Kings Island Adventure.

I literally last went to Kings Island in Ohio 25 years ago for a class trip in the 8th grade.  I don’t remember what it looked like back then, but I sure don’t think there were water rides back then.  My aunt was taking her daughter to Kings Island for the weekend and invited Summer to go, and I went along.  The most memorable part of the day at the park for me was when my camera broke.  It was during this log water ride thing. 

Here we are going up……..(this was when the guy said maam, you need to put away your camera)

The kids sat in the front row, but my aunt and I had the strategy of sitting in the back seat so that we wouldn’t get as wet as the others.  Yeah, that didn’t work out really the way we had planned.

Now here are some other people coming down the hill.  It’s not a REAL tall ride, but when you hit the water at the bottom it’s a splash like you can’t believe!  See the bridge in the above picture.  You come down the hill and then go under the bridge in the log.  That’s also the bridge that riders walk back across AFTER they’ve ridden on the boat ride, and it’s timed just perfectly so that as you leave the ride and walk across the bridge the next boat is hitting the bottom and you get wet as you try to go across.  Somebody really put some thought into that!

Here are a couple shots I got of the boat hitting the water and going under the bridge.  It’s crazy how long the huge wave lasts after they’ve hit the water.

So here’s the part where the camera broke.  The kids quickly figure out that if they stand still on the bridge the next boat will splash them, so you can’t get them to leave!  It literally is so powerful that it knocks some of the kids off their feet, but they love it.  So I decided to get a little closer to the kids so I could capture the looks on their faces when the huge tidal wave came over the top of the bridge and got them. 

However, I didn’t realize that I was TOO CLOSE.  There I was poised, focusing, ready to snap the photo and then quickly turn away, but instead as I was taking the picture the wave hit ME and just literally drenched my entire left side from head to toe, including the camera.  I’m sure the look on my face was priceless.  I turn to look at my aunt like “What the hell just happened?” and she is cracking up because the lady standing next to her KNEW what was going to happen and said, “Watch that lady taking the photo.  She’s gonna get wet and she has no idea.”  Nice, huh?  Thanks alot for the heads up lady!