All week I'd been so anxious and jumpy to arrive at the amusement park, and the hour drive seemed to take twice as long. We pulled over for a breath of fresh air, but no one wanted to linger for too long. All that hung in my mind that afternoon seemed to be a curiosity of what I soon would experience. After shooting a few pictures, we hustled back to the car, fastened our seatbelts, and were ready to go. We drove through rolling hills that seemed to be miles deep, and we passed by vast cornfields to finally reach what I'd anticipated for the past three days -- the amusement park.

As soon as the car came to a stop, both Kelsey and I jumped out. "Woooooow," we both said with inspiration. Kelsey's eyes broadened and my stomach began tingling. We stared at the amusement park with excitement. Kelsey, Aoi, Aoi's mom, and I headed over to the ticket booth. Looking at Aoi and her mom, I could tell that it was not their first time to the amusement park. Quickly we bought our tickets and made a beeline over to the first roller coaster. To me it looked tremendous, but to Kelsey and Aoi it appeared to be nothing. Obviously, they knew what to expect.

The roller coaster went in a little circle and was orange; it also spiraled in loops. It reminded me of macaroni, but at this point, I wasn't too interested in food.

We jumped on the roller coaster and plopped into our seats. After a few loops and swoops, the ride ended and we were on to our next thrill. My hair was all messed up and pulled to one side from the first ride, but I wasn't too worried about it. We walked a little farther to find a new ride to try out.

"That one," Kelsey yelled, pointing her finger at the scariest and worst roller coaster at the amusement park.

"Um, uh, let's just..." I wasn't able to finish, and Kelsey and Aoi already had a spot in line. My belly tickled.

"Coming, Kels?" Kelsey asked me.

"Yah, umm this, aah ... no problem." I took a huge breath of air; then I walked over and stood in line. Kelsey and Aoi had no problem at all going on this ride, but I sure did. I stood in line and heard all the people on the roller coaster scream and yell out words like, "STOP THE RIDE!" and "AAAAHHHH HELP ME!" After that ride was over, it was my turn. I thought about turning around and going back, but I couldn't. I kicked off my shoes so they wouldn't fall off when we were flying upside down.

"Kels, this is gonna be soooooo much fun," Kelsey said to me.

"Ha ha...Ya!" I said. "It sure is."

Snap! My neck yanked back and we were off. The roller coaster slowly moved to the top of the ramp and then started to proceed faster, and faster, and faster, until we were moving at about 40 miles per hour, loops and turns and neck jerks! We spun around so fast that I couldn't think or talk! In the blink of an eye, the ride was over.

"Hey, that was awesome!" I told Kelsey with excitement. "Let's get to the next ride."

The next ride didn't seem to be that bad, but it was a standing-up ride, and it didn't look too safe. We walked over to get on the ride, and there was no line, so we got right on. I hopped on and was standing on the outside. I went to pull the restraining bar around the side of my arms, but I accidentally pulled it too far to where I couldn't see what was going on. The ride started and I didn't know where we were going or what was in front of me. "Umm, uhh, I can't see!" I said to Kelsey.

"Aah, well," she said. "It's just about over ... okay, now it's over."

The roller coaster came to a complete stop, and I pulled the bars away from my face so I could see again.

"Okay, that was fun," I said sarcastically. I leaped off the roller coaster and wasn't feeling so good, so I went to take a ride on the Ferris wheel, and it made me feel a lot better. After that I got some ice cream, and it was already time to go. I had been so excited to get to the amusement park, and now it was over. I wasn't ready to go home, but I guess it was time.

We then exhaustedly plopped into the car and headed home. The sun started to go down and the sky started to turn pink, and by now we couldn't see the pretty rolling hills and the vast cornfields. The fun day made me extremely tired, and I fell asleep. What a wonderful, memorable day in Japan!