Let's admit it, growing up in California has some serious benefits: the beach, the mountains, Hollywood, and a plethora of fantastic theme parks. As such, at Monte Vista Middle School, every Eighth Grade Class was treated to a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain at the end of every year.
Our long anticipated trip came, and my best friend Meghann and I teamed up quickly in excited glee to conquer every rollercoaster that dared to tempt us. Since it was around summertime, we knew it would be a hot day, and cherry sunburns were all too common of Magic Mountain patrons who neglected to protect their skin. As such, before we did anything, we lathered up our arms, necks, faces, ears, and foreheads with banana-scented creamy white sunblock, and then we were on our merry way.
One of the first rides that we came across was the famous Goliath, the park's tallest rollercoaster. Its orange metal tracks loomed above our 14-year old heads, gleaming in the sunlight, beckoning to us to dare a thrill. We quickly joined the line. However, it became apparent rather quickly that it would be a long wait, 1 1/2 to 2 hours at best. But we had committed to this ride, and we knew that the 3-minutes of glorious screams and near black-outs would be worth the wait. So wait we did.
The line inched forward, snaking around in elaborate patterns as the sun mercilessly beat down upon our heads. Our adolescent bodies began to sweat, and about an hour into our wait, a cry of agony ushered forth from Meghann's lips. Because of the long wait under the hot sun, Meghann's perspiration had mingled with her sunscreen, creating an excruciating concoction of pain that had slowly dripped into her eyes. Not a minute later, my own eyes began to burn under the same fate. But we had waited this long, and we were not ones to give up quickly. So we waited in line, as sunscreen chemicals slowly and maliciously burned themselves into our corneas. Our first reaction was to rub our eyes: bad idea. That only spread the plague and buried the sweat-sunblock mixture deeper into our sockets. Our eyes watered in pain, but we stayed strong.
I'm sure by the time we reached the boarding deck of the rollercoaster, our eyes were probably bloodshot. The pain had gradually become more intense through the long wait of the next hour, and so by the time we boarded, we did not even care about the ride. We just wanted to make it to the nearest source of water to flush our eyes out. Even during the ride itself, all I could think about was how much I wanted it to end and neither of us enjoyed it.
As soon as we disembarked, we rushed to the nearest bathroom, which, fortunately, was close by. Our eyes received an amateur treatment of water flushing, and then, so as to be out of sight of public viewing, we hid behind the bathroom, concealed by some convenient bushes with dripping paper towels over our eyes. The only thing I remember being said during that time was the moan, "It buuuuurns...." uttered by both of us intermittently for the next half hour, plus a comment or two that we probably looked like we had been using drugs and hoped no one would catch us.
After what seemed like an eternity, the pain subsided, and we enjoyed the rest of the trip, although I can honestly say I remember nothing else about it, and I have been very cautious of sunscreen ever since.
Oh my 8th grade trip to Magic Mountain, we were told that if we were late getting back to the bus, we wouldn't be allowed to the 8th grade awards ceremony breakfast the next day. Well, during the last couple of hours, my 3 other friends and I split up into 2 groups. I was the one with the watch in my group. Towards the end of the time, we were in those stores on the way out of the park and I realized that their clock was different than my watch. Then I realized my watch had stopped. My friend and I went racing for the front of the park, only to find our school principal waiting for us...alone. The bus had left without us, and we had to drive home in the back seat of the principal's car. She wasn't a favorite among the students, either. Anyway, despite understanding that it wasn't our fault and that it was due to a broken watch, the principal wasn't about to let us be an accept ion to the rules. So, yes, *sigh, we missed the awards breakfast the next day. However, our mothers were convinced that we were wronged, my mother took off the morning at work, and they took us out to our own breakfast. Then they dropped us off at school for graduation practice, where we had to face all of the questions of our school mates who were wondering what had happened to us since they had left us at the park and we had never showed up on the bus (only 60 8th graders, so it's hard not to miss 2 missing person). Anyway, that's my 8th grade Magic Mt. experience. :P
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