DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
KINGSLAND — If any of Ashley or Jake Pickles’ teachers assign them the essay, “What did you do during summer vacation,” and either turns in one that starts like this, “During a family road trip, we hit speeds of 120 mph under four seconds before climbing more than 400 feet above the ground,” please just slap that “A” on top of the paper.
The Pickle family — Lance, Jake, Ashley and Trisha — catch their breaths during a whirlwind summer vacation that included stops at Six Flags St. Louis, Six Flags Great America in Chicago and Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. The family rode 33 different roller coasters, including one that started out by hitting 120 mph under four seconds. The roller-coaster enthusiasts are planning how to top this trip. Courtesy photo
The Pickle clan, which includes father Lance, mother Trisha, Llano High School junior Ashley and Packsaddle Elementary fifth-grader Jake, enjoyed a roller-coaster ride of a family vacation in July.
Literally.
“We rode 33 different roller coasters that we’d never rode before,” Trisha Pickle said.
Then, the mother and daughter summed it up in unison: “It was awesome!”
The cross-country roller-coaster adventure took the family to three amusement parks, starting with Six Flags St. Louis and followed closely by Six Flags Great America near Chicago. But the one the family had set their sights on and that inspired this road-trip adventure was Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.
“It’s known as one of the best roller-coaster parks in the world,” Ashley said. Cedar Point boasts 16 different roller coasters, and the Pickles rode them all, except one.
“Yeah, there was one you could only ride if you had a child under, like, 42 inches with you,” Trisha Pickle said with a laugh. “So we couldn’t ride that one.”
But during the course of the adventure, they chalked up 58 roller-coaster rides (some they rode twice or even three times) on what the family billed, “Dad’s Extreme Roller Coaster Vacation Road Trip.”
The family, which frequented the roller coasters and thrill rides at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio along with a few trips to Six Flags over Texas in Arlington, never heard of Cedar Point until last year when they were watching a Travel Channel program highlighting roller coasters. During the course of the show, it gave viewers a look at the wild rides at Cedar Point, which sits on the shores of Lake Erie.
“We thought, ‘That place looks awesome,’” Ashley said. “Wouldn’t it be great to go there?”
But a lot of miles separates Kingsland and Sandusky, so the family put the trip down as more of a wish than a real possibility. Still, they just couldn’t shake the idea. As Mom and Dad thought about it, they realized they had the makings of a great family vacation. The Pickles already held season passes to Fiesta Texas that they could use at other Six Flags facilities.
“We looked at the map and saw we could stop at Six Flags St. Louis and Great America along the way to Cedar Point,” Trisha Pickle said.
On July 13, the family loaded up and headed out on a 13-state adventure.
At each park, the family recorded which roller coasters they rode. And each stop offered unique roller-coaster thrills. At St. Louis, the family enjoyed one of the classic amusement parks with lots of wooden roller coasters.
“They had the Boss, which is just one of those great wooden coasters,” Trisha Pickle said. While not as big as other rides, the Boss lived up to its name with a 60-mph ride coupled with a hard curve that left the entire family awed (Ashley admitted she screamed, which isn’t typical for her — her mom, yes, but not Ashley).
At Great America, Raging Bull stood out. It doesn’t feature any flips or inversions, but it still got high marks from the Pickles.
“It’s just one of those really good, long coasters,” Ashley said.
And the trip wasn’t just about riding coasters. At St. Louis, the Pickles took a trip up the Gateway Arch, which took them 600 feet above the city. In Chicago, they stood on a glass ledge on the Willis Tower about 1,355 feet above the streets below.
“Yeah, we don’t really like staying on the ground,” Ashley added with a smile.
But Cedar Point, with its dozen-plus coasters, served as the trip’s Holy Grail. The Pickles stayed in Sandusky for three days in a hotel room in which one window looked out across the beach and Lake Erie and another featured a view of Cedar Point’s roller coasters.
“We could just walk out (the hotel) and go right into the park,” Trisha Pickle said.
And they did, riding every roller coaster (minus one) the park offered including the Top Thrill Dragster.
“Oh, it was, wow, incredible,” Ashley said.
After settling into the roller coaster, the Pickles watched as the lights went from red, yellow to green. Then the coaster rocketed away from the start, reaching 120 mph in less then four seconds before shooting up 420 feet.
“It was really cool because (as you got to the top), you could see way out across Lake Erie,” Ashley said.
“But you only enjoyed the view for a moment,” her mother added.
Because as the coaster crests the top, it plummets down and around. While other coasters can last two or, even, three minutes, the Top Thrill Dragsters whips riders around for only 17 seconds. But they are some intense seconds, the Pickles pointed out.
The trip, while filled with thrilling roller-coaster rides, also provided the Pickles with a great family experience.
“I just think it was wonderful that we got to share all those experiences as a family,” Trisha Pickle said.
Ashley agreed. And it wasn’t just the amusement parks, she’ll remember.
“On they way home, we stopped and played putt-putt golf and took in a magic show,” she said. “It was cool for me to go to so many places I had never been before.”
As for future family vacations, how do the Pickles top the 2013 “Dad’s Extreme Roller Coaster Vacation Road Trip?”
“You just have to go bigger and better,” Ashley said.
“California has two Six Flags parks, and I think they have some pretty good roller coasters,” Trisha Pickle said. “I think they have some new ones. Maybe it’s California next year? We’ll see.”
daniel@thepicayune.com
The post Summer vacation a roller-coaster ride for Kingsland family appeared first on The River Cities Daily Tribune.