Next thing we got to in September (so you know how far behind I'm still running) was visiting ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger's parents. Their town was having a festival --- and the college in town having a homecoming that seemed like one to two months early --- and even better, they were willing to go to it. So after a little while in their home we drove the mile or so to downtown (not snarking on them here; I don't find that a long walk but I'm sure when I'm thirty years older I will) and started looking around.
The fair promised food and there was a lot of it. Almost all of it was barbecue, which none of the four of us were really up for. So we ended up walking around looking at all the grease trucks and finding somehow they're all doing ribs? Was this a ribfest mislabelled? We eventually found something but I don't remember what it was, just that it was at a place popular with swift-moving lines.
Then we walked up and down the main street in town, which had been blocked off for sidewalk sales and displays and such. bunnyhugger bought a cautious couple dollars' worth of Mexican(?) candies from one, to her later regret as if she'd known how much she'd liked them she'd have bought more. Along the way I discovered another historical plaque the town's erected to support its claim of being the origins of T-ball. And we got into a talk with some of the older ladies who're poll workers, looking for more people. As we don't live in that county, we were excused, but they did point out every county needs people. Unsaid, and maybe not meant by them, is especially now that Republicans are trying to end voting.
After this bunnyhugger's parents drove home. bunnyhugger and I figured to walk home, after we spent a little time on the carnival rides brought in. There was a roller coaster there, yes, a Go-Gater (do you get the pun? I did not) that kept closing down for repairs even in the short while we were there. We didn't go for a ride on it; if adults are even allowed on it, it's a very slight thing and we don't need every possible credit. Did like its cute alligator logo, though. And there was no carousel, if you can imagine.
They did, though, have a Heart Flip, a flat ride nearing extinction. It's a sort of rigid swing ride, with the twist that at the end of each arm is a heart-shaped cage with two seats, facing each other, and the riders can use it to twist themselves around as they're spinning. We thought hard about whether to ride it, although in the end we couldn't find any evidence that it was sized for grown-ups to sit in.
So instead we walked home, along the way discovering that that house with the smashed-in garage overhanging the river has finally had some work done to stabilize it. At least there was what looked like plywood walls covering the spot that had been wrecked. Since our understanding was that the city wasn't going to permit rebuilding the part overhanging the river we don't know what all was going on here. But since our understanding was also that the homeowner and the city were fighting over who to blame for this (it was one of the city's trees that smashed it) maybe something was worked out. More on this as it comes to pass.
Meanwhile in the past, here's the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for you to enjoy looking at.
And here's the Sea Serpent on the tracks, giving you a nice view of what's appealing about this small knee-banger of a coaster.
So this is what you see if you look at Wipeout! from the outside. It doesn't give any hint what's inside, which is part of the thrill of this sort of hidden ride.
And here's what you see if you go into Wipeout!. No on-ride pictures, of course, so you don't can't see the strobe effect or the ultraviolet-painted figures on the backdrop art.
Cute little sign pointing out where Sea Serpent is.
Sea Serpent photos includes a new model for the sea serpent, one that looks a bit more appealingly pudgy.
And here's how Sea Serpent looks from the station, peering out over the lower section of the boardwalk. You can see the kiddie-size drop tower in the background.
Trivia: Doctor Willard Bliss, physician in charge of President James Garfield's post-shooting care, blamed Garfield's death on a broken backbone, and not a massive blood infection. Source: Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President, Candice Milliard. Again, while he was more or less a doctor by 19th century standards, his first name was Doctor, because the 19th century was just like that, you know?
Currently Reading: The Tale That Wags The God, James Blish. Editor Cy Chauvin.
