Don't be allergic to life...

My buddy Matt had the best line of my entire vacation... don't be allergic to life.

I took that to heart last week. I got adventurous on a few occasions.

First stop was Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. This was my first visit. 10 of us were there Wednesday, it grew to 15 on Thursday for dinner.

This place is worth the 6 1/2 hour drive. I-80 west to US Route 250 west to Cedar Point.

Wednesday night, I personally got on Gemini, Raging Rapids and the Mine Shaft (both wooden coasters). My friends got on Magnum, Wicked Twister, and the indoor coaster, among others... a nasty t-storm cut the night short.

If you stay at one of the hotels on Cedar Point, you're allowed into the park an hour early. Unfortunately, we got washed out until about 11:30. I did the really cool Iron Dragon, the train, and the old-time cars. My friends waited 45 minutes for Milennium Force and about 90 minutes for Mantis... they wrapped up with Maverick before going to Famous Dave's for dinner. I wanted to come back on the way back...

We get to Auburn Hills, Michigan late Thursday night. After a few detours around construction, and seeing a cool fireworks display in Toledo, we got to our hotel (across from the Silverdome) around 11:30.

Over the next 7 days, we made 7 trips to Meijer... like Wallyworld but three times better. I had to get new shoes, because my sneakers got soaked and I had no other pairs of shoes.

As part of my tour of junior bowling tournaments, we ran a warm-up event in nearby Clinton Township at Imperial Lanes. The first squad on Friday afternoon went well, after all the kinks were worked out. We had 72 bowlers. For that night's squad, we had a check-in line that went out the front door. 168 bowlers and 45 minutes past 7:00, we started and got done around midnight. After only 16 bowlers on Saturday afternoon, the flood gates opened on Saturday night. The squad was supposed to start at 7:00. It started a little after 8:00, with an eye-popping 243 bowlers. I thought Matt, his parents, and our friends Jen and Kerry were gonna go bonkers. We didn't get done until 1:30, and finally left the bowling center at 3:15... big thank yous to Joe, Jeff, and the Imperial Lanes staff for hosting (and putting up) with us. Altogether, we had 499 entries, and awarded almost $16,000 in scholarships.

The main event, the Junior Gold National Championships, were exciting as usual. Congratulations to Liz Seibel from Hellertown, our highest local finisher. She finished 14th in the girls division and earned $600 in scholarships.

I caught a cold sometime during the tournament, and was fighting it all week. In one of my "allergic to life" moments, I didn't want to go to any casinos because I didn't want to be around any cigarette smoking. Much to my surprise, there was no smoking at Caesars in Windsor, Ontario. I enjoyed myself on Thursday night, even though I didn't make any money.

I went back to Cedar Point on Saturday night. Soak City is FUN!!!! If you get on any of the speed slides, don't wear a shirt... it'll slow you down. The tube slides are neat, and both Lazy Rivers are cool. If you have kids, take them through the "playground." For the adults, they have a pool with a bar right on the beach.

On Sunday, I forgot my take my glasses off before I got on my first ride. When I hit the bottom, my glasses fell off. Lifeguards Rick and Lauren later found them. Thanks big time!!!

Next time I head out there, I wanna go to the Kalahari Water Park, south of Sandusky.

The other highlight of this trip was Tomtom. We downloaded Austin Powers. "Take the motorway," and "Groovy Driving! Yeah!" were heard most often while driving. Matt liked mine so much, he went out and got one for himself.

Talk with you tonight. Buckle up, don't be allergic to life, and "groovy driving, yeah!"
TS