3600baud // Stefan Hartwig

It had been a long day in Santa Cruz. A long day without a ride on the Dipper. Right before leaving, my two oldest and I decided to take a spin on the very last coaster of the day. Elliot wasn’t interested at all, but I convinced him.

“It’s Father’s Day! We can all ride together and remember it forever!”

He grudgingly obliged. While we waited in line, I pointed out the signs that showed how many millions of people had ridden on it prior to us.

“See?”, I said, “if millions of people can do it, you can too. It’ll be fun.”

After a decent wait, we had our turn to ride. If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience the Giant Dipper, I highly recommend it.

Unless you’re Elliot. On the first big drop, his chest hit the safety bar, knocking the wind out of him. Not good.

Attempting to make things right afterwards, I asked him, “Did you like it though? Was it fun at all?”

He replied, “It pissed me off!”

It was pretty obvious that he wasn’t exaggerating. He was furious. Yet another chapter closed in the book of mistakes I’ve made.

One thing is for sure though, he’ll remember it forever.