Hershey Park

Thank you BL and SR for looking like ax murderers...

    There's a reason why it's not normal or wise to stay up for 20 hours straight. After the 16th hour, all the walls you build up between what you think in your head and what you say out loud come crumbling down and you wind up spending an hour eating at Wendy's at 10 PM and then crying in the car on the way home. I don't know what it feels like to be drunk, but I assume it's fairly similar to being overly tired. When I woke up this morning (after a dream that I got ones on both my AP tests and my cousin died of an overdose (pleasant, I know)), last night felt like a very weird and epic dream. But it definitely happened...the Wendy's cup is in my trash to prove it. 

     But I guess I should start from the beginning, like a normal person. 

     Yesterday I woke up at 6 AM with the thought that I needed to go send my school google docs to myself because they were going to be deleted. I know, this was a very bizarre thought to have at 6 AM but it felt very urgent that I did it right then so I got out of bed and shared all my docs with myself (even the ones I didn't want). I mostly just wanted my creative writing stuff and a few Lang essays but I kept it all. After that I showered and got my stuff ready then drove to pick up Cassandra (Cassandra, SR, SG, BL, and I were going to Hershey for the day) but I was super early so I just pulled off on some street near her house and sat there for five minutes until a more reasonable time and still got to her house a few minutes early (and I'm rarely early). So then we were early to the park and ride where we were meeting everyone and we thought we were the only ones there so we sat in the car talking for a while but when it got to the point that it was a few minutes after when we said we'd meet, we got out of the car to look around and saw that SG was parked one car down from us and had just been sitting there the whole time, I guess waiting for us to realize he was there. Nice. So we got in the car and SR and BL showed up a minute later and we were off. 

     I always thought that it was a stereotype that guys talk about cars but nope...just a few minutes into our trip, it was apparent that guys talk about cars. I just don't get it. I can think of very few things less interesting than cars. I guess we can just agree to disagree on that. 

     About a half hour into the trip we decided to stop and get McDonald's for breakfast so we pulled off at an exit and drove around some town for five minutes or so (doing a U-turn in a car dealership, of course...just kidding, I get that that was the closest place to turn around) and then the McDonald's finally came into view...only it was under construction. So we drove around for another few minutes before stopping at Sheetz to use the bathroom and get food. 

     After that the trip was mostly uneventful (except for the few times that riding in SG's car felt more like a roller coaster than half the rides at Hershey...) and we made it safely to Hershey Park. 

     When we got there we decided to go to Chocolate World first because it was sprinkling outside and we did the chocolate tour thing which I realized is actually just kind of creepy and boring. When you're little it's cool and enthralling but once you're old enough to realize how weird talking cows are and that the chocolate is not actually chocolate...the thrill kind of wears off. 

     After Chocolate World we rode the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Great Bear and after that I lost track of what we did but I think by the end of the day we rode every major roller coaster at least once (except for the wooden ones that hurt like crap), played bumper cars entirely too many times to not be complete weirdos, whined about not getting fudge (SR), whined about not liking roller coasters (BL), whined about her feet being soaking wet (me), and realized that while it's possible to fit three full-grown people on a two person gondola, it is NOT recommended as you will be squished the entire time and praying that the ride will somehow go faster than a quarter mile per hour. 

     Even though it rained on and off from when we got there until when MF and AB arrived around 6, it was actually nice because we never had to wait more than fifteen minutes or so in a line that can sometimes take an hour. I guess we kind of got spoiled that way because by the end of the day we were checking to see which rides had a shorter wait and ten minutes seemed entirely too long so we'd go on the five-minute-wait ride. Also I think it was the only time I've been to Hershey Park in the summer and not sweated.

The walk back to the car...

     Around 3, it started pouring and all the major rides got shut down so after walking around the depressing zoo we went back to Chocolate World for a bit to wait it out. MF and AB arrived a few hours later and they brought some decent weather with them because it didn't rain for the rest of the day. By then there were no lines for anything so we rode as many rides as we could. 

     Around 8ish Cassandra, BL, SG, and SR decided to head home so we said our goodbyes and then it was just me, AB, and MF and we decided to ride the Fahrenheit and the Claw. While we were waiting for the Claw to start AB started talking about how she didn't want me to leave so then I was sad and when the ride started I had my eyes closed and I got super nauseous so I spent the rest of the riding going "I'm going to puke. Oh gosh I'm going to puke." I didn't puke but when we got off the ride AB and MF were also super nauseous so we decided we'd had enough roller coasters for the day. 

     After realizing that all of the places to eat in Hershey were either closed or closing we decided to eat on the way home and got some candy at Chocolate World before taking the tram back to the car. Or rather back to the place where the car might have been if MF and AB hadn't gotten lost and parked near the Giant Center. When MF explained that we had about a mile to walk before we got to the car I could've cried. It was pitch black, my feet were wet and tired, my shoulders hurt from my backpack, and I was miserable because AB kept referencing the fact that I was leaving in five days. After walking up two or three flights of steps and across a bridge over a highway, we were finally in the right parking lot. The lights of Hershey Park glowed mockingly in the distance...

     Then came the fast food stop at Wendy's that was the opposite of fast because we started talking and once you get three girls talking about something that makes them mad, good luck getting them to stop. We were worried about getting sleepy on the car home so I got some coffee to stay awake (even though I'm not a fan) but I don't think the coffee really did anything...we were just so fired up that we talked the whole way home nonstop. MF dropped AB off at home and then drove me to the park and ride (dodging cats and deer along the way). At some point we got on the topic of me going away and MF was like "You're not going to be there if I get in a funk" and I don't even know what happened but she started like cry-laughing and I was like "Stop it!!! Stop!!!! You're going to make me cry!" But it was too late because I was already crying. That was the first time I really cried since the last day of school (except the time I watched A Walk to Remember while PMSing. Stupid idea). I'm one of those people who cries when I get really, really tired. I feel like if I ever get my wisdom teeth out I'm just going to cry when I'm high and then crash. Nice. Overall, it was a fun, messy, crazy day. It's funny because when you're lying in bed at 2 AM and you're exhausted and your brain is still spinning so it feels like you're still on the Claw, you're like "I'm am fine with not riding a roller coaster again for at least a year." And then you wake up and want to do it all over again.

Quotes of the Day (yesterday):
"Is that real chocolate?" -BL every two minutes on the chocolate tour
"If you were younger and smaller I'd carry you"-AB on the walk back to the car
"Walking up the stairs is making me motion sickness"-MF (no, that's not a typo)
"Wait, can we pause?"-MF. I wish. I really wish.

Day 936 Song Recommendation: "After the Storm" by Mumford & Sons.

-SE Wagner