Wild Thing

We won't be talking about the songs from Tone-Loc or The Troggs that share the title of this week's column.
But rather, my three-year-old daughter.
She's not wild, though.  Not much anyway.
The "Wild" comes from a park that my wife and I were well-acquainted with in our youth that we wanted our daughter to experience.
Growing up, my paternal grandparents began taking the extended family on summer Sundays to Idlewild Park in Ligonier, about an hour's drive due east of Pittsburgh.  Grandma would spend the day before making  an enormous amount of food, and anyone could eat anytime they got hungry.  There was no organized sit-down time.
Idlewild, an amusement park conjoined with Story Book Forest and Timber Link golf course, is something for everyone, regardless of age.  Even after all these years.
Since then, they've added the "Soak Zone" water park, "Jumpin' Jungle", and "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (the show's host is from the area)".
We took Savannah on her first visit this summer.  We were not prepared for just how much fun this kid was going to have.
We took her on the kiddie rides, as a precaution to get her warmed up for the real thing.  She was ready to go right to the 'big kid' rides right out of the gate.
I never believed in dragging a kid to a ride scared out of his wits trying to break him of his fear.  If anything, it's counterproductive.
But after Savannah conquered a few nausea-inducing rides that once would not faze me even if I had stuffed myself with food just five minutes ago (not the case now), I felt it was time to tell her the best was yet to come.
Idlewild has only one roller-coaster, and it does the job fairly for thrill-seekers.  But for a three-year-old, it can be a bit much.  So I gave Savannah the opportunity to back out.
"Now Savannah, this ride is pretty fast," I began.  "If you think it's going to scare you, we don't have to get on it."
"I want to!"
So we did.  Margie was going to get in line behind us.  In the front row of the car, I glanced at Savannah.  Even with the wind blowing in her face and her long light brown hair blowing behind us, she was clearly having the time of her life.
As we got off the coaster she said it:
"I wanna do it again!"
I handed her over the rail to Margie.  We would come to do it a couple more times.
Once she conquered the roller coaster, everything else was gravy to her.
Our biggest fear was her not making the height requirement.  But fortunately, she just barely made it at 36 inches.  And she's enough of a charmer to the attendants that they asked her to move her head up slightly to make sure they wouldn't get it in trouble.
And true to form among her peers, she was not ready to leave when the time came.  No sir.
But she'll be back.
Or maybe she'll be ready for Kennywood.



NEXT WEEK:  She's Ready