No. 639 – Still Remains

Performer: Stone Temple Pilots

Songwriters: Robert DeLeo, Dean DeLeo, Scott Weiland

Original Release: Purple

Year: 1994

Definitive Version: None

Get the foreshadowing reference from yesterday?

Before I started to assemble this list, I probably hadn’t heard this song in at least a decade. I included it because it had been on my “Greatest Hits of 1994” tape, but as soon as I heard it again, I realized that not only should it be on the list, but it also had to be fairly high on there. Here it is.

Anyway, when we last left our two intrepid friends at Cedar Point in July 1994—me and Debbie, that is—they had just dropped over the top of the (as of then) tallest roller coaster in the world.

Even though I had prepped my stomach with the Corkscrew and Gemini before taking on the big one, I still felt that familiar “whump” that your stomach takes when you hit the bottom of the big hill. I had a little less whump on the second drop, which was taller than anything else in the park save for the Magnum’s first drop, and after that I was fine.

When we were done, Debbie said she definitely wanted to go on that ride again before we left, and I agreed. I also wanted another shot at the cameras along the way.

I suppose every park does this now, but this was new to me at the time. Toward the end of the ride, unbeknownst to us, cameras were set up along the track. As we whizzed by, a picture was snapped of each car. After the ride, of course, you—and everyone else—could see exactly how dopey you looked on a monitor, and Cedar Point happily sell would you a print to preserve the moment for posterity for a few bucks. Debbie wanted the one of us, and we—like everyone else—looked happily oblivious of the cameras. Next time …

After the Magnum, the order of the day has been lost to the sands of time. We rode every coaster at least once. We did the Raptor twice, and it was worth the extra wait to sit in the first car, because none of your view is obscured as you dangle over the ground and get flung through the sky.

We also rode the Blue Streak a couple of times, and it still was my favorite coaster. It’s the oldest one there, of course, so it’s nothing spectacular—just a single-track out and back—but if you unbuckle your seat belt, which you’re not supposed to do but I did anyway, you fly out of your seat on the little hills. The only thing holding you in the car is your lap bar. That’s a good ride.

And we finally tackled the Magnum again. This time I was ready. When we came to the part where the cameras were situated, I went for the comedic gold. I already had my arms in the air, so all I had to do was face the camera and open my mouth as wide as I could as though I were shouting a mighty cowabunga: AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH.

I couldn’t wait to get off the ride and see whether my handiwork was captured for all to see. Sure enough, when the images flashed up on the screen, I was looking right into the camera, and my expression was captured perfectly. Everyone who looking on gave me a laugh. Excellent. I had to memorialize that baby, so another purchase was made.

By now, it was getting time to go. As we left, Debbie and I held hands like a couple of lovestruck teens. Earlier, while we rode the Gemini for the second time, I think, Debbie leaned over as we were going around a turn and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. Nothing had been said, but all was understood.

We went to a nearby Friday’s for a snack before heading home. We got the stuffed potato skins, of course, and one other appetizer that I can’t recall, and we chatted away like mockingbirds in a back corner of the restaurant for an hour.

As we left, Debbie made some move as though she couldn’t walk any more after the day’s events, so I leaned down so she could climb up and I could give her a piggyback ride. As I galloped off through the parking lot, a guy saw us and exclaimed, “You two look like you’re having fun.”

We were having a great time, and it had been a great day. We said little as we drove home, but what wasn’t said spoke volumes. Something definitely was happening between us, and it seemed that the next time we got together could be a very important day.