I'm thinking, wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time

[austin_dern]

Believe it or not I'm not finished describing all the stuff we did over the summer. I'm getting there, though.

We only really got to one county fair this season, although there's kind of a footnote to that we'll get to. That fair wasn't the Ingham County one (where Lansing is) or the one we got to last year, but instead, Jackson County's. This is a much bigger fair than the others in the area, and bunny_hugger had noted the last time she was there --- incredibly, a decade ago --- they'd had a roller coaster. It had been a couple weeks from the end of our Pennsylvania Parks Tour, but it's not like we were worn out of riding new roller coasters.

Unfortunately, the Jackson County Fair didn't have a roller coaster. The nearest it had was a Ring of Fire, which is a vertical loop with a train of cars that rocks back and forth and upside-down. She hadn't ridden that before, on the grounds that it looks horrifying, but I was up for it and she gave it a try too. I'm not sure I'd try it again, partly because you spend a good time hanging upside-down in restraints that are ... well, big foam-padded metal bars which I know rationally are secure but don't feel very comfortable. The ride operator on the Ring of Fire managed some pretty cool Pennsylvania Parks moves by hopping across the ride while the cars were slowing down to their final stop, though.

The Fair also had a surprising number of funhouses --- at least four, I believe --- with some great fairground artwork. One I particularly liked had as details a train schedule listing various fictional places such as Hogwart's and Piscataway.

We went to the fair with bunny_hugger's parents, and spent a lot of the day walking around, evaluating different elephant's ears, and watching her father compare the rabbits on display for their size relative to our own pet rabbit. Also talking back to the goats, who were awfully good in chattering in amusing ways.

The only ride we had a ridiculously long wait for, and it was a ridiculously long wait, was ... I forget the name of the ride class, but it's on Casino Pier nowadays as the Super Storm. This had a mob in front of it, and I guessed it was something like ten ride cycles ahead of us and was shocked to be right. It's a great ride, swinging people on a huge pendulum while also rotating them around that pendulum axis, with flashing lights for part of the ride; it's just embarrassing that we forced bunny_hugger's parents to wait through all that line. We didn't think it'd be that long.

Trivia: The initial, 1950, federal Disaster Relief Act authorized the President to spend only five million dollars. Source: The Culture of Calamity: Disaster and the Making of Modern America, Kevin Rozario.

Currently Reading: From Approximately Coast To Coast ... It's The Bob And Ray Show, Bob Elliot, Ray Goulding.

Comments

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

Technically they did have a roller coaster, but it was a kiddie coaster, an Orient Express, and I wasn't quite ready to credit-whore myself enough to get on it.

Also, I had too ridden a Ring of Fire prior to this. I had ridden one at, I think, the Ionia Free Fair, and if it wasn't there, then maybe the Ingham County Fair. Wherever it was, I told you all about how terrifying it was and how I swore I'd never do it again, but that if you really wanted to I'd do it again this time but just for you. I'm sorry, but I have to make this correction for my pride.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

You're right, you're right. I had gotten muddled the notion that you didn't want to ride it unless I insisted and the notion you hadn't ever wanted to ride it.

And I am glad you did ride it with me, since it was a wild ride, and it was fun sharing with you, even if I don't necessarily plan on riding it again myself.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

The pendulum-claw ride in question was, here, called Freak Out. It was like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH3NdfccV0Y

The ride cycle they had it on was incredibly short (understandably given the line), but the spectacle of lights including strobe lights was great and added to both the ride and the spectator experience.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that video gets across the big motion moves that make the ride pretty great. We didn't have as long as ride as in the video, but, it's a fun ride especially with the light flashing like that.