I am in so much pain right now from Lake Compounce, but it was totally worth it. My neck and arms hurt from the rides, and my throat hurts and is tight from all of the screaming I did on the Boulder Dash. I went with Mom, Dad and Lauren. I rode the Boulder Dash, which is a high-speed wooden roller coaster. Its top speed is 65+ mph. I wasn’t sure if I liked it at first, even though all I wanted to do was ride it.

We got there at about noon and headed right for the water park. We did the tubing and water slide, and then took the trolley out to do the rapids. Every time I saw the Boulder Dash go by I felt a thrill go down my spine. I had to ride it. I couldn’t really concentrate on anything else.

Finally we headed back to our locker and put clothes on over our bathing suits so we could go ride the Boulder Dash. Lauren had already ridden it once with her friend. Surprisingly Mom and Dad came with us. Neither of them are big fans of coasters. We sat in the middle, mostly because we accidentally got in line for the middle section, but neither Mom or Dad wanted to sit in the front. I did, but it didn’t work out that way. The coaster started its climb. I had my hands in the air, trying to be badass. We came around the corner, and I thought that it was going to drop. I heard Dad say, “here we go,” but we didn’t drop. I kept my hands in the air–and we dropped. I grabbed onto the harness and didn’t let go throughout the entire ride. I screamed my head off like I was dying, I was so scared. I thought I was going to fall out of it. I hated it, but the masochistic part of me loved it. We rolled to a stop. I sat there, shaking, traumatized. Did I like that? I didn’t know.

Shakily I got up and we exited the ride. We chattered about our experiences with it–how Mom had tears streaming down her face ’cause her eyes were so watery, how Lauren liked it better the second time, how Dad was amazed at how fast it was. It took me five or ten minutes to decide that I’d liked it. There really is nothing like it. To put it frankly, it’s fucking crazy.

After that Mom wanted to ride the carousel, and I really wanted to ride the Down Time. It’s 180 feet in the air and drops you at 60 mph. I dragged Dad with me and Lauren decided to be safe and stay with Mom. I guess this would be a good time to explain that, as a kid, I was a huge wuss. The wildest ride I went on was the ferris wheel. Lately not so much. The more reckless, the more scary, the more I wanna do it. Maybe I have a death wish.

Anyway, I made Dad come with me. As we got into line and watched the thing drop, we had second thoughts. “I don’t know about this,” Dad said. I told him to come on. After watching it a few more times, I started thinking about backing out. It was so high. I told myself, you just rode a roller coaster at like the speed of freaking light. How could I chicken out on a drop? Even if I’m terrified of being stuck in an elevator and it dropping to my death. Gah.

We talked ourselves into it. We made it to the final line. We sat down and got strapped in. I watched, transfixed, as we were lifted into the air. It’s kind of sick, how I couldn’t help but watch. I’m not afraid of heights. I’m just terrified of falling. So I knew what was coming. I knew we had ten seconds up there before we dropped, because Dad and I had counted while watching other people do it. We got to the top. The girl next to me wasn’t too thrilled. Dad and I liked the view. I counted to ten, to calm myself. I got to ten, and it started to drop–and my eyes closed themselves. Fuck that, they said. We are so not watching this. I felt us land. We were still a good 50+ feet from the ground. Okay. Whatever. We’ve survived, my eyes said, and stayed open. We bounced up and down a little, like a yo-yo, and then landed. It was cool, but I was mad that I’d closed my eyes on the 100 foot part of the drop. I felt like a baby. Heh.

After that I needed a cigarette. Badly. We met up with Mom and Lauren, who thought we were nuts. (Mom is terrified of heights. Lauren is just not as suicidal as I am.) Dad thought it was the coolest thing. I didn’t have much to say, since I’d missed the best part. “The view was cool,” I contributed.

Next we rode the ferris wheel. A nice, safe ride. Except I’d forgotten that I hadn’t eaten all day. And the bucket-gondola things we sat in rocked back and forth. “I’m gonna die,” I told my family. “I need to eat. I’m getting so nauseas.”

I got some fries after that and went in search of the next reckless thing to ride. We rode the Musik Express, which is basically the same as Quassy’s Music Fest, but not as good. It just goes in one direction really fast, and you don’t rock or go backwards. It was okay, but not what I’d expected.

We did the bumper cars next, which were a disappointment because a) we had to wait in line for what seemed like half an eternity and b) you could only “drive” in a counter-clockwise direction, around a “track”. As we watched, no one was really doing any hitting. Lame. So when we finally got in there, we pretty much attacked everyone. No one was safe. Lauren got me good a few times from behind and gave me whiplash. I got Dad a couple of times in a row and prevented him from getting me. Heh.

By this time it was starting to get dark. We were all starving and tired. It was time to go home. Naturally, I wanted to ride the Boulder Dash again. I mean, I had to. It was like a magnetic pull. Mom and Dad said hell no. Lauren came with me. As we waited in line, we realized we’d be riding in the dark. We decided to ride in the middle again. (Yeah, I’m a chicken. Whatever.) A little scared but mostly anticipating the thrill, we climbed into our car and belted ourselves in. “Ready?” I asked her. She nodded. We were both excited. I didn’t even bother to try and put my hands in the air. We rounded the corner, dropped and we were off. It was so much better in the dark. So exhilarating. We flew over the track and rounded corners. I thought we were gonna go flying. The theme park grounds were all lit up; you could see the lights in between the trees. It was so cool. Then it was over. We thought about getting in line and riding it again, but didn’t want to make Mom and Dad wait.

So we went home. We ate pizza. Lauren and I watched Cruel Intentions just ’cause, and went to bed. My only regret is that I didn’t ride the Zoomerang. It goes upside down and backwards. No one wanted to ride with me, and I was too chicken to ride alone. I think I should have done it anyway.

There’s still the Haunted Graveyard, though.