holdin on

The things you find out about friends when they visit. Glenn and I were talking yesterday and he mentioned he was a big fan of theme parks and rollercoasters. I've always been a big fan of them since I was a kid - my parents would always selflessly let me drag them through theme parks even though they had no interest in riding rides. When Glenn mentioned that, I suggested going to Six Flags, Knotts or Disney. He jumped at it. So we went! Why not? Six Flags Magic Mountain and Cedar Point in Ohio are in constant competition for having the most and best rollercoasters, much to the benefit of those of us who live here. A few years ago, Magic Mountain opened "X" - still far and away the best and most unique coaster I've ever ridden. (And the worst name ever for a coaster - whats next, "LSD" or "Meth"?) Apparently the coaster was a little too much for itself. It always had maintenance problems, so they retooled it, made some changes, and reopened it a few weeks ago as "X2". The only bad thing about X2 is that it seems to share one thing in common with X: its always broken. It ran intermittently throughout the day, but ended up being mostly broken and we never were able to get a ride on it. I was disappointed that Glenn didn't get a chance to experience it since its so different from other coasters, but I think he was worn out enough from the other coasters we did make it on. It was actually my first time on "Tatsu" - newer than X but not as wild - though the fact that it has you strapped in, chest facing the ground suspended under the tracks (think the position Superman flies in) is really disconcerting in the level of trust you have to place on being strapped in. Since they closed early in the evening, we still left a lot of coasters unridden. Guess I'll have to go back...