My day started when I rolled over and looked at the alarm clock. It read 8:04. Odd, being as the alarm was set for 7:30. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

We ended up getting on the road just before 11 after molesting the snooze button all morning. I hate the snooze button. My wife lives by it. Over the course of our years together I've learned to tune out the alarm clock. To the point where it has become problematic for me. When I do need to hear it, I don't. I have a better chance of telling myself I need to be up at a certain time and nailing it than relying on hearing the alarm.

Some good waking up on your own does when you just decide to go back to sleep.

We had about an hour drive from the hotel to Indiana Beach. This meant we'd show up about noon. Not a big deal really. It fit just fine with the trend for the trip.

We were heading south on 421 admiring the cornfields and making decent time. Uncle Kraker's "Follow Me" had just begun playing on the radio and I was zoning just looking at the farms. Suddenly there was a loud bang and I nearly jumped out of my skin. The only one who saw it was my wife (she was driving at the time). Apparently out of absolutely thin air a rather large rock smacked the windshield and left us with a nice bullseye crack. The were no other vehicles even remotely near us. We have no idea where the rock came from. My guess is that God was angry that our trip was going so well to this point that he had to piss on our parade and dropped a rock from his golden perch in Heaven. I'm also thoroughly convinced that he's going to try to kill me tomorrow - mostly because the crack had little effect on our day beyond the inital "WTF!?" The funniest part is that we're stopping by the Indianapolis Zoo - so any death there would probably involve hilarious circumstances. Keep your eye out for mention of an accident at the Indianapolis Zoo on your local news tomorrow - undoubtedly, it will involve me.

We got to Indiana Beach around noon as anticipated and scored the 11-6 wristband and headed into the park. My son spotted a map and immediately cried "Froghooper!" so off to the far end of the park we went. While I let him get a couple of runs on the Froghopper, my wife and daughter grabbed a ride on the park's Double Shot. After they got off I boarded for a ride with my daughter. We were sitting and waiting for eternity when the girl running the ride told us it'd be a minute or two. Shortly after a maintenance guy arrived to reset the ride. Turned out the park momentarily lost power which kicked the ride into an E-stop.

From there we headed back to Hoosier Hurricane and scored a lap. While waiting in the station, the sky began turning from the nice, but overcast and hazy day we were enjoying to a dark black/purple and by the time our ride finished there was thunder and lightning in the distance. We didn't even have time to get a lap on Cornball Express before the rain poured. We ducked inside figuring we'd get a bite to eat and wait for the rain to pass.

It was then that my wife realized she had no cash. So we hit the ATM only to find it offline. It seemed the park's phone lines were down in the wake of the storm. We began rounding up all the change we could and came up with $7 - just enough for some chili cheese fries and a couple drinks. We sat and waited. Then we waited some more. The more still.

It wasn't until a little after 2pm before the rain had cleared and the park slowly came back to life. We scored quick laps on Cornball Express and Tig'rr Coaster and then a lap on the train.

The skies had totally cleared so we checked the ATM and found it working again. We stopped to get the lunch we wanted earlier and were surprised to find ashtrays on the tables in an indoor eatery. In fact, all of the park was very smoker friendly with smoking allowed in many buildings and even in the 'semi-open' areas like the arcade and such. It was a pleasant change from the current bandwagon most parks have jumped on with smoking restricted to deisgnated areas. Didn't seem to be hurting Indiana Beach's business one bit and nobody was walking around hacking - excluding the smokers of course.

At any rate, we noticed Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain (henceforth referred to as LoCoSuMo) was still not running so we spent time doing flats and kiddie rides and just hanging out.

This is where I should mention how damn cool this park is. The ambience, the feel, the location, the vibe - all top notch. I can imagine going here, never riding a single ride and leaving happy and entertained. I have to this day never heard my wife rave so much about a park as she did today. I wouldn't be surprised if we have vacation property in the are before I know it - she was just that enamoured with the place.

Eventually LoCoSuMo opened and we jumped in line. It was only a 3 train wait, but with this ride that meant 10 or 15 minutes. It was running one train. One train being two connected cars holding a maximum of 8 riders. The water stunt ski show extravaganza spectacular thingy was beginning as we boarded the train a my wife and son went to watch. We met them after our ride and I was surprised by how good it really was. Much larger parks usually deliver much less. These guys did some great stuff and did it with such enthusiasm that they kind of sucked you into it.

The Galaxi coaster was still not running and we were getting dangerously close to our 6pm ride cutoff time. We picked up a couple more flats and soon 6pm hit and we were done with our rides - but not with the park. We still wanted to hang out. We grabbed ice cream, played a few games and then my daughter and I decided to try the Haunted Castle walkthrough. It was only $3.50 a head and I'd heard only good things about it. It turned out to be great silly fun, although not really scary and had all the classic cheeseball stunts you'd expect. Highlights include the round room with all the doors and trying to get a closer look at the room the 'band' is playing in. (those of you who've done it know what I mean) We got teamed up with a group of 4 who were great fun to explore the castle with and I was nominated leaderas the only stupid man in the group. Lots of screams and I always kept checking back to make sure we didn't lose 'Grandma' - which I think they found humorous. Nothing like having a great time with total strangers.

After that we slowly made our way out of the park and scored the last of the photos I wanted before crossing the big suspension bridge back to the south lot where were had parked. I did notice along the way that the Galaxi coaster was now running. Sigh. Still no 'perfect score' as far as credits go. If I had a dollar for every coaster I could've ridden that I didn't - I'd have enough money to take a trip to pick up all those lost credits.

The coasters at Indiana Beach struck me generally as average fare and I didn't think Cornball Express quite lived up to the hype I had read. Aside from a couple cool moments of simultaneous airtime and laterals, it wasn't anything special beyond the way the park fit it in to the area. A very good ride indeed, but I felt a little let down after what I had heard about it. Probably my fault for hyping something in my mind ahead of time, but what can you do? I'd still gladly take the coaster closer to home if the park ever wanted to unload it on someone.

All in all, Indiana Beach secured a spot as the highlight of the trip thus far and I wouldn't be surprised if we make the 6 or 7 hour drive in the future just to visit again.

Tomorrow is lucky day number 13 of the trip so check back to see if God kills me tomorrow. If there's no update, check for bizarre zoo incidents - I'm sure I'll be involved.

(Note: If you e-mailed me in the past two days, I received it. However, my outgoing mail is wigging out and I don't have the time to sort it out right now. I'm not being a dick and ignoring you. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.)