Before Kumba, Montu, and Sheikra. Before Cobra’s Curse and Cheetah Hunt, Iron Gwazi and Tigris, there were the Python and the Scorpion. That was the Busch Gardens of my childhood, and they were the first roller coasters I ever rode.
As a little kid, a roller coaster can seem like a scary thing. Super-high, super-fast, and upside-down loops all sort of defy the safe-on-the-ground gene that we all have in some way. I didn’t have parents that were really keen on riding roller coasters, so when we’d go to Busch Gardens, we’d ride the Sandstorm, the Crazy Camel, and the Ubanga-Banga Bumper Cars, but that was about as extreme as we’d get.
Then one year, my sister and I were tall enough to ride something a little more adventurous. I don’t remember what pushed us over the edge. Maybe we dared each other, but somehow, we ended up in line for the Python. I remember feeling awfully nervous but trying to be a big, tough older brother. Then we were getting strapped in. Shoulder bars down, and we were off, clanking loudly up the hill. In what seemed like an instant in my young mind, we were whooshing down the drop. I remember my stomach jumping as we made that first descent, and then before you knew it we were upside down through the two corkscrew loops and back at the unloading area. The ride took about 70 seconds. But I was hooked. It was so fun. We happened to be there on a relatively slow day, so the operator let my sister and me ride it a couple of times in a row.
And then of course, we ran right over to the Scorpion to try it out. After the Python, the single lap bar in the Scorpion felt less secure, and that big loop that you drop into and then the sort of sideways loops that finish it up were stomach-tingling and adrenaline pumping for two little kids. I don’t remember what the operators at the Python used to say, but I do remember the Scorpion. They always said, “Get ready to experience the sting” <buzz> <buzz> “of the Scorpion.”
But time continues its forward march. The Python closed almost 20 years ago, and just three days ago was the last day to ride the Scorpion. Of course, 40 years later there are lots of superior coasters with longer rides, more comfortable seats, steeper drops, and a variety of sitting and standing positions. But I won’t deny that a wave of nostalgia came over me when I saw that the Scorpion was closing. The end of an era.
It’s obvious that we can’t stop time – I blinked and it is now September. But with this time of year comes the start of lots of Fall Fun at Kerby’s. This Saturday, 9/7 at 9:30 am is Yoga in the Garden with Kaye Vlass from Keystone Yoga. Gardening is good for your physical and mental health and so is yoga, some come out and put the two of them together. Then we kick off our Fall Veggie Seminar Series with Organic Veggie Gardening on the 14th and a new seminar, Advanced Veggie Gardening, on the 21st. Believe it or not, we are just a few weeks from getting pumpkins in, and we are already making preparations for our Fall Kickoff on September 28th. Things end and things begin. That is definitely the way of life, but it doesn’t have to sting. Let’s begin this new season having some fall fun in the garden.
