Gravitron

Gravitron

 Nikolai and Abigail were the only two kids who braved the Orbiter ride at the Lake of the Woods County Fair. They decided afterwards that it was fun, but a little too fast for them. As a parent watching, my stomach sank a few times just watching them spin around, so I was glad they didn’t want to do it again!
By Allan Olson
It was another very busy but fun weekend for us, with a whirlwind road trip north and west and back home again, putting on around 300 miles in approximately 36 hours.
Our adventure for the weekend started Friday with my (radio) alarm not going off – well, it went off, but I must’ve bumped the station dial, and so it was all static – which resulted in an additional 15 minutes of sleep. Once I realized we had overslept, I was instantly awake and making sure the rest of the family got the news. My goal of leaving the house by 6 a.m. was overshot by nearly 30 minutes, but to be realistic, I had set that 6 a.m. goal with the anticipation of leaving by 6:15, so all things considered, we did just fine.
We arrived at my parents’ at 8 a.m. on Friday, just in time to enjoy a morning meal prepared just for us (Thanks!). We visited and enjoyed the breakfast, but soon it was time to go watch my niece and, as it turned out, several other relatives participate in the Open Class 4-H Horse Show at the Lake of the Woods County Fair. We arrived early and it started late, so we sat in the sun and baked while cheering on the family. At 1 p.m. my mom arrived with some tickets for the carnival rides. Nikolai was the only one of my kids who had ever been on a fair ride, and that was many years ago, so this was a new experience for the others. Unfortunately for Alivia, who is my “no holds barred child,” she was still just a couple inches to short for a couple of the rides that she wanted to try.
Personally, I haven’t been on a fair ride in an extremely long time. I was never a big fan of fast rides and roller coasters, but at this year’s fair there was one ride I had to test – “The Gravitron!” Oh, man! I forgot how much fun that ride is. You walk in to the flying saucer-looking machine and lay flat against a seat that then rolls upward. The last time I was on one of these contraptions, I was “just slightly” more slender than I am now. So when the seat rolled up, so did some of my extra girth, which made me realize just how long ago it has been since I was last on this ride! Regardless, it was still a fun experience, and I will probably do it again – just not this year.
Marcus, on the other hand, said after his second ride on that machine, “If I had 100 tickets, I would go on this 100 more times!” It was definitely a fun time for all.
Once we got the rides out of the way, we headed back to the van so we could go pick up my wife, who was still watching the “horsing around.” From there we had to proceed westward to attend my cousin’s son’s birthday party the next day. We stopped by my folks’ place to pick up Bob (the dog), then headed onward. Surprise – we stopped in Warroad and located 12 of 13 attempted geocaches out of the over 60 available in that town. We continued our journey westward, grabbing a couple more geocaches in Roseau. 
As we pulled into town, I noticed a couple kids biking and said to my wife, “I wonder if those are my cousin’s kids?” She looked closer and said, “Yes, they are!” We located four of five geocaches attempted in Roseau before making our way back to the highway, and as we waited at the stoplights, I looked at a vehicle coming from the other direction, and there was one of my cousins sitting in the passenger seat! I pointed at her, and she looked back at me, and less than a minute later my wife had a text message from her asking, “What are you doing in town?” We were there for less than 30 minutes, didn’t enter a store, and still managed to see some relatives. Small world.
We finally made it to the cousin’s home to which we were headed at about 7:30 p.m. and spent the rest of the evening visiting and enjoying a couple beverages before finally hitting the sack near 1 a.m. On Saturday morning we packed things up and got our stuff out of the way for the company that would be staying that night, since we needed to head back home. After the birthday party we headed south via Red Lake Falls and Highway 2. I stopped in Red Lake Falls to grab a couple of my cousin’s geocaches that he had hidden. I wasn’t having any luck, and the kids in the van were getting irritable, so I decided it was time to call it a weekend and head for home.
I lazed around pretty much the entire day on Sunday, and that sums up my weekend. We might stay home this coming wekend, or we might go get a few geocaches somewhere – we shall see.
Please be safe while enjoying your favorite outdoor recreational activity and on the lakes, and remember to take pictures to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.

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