I'm a native of Virginia and I got my first taste of roller coasters at Kings Dominion. As a kid I feared them even more than broccoli or brussel sprouts, but everything changed when on a high school trip I was dragged onto the local legend known as the Grizzly. Somehow being scared to death sparked a strong interest in coasters and I haven't looked back since. Currently I've been to over 20 parks and ridden over 100 coasters. I have a coaster blog and I've just launched Coaster Portal. I'm also a contributor to Associated Content and a member of Blogcritics.org.