In the off season

Now that winter is here and Christmas is fast approaching I am finding myself in an off season of sorts. There will be no roller coaster trips until the spring time, and any other vacations I might take will have to wait until then. But for my working life, this time is anything but inactive, as this is my busiest season for my online sales. This is part of the reason I’ve not made many entries recently. It isn’t that I couldn’t take a vacation this time of the year, but doing so would conflict with my work. Being your own boss has its advantages, but in order to be successful you have to be disciplined. As the old saying goes, you have to “make hay when the sun shines”. Besides, I’d have to travel a bit further to indulge in any amusement park visits, as most parks in the region have only limited operating schedules and only run certain rides. One day I hope to be able to get back to some of the parks in Florida, like Busch Gardens, the Universal parks, and Sea World. I’d also like to visit some of the smaller parks as well. And yes, such a trip would give me the chance to see the you-know-what, that scary thing in Florida I’ve so obsessed upon for a long time. If you’ve read any of my past entries, I’m sure you have at least some idea of what I am referring to.

But there is a bit of a problem. My husband can’t handle too many coaster trips, as he has no interest in the parks and is left to try and entertain himself for a day or so. Which of course is rather unfair to him. I have a friend who lives in western PA who enjoys coasters as much as I do, and her adult son shares that interest and often travels with her. It is my hope that we can visit some more parks next summer. I don’t know if at some point she would be willing (or able) to go further south or not. Therefore, I am going to take some of this (sort of) downtime to try and find a coaster companion with whom I could travel to more parks, and give my husband a break. But this also means that I will be taking at least one trip next summer that will be coaster free so my husband and I can do things together that we both enjoy. And there is one place that I desperately want to go (including an activity I want to partake in), a bucket list thing of sorts. More about that one later. Of course, I’ll be sure to find some interesting bridges wherever we might go, as that sort of thing is far less of a diversion than spending a day in an amusement park. I told him about the monster bridge in Charleston, South Carolina that I want to walk across. He just shook his head, unable to understand my desire to do that. It is rather frustrating when people close to you can’t fathom why you enjoy doing some of the things you do. My husband has some interests I don’t share, but I can understand why he enjoys those pursuits. Despite his lack of interest in bridge appreciation, that would only occupy me for a short period of time. Perhaps I might not just look for someone with whom to visit amusement parks, but I might get lucky and find someone who also has a fascination with bridges. Sometimes such oddball interests go hand in hand. At my old church the minister was into roller coasters and also trains. He always had a huge train garden around his Christmas tree when the open house was held at the rectory. However, I have no idea if his wife and kids also shared either of those interests.