Father-son roller coaster travels become memoir
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Charlie Gobel, a senior vice president at a major investment firm, recently published a memoir detailing their journey through 2010 and hundreds of coasters, "Flying with Frankie: Three Hundred Days in Amusement Parks Riding Roller Coasters with My Son." Journal entries are interspersed throughout the memoir, and Charlie includes many pictures of the two of them. There's plenty of personal information; although he never mentions his ex-wife by name, he gives her a lot of credit for letting them go on these trips and being very understanding. The two have a "great rapport now," says Charlie.
Read more from The Pascack Valley Community Life.
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A story that begins with a five-year-old being too short to ride a coaster but the dad letting him ride anyways? Blaming the ride operators for missing him?
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
As someone who has had mostly crappy family relationships, I think it's a nice story.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
I suspect you have never worked at an amusement park before, Vater.
It's not THAT big of a deal, I suppose. Perhaps this story would have been a lot shorter if he had fell out. lol
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
No, I haven't, and I'd like to think that even if I had, I wouldn't single that tidbit out of the story as something worth commenting on. But then I forget that as coaster enthusiasts, we should focus on everything but the enthusiasm for coasters.
I thought the story was really nice, too. I've been fortunate to have a close relationship with my folks, so the thought I had while reading it was that I hope my kids and I are that close when we're older. And just as importantly, that I'm not divorced...
LostKause said:
It's not THAT big of a deal, I suppose. Perhaps this story would have been a lot shorter if he had fell out. lol
There are so many times that I read comments on this site and think to myself, "I shouldn't laugh...that's so wrong..." and then I laugh anyway. This was one of those. Here I was, all feeling mushy and sentimental and wanting to buy this book, and then I start reading the comments...
"Look at us spinning out in the madness of a roller coaster" - Dave Matthews Band
Father-son stories get to me every time. Like you, Jeff, a background of mostly crappy family relationships probably fuels this, but I found it pretty touching. It can be difficult, to say the least, for a father to find ways to connect to a son he is terrified of losing contact with after going through a divorce, and I think this is actually a solution my brain would come up with if put into the same situation.
I'm the opposite. Father /Son stories piss me off because of my crappy non-relationship with my father. I have issues, I suppose. lol
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
Mine has never been great, which was kind of my point. I'm happy to see others have a better experience, especially in those negative circumstances. I feel even more strongly as I try to be a good dad.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
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