I had originally planned to go to someplace green, full of life, and peaceful: Oregon. But since I was unable to find something suitable to do there, I started browsing around the Six Flags theme parks. There I discovered a new ride that they had come up with: Superman - The Escape!
This promised to be one of the best
rides I have ever been on. Riding on a magnetically-propelled car, you
would be shot out of a tunnel acheiving a speed of 100mph. At that
point the track would go straight up and you would be
flying several hundred feet into the air! For about ten seconds you
would be in free-fall, and when you finally reached ground you would
again be travelling at 100mph back towards the tunnel.
Have you ever had a dream where you could fly like Superman? I've had several when I was younger, but flying was incredible difficult to master. I could only get a few feet off the ground, and that took all of my concentration. There were a few rare occasions when I could get higher than tall building, and then I had to be really careful or else I would lose control and leave Earth's atmosphere altogether. So the opportunity to do some flying in real life would be a fantastic lifetime experience!
I took a look at Six Flags' calendar and decided on a date that would give me the most time with the least crowds. Then I did some searching for local hotels, and thanks to travelweb I was able to get a reservation online with a Best Western hotel in Valencia. That turned out to be an impeccable choice because not only was the hotel within a mile of Magic Mountain, they also provided their own shuttle service so I didn't have to worry about parking!
My next decision was whether to drive or fly to California. Driving would take longer, but I would have my own transportation down there and could see other sites along the way, so that was what I decided to do. I spent all day Thursday driving south through Utah, a peice of Arizona, Nevada, and California, taking an alternate route through Mojave instead of driving through Los Angeles (I really hate driving in large cities.) I made a couple of wrong turns in Barstow (a word of advice: avoid buying gas in California if possible; it's too much of a hassle!) and had trouble finding the hotel (it was in plain view just before the freeway exit, but the sign was obscured by trees), but eventually I checked in ok.
Friday was devoted to
Six Flags Magic Mountain. I took a shuttle to the park shortly before
they opened, got inside and headed for the nearest major ride I could
find. Which happened to be the best ride I have ever been on, there or
anywhere else: Viper! That ride has the most speed, the most
stomach-wrenching turns, the loudest screams of anything I've
experienced. I didn't get any good pictures from that ride, which I
truly regret because I shared that first ride with a really gorgeous
redhead who looked like Sean Astin...
After riding Viper, I sampled as many of the other thrill rides as I could: Ninja, Revolution, Batman, Log Jammer, Buccaneer, Jolly Roger, Flashback, Colossus, Acme Atom Smasher, Gordon Gearworks, Freefall, Gold Rusher, Spin Out, Psyclone, and even the Grand Carousel. After doing everything once, I went back and did the fun things twice or even a third time (like Viper!)
Notice something amiss?
This is as close as
I ever got to Superman - The Escape. The ride was closed all day, and
according to the park officials they had no definite date when it
would be ready to open! I was a bit upset about that. Another thing
that upset me is that the Superman souvenir store was also closed all
day, and I really wanted a black or dark blue T-shirt that had the
stylized 'S' on the front (not any words or pictures, just the logo.)
Happily, my parents found that shirt and gave it to me on my next
birthday (Thanks!)
Along the paths and waiting lines for some of the rides (which were very short or non-existent; Friday was definitely a great time to go!) there were many T.V. sets playing -- what else? -- Warner Brothers cartoons. Most of them were the Halloween genre since it was mid-October. That made the travelling time between rides pleasant. Another thing that was fun to see was the Halloween decorations they had put up, especially around Samurai Summit. There were lots of tombstones with crazy, poetic, and funny epitaphs such as: "It was a cough that carried her off / It was a coffin they carried her off in." One of them that I remembered from a long time ago was a poem:
One fine day in the middle of the night
Two dead men got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
The rest of the poem (which wasn't shown) ended something like this:
If you don't believe this lie is true
Ask the blind man; he saw it too
My favorite tombstone, however, was this one:
Toons made guest
appearances from time to time. Mostly I saw Daffy, but the one I
really wanted to see was, of course, Bugs. He finally made his
entrance in the kiddie playground at midafternoon, leading a
children's parade. 
The only good ride
picture I have is of Batman. So here it is.
Well, by dinner time my legs were beat, but I was determined to make the most of my time while I was there. So after dinner and a sufficient rest, I headed back to Magic Mountain for an encore. That was probably a mistake. Although some of the rides were nicer at night, I never saw the red-haired boy again, and by 9pm I was literally dragging myself along by sheer will. When I got back to my hotel room and got undressed, I was alarmed to find that my upper legs were half covered with blue blotches! But I positioned myself very carefully in my bed, and by good fortune I was able to sleep most of the night.
I was in no condition to spend another day at the park, so early Saturday morning I paid my hotel bill and started the long drive back home. I didn't stop to see the sights along the way as I thought I might, because so much of the path was in barren, ugly desert. I did get a picture of the pyramid though:
I hit a slight snag in traffic heading through Utah County, but otherwise the trip home was uneventful. So I spent the rest of my vacation time at home, getting caught up with personal chores and projects, and visited the family once in a while.
And that's the end of my vacation this year!
