I Escaped Heat Stroke

Barely!

I took the kids to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom yesterday afternoon.  The temperature was just short of 100* and the heat index was 104*.  But we had fun.  We didn't go to the water park, but we rode the Mile High Falls, which is a water ride, and we got drenched, so that was just as good.

I do NOT do rides usually, but Eler Beth's friend who went with us wanted to ride something called the Enterprise and needed someone to ride with her, so I did.  MISTAKE!  It went upside down.  I do not DO upside down!  Well, I did yesterday.  I felt like my brain was banging around in my head when I got off.  During the whole ride Eler Beth's friends kept up a steady flow of chatter, and I kept my eyes closed!

THEN she and Eler Beth wanted to ride the Rainbow, which does not go upside down, so I went on it with them.  MISTAKE!  It may not go upside down, but it goes very high and very fast.  It takes you on a nice ride in one direction, three times around, then slows down, reverses, and takes you on that same "wonderful" ride in the opposite direction.  Honestly if it had not changed directions it wouldn't have been so bad.  When I got off I told the girls I HAD to sit and cool down and get my head together, so I got some water and sat in a shady spot while they drove the Tin Lizzie.  At least there was a breeze blowing all afternoon.

The Tin Lizzies are little Model A- (or is it Model T) looking cars that the kids actually drive on this path that has a metal strip in the center to keep the kids from going too far left or too far right.  After a while I had steadied my head, stomach and nerves enough to let Eler Beth drive me around in it.  That was fun!  I would have enjoyed just doing that all day, but no.

After that we played some games.  The very first game that Eler Beth played was one that no one had won all day.  I watched a couple of kids and really didn't believe that she could win, even though it seemed simple enough.  It was just tossing a ball into a bucket, but everyone I watched had their ball bounce right out.  She bought one try, tossed her ball, it rolled around the inside and stayed in!  She won a BIG purple and white unicorn (which she named Eunice and which I carried around for most of the rest of the day)!

We caught up with Andrew and his friends, and I told them that the heat was getting to mea and that I had to find a quiet place to rest.  Andrew said that they'd take the girls to ride some smaller riders, so I took a seat in the amphitheater.  I was just in time for the show!  A group of young singers and dancers put on a show that was called, I think, Hot Stuff.  It was really good!  They were worth the price of admission by themselves!  When the show was over the kids came back and got me, and we went to ride the Mile High Falls.  Now that type of roller coaster I can handle.  Short and sweet and fun and wet!  But on the way there (it was all the way across the park from where we were) I apparently began to overheat.  (Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was carrying a big stuffed unicorn, a stuffed cat, two half-full souvenir cups and a bottle of water.)  I suddenly started to feel a little clammy, a little dizzy and very shaky, so I told my sone I'd better sit.  He took one look at me and agreed.  He sat me down in some shade and got me an orange Poweraid.  In about 20 minutes I was okay.

I relaly enjoyed that ride and getting wet was nice.  When you get off you have to walk over this bridge and if you aren't fast enough you'll bet splashed by a big wall of water when the second car comes down.  Well I wasn't fast enough.  I realized it, turned my back to the water, shut and eyes and let it hit me!  We rode that one more than once!

Andrew really wanted me to ride the Twisted Twins (the wooden roller coaster).  I told him I would ride it first the next time we came, but that there was no way I could handle it today.  It doesn't go upside down, and I would kind of like to try it one time, at least.  He said I could hang onto him when we rode it.  (He'll promise anything to get me to ride a big roller coaster!)  Thankfully he doesn't like the ones that loop either.

And Eler Beth's friend, who is eight years old, rode something called the Helevator that goes up about five or six storeies high and then drops really, really fast like an elevator, slowing down when it gets only just a few feet from the ground!  She rode it more than once.  I was in awe.  There is no way I could do that.

I thnk we did other stuff, but those are the highlights.  About twenty minutes before we left I started getting a headache, and by the time we got home it was a full-blown heat headache with accompanying nausea.  As soon as I got home I changed clothes, got a cold cloth on my head and lay down.  Then Thomas massaged my head and shoulders and finally the nausea and headache subsided.  I'm really surprised I hadn't gotten a headache earlier.  All in all it was a fun afternoon.  We'll probably go again in September, but at least I lived up to my promise to take them before school started.

Tags: Kentucky Kingdom