Roller Coaster

Don't let the summertime blues knock you for a loop this season. A trip to one of the region's amusement parks could give you the lift you've been looking for. Thrill-seekers can find adventure by trying a new roller coaster. Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va., is unleashing a snow beast called Alpengeist, billed as the world's tallest, fastest, most twisted inversion roller coaster. Steel Force, called the tallest, longest and fastest steel roller coaster on the East Coast, opens this season at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa. Adventure World in Largo, Md., is introducing a water thrill ride called Typhoon Sea Coaster.

Elizabeth slowly climbs the hill, staring at the ever- approaching summit. As she reaches the peak, she has but a moment to look down before she is dragged over the edge into a free-fall. Her mouth seems almost full with her stomach. Sound like a twisted horror story, or an adventure packed action thriller? Or perhaps a roller coaster ride? Most of us have experienced the utter terror and excitement of a high-speed thrill ride. "I'm always terrified until I reach that first hill, but then I love it and that whole adrenaline feeling," says 16-year-old Cherie.

Dutch Wonderland Where : 2249 U.S. 30 east, Lancaster, Pa. Highlights : This park in the heart of Lancaster County's Pennsylvania Dutch Country features several rides for all ages, including The Joust, a roller coaster for beginners. Open : Weekends only - Today, May 12 and 13, 19 and 20; Daily - Saturday, May 26, through Monday, Sept. 3; Fall weekends - Sept. 8 and 9, 15 and 16, 22 and 23, 29 and 30, and Oct. 6 and 7 Admission : $23.95 - Ages 7 to 59 $18.95 - Ages 3 to 6 $16.95 - Ages 60 and older Free - Ages 2 and younger Season passes, preview plans and evening rates are available.

They built a mini-roller coaster out of "trash" and wrote a skit about an elephant who finds a young butterfly and feeds it milkweed - only to discover the butterfly is lactose intolerant. Imagination ruled the day at the Boonsboro Education Complex Saturday as students from around Western Maryland competed in Destination Imagination. The contest promotes teamwork and creativity by assigning teams of students loosely worded tasks and problems. Some students had to build things, some had to write and perform stories or musicals, and others did a combination of both.

July's weather went without scalding By ANDREA BROWN-HURLEY / Staff Writer Tri-State area residents rode a record-breaking cool weather roller coaster in July. Temperatures dipped into the high-60s, drifted into the 70s, and shot into the mid-to-upper 80s, but for the first time in more than a century the mercury in July never reached the 90-degree mark. Since record-keeping began here in 1898, there has never been a July without any 90-degree days, according to Hagerstown Weather Observer Greg Keefer.

In a world of peer pressure, hormone-driven teens and harsh rumors, one girl always stood out. In Melvin Burgess's book "Sara's Face," that girl is Sara Carter. Sara is a girl with a dream, and she will do almost anything to get it. After meeting the monstrously famous Jonathon Heat, notorious for his addiction to plastic surgery, she embarks in an obsessive quest for beauty, love and fame. But along the way, she finds a ghost, hidden secrets in Heat's extravagant mansion and a mysterious door.

Zero 7 is a downtempo duo made up of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker from the United Kingdom. Zero 7's past albums seemed to hold no surprises - they basically held the same mood throughout the album. They just released their third album, called "The Garden. " The CD features 12 new tracks, featuring vocals by Swedish star Jos Gonzlez and Sia Furler as well. On this album, the world sees Zero 7 taking a more upbeat musical direction, yet at the same time, maintaining their originally mellow and chill sound.

Rant In Hagerstown, we have been on a roller coaster of wild weather. A week ago, it was 60 degrees. Last Thursday, I got in the car to go to school and discovered that I couldn't see the road through the frost on the windshield. Even when it has been cold for a couple of days - anytime the sky hints at precipitation - it instantly becomes Florida weather and starts to rain. As of yet, we have had just a few flurries that amounted to nothing. I don't know if cows are causing this crazy weather or if it's global warming, but I want it to stop.

What's new at area Amusement Parks By KEVIN CLAPP kevinc@herald-mail.com Fly like a bird. Visit the Emerald Isle. Get scooped up in a Talon. Launch toward outer space. At regional amusement parks, you can do all of this and more as the 2001 season prepares to blast off in a flurry of activity and variety. continued Unlike concerts, trips to the beach and other summertime activities, an amusement park packs a wildly divergent punch that holds something for everyone.

Etchings and summer memory jars were some of the works of art submitted for Pulse's 2007 student art contest. Images of the winning art were published Tuesday, Nov. 13, in Pulse, The Herald-Mail's weekly teen section. Here are some more of the 31 entries. All of these were created by students of art teacher Shelly Rohrbaugh at Heritage Academy west of Hagerstown. Three of the images, the vases of flowers, are etchings. The students drew the vases and flowers and outlined them with thick black marker, Rohrbaugh said.

Name: Robin Murphy Age: 49 City in which you reside: Sharpsburg Day job: Administrative associate in the Graduate Studies & Continuing Education Division, Shepherd University Book title: "Secret of the Big Easy" Genre: Paranormal Mystery Publisher: Self-published Price: $12.95 Synopsis of book: Dr. Marie Bartek struggles to gain control over the new psychic abilities she experiences while...

Amid the bags of ice, cases of two-ply toilet tissue and stacks of lumber being delivered to Washington County businesses, there are signs of economic revival, but uncertainty, too. Small businesses - more than 85 percent of the roughly 3,500 companies in the county - are gradually increasing their orders of many kinds of products, according to interviews with several suppliers. “I would think we're past the bottom and on the way up,” said Richard Weiss, president of Weiss Bros., a Hagerstown-based company that supplies food-service products to about 500 companies in the region.

Bonnie Amalfitano was the mother of four children, but by all accounts, she was a mother to many more in the community, known for feeding and providing emotional support to many of her children’s friends. “Our house was open to all their friends. That’s how she wanted it,” said Bonnie’s husband, Dr. Thomas “Tom” Amalfitano. “We keep hearing, ‘I always loved going to your house.’ “Bonnie was a big giver. Parents knew their kids were safe here ... Literally hundreds of kids have slept here,” Tom said of their Fountainhead North home.

If the greatest gift life can give a woman is children, then at least one Hagerstown mom got a bundle of pure joy for Mother’s Day Sunday. “All the little moments I’ve experienced with my daughter, now I get to experience with my son,” Ericka Santana of Hagerstown said, beaming, despite her exhaustion. Santana gave birth to her second child, Jeremiah Emanuel Monzon, at 8:37 a.m. on Sunday at Meritus Medical Center. Cradling the 7-pound, 2-ounce boy in her arms, Santana characterized her morning as intense.

Yes, the unofficial summer season began several weeks ago, but this weekend is the real deal. Astronomically speaking, summer begins at 1:45 a.m. Sunday, June 21. Go to bed Saturday night in late spring; wake up Sunday morning in summer. So, in the 93 days and 16 hours until the beginning of autumn (just before dinner on Tuesday, Sept. 22), what will you do? Lifestyle staff, interns and columnists have put together a list of 101 suggested projects, day trips, adventures and other activities.

Our family had a melancholy start to this week. In the predawn hours of Monday morning, my daughter's rabbit succumbed to a respiratory infection that he acquired last week while I was at a teachers' convention. Mother guilt hit me in waves. The rabbit was fine before I left. Perhaps I couldn't have done anything to save him, but I could have been there to comfort my daughter. It was especially rough when I called home Saturday afternoon and she cried over the phone to me. "Mommy, I don't know what's wrong with Snowball.

FAYETTEVILLE, PA. After a day of Native American headdress making, teepee building, face painting, magic show watching, corn grinding, stage acting, theater touring and cultural learning, the only thing 9-year-old Nathan Haugh of Waynesboro, Pa., could think to make the 2008 Totem Pole Playhouse Family Fun Fest even better was a roller coaster. And maybe a clown. While the Totem Pole Playhouse did not book a coaster or a clown for its seventh annual festival, the jam-packed event on Saturday kept children and parents entertained, fed and educated for hours.

FAYETTEVILLE, Pa. -- After a day of Native American headdress making, teepee building, face painting, magic show watching, corn grinding, stage acting, theater touring and cultural learning, the only thing 9-year-old Nathan Haugh of Waynesboro, Pa., could think to make the 2008 Totem Pole Playhouse Family Fun Fest even better was a roller coaster. And maybe a clown. While the Totem Pole Playhouse did not book a coaster or a clown for its seventh annual festival, the jam-packed event on Saturday kept children and parents entertained, fed and educated for hours.

Etchings and summer memory jars were some of the works of art submitted for Pulse's 2007 student art contest. Images of the winning art were published Tuesday, Nov. 13, in Pulse, The Herald-Mail's weekly teen section. Here are some more of the 31 entries. All of these were created by students of art teacher Shelly Rohrbaugh at Heritage Academy west of Hagerstown. Three of the images, the vases of flowers, are etchings. The students drew the vases and flowers and outlined them with thick black marker, Rohrbaugh said.

The Treasure Sale at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts plays out like a roller coaster ride of a high-end flea market. Buyers begin excited, expectant and a little guarded, and end up unfurled, grinning and shrieking with delight. The annual fundraiser sale is hosted by the Singer Society, the museum's volunteer association. Area businesses and individuals donate new and used items for the event. The Treasure Sale opens each year with a Friday night preview. For $10, attendees get to scope out items of interest over food and drink.