Prince William County Fair

The previous post was a test to see if I could post to the blog from my cell phone. The fact that I posted that text from my phone accounts for the brevity and the lack of capitalization. I am working on the ability to post pictures.

The main event for the evening was the demolition derby in a mud soaked arena in front of the bleachers.

The highlight, or lowlight, of the evening was the drop ride. This is a ride where a seated platform is raised up a tower and dropped in free fall for a second or two before the hydraulic braking system takes over. I got in line with Jimmy Gallant and Darryl Estes, two other dads who attended the fair with us. Kara saw us get in line and decided that she too was going to ride. Her decision was bolstered by the fact that a girl younger than her had just been dropped. None of the other kids volunteered to ride and were more than happy justto watch. Kara wasn't tense and showed no fear when she was buckled in.

I was unhappily reminded of a ride on the Comet, a wooden rollercoaster ride at Hershey Park last year. On that occasion, Kara happily rode the rollercoaster and had no problem with the ride until the first drop when her glee was quickly replaced with unmitigated terror for the duration of the ride.

Sh was exhibiting the same behavior last night when the inevitable happened. The unimposing height of the tower underwent a radical change when ridden upwards. Suddenly it felt like you were sitting outside a 20 story building. I think everyone knows what happened next, but here it is anyway.

Watching the ride from the ground it was clear that there was no delay when the platform reached the top. What was not apparent until we got on was that the roof of the platform prevented us from seeing the top. This meant that you were not exactly sure when the platform was going to drop.

This also meant that the drop caught young Kara by surprise and scared the shit out of her. When we got to the bottom she was screaming and had to be led off the ride.

I don't think that she will ride anything like that in the near future, but I will acknowledge that of her siblings, she alone had the guts to ride it.