride wristbands were $15 and gate admission was $5. Parking was free during the fair, so it makes the elaborate booths at the entrance to the grounds irrelevant. So the potential for POP abuse was imminent. As a flatride fan, we thoroughly abused the wristbands. Later in the evening, we were over at the Chance Rok ‘n Roll. Jerry and David had already ridden it twice, and the guys running it recognized them immediately when they came up for ride #3.
Over the course of the evening, we met up with many members of Matt’s Carnival Warehouse, as well as some show owners. Matt Cook, Ryan Vawter, cny_chris, Mike Reiss, and Top Spin Jay were all there, as well as Mike Wood and Jim Murphy.
However, something was missing about this fair. David and I couldn’t figure out what the heck it was. Perhaps it was the lack of greenery on the fairgrounds. Yeah, the lake was there, but it seemed little more than a “token” object. Or maybe it was no “buzz” of the crowd. Or maybe it was the lack of other stuff on the fairgrounds, aside from token appearances. Throw in a little bit of the brisk weather (I won’t say cold, because the wind chill outside my apartment as I write this is -32F), and I think it’s a combination of all these factors.
Overall, the Florida State Fair was a good time, and not a bad investment in $25 (I throw on an additional $5, because you HAVE to eat something). We returned to the Baymont Inn and made preparations to hit Busch Gardens the next morning.
Paul
COMING SOON:
PART 2: BUSCH GARDENS AND MORE FSF
PAUL, JERRY, AND DAVID TAKE FLORIDA
PART 2.1: BUSCH GARDENS, DAY 1
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2006
BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY
TAMPA, FLORIDA
Confucius once said that if a man is tired enough, he will sleep anywhere. Well, I was beat after an early wake-up call and lots of walking yesterday at the FSF, so despite the fact that I was on the floor, sleep came very easily. And so did breakfast the next morning. After partaking in some of the Baymont’s continental breakfast, we get in the car and make the agonizingly long, drawn-out, 5 minute drive to the BGT parking lots.
After giving the trolls at the toll plaza $8, we proceed to park very close to the tram station. We then ride up to the main park entrance plaza. There is a slight chill in the air, but the warm Florida sun is rapidly dispersing said chill. It’s going to be a fine day. Anyway, up to the ticket plaza to get our vouchers processed. I was anticipating something along the lines of Valleyfair’s season pass processing, where my wonderful mug shot would get taken and placed on a hard plastic card. Instead, when I hand over my driver’s license and Fun Card voucher, the lady in the office returns with something that I thought came out of a parking garage ticket dispenser. No photo (although the back side of the card has a nice Busch Gardens photo), just my name, a barcode, and “Photo ID Required” printed in boldface above the barcode.
Since it was still about 15 minutes before the park officially opened, we bided our time. At about 9:20 (park open was 9:30), a brass quintet came out and entertained the small crowd that was gathered at the gate with such songs as “Sweet Georgia Brown” and the themes from Perry Mason and Mission: Impossible. They played for 5 or 6 minutes, and then went back into the park. They were seen over by Sheikra later in the afternoon.
During the band’s performance, an older gentleman was pacing around behind the turnstiles with a nervous look on his face. He looked like the starter at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, so naturally I assumed he would be the one that would give the signal to start taking tickets. At promptly 9:30 AM, he yelled out to “Open ‘em up!” At this, the ticket takers began processing tickets. I dug my license out again, and went up to the turnstile. The lady scanned the pass, and then told me to put my hand in some strange-looking doohickey next to the barcode scanner. This is a hand scanner, and I had never seen anything like it before. I had trouble getting all the lights to go out, so my Minnesota driver’s license made for a good stand-in, and the three of us were admitted.
Busch Gardens is laid out in an uneven circular layout, with Montu to the right from the front gate, and Sheikra, Gwazi, and most other stuff to the left. We opt to head towards Sheikra, since it’s the new thing, the crowds will flock to it. However, we get as far as Gwazi and see that a large rope has been stretched across the midway, along with a sign that stated something to the effect of “This area of the park will open 30 minutes after park opening.”
However, the rope is past the entrance to the queue house for Gwazi. And at this fateful juncture in time, we see a train go out from the station. The three of us head straight up to the loading platform on the Lion side, and jump in the train. Gwazi Lion isn’t a bad wooden coaster. Not terribly forceful but fairly smooth.
After riding Gwazi, we decide to try our luck at Montu. We make our way towards Montu. By all appearances, Busch Gardens is a zoo that just happens to have some some sweet B&M thrill rides. This is likely one of the reasons why BGT management took great care in their theming. The theming in this park is fantastic. Whoever did the theming in the Egypt area where Montu is had an eye for detail.
Since it’s still close to the open, the park is deserted, which means there is almost no one in the queue house. We go to the back row of the train, and wait. However, the train stays in the station, and a man from park maintenance is futzing with something in the control. Then an announcement is played, stating that Montu is temporarily down. Being the patient people we are, we wait for a spell, as several trains are ghosted. Then the announcement changes to “The ride is closed, come back later.” So no Montu ride in the “hot seat” right now.
We walk over to the skyride station, built by our friends at Von Roll, and determine that the three of us must split up, as the listed weight limit is 650 pounds. David and I go in one car, and Jerry follows in the next car. The skyride goes over the Serengeti plains, and we get a good look at the animals on the “Serengeti plains.” After getting off the Skyride, we parked our stuff at a locker bank near Sheikra, and headed into the queue. Sheikra is the second B&M dive machine, and it looks great. What looks even better is the near-empty queue. Walk-around for all three rows in the second train. Sheikra loads two trains at once, one in front of the other. Six rows of 8 seats a row means that this thing can crank the people through in a hurry.
Since it’s a walk-on, we ride in the front row. The seats are almost like a Mondial seat, with a wicked lean back. We roll over to the lift hill, and are forced back by the incredibly steep grade that the lift hill has. Obviously Busch Gardens didn’t want to waste much real estate on the lift hill. We hit the top, and roll around to the top of the drop, where the train lurches to a halt, and begins to creeeeeeeeeeep over the edge. And we hang in our OTSRs as the people in the train start to babble among themselves, then BAM! Crazy airtime followed by a very forceful element. It’s a wild roll into the mid-course brakes, where the train lurches to another stop, then slowly rolls into the second plunge. Coming out of the tunnel, I always seem to take a droplet of water square in the forehead. The water effect doesn’t do much on the train, and we roll back into the station. Busch Gardens has a winner on their hands, and a high-capacity one at that.
We continue to reride until the queue bridges get full (about 6 or 7 rides), then head back towards Kumba. However, en route to Kumba, we take our obligatory stop at Python, as I don’t have the credit for it. It’s an Arrow corkscrew, and I think it’s similar to the original Corkscrew at Knott’s Berry Farm. After looking at RCDB, it is. It may have been the biggest thing since sliced bread back in its day, but if I had to wait more than 5 minutes for this waste of time, I would demand my money back. One-trick pony.
After wasting our time at Python, we find our way to the back corner, and a freshly painted Kumba. Kumba is a beautiful piece of B&M work that’s just been freshly refurbished. It looks beautiful. The line for Kumba is a confusing one. There are no immediate signs declaring what line is for what, and we end up in the line for the front row. Which just so happens to be the only queue with any people in it. It’s a four train wait to get to the front, and it’s worth it. Fabulously smooth with a powerful punch. We go around again, and again, and again. Seven straight times in all. It’s almost as if we were riding Avalanche at Wisky Dells instead of Kumba at BGT.
After all the fun at Kumba, we go back to Sheikra to get our stuff out of the lockers, and then we go to the Timbuktu section of the park. We see a mouse coaster, and jump aboard. This is a Gerstlauer Wild Maus, which has been themed Cheetah Chase and given a blaze orange paint job, in tune with the Timbuktu theming. After loading up the car, it heads up to the top of the hill, and flies through the top-level flat spins. I’m thinking that this thing has some potential for the rest of the course. But as we take the first drop, we start to hit brakes, and the ride just kind of fizzles out to nothing. File this one alongside Python.
Nearby is Scorpion, a single-loop, single-train Schwartzkopf coaster. The station is very small, so the train loads from the front to the back. I get in the first row of the second car, and promptly get stuck. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it appears that for the first time, thanks to my insanely long legs, I am stuck in a car. The Schwartzkopf train on Monte wasn’t much bigger than this, but it was big enough as to not get stuck. Being stuck kinda ruins any fun effect that Scorpion may have given out. But getting tossed out of the coaster isn’t an issue on an Anton creation. Lots of force and headchoppers. David, who is sitting along side of me, has to get out before I can turn and get my legs un-wedged.
We then decide to make our way towards the front of the park, and the Anheuser-Busch Hospitality House. For those of you who are of legal U.S. drinking age, A-B offers free beer in the Hospitality House. Yes, FREE BEER. Granted, they aren’t giving you a free “mas” of beer, but free beer is free beer. Several different types of Busch beers are on tap, and I found it ironic that a pizza joint had been placed in the house. Hmmm. Pizza and beer go hand in hand, so why not put a pizza joint next to the free beer? Someone up in corporate gets a gold star for a genius bit of marketing.
By this time, we hope that whatever mechanical issues they were having on Montu would be ironed out. So we head over there, deposit our stuff in a locker (again), and head to the back row line, so my first ride can be in the so-called “hot seat.” Folks, we have winner #3 of the day. While some coasters go for copious amounts of air time, some try brute speed, and some just plain suck, Montu is all about force. The fierce kick of airtime at the batwing is incredible, and I can’t imagine what it was prior to the mid-course brakes being turned on. Since there were decent amounts of people in the queue house, we had to walk around, although it was never more than a one-train wait for any seat behind the front row. Did I say that the theming of this ride was fantastic?
David wanted to see what the Rhino Rally was all about. So we meander over there, and the queue time indicated by the clock says 20 minutes. It’s a nice day, so we don’t mind waiting. We get part of the way through the line (it’s moving along fairly well), before the line stops, and an announcement comes saying that the ride has just gone down mechanical. This virtually clears out the queue, and we are in the second Land Rover/Humvee/Jeep to go out after the ride comes back online. Our navigator was a kid with an unpronounceable Islamic first name, so he’s affectionately known simply as Skippy. Rhino Rally is a cool, unique ride that I won’t go into much detail about. It’s worth waiting a few minutes for, but not necessarily two hours.
It is at this juncture of time and space that we depart Busch Gardens and head back to the Florida State Fair for an evening of photography and POP abuse. We’ll head over there, after a word from our sponsor.
Paul
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Now, part 2.2 of “Paul, Jerry, and David Take Florida”
PAUL, JERRY, AND DAVID TAKE FLORIDA
PART 2.2: FLORIDA STATE FAIR, FRIDAY NIGHT
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005
FLORIDA STATE FAIRGROUNDS
TAMPA, FLORIDA
Coming around the exit ramp, we see that there are a LOT more people at the fairgrounds today than there were yesterday. A LOT more. We end up parking in what is widely regarded as the “Back 40,” a long way from the gate. We get to the gate, get our tickets, and come up to a “security checkpoint” that wasn’t there the previous evening. It’s basically the same as the one over at Busch Gardens (paw through bags and hooded sweatshirts), with one additional twist. They have you raise your shirt and expose your beltline, to expose any contraband that you may have stashed in your belt. Not that it would have done a bit of good. If you use your brain a bit, you can get a substantial weapon past that gate without them being any the wiser.
Through the expo hall, and back to the midway. We stop to partake in some fine stromboli, and then we embark on the mission of the evening, which is to take pictures and get footage of the rides. Since the sun was at an unusual angle, we were taking pictures looking east. We shot pictures until about sundown. At this point, David and Jerry got their wristbands. I had obtained a Mountain Dew can the previous afternoon giving $5 off the evening wristband, so I tried to redeem this can at a friendly ticket window. However, the lady at the ticket window told me that I needed to go out to the front gate to a tent, where I would get a voucher to present at the ticket window.
David and Jerry went over towards the Rok n Roll while I went to the front gate to get my voucher. I approached the front gate and attempted to figure out the re-entry procedures. I could definitely tell that the crowds were very different tonight than before. I overheard the exit procedures explained. What happened was that you got your hand stamped, then you were given a re-entry pass good for the next 20 minutes. If you took longer than 20 minutes, too bad. It was clear that they were discouraging re-entry, but since I was only getting a POP voucher, I didn’t need the re-entry stamp.
After getting cleared back through “security”, I go meet David and Jerry back at the Rok n Roll. Getting there was starting to be a challenge, as the place was getting more crowded by the minute. Since the sun was setting, we continue to take photos, as that is our primary objective for the evening.
The weather is gorgeous, which means we have a very different crowd on the midway tonight. For one, there are a LOT of people on the midway. Check that. There are a lot of teenagers on the midway. Apparently, Hillsborough County Public Schools had the day off and a $5 break at the gate. Put them together, along with the $5 off POP armbands, and you get a midway that is absolutely PACKED. Long lines for everything, short cycles on all the rides, and a lot of people spending their money. Or not spending their money. As the evening progressed, the crowd got bigger and bigger, but the crowd also brought a nasty attitude with them.
We finished taking pictures, and I volunteered to make the run to the car to dump cameras, loose objects, etc. After returning, and clearing “security” again, I meet up with Jerry and David back by the Space Roller. The crowd has gotten even more brazen, as David and Jerry witnesses a fight in front of the Roller. I then try to ride the roller, and I have to act like a blocker and force my way up to the entry point. There is no order to the line whatsoever. Every man for himself.
There is a Huss Twister ride down the line, and David and I try to get a good spin ride in. But we can’t get that sucker to spin to save ourselves. David and I sit on one side of the car, but all that happens is that we slosh back and forth. Blah. Then over to the other side, and we wait for the one-of-a-kind Moonraker. We had seen it run earlier in the day, and we decided we were going to try to ride it. We camped out at the bottom of the stairs, and after about 15 minutes, it finally opened up. It’s basically a sit-down Round-Up with OTSRs. Only 7 seats were operating. Just to show you how crowded the place was, by the time we got off the ride, about 3 minutes, the line had grown into a large scrum.
We then move across the road to the Flip ‘N Out, where another ugly line incident developed. It was all I could do to get to the front of the line. After the Flip ‘n Out ride that I had to use an offensive lineman’s skills to get to the ride, we decided to cut our losses and get the hell out of there. The crowd kept getting uglier and uglier, and it seemed that a massive conflagration was imminent. I witnessed a stampede towards a fight that I couldn’t see while waiting for the Moonraker. At the end, the crowd had a “We’re going to do whatever we want and you can go screw yourself” attitude. I regularly go through some of the crummiest parts of the Twin Cities, and that was the first time that my gut was telling me to run for your life. I took the lead blocker position, moving as fast as I could, hitting gaps wherever I could find them, and not slowing down until we got out of the mess. David and Jerry followed at close proximity. We finally ended up at the Boar’s Head Hot Dog booth, where David and I partook in some fine hot dogs, and we discussed the fair, hot dogs, and how the brand was working its way into the Midwest.
Since it’s getting late (after 10:00), we decide to call it a day, and head back towards the expo hall. Problem is, all the doors to the Expo Hall are closed. So we try to go around the south end of the building, only to find the path goes into an auxiliary exhibit hall, which is also locked. A Hillsborough County Sheriff deputy was stating that the hall was closed, and wasn’t giving any directions on how to get out of the place. Earlier in the afternoon, I had noticed what looked like an exhibitor entrance behind the Springshot. The Springshot is located across the pond to the north of the expo hall. Sure enough, there is a paved road going back towards the road. After a couple of dead ends, we make our way back to the gate side of the expo hall.
To me, this sets off all kinds of alarms in my brain. If you needed to clear the grounds in a hurry at this hour, pushing 10,000 people into a dead-end that is the expo hall or down a dark, unmarked path, that is asking for trouble. Also, with the midway set up the way it was, if you needed to clear out the midway in a hurry, there really was not many places to go. There was too much stuff jammed into that lot. If you needed to clear that place out in a hurry, there could be some BIG trouble.
But after all of this, we make it back to the car alive and in one piece. We head back to the hotel, and watch the end of the 2006 Torino Olympics opening ceremony. I don’t worry, though. I figured out how to activate the timer on my VCR so I can watch the opening when I get back to Minnesota.
Paul
PAUL, JERRY, AND DAVID TAKE FLORIDA, PART 3
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2006
BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY
TAMPA, FLORIDA
After staying up until well after NBC’s midnight sign off from Torino, we were a little bit groggy when it came time to head over to the Busch Gardens for our full day there. This morning, we were masquerading as theme park tourists, cameras and all, instead of being the aggressive, go-for-broke coaster junkies we are. J
We start the morning over at Montu. Now, while we were definitely going to take pictures, we were not going to pass on a power-riding session should the opportunity present itself. And an empty queue house was opportunity presenting itself. We started the day with six straight rides in the “hot seat”, and 11 straight overall, all without leaving the loading platform. My T-shirt had yellow stains on it where the bottom of the OTSR squeezed up against it.
Then the photo safari began. And we mean safari. Plenty of pictures of the beautiful theming by Montu. After loading up on Montu pics, we try to take the skyride back to Sheikra and Kumba. However due to the very breezy conditions, the skyride was closed. So, we head around through the front of the park, past the crocodile pit, Hospitality House, and aviary, to Sheikra. Plenty of pictures are taken of Sheikra from the Stanleyville area of the park. Also, during the photo shoot, David took a picture of the wait time clock at Sheikra. The clock said 0. Truly a wonderful sight.
The photo safari was briefly put on sabbatical while we hit Sheikra for another power-riding session. We rode Sheikra until the line got “long.” By long we meant that it was about a two or three train wait, depending on what row you were waiting for. I think we’re getting spoiled when a long line only fills up the bridges going over to the Sheikra loading platform. The power-ride session moved back to Kumba, where several more rides were taken before the queue house filled sufficiently to prevent immediate rerides.
After this, we got our cameras from the Sheikra locker bank, and worked our way back towards Kumba on the photo safari. This took us past the tiger pit and Congo River Falls, BGT’s large raft river ride. Large amounts of Corona merchandise were seen in a gift shop near the Congo River Falls exit. This is indeed a strange sight, considering that neither Anheuser-Busch nor any of its subsidiaries distribute Corona beer in the United States. This anomaly aside, we kept taking pictures of Kumba. It is at this point of the photo safari that I run out of fresh batteries, so my camera is done for the duration of this trip.
The armchair photographers work their way into the Timbuktu portion of the park. Included were pictures of us walking into Timbuktu, so you can impress your friends by saying that you have indeed gone to Timbuktu. Never mind that it was at Busch Gardens. It was TIMBUKTU, man! Aside from Scorpion and Cheetah Chase, this part of the park has some of the most pitiful flat rides I have ever had the misfortune of seeing with my two eyes. Jerry and David decide to go on Scorpion. Based on my misadventures with it yesterday (getting stuck), I decide to partake in a bag of popcorn. It’s very good popcorn, albeit a bit salty.
While all this is going on it becomes painfully clear to all of us that it is going to storm sometime in the near future. The wind has picked up, the sun has vanished, and the clouds keep getting darker. The question is not if it’s going to rain, but when. So after Jerry and David get out of Scorpion, we head through some of the animal exhibits back towards the front of the park. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Busch Gardens is an absolutely beautiful park in the middle of a crappy part of Tampa. Lots of greenery, as if BGT is a zoo first, theme park later.
We head past the Morocco Theater and the croc pit, and decide we are going to ride Gwazi. Since we’ve already ridden the Lion side, we head over to the blue Tiger side. I thought that the Lion side was OK, but boy was the Tiger side rough. Very rough. Since our cameras have been stashed in a locker down below the station, we head around to take another ride on the Tiger side. Ah, much smoother. We are second in line for another ride on Tiger when the announcement comes. “Due to approaching severe weather, this ride is closed” or something to that effect. We notice that it has started to rain. Since the Hospitality House is close by, we decide to head over there, as there is no such thing as a bad glass of free beer. It is raining fairly hard as we walk fast/run over to the House, and no sooner than we step inside than the heavens open and the rain comes POURING down.
Shortly thereafter, fate takes a decisive turn against the prohibitionists in the park. There is a flash of lightning, and the power goes out. If you know anything about beer taps, you know that electricity is not required to operate said taps. However, I overhear one of the bartenders say something like, “Keep that beer flowing, because once the beer gets warmer than 40 degrees, we can’t serve it.” Having consumed large amounts of beer that was nowhere near 40 degrees during my college career, it wouldn’t bother me in the least if beer was warmer than 40 degrees. That threshold must be a corporate policy.
While we are standing outside the House (it’s getting quite stuffy in there from lack of ventilation), we notice large amounts of people heading towards the exit of the park. This option briefly crosses our mind, until we realize that if the power is out here at the park, then it may very well be out in the surrounding neighborhoods. So we decide to bide our time, and perhaps the park will clear sufficiently to power-ride some more before the afternoon is out. David and I decide to try some of the Bare Knuckle Stout beer. While I will never denounce free beer, Bare Knuckle was certainly a lot of work to drink. While we were drinking our stout, the power came back on, and a loud cheer went up from the masses. We waited an additional half-hour after the power came back on to allow for everything to start up again, then we head to Sheikra.
It is during our second ride on Sheikra during this power-ride session that our Flirtation with the Lawyers (or the Women) takes place. While waiting to load, two women about my age were waiting in front of me. One of them was psyching herself into thinking that she was going to die on that drop. Since I am fairly certain that nothing serious will come out of it, I egg her along a little bit. She then asks me if I go to Michigan. Keep in mind that I’m wearing a T-shirt with a maroon Minnesota block M on it, which looks nothing like a Michigan M. I chuckle and tell her that at least she’s in the right conference. I was sitting in the third seat from the left, front row, with the two women. After the initial drop, she’s carrying on as you would expect she would. Just our luck, we hit the mid-course brakes and grind to a halt. I continue to carry on the conversation (they catch on about the Minnesota M) until the announcement comes: “We are sorry. The ride has temporarily shut down.” Since the seats are quite comfortable for coaster chairs, we chat for a while until the announcement comes that the train is moving again, and to brace for movement. By the time we get back to the station, the line has lengthened quite a bit, but since Sheikra is a line eater, the line dissolves very quickly.
We ride Sheikra a few more times, then head back to Kumba. Things have picked up at Kumba, but we can still walk around. Just as we are about to get on the train, a park patron decides that they have had enough Kumba for one day. The unloading deck and train are hosed off and disinfected, and the train is ghosted, cutting the capacity in half. This train is ghosted two or three times, and by the time we finally get on the train, we can see the rain start again. This is not going to be a pleasant ride on Kumba. Since I had never ridden a fast-moving B&M in the rain, I close my eyes and hope I don’t get sandblasted too badly. The Kumba Kar Wash is open for business as we scurry out of the station. None of us thought much of the Kumba Kar Wash, and it is agreed we are done on the coasters for the day (the forecast is that when it starts to rain, it’s not going to stop til morning).
Unlike during the last rain squall, we decide that this is it, and head out of the park. We browse the gift shops, duly noting that any kind of merchandise with any sort of Budweiser logo on it can be purchased here. David also conjectures that they are willing to assist you in shipping, in the event that you know you can’t fit your purchase into your bag for the trip home. We ride the parking tram back to the car, noting that the weather has turned from a warm sunny day into a cold, dank, dreary all-night rain. We then decide to give Steak ‘n Shake a try. This particular Steak ‘n Shake, on Hillsborough Ave. near the turn to BGT, was not the most pleasant dining establishment I have ever eaten in. The food wasn’t bad, although I attribute that to being half-starved. We retire to the hotel after a purchase of blank digital media to get photos back home.
Paul
PAUL, JERRY, AND DAVID TAKE FLORIDA
PART 4: THE GRAND FINALE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2005
OSCEOLA HERITAGE PARK
KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA
The fourth day of our invasion of Florida dawns downright cold. The cold front that caused all the rain yesterday and last night is gone, replaced by the Canuck Express. Freeze warnings out over much of the state, which is quite unheard of for Florida. What’s worse is that a cold wind is howling out of the northwest. High wind warnings are out for most of the state as well. The walk to breakfast this morning was chilly, even by my ridiculously low standards. Mind you, this was in the still of a hotel.
After checking out of the hotel, we drive out to I-4. Since there isn’t a whole lot to see between Tampa and Orlando, I spend a fair bit of the drive sitting in the back seat, dozing off. We rolled into Orlando and onto International Drive. International Drive is Florida’s version of the Wisconsin Dells Strip, i.e. a vacuum cleaner for your wallet. At one such location on I-Drive is a Funtime Star Flyer, which is a Wave Swinger with a twist: Instead of just rotating the flat pane of rotation, the seats go up and down a very tall central tower.
We arrived at Magical Midway a few minutes prior to the open, and all of us are seriously doubting if the Star Flyer will run. Wind advisories are out for most of Florida, which means sustained winds greater than 25 mph. 10:00 AM comes, and we wander about the place for a bit. There really isn’t much here. Other than the Star Flyer, and a Funtime Spring Shot (cable-mounted Ejection Seat), not much. We go to the ticket window and ask if the Flyer will be running today due to the high winds. Much to our surprise, the Flyer runs! We purchase our tickets, go up to the deck, and sit in the flimsy-looking chairs. The Flyer went through it’s cycle, and it was a very interesting ride. A cold, stiff wind at 25 mph made for an unusual cycle.
We had read that Strates Shows is playing at the Osceola County Fair down in Kissimmee, and is offering a pay-one-price promotion from noon to 5. After leaving Magic Midway, we work our way on back roads over to the Osceola Heritage Park. Since it’s about 11:00 on a Sunday morning, the place is deserted. The way the “fair” is set up, it is little more than a glorified still date. $5 at the gate, $15 for an all-you-can-ride armband.
The midway starts to show some signs of life, and we begin our pursuit of as many rides as we can stomach. Believe it or not, there was a second Rok n Roll there. From never seeing one to seeing two different ones over the course of a long weekend is very unusual. This one is run by operators who don’t seem too enthusiastic about trying to get it to roll as much as possible. Over the course of the afternoon, we get our money’s worth out of our POP bands. This includes a ride on Strates’ Giant Wheel, which claims to be 125’ tall. The top of the wheel yields a good view of the Osceola Heritage Park, which is where the “fair” is. The Houston Astros train here, and their spring training facility dominates the facility. There is a small expo hall adjacent to the carnival, and an indoor rodeo facility outside the pay area of the fair. It is also VERY cold and windy when on the upper reaches of the wheel.
By the time we are done at the Osceola County Fair, it’s about 3:00, and we are are hungry, cold, and wind-burned. David’s curiosity gets the best of him, and he tries out some deep-fried alligator meat. He thoroughly enjoys it, and it fills the car up with the fine smell of deep-fried alligator meat. If authenticity was in question, the trailer the alligator came from had Louisiana license plates.
Since we’re all quite hungry, we decide to stop at a Steak ‘n Shake on the main drag. If you remember, last night we ate a Steak ‘n Shake in Tampa that left much to be desired. This Steak ‘n Shake was in much better shape than the Tampa one, and the food reflected that. After the Steak n Shake we head west on the Irlo Bronson Highway in search of our Baymont Inn. However, since we can’t find the thing, we proceed directly to Old Town.
We park near the end of the street, and take a look at everything that Old Town has to offer. At the end is the Windshear roller coaster, but we didn’t find it worthwhile to ride it, as both Jerry and David had the credit, I was running low on cash, and it would have cost almost as much to ride the Windshear as it would have been to ride a certain attraction located on land along side Old Town.
Located along side Old Town are a few other attractions. One of them is the G-Force. This simulates a drag race, going from 0 to 120 mph in about 2 seconds. It’s based out of a former merchandise trailer that was for the Steve Park NASCAR entry back when he was still with DEI. Anyway, it looked cool, but the cost was prohibitive, so we all decided to take a pass. There’s another attraction on the lot next to Old Town. This certain attraction is the 300-foot tall Skycoaster. We go into the office and inquire if the Skycoaster will fly. I’m having some serious doubts, because the wind has not abated, and there are some crazy lateral deflections in the cables.
She says that due to said crazy winds, the Skycoaster will fly, but only with 3 people. I still have my doubts, so we retire back to Old Town for further deliberations. After some application of pressure by Jerry and David, as well as a reduction in wind speed to almost zero, I decide to fly. We go to the shack, get our tickets, and then go get harnessed in at the tent. Then, out to the loading platform. Jerry and David are making sure that everyone out on the platform knows that this is my first Skycoaster flight. We get clipped together, and right about the time that I think they’re telling us to lean forward…
THUD!
That thud you heard was me leaning forward too soon, drawing a 5-yard false start penalty, as well as a skinned knee. Since we’re all clipped together, it’s a royal pain to get back up and properly hooked to the cable. Then, we get told to lean forward, and instead of plopping on the floor, we hang by the cable and begin to be winched up the tower. Damn, it’s a long way up there. Jerry pulls the rip cord, and I take my first Skycoaster flight. Not gonna lie to ya, it was pretty damn fun. Apparently, we hit 66 mph on the radar gun mounted at the bottom of the apex. We swing ourselves out of momentum, and get unhitched.
After I watch my first flight, we head back over to the Old Town proper. Located over alongside the main highway is a Funtime Spring Shot. The reported maximum capsule height is about 365 feet (convert 115 meters to feet), and I decide to try it out. I fork over my money, David gets into the seat to my left, and we get launched. It is a VERY smooth launch, but there is no kick of airtime at the top of the launch. I have had more airtime on Sheikra.
We’ve seen everything we need to see at Old Town. After I get a quick souvenir (and a drink for everyone), we go back to the car and finally find our hotel. A long, hot shower never felt so good. Except for that time after tramping around Phalen Park on the coldest day of the year looking for the St. Paul Winter Carnival Medallion, but that’s another story for another day.
Next morning, after breakfast, we get back to the Orlando airport. My flight goes on US Air via Charlotte. In Charlotte, I hustle like the dickens to the commuter plane terminal, only to see that my original 50-minute connection has turned into a 2:20 connection. I go back to the center food court and partake in some Brookwood Farms Authentic North Carolina Barbecue. Unlike the lousy swill at Famous Dave’s (Minnesota’s premiere barbecue chain), this is actually good stuff. On the very small plane from Charlotte back to Minneapolis, I sit next to a fellow Gopher. It happens to be that our school apartments are only half a block apart, and we enjoy a nice chat on the light rail and bus all the way back to the turn point. At this point, I am glad to see my apartment.
THE END
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