Today was not actually a St. Petersburg day: we decided we’d do something un-Scott-like. We thought about this nature outing, we considered that nature outing, but in the end, we went full-on American and spent the day in Busch Gardens in Tampa, just across the bay from St. Petersburg.

K had never been on a single roller coaster in her life. Not one. Ever. So we were all excited to see how she’d like an amusement park with something like eight or ten coasters.

We arrived and went to the first coaster right out of the entrance, the Iron Gwazi. According to the park, it is

North America’s tallest and world’s fastest & steepest hybrid coaster. The award-winning Iron Gwazi takes thrills to new heights, plunging riders from a 206 foot-tall peak into a 91-degree drop and reaching top speeds of 76 miles per hour.

Having that as your coaster ever is like taking someone who has been a teetotaller who’s interested in having his first taste of alcohol and giving him a shot of 70% sliwowica.

This is what it looks like:

Such a film fails to capture the excitement of that first drop. It’s difficult to describe that first drop: you think it should be over because how long can you remain in a verticle (well, almost verticle: it’s 91 degrees steep) drop?

As we were waiting in line, we got to talking to the folks standing in front of us, a man and his son or stepson (I couldn’t tell–the language he used was a little ambiguous). He commented on K’s bravery for picking the Gwazi as her first coaster ever.

“You’ve never been on one and you picked this as the first coaster of your life?

K’s verdict at the end? “If I can do that, I can do any of these rides.”