A Place Like No Other

On Thursday we woke up in our hotel just outside Pittsburgh and continued our journey West. Upon entering Ohio we took a pitstop to check out Cuyahoga National Park. After the vast, epic, scenic parks of the West, this park was quite different. An urban park for residents of Akron and Cleveland, we were more likely to find people taking their daily jog or bike ride on the Towpath rather than tourists snapping pictures. It’s called a Towpath because the main strip of park follows the old canal system and the path along the side is where the mules walked to tow the barges. We enjoyed a short scavenger hunt, scenic drive, and the girls got their Junior Ranger badges.

After that, we were off to “A Place Like No Other”…Cedar Point, OH. The Roller Coaster Capital of the World. America’s Roller Coast. My last trip to Cedar Point was in June of 1996 to attend CoasterMania. While I loved the park then, it has continued to evolve adding more innovative coasters and a good selection of “flat rides” (aka…non-coasters) to its lineup. I was excited to have the family relax and enjoy some time there. Oh, and did I mention there are SEVENTEEN roller coasters there?

Only fellow coaster geeks would enjoy my true run-down of the park so I’m going to keep this post short and sweet.

Threat of rain on Thursday made the park EMPTY upon our arrival at 4pm
Actual rain on Friday took away about 5 hours of ride time but due to light crowds we got experience everything we wanted.
While I knew Emily would ride anything with me, Maelle stepped up too. She rode EVERY SINGLE coaster…and usually with her hands up. That girl is fearless. 120MPH launched Top Thrill Dragster? No problem. 300+ Foot tall Millennium Force? Let’s do it again. My new all-time favorite coaster Steel Vengeance? She couldn’t get enough. That eight year old will tackle anything!
Emily rode her 100th coaster! Raptor!
Addie is much more sensitive to coasters and but can spin and spin all day long. I was proud that she worked her way up to ride Gemini and Blue Streak, which for her was a big step up. She’ll continue to experiment with new rides over the coming years and tackle her fears!
Steel Vengeance. Best. Coaster. Ever.
Maverick was really good too. And Millennium Force. And Top Thrill Dragster. And…

Maybe a future post we’ll go ride by ride, but for now some fun pics:

Yay for our first ride…Wicked Twister