Scream Queen - Sat., Sept. 24, 2016

Tired...four hours sleep on Friday night...ten hours of work on Saturday. I was a zombie when I got off work. Bob, on the other hand, had run 14 miles first thing in the morning as part of his marathon training. In the afternoon he drove to Austin to hear Gary Johnson, Libertarian presidential candidate, speak. He had to stand in the meeting room because it was so crowded.

What do you do when you're tired and you feel like a zombie? Why, go to Six Flags Fiesta Texas Fright Fest, of course! That'll wake you up in a hurry.

Bob and I rolled into Six Flags about 7 p.m. It was still light outside. Dark, gloomy clouds loomed in the distance. Would it rain? Was there a possibility of thunder and lightning? Maybe, but with our season passes it didn't matter, we could come back another time if we needed to.

The park had been open since noon and would remain open until 10 pm. Maybe that accounted for the extremely short line at Goliath, the roller coaster with the rails on top where your legs dangle freely. Bob and I walked right up to the loading platform and were able to get on the second coaster that came into the station. Oh, how I love that coaster! I did get a little dizzy and when Bob asked me if I wanted to return to line and do it again immediately, I said no.

It was starting to get dark and we were hungry. Our next stop was Old Blue's BBQ restaurant. Bob had a chicken vegetable spud and I had a Texas style spud. My baked potato had brisket, cheese and BBQ sauce on it. Bob's spud had diced chicken, broccoli and Ranch dressing on it. The potatoes were huge and we could have shared one. I got pumpkin pie and Bob got a berry cobbler. The pumpkin pie didn't meet my taste standards and was almost frozen. The cobbler, on the other hand, was warm and yummy.

Next, I really wanted to go on Iron Rattler, THE most exciting roller coaster in the park. Bob decided he'd wait for me and hold our water bottles. The line for Iron Rattler was pretty long so it took me a while to get to the platform. Because I was a single rider, I was able to go ahead of some people to get on the coaster. I sat next to a guy and I said, "I hope you don't mind, I scream...a lot." He said he didn't mind. I told him it was my first time on Iron Rattler. He said, "The first drop is straight down. It's insane." I thought he was exaggerating.

Well, come to find out, the first drop is straight down. We go 70 mph! OMG. What a ride. That is one of the most fun coasters  I have been on. It was dark outside so I wasn't really sure what was coming next. The coaster does some tricky maneuvers including a zero-gravity roll. Wheeeeeee! When I got back to Bob he said I had been gone 36 minutes.

For Fright Fest, Six Flags Fiesta Texas has areas they call "Scare Zones." In certain places, the walkways are pitch black with blowing smoke and creatures come out of the dark to scare you. We walked through one Scare Zone on the way to Sky Screamer, a 200' tall tower with a swing ride on it. I could barely see where I was going! We did see a creepy monster-type character in the gloom but we were walking as fast as we could so didn't really get a good look at it.

Sky Screamer (not my photo)

The Sky Screamer is wonderful. You sit in the little swings and they lift off the ground. When they start going around, you go up and up to 200' in the air. You are higher than the sides of the old rock quarry where Six Flags is built. The view was awesome at night with the lights on the amusement rides. The ride goes pretty fast.

When we finished riding Sky Screamer, it was coming up on 9 p.m. and we decided to head home. With season passes we can go back any time. The evening was great and we didn't have any rain.

We especially liked the fact that we were in the park at night; no sunscreen was required and it was much cooler to wait in the lines...no hot sun beating down on us!

Thanks, Bob, for going to the park with me. You are a real trooper after the day you had.

Travel Bug out.