And I always feel like somebody's watching me

[austin_dern]

At our Other Pinball League meeting last month one of our friends (from that and from First League) mentioned he was going to Cedar Point the next weekend. That gave us a weird little moment of disorientation, the kind you get when you first notice a dream is going awry, because we were planning to go to Cedar Point the next weekend. It took me some time to be quite sure that no, it was us who were planning to go to Halloweekends. We made plans to see about meeting up there, maybe play a little pinball in the row of old electromechanicals in the Casino arcade, and felt good about the coincidence.

While driving to Sandusky on a day that started overcast and a little rainy, it suddenly got dark and very rainy. It could have been worse; it got rainy enough to require slowing down and to consider the hazard lights in a part past some major construction. Our friend had got caught in the severest rain in the midst of a stretch where the highway had dropped to one lane, with no room to maneuver in case of emergency. The weather would lighten up, but it would still be cold and on the verge of raining, making for a very light attendance day --- great, if you're hoping to catch rides or the extremely popular Halloween attractions.

We were staying at the Hotel Breakers, traditional and also a bit of a farewell this time: the hotel is undergoing major renovations that are going to see the demolition of the Twin Wing and the Bel Aire Wing, some of the more historic rooms and the ones we always stay in because they're cheapest. So part of our mission was to photograph as much of these doomed areas as we could. Sadly we couldn't get a room in the Twin Wing. It's got only a couple of rooms, and they're majestically outdated, with painted-over transoms and only two electrical outlets in the room, both connected to the light switch so if you use that you turn off the room's alarm clock. We were in the Bel Aire Wing, and that's not quite as ripped-from-the-70s as it used to be --- it was renovated just two years ago, making its slated demolition the more confusing --- and we could soak up that experience anyway.

Trivia: Vanadium was first discovered by Andrés Manuel del Rico at Mexico City in 1801. It was next discovered by Nils Gabriel Selfström a Falun, Sweden, in 1831. (I believe the discovery has since stuck.) Source: Molecules At An Exhibition: The Science Of Everyday Life, John Emsley.

Currently Reading: The End Of War, Jon Horgan.

Comments

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

That's the Bon Air wing you mean, love. For your readers, I'll note that although not original to the hotel it manages to be historic in its own right, having been built in the 1920s.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is the Bon Air wing and if I'd thought about it a moment I'd have realized of course it was that.

Curiously the fairly detailed park history panels in the hotel don't give any hint when the Bon Air wing was added. It's just ... a thing which, suddenly, came into existence, at some point unknown to human agency.