Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada. Show all posts

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Roller Coaster Road Trip 2017 - Last Stop: Canada's Wonderland


One of the most beautiful pictures I took on the entire Roller Coaster Road Trip was the one above, from the parking lot at Canada's Wonderland in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada.  It was towards the end of our last day, one ultimate day of roller coaster riding, and it was the perfect scene to end our wonderful journey.  


I'd always wanted to visit Canada's Wonderland and I never thought I would until this trip was being planned.  The park is a Cedar Fair property, owned by the same company that owns both Cedar Point and King's Island, so we knew it was going to be both a well-run and a beautiful park, which it was.  Upon entering, the scene is much like that at King's Island and Virginia's King's Dominion, but instead of a replica of the Eiffel Tower towards the end of the entrance promenade, there is a mountain with cascading waterfalls.  Beautiful!

The Roller Coasters


Compared with the previous two parks we had visited, the coasters of Canada's Wonderland were nowhere near as exciting, though there were two that were absolutely fantastic, Leviathan and Behemoth...

Leviathan is what is known as a giga-coaster, like Millennium Force in Cedar Point, meaning that it reaches a maximum height of over 300 feet tall (This one's 306.).  It is by far the best ride in Canada's Wonderland, and we rode this monster several times.  Take a virtual ride yourself...




That one was wicked, and the video does not do it justice!  Behemoth is the park's other awesome ride, located clear across the park from Leviathan.  This one's a mega-coaster, like Magnum XL-200, Nitro at SFGA, and like those other two, it is nothing but negative G fun!  Take a virtual ride...


I wish I could say there was a whole lot more to cover of Canada's Wonderland.  It is a beautiful place, and we had an awesome time on a beautiful sunny day.  It was the end of the trip and I think we all were a little weary from eight days of seemingly non-stop moving.  Nonetheless, if you're ever up in the Toronto area, Canada's Wonderland, then you should definitely check it out.  In the meantime, take a look at some photos of our day at Canada's Wonderland...



Dive show

Poutine





A wicked and rare ride!

Behemoth




Leviathan





After our day at the park, we dove back into Toronto for one last meal together.  We were exhausted, but blissful.  This Roller Coaster Road Trip was a great one, and I can't wait until the next time!  Oh, and there was one more cool thing that we did before heading home, stopping again in Buffalo to have a visit with my old pal Petra.


I hope you've enjoyed some of the pictures and stories from our journey.  Check out the rest below and till next time...












Saturday, July 22, 2017

Roller Coaster Road Trip 2017: A New Adventure Awaits

Back in 2014, just three years ago, my pals Rich and Eddie and I took our second ever Roller Coaster Road Trip, venturing out to Louisville, Kentucky, Nashville, Tennessee, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Richmond, Virginia.  It was our second such trip, and a great one at that, riding many great coasters at Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, King's Island, and Dollywood, as well as exploring Mammoth Cave National Park, all the sites in Nashville, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and more.

Image result for cedar point

Our third trip will not include Eddie, sadly, but our pal Gary, one of the most intense roller coaster enthusiasts I know, will be joining Rich and I instead.  This time we're hitting King's Island again in Mason, Ohio, Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, Niagara Falls, and finishing up in the city of Toronto, including a day trip to Canada's Wonderland.  Cool, right?

Image result for toronto

As the clock ticks down towards our adventure, I'm getting more and more excited.  It'll be our first Roller Coaster Road Trip in three years!  I can't promise any regular posts during the trip, but I do hereby promise to get all the way to the end this time (On our last trip, I only covered up until the first part of Nashville.)  So stay tuned...

Image result for niagara falls


Monday, December 5, 2011

December 5th, 2011 - Yahoo Voices; Giving Thanks - Relationships; Odds n Ends

I’m happy to say that today I am still riding the wave of a high that’s been with me now for almost a week. For whatever reason, perhaps bolstered by my birthday last week, nothing has been getting to me lately. Not that anything has changed in my life; I just realized that from all the love I got last week, I have a pretty darned good life and I shouldn’t let things get me down.

I found a post the other day on Facebook that I shared on my own wall:

Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen.

It’s a good quote, don’t you think? Anyway, for whatever reason I’ve been keeping a positive attitude about my life these days, and I just hope it sticks around for awhile. It’s been too long since I’ve really posted a real blog post here, and there’s a lot to talk about…


Source: webpronews

Yahoo Voices

I mentioned the other day that the Yahoo Contributor Network has a new name…and a new attitude! It’s really a shame, but ever since Yahoo took over the former Associated Content, things have definitely gone by the wayside for many writers, including myself. Many of my fellow writers have gone off to other sites permanently leaving the old AC for greener pastures and though I still keep in touch with them, it’s not the same.

I can understand why they’ve left, especially with this newest incarnation. Though I knew of a couple of changes happening the other day, most namely the look of the articles (all on one page now!), I hadn’t realized a major change until I experienced it yesterday. After hours of penning a review of Rihanna’s hot new album, “Talk That Talk,” I realized that the ability to publish articles immediately was taken away. All pieces must now be reviewed before publishing and from my own experiences that can take days. That was one of the best things about Y!CN, and now it’s gone!

This latest change invariably caused another one of my best writing buds, Michele Starkey, to decide to quit altogether. She leaves with other old favorites such as Abby Greenhill, Nancy Canfield, and a whole host of others who left the site within the past year. It’s starting to feel a lil’ lonely over there, for sure. I don’t know, but I’ve been with the site for more than four years now and even though it’s changed so much and I’m making less and less money over there, I just can’t seem to break away completely. Call me sentimental, but I’m gonna hang for a little!

Oh, and they did publish my “Rihanna’s ‘Talk That Talk’: A Track by Track Review,” which you can check out here.


Source: Nights of Tra

Clubbing

This weekend was kind of a clubbing bust for me. I had been asked to go to Ritz on Friday for a birthday drink with my pal Ivan (they were having a special Kylie event, too!), but I had my work Christmas party that night so I couldn’t make it. I ended up hitting the Eagle once again, this time with my pals Blanche and Dita. It was fun, but after a long week of being out every night I was tired, and it definitely carried through to Saturday.

I had planned on hitting Splash and Ritz on Saturday nights, which I did, but stopping by my pal Bessie’s for a visit beforehand like I did a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, she had to cancel at a late notice and I found myself in the city before ten. I had told my friend Paul I’d give him a ride home later on otherwise I would’ve headed home right then and there. I was still tired and feeling like I was coming down with something, but I went.

Splash was okay and the Ritz was packed, and before long I was ready to head home, but I hadn’t yet met up with Paul. He was going to try a new place, Club 57, before Ritz and we were supposed to meet up there. I guess he was having a good time because he never answered my text until after I had left the city until around 2AM. It turned out alright, though, because he had a place to crash for the night. He told me the next day how great Club 57 was, so it looks like I’ll be trying out a new place soon!

Giving Thanks

Well, I’ve really gotten behind on giving thanks for the things in my life. Even though Thanksgiving is long behind us now, I’ve still got 8 more Thanksgiving Thanks to share and here’s one more for today:

My Relationships

For someone my age, I guess I haven’t been in too many relationships to date. Of course since I am single today I can say that none of them ended on a good note, well that’s because they ended, lol. But I do want to give thanks for the good memories associated with them, of which there were many. Aside from a few not too meaningful relationships in my life, there are two that I am especially thankful for, and those are my last two.



Joe

I met Joe on June 4th, 1987, and we ended up being together for over twenty years. For the longest time since our breakup, I spent a lot of time regretting our time together, which I now realize was foolish all along. Joe and I shared many happy memories together, too many to recount, and as I’ve looked through a lot of old pictures these past few weeks, many of them gave me smiles thinking about them. Joe is a special guy with a good heart, and he was a great partner in my life for twenty-plus years. I am grateful to have had him in my life!



Him

I feel really silly saying ‘him,’ but I haven’t used his name here to date and since we don’t speak often I don’t feel right sharing it here now without any kind of warning. The ‘him’ I’m talking about is, of course, the last meaningful relationship I had which ended earlier this year. He came along in my life when I least expected it, and he brought back those great feelings you get when you’re in a new relationship with someone. For a few weeks there, I was as happy as I’d ever been.

Things didn’t go the way I had hoped with him, and a lot of the hurt I felt over it was painful, but I realize that perhaps I was a little selfish about a very adult decision he had made with his heart and that it had nothing to do with me. Last Tuesday night, right around midnight, he’d sent me a happy birthday message on Facebook. Though we’ve had contact here and there since the summer, it was the first time he made me smile in a very long time. His message presented with it a personal gift, and It just reminded me of how special a person he still is. Even though it still hurts sometimes to think back on that time, I can remember the sunshine he brought into my life even for a little while and be content in the knowledge that I got to experience it, and for that I am grateful.

Odds n Ends

It’s getting late…way past my bedtime, but there are a couple of things I still wanted to share:

There’s a lot of Madonna news out there today. Besides a new song being leaked today (“Masterpiece”), it was confirmed that she will in fact be playing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show this year. My sometimes sick friend Dita has been all over the story, finding a strange enjoyment in the equally strange commentary on it. Check it out here.


Montmorency Falls, Quebec, Canada

I got some exciting news earlier today. It looks like the French club in school will be making another trip to Canada this February and guess who just may be chaperoning? I went to Quebec with the group two years ago and it was awesome! I’ll be posting some pieces I wrote on that trip in this week’s "Writing Wednesday."

Well, it’s been real! As always, thanks for reading and have a great Tuesday!