Riding adrenaline

One evening, a large group of our family met at the Oceanside Grill near a boardwalk-type area called The Pavilion. We had a direct view of the ocean from our tables. But Sam and I had eaten a fairly late lunch and weren't hungry. After visiting a bit, we wandered out to watch the sunset on the beach.

Nearby was a huge sand pile. We decided to climb it. Running up it was lots of fun. The view from the top was refreshing. Sam liked jumping down. This picture of Sam, Kellie and Ash captures some of the craziness.

After we'd settled down a bit, we were joined by our tiny cousin, Alyson, who also enjoyed climbing the sand pile, at her own pace, in her own way. Then a group of people was ready to ride The Hurricane, "South Carolina's biggest and badest wooden rollercoaster." Sam and I have ridden roller coasters before and loved them but that night, I wasn't sure I was up for it. We let their group go on figuring we could catch up with them later by cell phone.

Alyson wasn't ready to leave the sand pile but Sam, Kellie and I were. Since her parents were planning to take her on rides like the merry-go-round which are appropriate for her but might not have been what Sam and Kellie were looking for, I took the two of them into the park to ride some mid-range rides.
I ended up buying a wrist band for each of them that would allow them to ride as many rides as they wanted before the park closed at midnight. We had about two hours. Luckily, Sam and I had taken mid-day break in activity. (I even had a nap.) And now that the sun was down, the fun could begin. Here is a picture of them on their first ride, The Rainbow.

They liked it so much; they wanted to ride again immediately. They got good use out of the wristbands, riding many of the rides in the park. I was happy that Sam was able to ride with company and I was able to watch from the sidelines. The only snag was that my rental car had been blocked in at the place we were staying by another vehicle. We'd hitched a ride to the park with Ariel and Ash but after the rollercoaster ride, they were ready to head off to new adventures. So that we wouldn't have to leave the park, they loaned their car to us and saved the day.

We played until midnight. Just before the clock struck 12, we ran back to the first ride they had ridden. There wasn't a line. In fact, they were the only two ready to ride this time. The guy running the ride let me ride with them a couple of times for free. It was quite an adrenaline rush, riding into the air and then falling. We all screamed with glee.