Sweet Sixteen (Five Days Late)

(This post was started Thursday and not finished till today. Pretty sad, right? I have no excuse.)

Yesterday was my sweet sixteen, but that wasn't the only day of festivity. In fact, today is another day of birthday fun. Sadly, today it also ends and I'm sent spiraling back into 'regular life'.

Being sixteen doesn't really feel any different, but at the same time, it does.
Yesterday, the whole time I was at Carowinds, I kept on forgetting it was my birthday. That could be due to the fact that we were being scared to death every five seconds and loving every moment of it. So, I guess I should tell you about my day at Carowinds.

It was awesome.
Let me recap.

My dad, Hannah and I got up at seven, failed, due to me,  to get out by eight, and pulled into the Wendy's parking lot that sat right across from Carowinds around 11'o'clock.  I was so excited I couldn't really eat much. I did mange down a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, but only took two sips of my Root Beer. I felt so wasteful.

My stomach was in excited, jittery knots as we headed back out to the car and started towards the parking lot. As soon as we had parked, they turned from knots to one big, giant, painful knot. I was so freakin' excited. I hadn't been to Carowinds in years. I looked out across the parking lot. Standing out against the grey sky was this huge, red roller coaster. My heart skipped a beat.

It didn't take use long to reach the front gate, get confused on where to take our tickets and get into the park. Did I tell you I was excited?

The first thing we did when we walked in was stand on both North Carolina and South Carolina at the same time. No, we didn't take any pictures because we didn't want to take the time. We were beyond ready to hit some stomach dropping, breath taking, hair raising rides. So, with out wasting anytime we B-lined for out first ride: The Intimidator.

A friend had told me this was the best ride and to get on it quick because the line was long. I took her advice and we went for it. As we were entering the line I noticed outside this rides gate was this chair looking thing. It looked like something straight out for Star Trek. I looked closer and saw it was the seat you'd be riding in on this roller coaster.

I went from excited to nervous in 1 second. Why? Well, this seats protection consisted of this: A plastic triangle in your lap. No seat belt. You weren't in a car. You were on platforms with the seat on it. All that was holding you back from going flying of this ride was a stupid, plastic TRIANGLE.

I do not own this photo.

Yeah, that was what you were sitting in while you do this:

I do not own this photo.

I wasn't so sure about this ride anymore. But, me being me, I wasn't going to chicken out. We waited in the line for about ten minutes and when it was our time to be seated I was pretty dang scared. As the plastic triangles locked in over our lap, I almost felt like crying. (Okay, not really, but I was freaking out.) As our train headed up the steepest incline I've ever seen in my life, my heart stared dancing to disco music or something because it wouldn't slow down. To give you an idea of how high this drop was, it was almost as tall as the tower that took you up to see the whole park, which was 350 feet high. Yeah, that high. The drop was around 200 ft. high.

And, as you know, whatever goes up, must come down...at a freakishly fast rate, almost vertical. So, as soon as we started going down that drop the first thing that came into my head was : "HOLY CRAP THIS SEAT IS NOT GOING TO HOLD! I'M DEAD, I'M DEAD, I'M DEEEEEEADDDD!" I'm pretty sure it came out of my mouth too.

The whole time I was screaming. Loudly. The rest of the ride wasn't really scary, it was just that one drop.

And then I did what I always do after some scary ride. I proclaimed, "Haha! Let's do that again! I hated it, but let's go again." Then I looked down at my lap and my 'protection' and realized I didn't want to go again.
We didn't though. We decided to go try and kill ourselves different ways, but that wasn't the last taste of the Intimidator we had.We then went on the Vortex, which hurt like crap. It wasn't really fun. Then we tackled the Drop Zone.

Okay, so you know when you're looking at something from the ground and you're thinking, "Oh, that's not too bad."? Well, I did that with the Drop Zone. The line wasn't long at all so we got on almost a soon as we got there. When we were strapped in and ready to go I was thinking, "This should be fun. I'm not scared."

Slowly the chairs were being lifted.
Halfway Up: Ahh, this isn't bad at all. I like it.
Three Quarters of the Way Up: Okay, now it's getting a little freaky, but I think it stops here.
All the Way Up: OH GOOD LORD ALMIGHTY, I'M GONNA DIE!!!! (Actually, I think at this point I was saying, "Oh, I take that back! I take that back! Hannah, this is freaky. Drop already. DROP. DROP!!!")

Well, it did drop.
It went faster than I thought it would. And it lasted longer than I thought it would.

When Hannah and I got off the ride, my legs were shaking. And then it came.

"Let's do it again!"

But again, we went on another ride. I convinced Hannah go on the wooden one, even if she hated them. The line wasn't long once again and we got in quickly. I put my seat belt on, pushed down my lap bar...then I hear Hannah.

'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I can't find my seat belt!"

"Hannah, it's right here." I pulled it out of the seat  for her. She laughed and put it on, only to find it wouldn't tighten. So, we waited for the seat-checkers to come by. Much to Hannah's dismay, he shrugged and said it was just fine and pushed down her lap bar.

I laughed, Hannah sat there in shock. I told her there was a metal bar in her lap, she was going to be just fine. But the whole ride there was one thing I heard:

"I. HAVE. NO. STUPID. SEAT. BELT. I. HATE. THAT. GUY!!!!"

I could barely breath I was laughing so hard. The ride wasn't really scary, but Hannah's face was priceless. After the wooden rollercoaster of doom, we were about to set back out to the car to get some water. But, I was way too lazy and decided I'd spend money on a over-priced cup of water before I walked back out to the car.

We stopped at a Dippin' Dots station, with my dad grumbling in the back ground, and asked for a 32 oz. of water. The guy filled up a cup, dropped a ton of glorious ice cubes into the cup and handed it to me. I was so zoned in on my cup of water (it was HOT out there) that I didn't notice he wasn't taking the ten I was handing him.

He blinked and said, "Water is free."

>insert 'We Are The Champions' playing in the background<

I stared at him for a second, then smiled, slipped the ten back into my bag and turned around to flaunt it front of my dad who had been complaining about how I was spending a fortune for a drink. I won. HA!

So, we sat in rested in the shade, but not for long, because I can't sit still...at all. That's when I noticed the Cobra, a ride that is at almost every amusement park. It's the really short one that basically pulls you backwards up the track some, then lets you go and fly over a couple loopty-loops and a corckscrew and then you do the whole thing over again, backwards. It's loads of fun. So we hit that one next, then, if I'm right, took the observation tower to see the whole park. It was a great way too cool down, since it had air conditioning.

While we were up in the tower we pin pointed one of the water rides. After we got off we headed over, because, like I said, it was hot. We weren't aware, at the time, that you had to take whatever you had, like a bag full of things like, I don't know, electronics, on with you.

Also, the last time I rode one of these water rides, I barely got wet. You're just in a giant tube going down a fake river. How wet can you get?

Oh wait, I forgot. They have water falls and rapids. Guess who got wet. Really wet. My Dad's phone also got really wet. Luckily, it survived.

After that, our shoes were squishy, so Hannah and I took them off and walked around in our socks for about five minutes. My Dad and Hannah tried to get me to sit again, but I couldn't hold still. So, we got another free cup of ice cold water. And they made me sit, again.

We're at a amusement park, people! Sitting still is NOT amusing.
After complaining about resting, I finally got Hannah and my Dad up to go on this little ride called the Hudler. It's one of the ones where you sit in this, like couch made out of metal (xD), and it spins you around super fast. It looked innocent.

Not.

I was repeatedly smashed into the side of the metal-couch by Hannah, every time we made a turn. Turn-BAM!-I'm the meat in the middle of two slices of bread. Turn- BAM!-SHOVE!-"OW!"- I managed to brace myself and shove both Hannah and I away from the wall, with Hannah's help, of course. The rest of the ride was spent with me continuously yelling, "OW!" and shoving Hannah away from me. Hm, that's actually not that different from my everyday life.

After that bone-crushing experience, we saw that the NightHawk was now open (When we had first arrived it had been closed). We headed straight for it. The NightHawk line was the longest we stood in, but it was worth it. Not because it was totally thrilling, even though it was. No, it was because Hannah's reaction to it. See, on this ride, you're basically locked into your seat by bars and harnesses. Your seat reclines till your on your back and...off you go!

When you begin, you're backwards, and can't see what's coming. Then--BAM!- you're flipped over, dangling a good 70-100 feet in the air. My first reaction was to freak out, but a few seconds later, I was loving it. I looked over at Hannah.

>insert hysterical laughter<

Her eyes a shut, her face is red, and she's screaming bloody murder. She'd occasionally open her eyes, but as soon as they were open they were back together. I thought she was crying near the end of the ride. I knew I was, because it was so dang hilarious. (I'm such a good friend.)

As we were waiting for the other train to leave the station (xD), Hannah is sitting there, blubbering about how much she hates the ride.

Hannah: "I hate this ride! Why won't they let us off? I want off! I WANT OFF!"

Me: "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Hannah-(laugh)-your face-(laugh some more) was GREAT! (tries to wipe tears of laughter away but is to restrained to do so)

You're probably thinking, "Lord, Lia! That's just cruel."

Yeah, it is. But I still think it's funny.

Anyway, next we hit the Intimidator again, then a lame little Snoopy Ride and after that, we find out the After Buner was open.

After Burner= Best Ride.

It was made to be like you're riding in a fighter jet, I think. Because, unlike most roller coasters, when you make a turn or something, you don't straighten out and go for another one. No, you come out of one turn and head right into another one. No breaks. Freakin' awesome. Oh, and the loops. You don't go in the inside of the loop, you go on the outside, which makes it 10x more exciting.

After the After Burner, we toned it down a bit. At least I thought we were. We did the boat ride next. You know, the one thats like a pirate ship that swings back and forth. That one. That harmless little ride. I should have known something was wrong when we sat down and had to apply harnesses and seat bars.

We started of swinging, higher and higher. Nothing knew. I can handle this, nothing bad...

Holy freaking cow. The thing is upside down. It's going all the way around. Flugelhorn my life.

It was Hannah's turn to laugh her butt off at me. I literally clawed at my harness and wrapped my legs around the lap bar as the boat went all the way around, again and again. I was now screaming bloody murder myself while Hannah giggled away.

And guess what.

I let Hannah convince me to go on again. #1 question going through my head: What is WRONG with me?
So, I went. I cried. I screamed. I told Hannah I hated her. So on and so forth.

After that traumatic experience, my Dad told me we could go on one last ride. I chose the After Burner. It rocked.

Then we left.

I hated to say good-bye, but I was tired. It wasn't till we got out to the car that I realized how amazingly tired and hungry I was. We pigged out at Wendy's and headed back home.

The day rocked. I loved every stomach-dropping, scream-inducing moment of it. I want to go again. And again. And again.

:]

So, yeah, my birthday rocked.

(I know this post sucked, but I just wanted to get it finished before next year. xD)