Tales From Utah - Dumbest Ride Ever
Finnegan and Charlotte scored us comp passes to Olympic Park and Park City Mountain Resort so we headed off to site see on Sunday. We took the tour of Olympic Park and it was cool. There were passes for the Zip Line and Gary and I said, "Hell, no" to those. We're both afraid of heights, you had to take the chair lift to get up there and it just didn't sound fun, frankly.
Lewie and Matt Zipping.
The rest of the gang were all for it. Matt and Ashley even went twice. I was content to watch some of the athletes practice and take pictures of the gang.
Practice Jump Into The Pool.
We then headed off to PCMR and this time, we got roaped into going on two rides and riding the chair lift. I think what made us agree was the liquid courage we fortified ourselves with at a little bar. Damn that beer.
Rhett, Gary and I had our own chair lift. The guy said, "Do you want the bar down in front of you?" and for some reason we said no. Part way up, we changed our mind and Rhett flipped the bar down. It felt a lot safer after that. The ride up was actually pretty nice. It was slow and smooth and we got to see critters roaming around on the ground. We also saw snow.
The Coaster Track.
Gary and I got behind the gang because we bought a picture of us on the lift so it was just the two of us when we got to The Slide. Think of a sled with a handle in the middle between your legs. Push the handle forward and you go sliding down a bobsled like track. Pull back on the handle and you break.
They kept talking about not going to fast because you might fly off the track and it would really hurt. Already a big speed chicken, I was even more nervous after that chatter. We got on parallel tracks and Gary was off. I needed a little push from the girl then I was off, too.
But, not really. See, if she told me this, I missed it, but if you just leave the handle in the middle it's braking. I was going along and not thinking it was that fast for a reason. Because it wasn't.
About half way down, I came to a stop and pushed myself along the edge to get going again. Of course, that meant my hand was off the handle so it was really braking and fighting my push. No wonder it was so hard.
Everyone had been done for ages by the time I got to the bottom. It totally flattened out and I came to a dead stop well before the finish line. Lewie was there to get the picture. Nice. A woman on the chairlift yelled down at me, "Push it all the way forward!" Ah, the lightbulb finally went off but too late to be useful.
I said, "I'm done" and got out. Lewie walked over to get the slide and roll it to the end for me. Dumb ride. OK, maybe it was more like dumb rider.
The next ride was The Coaster. This one was more like an individual roller coaster. They said you can't fly off the track but I didn't take many chances and took it slow and easy.
Gary, Rhett and I passed on the Zip Line in favor of more beer. I think it was a good choice.
To be honest, I would do both rides again now that I know what to expect and I think I would enjoy them. I would have a beer or two first, though.
