Six Flags!

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love roller coasters. I just never get sick of them. I tell Jon all of the time (or maybe I just tell myself) that we should have gone to Six Flags for our honeymoon. At least 2 days of it. Even better would be Six Flags AND Busch Gardens!!! I was lucky enough in my teenage years to have my family take me on such a vacation where we got to go to BOTH roller coaster super parks. I think I may actually consider that trip one of the highlights of my life so far.

That's how much I love roller coasters.

Imagine how THRILLED I was when Jon's company, National Instruments announced that they were holding the company picnic at Six Flags (down in San Antonio) this year! And, if that weren't sweet enough, they reserved the whole freaking park just for NI!!! This meant no fighting with the crowds of the general public and season pass holders and SHORT SHORT lines!!! AH! I'm excited just thinking about how awesome it was!

It was not a blazing hot day, we got free drinks all day in free souvenir cups, a free lunch, and a FREE TICKET to come back again before the 12th of October!!! SWEET! And it cost $15 + gas. Also, I didn't have tons of kids to take on rides and Alex didn't demand to be on a ride every second, so with the short lines I was able to go on all of the roller coasters and still ride some rides with Alex.

So with all of the greatness of the day going on, it's no surprise why I'm still feeling a high from it. It was an AWESOME day. Thanks NI!

Jon still had (and has) his vertigo going on, so he didn't go on any rides with me. He did go on the carousel with Alex and I and he said that was a bit much for him. I was surprised when he wanted to go on the teacups with Alex. After he got off of that, he was pretty dizzy.

My favorite rides were

The Poltergeist



The Twister




I'm embedding both of those for their uniqueness. I was cracking up on The Twister the whole time. I was one of 5 total people riding and it was so funny being spun that way.

Poltergeist was awesome because instead of going up a hill, it blasts you off. Totally took me off guard (even after 3 times). I also loved how strong the g-forces got. It hugged me right to my seat!
There was no line on this one, so I just stayed in my seat and went on it 3 times since Jon was waiting in a long line to ride on the little cars with Alex.

I also really liked Goliath and Superman. Both were bigger roller coasters and were SUPER smooth.

And speaking of smooth, I found a ride to AVOID like the plague! It's called The Rattler and it's a HUGE wood roller coaster. Problem is that it is NOT SMOOTH. It was so rough that I was being slammed (seriously. There is no better word to describe it) around in my seat. I have a huge bruise on my arm because of it and about 1/2 way through I started experiencing pain in my back. I thought it was really cool that it was such a big roller coaster, but after it got going I was really wishing it was a short ride.

Here's a video of it to illustrate how horrible it was. People can't even scream because it is so bumpy and they are just trying to deal with all of the bumps (and pain!). HORRIBLE RIDE!!!




Alex had such a fun time going on all of the rides. He loved everything, but it didn't surprise us that his favorite was the little trucks. That boy was so happy on the trucks! He also rode his first roller coaster, which made him a little nervous and he wanted to get off early. It was a similar story for the little swings we went on.
I was thinking how great it would be to go childless with our free ticket, but I loved how much fun he had on the rides and would love to see him that happy again.

Here's a little slideshow of our fun day!