How it began

I can't really remember when my love for roller coasters started.  It might have been the first time I rode the Polar Coaster at Story Land, a kiddie theme park in New Hampshire, or maybe it was the Dragon Coaster at Canobie Lake Park.  But I do remember this:  once I took that first drop and spin around the track, I was hooked.  I spent the rest of my grade school years waiting on my bones to grow so I could hit each one of those long-awaited height breakpoints (42 inches with adult, 48 inches, and then, finally, 54 inches): my pass to ride bigger and better coasters.  I spent my free time reading about, watching videos and scoping out the coolest, most exciting coasters, and then planning a way to somehow convince my parents to take me.  It wasn't long until all our family vacations revolved around a sports venue and an amusement park, not the beach like a typical vacation.  But after years of traveling the country to accomplish this, I can tell you that luckily there are many places in the U.S. where you can spend the day riding some amazing coasters, then catch a ball game at night.  Some of them even include a beach too.