roller coasters + rats

wren on the vintage car track

i am a huge fan of roller coasters.  i will take any and every opportunity to hit one up, the more loops the better.  have you ever been the only person on a roller coaster? i have! the last time i did the ABC trade show in Las Vegas, i stopped to ride one in Primm.  if i hadn't driven 10 hours on 4 hours of sleep, i would totally post a picture of myself on the coaster, but that hot mess would burn your eyes.

wren might be too young to share my passion, but we found a little amusement park that is just her speed. Gilroy Gardens (in Gilroy, CA) is right up her alley.  the entire park is made for toddlers and elementary school-aged kids.  they even have a starter roller coaster that wren recently conquered.  she was nervous at first, but once we finally took that ride, she was hooked.  as there were no lines, we rode it (without getting off) 18 times in a row.  she got so into it that she started to master my secondary passion: posing for the roller coaster cam.  we covered everything from smiling to crazy faces to pretending we were asleep. too bad those things are $14 a pop - i kind of mourn the loss of the sleeping pic.  wren was genius.

as an added bonus, wren spotted a dead rat tagging along with us on the floating strawberry ride.  wren has a pet rat, so she didn't find this nearly as unsettling as the ride operators - they were armed with a pool skimmer trying to catch it each time it made its way around the lazy river.  i managed to snap a picture on my phone and noticed about a week later that wren had unicorn'd it. enjoy!

xoxo,
jasper hearts wren

Gilroy Gardens
3050 Hecker Pass Hwy  Gilroy, CA 95020
(408) 840-7100