What: Conquer the Thrill Hill
Where: 3rd St. South, St. Pete (just south of USF)
Must-Do? Says Who? The old Must-Do list (which suggests 34 mph). Too many drunk USF students to count. (Don’t drink and drive).
Casualties: Coccyxsphyxiation
Notable Quotable: “Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!â€
At first the Thrill Hill was elusive. In a moment of late-night inspiration, we hopped into the car at midnight with a need for speed—but we scrutinized the map and drove around and couldn’t find the Thrill Hill anywhere. We returned home defeated and out of gas. I was in tears.
The next day we made use of the sunlight and a few tips from key sources. We found Jannus Landing and eventually USF. But then we were screwed up by the one-ways. And then we got our cardinal directions confused, despite having a compass in our car (I should start trusting that thing). The problem was that we didn’t even know what we were looking for—every time we went over a bump we wondered if that had been the Thrill Hill. What was this “Thrill Hill†anyway? We became paranoid. What if it was all a ruse and we were being had. What if the Thrill Hill was just like the “swimming pool†on the fifth floor of my high school—the one that every freshman learns about every year from the upperclassmen, until they realize (some of them only upon graduation) that the school only has four floors.
This article appears in Aug 1-7, 2007.