Dawn is coming down on Wednesday evening, and off we go. I'm very excited about this vacation. We've been planning it for months, now...saving our pennies and in less than a week, we're off.
It is, in a way, the dream road trip I've envisioned for a long time, but in a slightly different direction. We'll have time to see so much of the country...and during interesting times.
I hear about its pulse all the time on the radio and television where they tell us what we're all thinking, but this is an opportunity to put my fingers against its neck and really feel it.
To see farmers, educators, factory workers, families at play in America's heartland. Fun.
Dawn is a self described "card carrying roller coaster enthusiast." I'm just along for the ride. These people take their roller coasters very, very seriously. Things that turn me upside down and curve me around, making me giddy and happy and giggly...to that, they say...meh....give me more!
Apparently, they've been given more...and more resides at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana.
Holiday World is a family owned park with a great tradition for good rides, themes, and service.
It's a relatively cheap admission compared to today's megaparks, and one needn't worry about buying beverages for $4 a pop in the park, as the beverage service stands are free all day with admission.
Each area of the park has a holiday theme--Christmas, Halloween, etc. and now...T
hanksgiving. The coaster geeks keep talking about how "thankful" they are for Holiday World's new coaster, the Voyage. No "meh" or other expressions of indifference for this one...So our vacation will start in the Atlanta area--Dawn will drive down for a job interview on next Wednesday. We will stay with my parents on Thursday in Cedartown, and then start our drive through the South and Midwest on Friday.
Along the way, we plan to visit as many of the following parks as possible. Some of these are definites, denoted by *.
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
Louisville, KY
Beech Bend
Bowling Green, KY
--Featuring the brand new "Kentucky Rumbler"
Holiday World
Santa Claus, IN*
In addition to Voyage, apparently "Raven" and "Legend" are excellent fun. Nevermore...
Indiana Beach
Monticello, IN*
Who can resist a roller coaster called the "Cornball Express." I'm sure to fit right in.
This is also Dawn's favorite childhood memory place, so it's very special for us to go there together :).
Six Flags Great America
Gurnee, IL
Six Flags St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
Dawn had to work baseball into the trip--and I'm very excited to be making my first visit to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play the Reds! We have bleacher seats, courtesy of Dawn's brother Jason's generosity, and I look forward to hangin' with the bums! I have a grand appreciation for fundamentally cursed teams, and it looks like the cubbies are the last of a dying breed. Damn that silly billy goat.
The bulk of our time will really be spent in Chicago, Dawn's hometown. It will be my first visit there and I'm excited to see it. It was so fun watching the Blues Brothers with her, because she knows where all the Chicago landmarks are..."They gotta Picasso there." It only takes Dawn a couple of seconds to pick out the "Wilco towers," the two odd, round Chicago condo buildings featured on the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot CD. We also plan to take an architecture tour, hopefully the one on the boat that goes around Lake Michigan. I've been promised lots of great food and fun.
I'm also looking very forward to meeting the rest of Dawn's family--her Dad, Rick and stepmom Mary Beth, her brother Jason and his girlfriend, Jen, aunts, uncles, and cousins and more! I hope to smoke a stogey and shoot some pool with Dawn's dad, that'll be nice. I'll also get to meet a lot of Dawn's friends I've heard so much about--I'm looking forward to meeting Sue and her fiancee and everyone else in Chitown! Whee! We'll head back down to Peoria and spend some time with Dawn's Mom and I'll get to meet Louis and the kitties, and I'll maybe get to see Urbana-Champaign, where all the "good" librarians come from, and where they "don't throw shade on the corn."
Ok, I've gushed enough about this trip. Can you tell I'm excited?
"No you can't throw shade on the corn
It'll die as sure as you're born
No, sir, we don't mess around
Our library's underground
You can't throw shade on the corn"
--the Other Guys
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