2020 has definitely been a year of "ups and downs,” so it was only fitting for a man to build a roller coaster in his grandfather's yard in Rhode Island.
Elliot Ryan, 20, attends St. Michael’s College in Vermont. In March, he was sent home because of COVID, so he went to stay with his grandparents, where he spent the rest of the summer. That's when he decided to turn a dream into a reality.
Ryan asked his 83-year-old grandfather about the idea. "I asked my grandpa and he was like, 'Will you build it for me?' I said, 'sure,'”
His grandfather is Dr. Fred Silverblatt, who is a practicing doctor in South County and a professor of medicine at Brown University. He’s also a triathlon athlete, so the thought of a roller coaster to him sounded amazing."I am a very young 83,” said Silverblatt.
From April through August Ryan - who is studying to be a civil engineer - constructed the coaster. He purchased about $1,500 worth of lumber and nails to put it together, watched a lot of YouTube videos, and figured out how to do it.
The roller coaster is more than 100 feet long and runs on gravity. Grandpa was the first one to try it out.
"It was very exciting, probably more exciting than I anticipated," said Silverblatt. "I felt I fulfilled my duty to test it out and ride the roller coaster.""It’s actually pretty exciting that the initial drop was more than I was looking forward to. The rest of it was very, very smooth..."
"It was crazy," said Ryan. "I was a little nervous, I could tell he was a little nervous, but I knew it was going to be fun for him and fun for everyone to watch him do it."
Most important - it was FUN! Which is what is needed with the roller coaster of emotions everyone is having during these times.
