In 1992, I took the first of what would become an annual Amusement Park tour. That first year was the best - 45 parks in less than three weeks! The part that made it especially exciting was that every park was a new experience - they were all new to me. In that one trip, I got to experience Kennywood, Cedar Point, Coney Island, The Wildwoods, and several other parks on a first-time basis. The discoveries and wonder of that first trip has never been duplicated.
Since that first trip, several rides and even entire parks have been lost to the ravages of time. Parks such as Geauga Lake, Erieview, William's Grove and Hunts Pier have been closed down, while amusement areas such as Seaside Heights have sustained so much damage (due to Hurricane Sandy and a subsequent fire) that they may never recover. Meanwhile, Parks such as Conneaut Lake Park are barely hanging on for survival. I feel a certain tinge of nostalgia every time I read these stories, as a part of that first trip disappears under a bulldozer's blade. I felt it would be a good idea to document some of what was lost... Someone on the Internet may be looking for this info.
I'll start with one of the first parks I visited on that first trip, and one of the first coasters I rode. Nellie Bly Park is located in Brooklyn, NY and was named after groundbreaking female reporter Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, whose took the pen name Nellie Bly. She had quite a career as an investigative reporter. She faked insanity so she could be placed in the state mental institution in order to report on the squalid and cruel conditions there. She spent ten days in the institution enduring inhuman treatment before her newspaper got her out. As part of her investigations she worked in a box factory, got a job as domestic servant, and once even bought a baby as part of a report on the baby trade. Her big claim to fame, however, was a stunt she carried out in 1899 where she attempted to duplicate the trip portrayed in the book "Around the World in 80 Days." She completed it in 72 days, six hours and 11 minutes, setting a world's record and beating out another journalist from a competing paper. They are still trying to locate her luggage.
Nellie Bly Park in 1992
Nellie Bly Park used the "Around the World in 80 Days" as a theme for the Park. The Park opened in 1967 a was mostly a kiddie park, with the usual merry-go-round and circular rides. As the years went on, the park grew, adding an "Around the World in 80 Days" funhouse, go carts, bumper cars and the like. In 1982, they added the Flash Roller Coaster. The coaster operated until 1996 and the park itself closed at about 2006. Finding information on this park is not easy. Harder still was finding information on the roller coaster I rode when I was there. The Flash was originally a traveling roller coaster built around 1976 and designed by Arthur Lamkin. Nellie Bly bought for $100,000. After operating from 1982 until 1996, it sat unused until about 2000, where it was reportedly sold to a South American company. The Park eventually reopened as Adventurers Fun Park and is currently operating several of the original rides.
The basic layout of the Park from a more recent visit. Courtesy Jim McDonnell
This is the Haunted House from 1992. Unfortunately, when I experienced it, there were very little working stunts. At last report it was closed, awaiting renovation.
Me in the jail. Nellie Bly actually spent time in Mexico reporting on conditions there, and was almost arrested.
Classic fire truck ride. Courtesy Jim McDonnell
The Superslide! You will literally wet your pants on this one... Courtesy Jim McDonnell
The Flash Roller Coaster, from 1992. It had a unique square configuration. I've never seen another one like it.
Another picture of the Flash after it was closed down. From http://rcdb.com/ and Ken Denton.
Interior view of the Flash. As you can see, the hills weren't large. From http://rcdb.com/ and Ken Denton.
The Fun House. It celebrated the trip Nellie took around the world. It must have been a boring trip, because when I went through the fun house there were very few stunts.
Another view of the Fun House. Courtesy Jim McDonnell
The ungraded Haunted House, in 2005. Courtesy Jim McDonnell
Howdy, adventure seekers! In our last thrilling chapter, we had visited our last port-of-call on our Alaskan cruise and were now sailing towards Seattle, our home port. However, the adventures don't end there! I will now regale you with tales about the drive back home to Pomona, and the (arguably) fascinating stops along the way! Some of this may be broken out into Restaurant reviews, so that you can easily access them when planning your own trip up the coast. Hopefully, I can finish these vacation posts before summer...
Our first stop was in Puyallup, for the Western Washington Fair. The Puyallup Fair is one of the top ten fairs in the country, and a great place to spend an afternoon. The large assortment of food, rides and other attractions is enough to guarantee a full day. I could have literally eaten my way through the fairgrounds. They have some great barbecue venues and other tempting treats along the way. My travel partner's favorite was a booth that sold "the freshest ice cream in the world" and they meant it. They actually made scooped ice cream to order via a quick-freeze technique that I don't quite understand, so please don't ask me. I don't know, I tell you, so don't ask! Another treat found all over the fair was "Krusty Pups" which is just a fancy name for a corn dog.
However, the big item to eat at this fair is - believe it or not - a scone. That's right, a scone. To be more precise, a Fisher scone. Fisher has been selling scones at the fair since 1915. They bake the scones fresh at their booths, then lather each one with whipped butter and raspberry preserves. Fisher operates several scone booths throughout the fair, and every one of them has a line. They were delicious, but hardly enough to fill one up at the fair. But they make a delightful appetizer before I headed to the barbecue stand (of which there were several)
The other big attraction at the Puyallup Fair is the rides. They have a huge assortment of rides that take up a large part of the real estate. Many of them are unique, one-of-a-kind rides that you can't ride anywhere else. One example is Kersplash, which is pictured below. It's kind of a mix between a roller coaster and a flume ride.
They also have a classic 1917 PTC carousel that was originally a portable fairground carousel until it was permanently installed here. However, the piece de resistance is their wooden roller coaster. Originally built in 1935, it's the last wooden roller coaster to be found at a fairground and has been declared a Roller Coaster Classic by ACE. It is only open 21 days every year, making it a hard coaster for an out-of-towner like me to ride. The entire structure has recently been rebuilt, and the coaster is running better than ever. It's the most popular ride at the fair, attracting lines of almost 2 hours at the busiest times. It's hard to get a good picture of the coaster due to the many attractions around it, but here are a few...
Beyond the food and the rides, there were plenty of other attractions to keep you busy. My favorite was the sheep riding, where young kids pay money to try and ride a sheep, much like cowboys at a rodeo try to ride a bucking bronco. They don't stay on long, but it was entertaining to watch.
Once we were done with the fair, we began our trip down the coast towards home. We drove across the border into Oregon and stayed on the outskirts of Portland. The next stop would be Tillamook, home of the infamous Tillamook service station. I also heard that there may be some dairy goods there. Stay tuned, more to come!
Here is part two of my trip to Alaska. Fasten your safety belt, as we travel through three states in this installment. Four if you count my mental state...
We woke up bright and early and indulged in a breakfast of whatever we could find in the hotel lobby. I was lucky, I found a sandwich in someone else's suitcase. We then began the long drive along the Oregon / Washington border. We crossed into Washington at Kennewick, drove up into Spokane, crossed over into Idaho, entered Coeur d'Alene, and finally made it to Silverwood Theme Park.
Silverwood opened in 1998 and is Idaho's only amusement park. It started as an airfield and air museum and slowly transformed into a full-fledged amusement park and water park. It currently operates four roller coaster, including the original Corkscrew from Knott's Berry Farm, which was the first modern-day roller coaster to turn people upside down. It was great to see this piece of coaster history in action. It even still carried the scent of boysenberries.
The park contains two wooden coasters, which was the big reason I wanted to stop. I had ridden them both several years earlier and remember them as world-class coasters. First stop was Timber Terror, an out-and-back coaster built in 1996. I strapped myself into the front seat (my personal favorite), the operator released the brake, and I began my ride.
Approximately two minutes later, I dragged myself from the front seat and crawled to the exit. It seems that they have not put much maintenance into the ride since 1996. This resulted in a very rough ride. Through the second half of the ride I had lifted myself from the seat to avoid the punishment to my spinal column. Once I exited, I straightened my back and headed for the larger of the two coasters, Tremors. Apparently I am either a glutton for punishment or a slow learner.
Tremors was built in 1999 and quickly jumped onto many coaster enthusiasts' top ten list. I rode it when it first opened and loved it. The coaster was fast and unrelenting and passed through four tunnels along the way, including one that is visible through the gift store's glass floor. This time, I approached with some trepidation. Would I be spending the rest of my trip in a neck brace? Hopefully they had spent some money on maintenance. Here's a video of the ride in motion, including a point-of-view shot of the entire ride.
I am happy to report that the ride was rideable. Not as smooth as I remembered, but definitely less rough than the previous coaster. The rest of the Park was very enjoyable, though unmemorable... Except for the ice cream. They have an ice cream place called the Creamery that makes HUGE ice cream cones... and the ice cream is delicious. A double scoop weighed in at over a pound. I had Huckleberry Heaven and Maui Wowee. The Maui Wowee was a blend of tropical flavors that was perfect on a warm day. I still dream about that place.
We soon left Idaho and had dinner in Spokane, in a historic diner called Frank's. In 1931 Frank Knight bought an old observation railcar that had been used as a Presidential railcar in its last years. he converted it to a diner and opened it in Seattle. When he lost their lease, he moved the whole works to Spokane, and continued to operate in the same railcar. While the railcar was beautiful, the food was rather ordinary. Not highly recommended by Joefood. However, they have been voted the #1 breakfast in Spokane for the last 14 years, so you may want to try them if you are in Spokane for breakfast someday.
We ended up spending the night in Ritzville, Washington, in one of the top-rated Best Western hotels in the country. Ritzville is a town well-known for its great Best Western's. Besides that, there is nothing to see in Ritzville.
Stay tuned for part three. I know I am in suspense...
I'll start with one of the first parks I visited on that first trip, and one of the first coasters I rode. Nellie Bly Park is located in Brooklyn, NY and was named after groundbreaking female reporter Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, whose took the pen name Nellie Bly. She had quite a career as an investigative reporter. She faked insanity so she could be placed in the state mental institution in order to report on the squalid and cruel conditions there. She spent ten days in the institution enduring inhuman treatment before her newspaper got her out. As part of her investigations she worked in a box factory, got a job as domestic servant, and once even bought a baby as part of a report on the baby trade. Her big claim to fame, however, was a stunt she carried out in 1899 where she attempted to duplicate the trip portrayed in the book "Around the World in 80 Days." She completed it in 72 days, six hours and 11 minutes, setting a world's record and beating out another journalist from a competing paper. They are still trying to locate her luggage.
