It was a Thursday morning, I had to wake up early because we were going to take the metro to Six Flags America in DC/Baltimore. Damindra went over to weather.com to make sure that there was no rain, the temperature on the Celsius scale was around 35 degrees. A typical summer day over here I thought. We already had our meals cooked the previous day, so it was just a matter of a 2 minute microwave and we had our breakfast and headed off to the entertainment park.
The 17G metro-bus towards the pentagon metro was usually on-time, to make sure we check on-line prior to departing, because you don't want to stay in this hot DC summer sun for too long for no reason. We checked online at about 8.00 O'clock and it said the bus would arrive 25 minutes from now to nan mill lane. So we got ready and went towards the bus stop and stayed there. The bus stop was just in front of the house. So we happily waited for it to arrive...and waited...and waited...by now I think it was about 8.30 a.m. and both of us saw that our big smiles were going down at a linear rate and it was scheduled to arrive at about 8.25 a.m...ok now it got to 8.35a.m. tic-toc-tic-toc (this is the dreaded sound I always hear when I get that bad feeling) and now to 8.40a.m. tic-toc-tic-toc and now to 8.45a.m....yes you got that right...from 8.40 to 8.45 the pace changed tremendously, it was going down exponentially...we were no more happy the smiles turned upside down... are you kidding me???? this was supposed to be a happy day, it should start happily. It was obvious by now the 17G bus had given us a big kick up the back and asked us to walk a further 100m and catch the 17A bus. Well thank god we did, just as we arrived to the bus stop just across the street near the Safeway, a young bus operator stopped for us and gave us a big smile and said 'good morning, how ya all doing'. It made me realize what a happy person could do to help a really pissed off couple who just missed a bus. It was all smiles again. We got on to make the 45 minute trip to the pentagon metro stop where we would get the blue line train to Largo. I had actually been to several amusement parks before, but this was Damindra's first visit to one, so she was really excited. I talked her up about the superman rides and the other thrilling events. The more I talked about it, the more she couldn't resist to get there fast.... so after going through Kings park and through a highway towards DC we come close to the Pentagon metro station, just in front of one of the most famous buildings of the modern generation.... so off we go and get off the bus, and the kind bus driver waves goodbye wishing us well for a safe journey.
We went down to the metro train stop and didn't take too long to get a blue line towards Largo. It was a quick ride towards Largo and we came just about 10 minutes before the C21 bus departs towards our destination. It was the summer holidays and no doubt the bus would be packed. A set of young students followed us with their teachers. I think they came on the same train as we did. The bus came and the teacher with her pleasant smile said.. 'you can get on the bus before we do.. we have a large crowd'... So me and Damindra got on the bus and got off the bus at SIX FLAGS along with 90% of the crowd. So we arrived....
It was hot.. I mean really hot. In Sri Lanka it is hot but not this difficult. We needed a lot of water... Oh and I forgot to tell you we did bring some oranges and apples along with us too. So we walk the long walk toward the entrance. It seemed miles away in this weather. It must be about 11.00 a.m. by now.
I actually got my tickets online, there is a discount when we buy the tickets online. We can buy it for a kids rate. So I brought the two printed tickets along with me, We were in line and there was this tracking number and the door automatically opens where we are let in. Everyone was going in like that. It was our turn and the tickets were read by the machine and it was time for us to get in...and....and... nope the door never opened. The lady said ' I am sorry there doesn't seem to be a problem with the ticket, but why don't you talk to the counter' and she directed us to the counter which was close by. I gave our tickets to the counter and the gentleman just checked my tickets and said.. 'sorry sir, but these tickets are to the SIXFLAGS in Chicago'... "There is a sixflags in chicago?"... no no... that wasn't what I was thinking at that moment but "what (the hell) am I supposed to do now?" the guy at the counter replied 'well sir, I could reimburse it and you have to pay at the normal rate instead of the kids rate'... well it was meant to be wasn't it. This day wasn't going to be anything different was it. It was already a roller-coaster ride. So we took the new tickets and got in to SIX FLAGS AMERICA.... yeah baby...Well if coming to the place was some journey, I wasn't expecting anything less inside it.
Well near the entrance we got some flyers which direct us towards the different rides and stuff like that. I was pretty calm but Damindra really wanted to get started. She just showed me a boat ride and took me towards that. We got into a this line and then got onto this small roller-coaster kinda boat thing. It was cool, I mean literally, in this 35 degrees heat a small contact of water is like a trip to heaven and back. Anyway the boat got started and we were off and we were climbing a mountain and yes I could hear tic-toc-tic-toc but I know its gonna end in a good way anyway, and yes it did, before you knew it, it ended in a splash. It was thrilling but more importantly water was all over me. So we went back out of the first ride, and while Damindra was explaining the entire thing again before you knew it, the water in my body had all but disappeared. So we were thinking of going to the next ride and everywhere you see people were in water or near some liquid sources (whatever you call these places where water vapor is sent out for people). Anyway so we move onto the next ride.
Well after a couple of small rides just to get back to the real world (If ever I was in one). We went onto this thing called the jokers jinx. It looked wavy but thought it was fine and Damindra said that it shouldn't be a big deal anyway. So I stored up my bag and went on the ride. We didn't know what to expect, but thought it would just be a normal ride. Man and how wrong I can possibly get. 1..2..3.. and off we go. I was bouncing from side to side, going upside down I think.. actually it was more like sideways. I mean I don't know.. it was one hell of a ride and that I know. We got back and damindra didn't talk to me she was shell shocked I think. Anyway as all rides, we were just pumped up in the end.
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| The Jokers Jinx |
Next we went on a couple of more small rides, nothing much really. I can't even remember them. It was more like a cooling down exercise. We were mostly involved in family events. Then I think we got onto the most exiting ride of the day. It was the pirate ride or as the Six Flags call it 'The Skull Mountain'. It was fun. We got onto this boat and it went through this artificially made canal like thing. I mean a path a typical pirate would take I suppose. It had all the unexpected. Suddenly going down when you least expected it, going up again, then splashing water all over the place. It was fun, I mean it really was.
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| Skull Mountain |
It was time to have something, I was really hungry. It was about 2.00 I think. We went to eat and got some burghers. We also had our apples which were now, well never tasted like apple. I had this big lunch and was now tired. Damindra still wanted to go for some rides. So off we went again. I could hear my phone ringing. It was my good friend Abhishek, he just told me that the qualifying results were put out, he had passed. Well now of course all I wanted to do was get back home to see my results, I couldn't really access it by my phone.
I wasn't really in the mood to do anything now, but was waiting around with Damindra as she enjoyed the merry-go-rounds. I made a promise to Damindra that we would be back again before the summer ends to go to the superman ride. So it was an end for today at Six Flags :(. It was a premature end but boy was it fun.
The rest of the journey well wasn't that much enjoyable really as the bus was on time now and all the rides back home were on time I think, or maybe I never noticed. I was just hell-bent on going back and accessing my computer.
Well we got back and I went straight to the computer. I passed :). I was really happy, I got on skype and told my parents about the exams and the Six-flags adventure. They were happy and we were happy. It was one roller-coaster ride of a day, I will tell you that, and it all ended in smiles.
This all happened about 2 months back and now it is the 15th of august, I still have several days to fulfill my promise as we still look forward to this.
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| The Superman Ride |
