One of my many goals in life is to take my parents on vacation. Something purely fun and enjoyable that would leave us with happy memories. At first my parents were thinking about wanting to see the Grand Canyon as their trip but after much consultation with the weather and forecast pattern, we thought it too cold to visit Vegas and the Canyon. Instead, we flew to Florida and visited Sea World in Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay.
Yes, it was extremely warm down there (if high 80′s is considered warm). I don’t know if it was because I’m so used to cold weather or what but I seemed to be sweating a lot more than most people at the theme parks. My parents wore long sleeves because they didn’t want to get burned. Quoting my dad, “I would prefer to be a little warmer than to be brown, burnt and freckly.” My sweet mom was a trooper, she lasted days of walking even though she has issues with her knee and foot.
The first exciting thing we did in Florida was to go on a rollercoaster ride. We just got to Sea World and the first attraction we got to was the Manta rollercoaster and of course, I couldn’t help but insist that my parents go on it with me. My convincing point to my mom, “It’s just like riding a train.”
Let’s just say that was the first and last rollercoaster ride for my mom (and yes, I have the picture they took of the ride when we descended the scary hill). I thought the ride would … help her expand her horizons. But maybe it was too much too fast.
My parents want to go on a real safari. Maybe someday I’ll take them to Kenya, but the next best thing I could think of for now was Busch Gardens. We fed actual giraffes and someone drove us around the animal compound to see zebras, impalas, rhinos, wildebeest, and such. We were up close to exotic birds and petted kangaroos. 
We even had a very personal encounter with a not so exotic animal, a squirrel. The second day at Busch Gardens, my dad stuffed a few acorns into the lunch sac we brought with us. He didn’t care for it much, but did take it to bury it in some secret squirrel spot. He then came back and proceeded to eat crunched up fortune cookie from our hands. This shy little bugger had no qualms about grabbing it from our fingers.
We did see a lot of amazing shows. Dolphin shows. Killer whale shows. Animal trick show. Even a show similar to Cirque du Soleil called Cirque Dreams. Our main staple food-wise was the Chinese Buffet 500 meters or so away from our hotel where my dad gladly ate their baked mussels. 
We had a lot of good fun. I never had been more relaxed in my life. I felt so carefree and got a lot of things in my head written down on paper. (Now that I’m back though, I barely have time to review what I wrote.)
And this ride is called Shiekra. Named after a hawk-like bird in the Middle East. It has a 90 degree drop, a TRUE 90 degree drop of 200 feet. At first when I saw it, I was just scared to even watch the people riding it. My parents too. But I was determined to make the most of our trip, I mean, what’s the point of coming all the way to Florida and not experience the best of the best? How can I call myself a rollercoaster junkie if I couldn’t even get on this one? So I looked at my dad and said to him, “I’m gonna try it. You?” My dad kinda chuckled and said, “I don’t know, maybe not.” So I strode off to stand in line by myself. It seemed scary because I would be doing it myself, but I felt good because I was facing this fearful beast called Shiekra and not cowering away to see flamingos or something. Alas, five minutes later, my dad walked up and joined me in line saying, okay, let’s do this. THAT felt good.
Yes, these are my beautiful parents.
