vegas baby

so a couple weeks ago i went to vegas for about 18 hours. my friend had her work christmas party there and she invited me to go with her. we drove up saturday morning for her work party that evening. because of church obligations we had to leave early sunday morning. anyways, although we only spent about 12 hours actually in vegas, it was a great time. after the work party we went and rode the rides on the top of the stratosphere. to ride all 3 rides and go to the top its about $24 a person. not terribly cheap, but if you like roller coasters, it it totally worth it. im including videos of each of the three rides. i have been on rides like the one where you shoot up and down. this one is particularly great because it has the added element of being on top of a huge needle in the middle of vegas. the other two are just ridiculous. you cant really tell, but the one where you are spinning, you are suspended in the air over the edge of the stratosphere. there is nothing below you but the ground which is over 100 stories below. its absolutely nuts. you are latched onto this big arm with raises you in the air, then pivots and extends you out so you are no longer above the roof of the stratosphere and then it starts spinning with your chair angled towards the ground. its just stupid. but as crazy as that ride is, it wasnt even the scariest.

the worst for me was x-scream. we sat in the front row for this one. it is truly a 'thrill ride.' not a roller coaster. none of them are really roller coasters. but ive never been legitimately scared on a roller coaster. this one actually got to me, to the point that i wasnt even really enjoying it because i really was fearing my life. which usually doesnt happen to me. normally i know that i am strapped in so nothing will happen, but that wasnt enough reassurance with this ride. which is strange because it didnt seem like the worst of the three. its a simple ride. you just roll out to the end of the track and then you roll back. repeat three times. it sounds harmless. but you roll out so fast and break so hard that you legitimately fear that the breaks wont work. plus, they roll you out to the end and then the track drops. after two times i was begging that we wouldnt go a third time because i wasnt sure if i could handle it. anyways, it was a blast and quite a rush. a ton of fun. i highly recommend it if you like 'thrill rides.' im not sure if i will ever ride them again. i already survived the misery and dont wish it upon myself again. just upon you.