Day at Dollywood - Part 2

Following our Wild Eagle ride, we took a spin on Tennessee Tornado and then Daredevil Falls, followed by miscellaneous other park attractions.

Outside of Disney and Universal, Dollywood has one of the nicest-looking log flumes.

Aunt Granny's... if your grandma and aunt are the same person, you should be somewhat concerned.

Dollywood Grist Mill, home to the park's addicting cinnamon bread.

We also took a ride on Barnstormer, which would be a great attraction to have at Kings Island.

We didn't find the motivation to ride it with the chilly weather, but the park's rapids ride looked nice.

Welp. As I was uploading the next photo, Blogger decided to inform me that I had reached my 1 GB of photo space. And I'm unwilling to pay for more, based off how little people even read this junk. Guess I should go study for finales now or something...

Day at Dollywood

Prior to Kings Island's opening day, Paul and I organized a group of six other former or current coworkers and headed south to Dollywood. We spent the day down there before the majority of us continued east to Carowinds.

The skies were bleh (meaning photos were too), but it was still a good time.

Our first ride was the incredible Thunderhead, easily one of the best wooden coasters I've ridden.

Thanks to the weather and time of year, the park wasn't crowded and the lines were minimum.

Hey, let's go ride Timber Tower... oh wait.

"All clear!"

If you didn't get the idea, there used to be a ride here. After sitting closed for a year, it was finally removed. And now there are tables there.

The platform offers a nice view of three of the park's coasters, however. Mystery Mine and Wild Eagle can be seen on this side...

...and Thunderhead on the other.

The Mystery Mine shot everybody has

The newest ride, Wild Eagle, is a very impressive looking roller coaster.

Unfortunately, it does not ride as well as it looks.

The ride's station is nicer than most houses.

Additional shots soon.

Cincy

I really don't know much about Cincinnati, nor have I ever spent a long period of time within the city. My experiences with it have been limited to quick, random visits with friends, typically spent photographing random sights, or just the skyline from across the river. This visit from February 2012 was no exception, although I think a few of the shots turned out decent enough.

Besides offering a great view, this park also has a very unique and quirky shelter.

Here's said view.

Across the river and another angle of the city. I have no idea who the couple is, but I think they add to the shot.

The Purple People Bridge, one of my favorite Cincinnati structures.

From this angle, the Ohio River actually looks halfway nice.

One of many attempted jump shots on the bridge. I'm uncertain how Paul can twist his body like that.

Looking at this stuff just makes me want to become an engineer.

The Serpentine Wall

Have I mentioned that I like the Purple People Bridge?

Apparently Paul does too.

Random fact: It was around this time that I set the goal to unicycle across the bridge by end of summer. I never visited the city again to complete this goal, but I'm experienced enough now with my unicycle I don't doubt that I could do it.

One last picture, of some random statue and a neighboring bridge.

January 2012

Despite the cold, January proved an eventful and entertaining 31 days. My sister got married, I was rehired for the upcoming season, and I underwent multiple adventures with my close friend Paul.

One of the first things we did was visit Cincinnati and Newport.

In all honesty, the weather wasn't too horrible - it was nice enough to be outside and take photos, at least.

I've always found bridges interesting - not to the same degree as roller coasters, but for many the same reasons.

Different styles, builders, designs, histories... Not too different from roller coasters, really.

I just really like anything to do with structures though - skyscrapers are also pretty fascinating.

Yep. I'm running out of captions.

We also visited Jungle Jim's, one of the most bizarre grocery stores in existence.

There's also some fun theme park history intertwined with the store, such as these bumper car shelves.

And a small collection of creepy/fun animatronics.

Minor detail, but this display needs updated - besides the old box designs, Trix no longer has fruit-shaped pieces.

If you ever wanted a full pig's head, here'd be the place.

Most people know about the Jungle Jim's monorails and their Kings Island history, but the store also owns a couple of other pieces, such as this snail from Hanna-Barbera Land.

One final place we visited was this large, although admittedly strange, antique store. If you wanted a box full of glass doll heads, here'd be the place.

There were also bottles, keys, magazines, cups, and a bunch of other antique items for sale.

January was enjoyable, but the whole time was still spent waiting for Kings Island to reopen.

Fall 2011 Shenanigans

After arriving home from the incredible trip to Florida, I spent the last couple months of the year partaking in a collection of random activities, such as...

...working a few final weekends at Kings Island...

...going on a college visit to Ohio University...

...decorating our house for my favorite holiday...

...shopping at a collection of thrift, antique, and other stores...

...eating some great (although incredibly unhealthy) food with some great friends...

...eagerly waiting for Kings Island to reopen...

...and watching a movie at a closing cinema on its final night of operation.

2011 was pretty phenomenal, but 2012 proved even better. I'll (finally) start updating from the present year with the next update.