the_rock401

One word for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul: COLD! Current weather conditions MSP airport, 3:53 PM CST (GMT -6) Temperature: 10 F Dew Point: 1F Wind: W 10 mph Wind Chill: -3F Low tonight of -2F, wind chills -10 to -15F. Paul "My apartment is very chilly right now" Miller PS: as soon as I can get my camera batteries charged, I'll post a photo TR of the snowstorm we had here on Wednesday.

We got 8 inches of snow here in Minneapolis. Lots of schools shut down outside the metro, but nothing in town.

If you think Iron City Light is the nastiest stuff you've ever drank, have you bothered to consume a Red Dog?

IIRC, there is a Denny's at the next exit down I-5 from Magic Mountain Pkwy. We ate there on our way back to LAX after West Coast Bash last year.

Excalibur (VF): Fast, fun coaster that packs a surprising punch. Not many people get back to that corner of the park, though. Silver Bullet (KBF): While I agree this (sometimes) isn't the most forceful coaster on the premesis, you SoCalers act like this is the second coming of Psyclone. Come on! Towards the end of the night on Saturday @Solace, Bullet was pulling a lot of Gs through the helix. Great ride!

My home park is Valleyfair, and Wild Thing is the best coaster there, no question. However, Excalibur is a very underrated coaster that is a solid #2.

Wow. I had been wondering ever since Tatsu was announced on whether that thing was going to be ready for Solace weekend. Paul "Reconsidering his California decision" Miller

This weekend, a whole bunch of us U of Minnesota students got into our cars and headed south. We were going to cheer on the Gophers in enemy territory, Kinnick Stadium at the University of Iowa. Afterwards, we stayed Saturday night in Iowa City and hit the town. If anyone is going to do a college football road trip, Iowa is, in the words of Brent Musburger, "the best-kept secret in college football." Paul "Go Gophers" Miller My buddies at the Fieldhouse, where we stayed til bar time. On to the Fieldhouse, which was huge and packed... You have DDR, we have Silver Strike Bowling! At Brothers', our first bar stop of the night Ummm, yeah... More Kinnick madness We had AWESOME seats in Kinnick Stadium Rallying the troops before going in The AGR guys and me. Yours truly is the one on the right. (NOTE: The reason I look so fat is that I'm wearing a LOT of layers, cause it was cold out!) Stegs with the pumpkin. Basically, you fill the pumpkin with beer, then passit around, with everyone taking a long drink out of it. One of many tailgating areas in Iowa City. That's a Kum 'n Go in the background. And yes, that is the correct spelling. Our fly ride, the Gophermobile Drinking beer at 6:30 AM on the side of a hill. Life is wonderful. 12:25 AM: And so it begins

Makaha Beach, Hawaii at sundown. For that matter, Hawaii is the best place that I've been to. Washington, DC was not far behind it. As far as places I'd love to go. BEIJING: I am Chinese, so I'd love to go there to see the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and maybe the 2008 Olympics. HONG KONG: In case you haven't noticed, I'd love to travel around the Orient AUSTRALIA: The 2000 Sydney Olympics piqued my interest in Australia, and that's a country I'd love to spend time in.

Superb video. Not a real big Green Day fan, but "Wake Me When September Ends" fits perfectly here.

A lot of students here at the U of MN went down to Madison, Wisconsin last weekend for the big "party" (I use that term loosely) on State Street. The natives don't seem too happy that 75,000 students descend on Madison, as ads have been running all week in the Daily telling students to stay away from Madison. Didn't seem to work. As for myself I stayed here in Minneapolis to watch our Gophers melt down against Ohio State, then went out Saturday night.

I've grayed out on Solace/WCB weekend. I took two trips on GhostRider during the Saturday night ERT, and I got such a severe headache that I was graying out on anything that delivered a high G-load. Bullet in the helix, Goliath in the helix, Riddler and Scream at the bottom of the first loop, X during the stretch run, but strangely enough, not Viper.

http://www.valleyfair.com/insidethepark/rides/coasterthrillrides/xtremeswing.cfm Did Cedar Fair get a bulk discount on these things?

I'm 6'4" and anywhere between 220-230 lbs. Whenever I go to the Guess Your Weight booth, I always win . They always guess low (It's easy to hide 220 lbs. on a tall frame).

A friend of mine and his father have passes for Six Flags Chicago, and they live in St. Paul, a 7-hour drive from Gurnee. And I thought about getting a WOF pass, as it's even cheaper than the VF passes. Paul

I haven't ridden a coaster since Labor Day weekend, and I'm not sure if I'll be coming to California in March for Solace. However, we DO have the Timberland Twister and Ripsaw at Camp Snoopy...

I waited 45 minutes for the Arrow Mine Train at SFMM last March. Real productive outcome

St. Michael-Albertville (MN) High School Class of 2002 University of Minnesota Class of 2006

How about an NCAA-style coaster elimination tournament? Line up either 16 or 32 coasters, depending on how involved I want to get, seed them, and pit them heads-up, with one coaster ultimately coming out the winner? I know it sounds kinda tacky, but it's an idea. Paul

Solace last year was my first major enthusiast event, and I had a BLAST. However, whether or not I go to Solace depends heavily on when RideWorld's WCB is, whether or not the new flyer up on the Mountain is open yet, and how much $$ I have come January. Paul "'California' by Phantom Planet just came on the shuffle" Miller

This is looking more and more interesting by the week. A question for all you SoCalers: How long did Silver Bullet take to build after construction started? Pondering whether to come out for Solace/WCB 06, and much is still in the air. Paul "Curious" Miller

Valleyfair and Camp Snoopy are my home parks. 40 mins from CS on bus/LRT 3 hrs from the Dells

This little incident occured on the Saturday night of Solace 05. Jerry D, my partner in crime from MN, got sent around twice on Perilous Plunge. And that's not mentioning all the re-rides that I've taken on Avalanche. It's a hard coaster to power-ride, but it sure is fun

If this isn't going to be a steel-frame woodie, did anyone say "Son of Beast"? Paul "Hate to play the devil's advocate, but that much speed beats the crap out of wood!" Miller

X @SFMM was the worst one, but GhostRider on the second night of Solace was VERY rough, and I got a massive headache from it.