While leaving Winco...

I stopped at Winco today to buy a Halloween pumpkin.   As I was leaving I passed by the crane machines they have in the lobby.   I noticed that they were fully of Halloween-themed stuffed toys - mummys, monsters, and the like.   Then I took another closer look...

Sure enough, there among the monsters was Obama's head.   Now, I would think that politically-themed decapitated heads were scary enough, but I would have thought that Romney's people would have demanded equal time for Romney's head.  After all, the election is coming up.   I took another look, and sure enough, there in the corner was Romneys' head.  

I'm hoping this becomes a trend.   I'll be more willing to spend money on a crane machine if it was full of the decapitated heads of our political leaders.   Of course, fifty cents is a bit too much to pay for one of their heads...

Alaska Trip, Part Too

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...

Alaskan Trip, Part Won

I recently returned from a seven-day cruise of Alaska...   At least as much as you can see on a seven-day cruise, which is relatively small.   Basically, you are visiting the panhandle.  But what a beautiful panhandle!   I came back refreshed, inspired and about fifteen pounds heavier ...and whatever weight I gained, my bank account lost.   I promised I would give you the details of the trip, so without further ado, here they are!

DAY ONE:   We had decided to drive up to Seattle to and enjoy the sites on the way there and back.   My plan was to leave at about 2:00 AM and get in a lot of driving before it got dark.   Well, we did leave at 2:00...   PM.   I really have to start packing earlier.

We drove up interstate 5 and stopped for in Santa Nella for lunch at Pea Soup Anderson's, which is known far and wide for their kitzy Danish architecture.  I had pea soup, which I believe is the only time in my life I have eaten a meal without any sort of meat involved.    We continued driving until we reached Corning, which seemed as good a place as any to spend the night.


Pea Soup Anderson's in Santa Nella. 

DAY TWO:  After a rousing breakfast in the Best Western hotel lobby (we stayed at Motel 6),  we continued up Route 5 into Oregon.  Oregon is a odd state.   They have a state law that states you can't pump your own gas.   They have attendants that pump it for you, and one of them, I swear this is true, actually washed my windshield.   I wish I had my camera ready.

Lunch was at Heaven on Earth Restaurant and Bakery.  It's in Azalea, a little past Grant's Pass, in  the middle of nowhere.   The place looks deserted, and I almost didn't stop since it looked abandoned.   But I couldn't pass up the sign on the side of the building: "Home of the World Famous Cinnamon Rolls." 

We pulled off the interstate, parked in the dirt lot and walked in.   I was met by the hugest assortment of baked goods I have ever had the pleasure of seeing in my life.   And they were all HUGE.   Cakes, cookies, jams and jellies, bread, and the biggest cinnamon rolls I have ever seen.  Literally, the biggest one is the size of a round cake. 

 

We were greeted by a seemingly pleasant lumberjack and taken to our table.  We were the only ones in the place besides Lumberjack Jim.  At this point, I remembered the Yelp review I read before we went in: "Good setting for a horror movie"   I didn't see any copies of To Serve Man around, so I got comfortable and ordered lunch.  

We had the turkey dinner and a hot roast beef sandwich.  The food, to put it mildly, was fabulous.   Everything was homemade, from the mashed potatoes to the huckleberry lemonade that was currently in season.  The turkey was just like Thanksgiving dinner; carved pieces straight off the bone.   For dessert, I had a huckleberry cobbler that was delicious, and we took with us some cinnamon rolls, lemon cake and cookies.   These desserts would later suffer an ignominious fate, but more on that later.

We continued driving up through Portland, then took a right turn onto Route 84 east.   There's an amusement park in Coeur d'Alene that I wanted to visit, and since we were in the neighborhood, I decided to take a side trip to Idaho.  We drove through Hood River (a party town if I've ever seen one) and ended up at The Dalles.   The name of the city comes from the French word dalle, meaning either "sluice" or "flagstone" and referring to the columnar basalt rocks carved by the river (thank you, Wikipedia).  Here, we had a delicious dinner of Chicken McNuggets (it was late), and settled down for a good night's sleep. 

NEXT:  Look for the story of the Backbreaking Roller Coaster Ride, the Great Luggage Relay and ignominious fate of our cinnamon rolls, all in the next thrilling chapter!   Plus, we finally get on the boat!

The World's Funniest Joke

Sorry I've been lax in posting lately...   I took a three week vacation (which I will soon be boring you with pictures from) so I'm a little behind.   While I unpack, enjoy Fozzie Bear telling the World's Funniest Joke...

Recreating "America Sings"

One of my favorite lost attractions at Disneyland was the show "America Sings."  This show, housed in the old Carousel of Progress Building, premiered in 1974 as Disneyland's salute to the country's bicentennial.  The show stayed there until 1988, when it was closed down and most of the characters moved to Splash Mountain.  For you younguns' who don't remember the show, here are video links to the show.

Here's part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lssN5C0fOo&feature=relmfu

and part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lssN5C0fOo&feature=relmfu

Now comes along James Lopez, a Disney animator who is an uber-fan of the attraction. In fact, James is such an fan that he is spending most of his free time creating an animated version of the attraction!   Check out the video below of the opening scene... it's obviously a work in progress, but there is some great finished animation in there:
Animated version of Disneyland's 'America Sings' Attraction (Act 1) from James Lopez on Vimeo.

Interesting trivia about the ride:

• Two singing geese were removed from the attraction two years before it was closed.   Their feathers were stripped and they became working droids in the Star Tours pre-show.  One of them was still singing a modified version of "I've been Working on the Railroad," while he worked on the starspeeders.
• This attraction was a Disneyland exclusive, and was never built at any other Disney Park.
• The rock and roll stork from the attraction is now housed at Imagineering, where it is used as a kind of final exam in the training of new programmers.

• There were 114 animated characters on this attraction, the most audio-animatronic characters ever assembled for a Disney attraction.
• Del Monte was the original sponsor.
• For the morbidly curious, yes, someone actually was killed on this ride.   For the details go to http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/amersing.asp   I ain't discussing that here.

"Goodbye, until next post" goes the weasel!

Travels with Joe - Lesson learned

Last year, I took a cruise to Alaska.   When I travel, I try to dress as comfortably as possible.  After all, I wear tie to work every day, so why would I want to dress up while on vacation?   I ignored the advice of everyone I know, who told me to be sure to take at least one nice set of dress clothes, and packed nothing but jeans and t-shirts.  I even called the cruise line, Norwegian, and asked if there was anywhere I couldn't go dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.   "No, you're fine," said the Norwegian who answered the phone.   "We are the Free-Style cruise!"
Well, day three out on the ocean, and I am invited to dine at the captain's table.   Remembering the advice of the Norwegian on the phone, I came dressed in my regular attire (This night, it was a Conneaut Lake Park t-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers).  As you can tell from the photo below, I kinda stood out.  In fact, half way through the meal, one of the ladies asked me if I needed to get back down into the engine room and stoke the boilers.  Lesson learned. 

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Super Chicken

I've ben trying to post a Super Chicken adventure since I started this blog, but it's hard to find a good-looking copy posted on the internet.   I am finally giving up and am posting the best copy I can find of "Wild Ralph Hiccup" first broadcast in 1967.   Super Chicken was a component of the "George of the Jungle" TV show, produced by the legendary Jay Ward.  Ward had previously produced "Rocky and Bullwinkle" with a Mexican animation studio and was never completely satisfied with the sloppy animation of that series.   He produced "George of the Jungle" completely in Hollywood, which caused the entire project to go overbudget.   This ended up being Ward's last television series.   He ended his animation career by producing commercials for Cap'n Crunch and other breakfast cereals.   Pull up a a bowl of Quisp (or Quake, if you prefer) and watch "Wild Ralph Hiccup."   Enjoy!