Chance Encounters at CP?

Has anyone ever had a chance encounter at CP where you run into someone you wouldn't expect to see there? Being a local, there are certain other local friends of ours that we see occasionally to often, but yesterday afternoon at the park I ran into two former high school classmates of mine (they married after college) and their family. I grew up (and they still live) three hours away, so it's not like bumping into Sandusky area residents over there. We were both eating lunch at Johnny Rockets at the same time and were both assigned outdoor seating. I probably wouldn't have even recognized them if not for their son wearing a shirt with his last name across the back. They have a unique name that I've never seen since high school, so it initially caught my eye and then I recognized the wife's face. Small world!

Speaking of small world - I do recall back in high school hearing the horror story of one classmate who ran face to face into -- shall we say a "less popular" teacher over a holiday break at Disney World. As the teacher told the story, it was an amazing and incredible coincidence, (but as the classmate's facial expression told the story, it was her worst nightmare!)

Has anyone else had a chance encounter like this?

Eh, the world is only so big...

I can't go to NYC without passing someone on the street that I know from somewhere else.

And one time years ago we were at WDW over thanksgiving and we ran into very close friends in front of the Castle. We knew they were going to be there, but they had no idea we had decided to go at the last minute. At one point we even said "I wonder where Jerry and Jackie are..." (this was way before cell phones were invented). But as we were getting their picture taken we looked to the left and there they were doing the same thing.

I don't know how peculiar it is to run into someone who lives in Ohio up at Cedar Point. A whole lot of us go at least once a year. And if you are local and go frequently that would only increase the chance.

My brother, and I back in high school took off one Saturday to go train watching. We are both train geeks, and oddly enough, we are now both locomotive engineers. Anyway, back to the point. We ended up in Chicago, which we most definitely did not tell our parents was our destination, as it wasn't originally planned to be. We just ended up there. We ran into the principal of our high school downtown at the old North Pier shopping/entertainment complex, which normally wouldn't have been an issue, except that our mother happened to be a teacher at our school as well. Needless to say we told them about our adventures as soon as we got home that evening. They weren't even mad. Looking back on things, they gave us a LOT of freedom. But I think that they knew we weren't out raising hell/causing trouble. We were out chasing trains, and exploring the world around us. It is definitely one of the reasons why we are both walking maps to this day.

How far away from Chicago did you start? And when you say "train watching" and "out chasing trains" what do you mean by that? I gather that it involved riding the rails, but was this just a random train hopping/stow away sort of thing or something else?

When I left my contract in July of 2013; (due to personal reasons), the head rides manager and I didn't end on good terms. I was at the park on Memorial Weekend and that Saturday afternoon, I ran into her on my way to the waterpark. It was kind of awkward, but it turned out ok.

Also that same weekend, I saw an old family friend at my hotel in Huron, Ohio. Well ironically, I get up the next day and go to breakfast, and there he was with his wife three tables away from me. He is from my hometown and used to be a lifeguard at Soak City/Cedar Point Shores, but I forget what year(s). Joe Gotchal if anyone remembers him, that's who it is.

Train watching, chasing trains, etc., is just a hobby, much like roller coasters. Such people are known as railfans, or train enthusiasts. The extreme fans are called foamers. It is a multi-faceted hobby. Some people are railroad photographers. Others document the engine numbers, number of cars, time location, direction, and train symbol of every train they see. Some people are into the historical aspects of railroading, and belong to historical societies, or work with museums, restoring, and/or operating historic pieces of equipment. And some people are just content to watch trains roll by without doing a damn thing other than watching. We were the photograph, watch, and ride type. As to the question of how far Chicago was from home, it is only a 3 1/2 hour drive. We were in South Bend on this particular day, with the intended purpose of photographing Grand Trunk Western, and Conrail, and ended up riding a South Shore passenger train into the windy city purely on a whim, simply because the station was less than a mile away.