Looking back, taking stock, giving thanks...

It's been quite a year. I've had the honor to visit a number of parks across the country and get the word out about my book on a Pittsburgh area radio station. There's so much more ahead, but at this dark quiet Advent time, I think a look back at what I've seen would be quite fitting.

Silver Springs in Florida, "Nature's Amusement Park". While strolling through the area, I kept getting met with images of folks back in the 1950s who enjoyed the park in a different way than today's crowd. The place was exotic and rather dangerous back in the day. Imagine a typical 50s family, mom in crisp cotton and kids and dad decked out in their madras, dad with Kodak camera, kids with the Brownies, snapping pictures of creatures they'd never seen before. A safari of sorts only a few hours away from their space age, tri-level homes.

Hershey Park in PA. A chocoriffic wonderland -- the closest thing we'll probably ever have to Wonkaland.

Dorney Park, with a vintage carousel Ben remembered from his childhood back in Ohio. It had been transplanted at Dorney years ago. Ben's realization that it was indeed his childhood carousel was one of my most treasured moments thus far in my Cotton Candying.

Knoebel's. May just be my most favorite park to date. It almost taunts other parks in my mind, daring them to top it. They're remaking the Riverview Flying Turns ride, for cryeye!

Hoffman's Playland - small but sweet. The perfect park for a family treat (pardon the rhyming, but it just seemed right. You'd rhyme too if you visited Hoffman's).

Seabreeze Park -- the story behind its carousel is quite inspiring. Getting to venture INSIDE said carousel was magical.

Darien Lake in upstate New York has a wonder wheel-style Ferris wheel and an ancient plaster octopus in the lake. It's got a lot of "new" to it, but when I found these vintage touches, it made the park spring to life for me.

Arnold's Park -- A park that's had many a setback, but has always come back improved and saucy. Plus they have a rock and roll museum on the premises. I mean, come ON.

At this point in the year, it seemed that karma or the spirits that be or what have you told me that I needed to slow down or take stock or not be so cocky because they sent an actual flood which smacked us down about five grand. And so the Cotton Candying stood still for several months until...

Children's Fairyland! A fantastical storybook-themed park that holds true to its history. The puppet theatre alone is worth the journey.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk: a haunted mansion with some rocking FX, fried Twinkies and chocolate-covered bacon. These are a few of my favorite things. Oh -- and sea spray.

Silver Dollar City - where you can have a country Christmas with all the trimmings. And succotash. Can't forget the succotash.

Gotta thank God and all my angels and my Mom who sits on my shoulder from time to time for the drive and energy to continue the RoadTrip. And my most heartfelt thanks always goes to my sweetheart, my personal angel and playpal - my husband Ben, without whom none of this would be a reality. None. Not a stitch.

I must also thank all the people who generously contributed to my Kickstarter campaign, to help offset some of the travel expenses for next year's Cotton Candying. You are my spankin' new angels and I gratefully acknowledge you all!

It's been a tough year, especially with the aforementioned flood, but also career-wise (extreme highs and the quietest of lows) and Dad's health, which has made my focus stray a bit to say the least. But looking back and taking stock of my journeys I must say I accomplished all I set out to do, with a few exceptions. And what awaited me in the months after of the flood, when I really had no more funds for RoadTripping? One of my most favorite roles and shows to date: Drowsy in "The Drowsy Chaperone".

So it's Advent. And I'm amassing lists of all I've surveyed, embracing and keeping that which is good, and letting go of what has proven hurtful. Anticipation and wonder and love = good. Fear = bad and hurtful.

I suggest you give it a try, too. And a very blessed Advent season to you.

You could cook breakfast on the sidewalk

The mercury's rising into the low 90s today. It's the kind of day that Chicago is notorious for in the summer: hot, humid, sticky and crawling with people wearing baseball caps featuring the logo of their favorite team. I'm a Sox fan, but their caps are black, so I'd almost switch teams today, just so my brain doesn't melt from the super-heated sun-absorbing wool.

When we visited Dorney Park in Allentown, PA a few weeks back on a similarly steamy day, we truly considered attempting the flume ride: a guaranteed cool down from a bonafide super soaker descent into splashdom. However, since I didn't have a change of clothes (read: underwear. Mama doesn't "do" wet, craggy underwear) packed with me at the park, this was not to be.

I'll be a page from the Oprah magazine right now, where she beckons you to take in the inviting green freshness from a photo of a rainforest, the fragrance of field flowers in a meadow. Here's the Dorney Park flume ride in full sploosh.

Feel free to lose yourself in the sensation. The bonus: no craggy, wet underwear to deal with.

Ahhhhhhhhh.......

Mid-journey milestone!!

We're at the halfway point on the Cotton Candy RoadTrip, Park Number 20! Seabreeze is on Lake Ontario in Rochester, NY. They have their share of new coasters and such to keep the teens happy, and enough vintage charm to qualify as worthy in my book.

Hm. Seabreeze. Lake Ontario. Methinks I should pack my headband today, for keeping my wispy tresses out of my mouth. Nothing can wreck a day of Cotton Candying faster than pulling strands of hair out of your mouth while trying to sip from your Snoopy sippy.

Yes, I am a lady in her forties. Yes, I do own a Snoopy sippy cup. Pictured above (photo taken at Dorney Park, which is part of the Cedar Fair group that's taken on Peanuts as the company mascots), you'll see that his cap was a bit askew, in order to keep the drink inside from spilling out. Snoopy in da Hood. Snoopy gets Street.

Onward to Park 20, Parque Veinte, Parc Vingt, Park Dvadsať (that's Slovak).

So little to say, so much time... strike that. Reverse it...

Cotton Candying in earnest. Yesterday was all the chocolatey goodness one could eat, smell, see, even listen to, over at Hershey Park. A lovely place just teeming with rides of all sorts, a monorail (which Ben felt was better than Disney's because it took in a lot more of the park, rather than just one "land"), and the chocolate. On ice cream, featured in a dark ride (which you go through in a "Doom Buggy"-style vehicle while learning how Hershey's chocolate is made), and walking through the park for photo-ops. You'll see that Ben and I ran into little Hershey Kiss. She was delightfully sweet and we made fast friends.

Then today: Dorney Park which, depending upon who you talk to, is the oldest park, the second oldest park, or just one of a number of great vintage parks which opened in the 1890s. Today was HIGH SCHOOL FIELD TRIP DAY! The amount of unruly hormones wafting through the park made me swagger! A waterpark is attached to the amusement park, which makes for scads of scantily-clad teen girls romping from ride to ride, with throngs of teen boys literally falling over themselves to keep in close proximity.

So much more to tell... guess you'll just have to stay tuned!

The little engine who DID.

During our next Roadtrip, we'll visit six parks; Dorney Park in eastern PA will be our third of the bunch. Doing a little research this morning, I found this little snippet about one of Dorney Park's vintage rides, the Zephyr:


This miniature train takes riders on a scenic trip that ends where it begins. Added to the Park in 1935, the Zephyr helped Dorney Park survive the Great Depression. It is a one-of-a- kind train designed after the Burlington Zephyr--the first streamline train.

Imagine a family in the 30s with not "two dimes to rub together", as my Dad (who lived through the era) would put it. A special treat for the family might be a day spent at a nearby amusement park, to shrug off the effects of the Depression with a spin on the miniature railroad. And the park benefitted from the commerce that this "Little Engine Who Could" brought in.

In these tender economic times, I think a journey on this tiny locomotive might be just what many of us need.

What do Rosalind Russell and John Waters have in common?

You won't find much in the way of history lessons in my book. It's way more experiential in its scope; I'll touch upon some select historical facts and share stories from the folks who've worked there for eons, but I'll focus specifcally on how the park affects me at that particular moment in time.

Essentially, if you want the date when the carousel was razed or the exact year the park changed hands in the 50s, go look it up on the park's website or check out Wikipedia. Better yet, buy a book from the park's gift shop on its history.

Now, I do get geeked about a park being featured in film and television. So while I was researching Dorney Park, one of my upcoming Roadtrip stops, I came upon some delicious tidbits to share:

Dorney Park is featured as the park backdrop in the 1988 John Waters' film Hairspray. In the film, the character Franklin Von Tussle, played by Sonny Bono, owns an amusement park.

Also, the 1968 film, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows, starring Rosalind Russell and Stella Stevens, features scenes of Dorney Park including the old Alfundo entrance over the coaster, the Pirate's Cove (Bucket O' Blood), Journey to the Center of the Earth, the Scrambler, the Coaster (Thunderhawk), and other Dorney Park scenes.

Photo: Dorney Park entrance circa 1950s. Isn't it kickin'!?!?

The gears and cogs and wheels are schpinnin'! Roadtripping to resume!

And another tributary of the Roadtrip springs forth! At the end of May, skipping into the beginning of June, Ben and I will fearlessly leap into the eastern half of Pennsylvania, swoop into New York state, and I'll have six more parks under my belt (at least!) when all is said and written and done.

Almost in stone, the park list reads: Hershey Park (where Willy Wonka would party: Hershey kiss-shaped justabouteverything), Knoebel's (I've been told may have the best park food eh-vuh!), Dorney Park (I'm still learning more about it, but I know it's super old AND has a Camp Snoopy -- beagles galore!).

After whiling away in PA, we'll traipse up through the Catskills and on the way, stay at Kate's Lazy Meadow (if you haven't been paying attention -- it's owned by freakin' Kate Pierson of the B-52s, for cryeye, and it's resplendent in Mid-Century kitsch AND finery! Truly, a place after my own heart.). After bidding Kate "adieu", we'll hop up to Hoffman's Playland (a smaller kiddie park, reminiscent of Kiddieland in some ways), then start to edge on back west, but not before visiting the grandeur of Seabreeze Park and Darien Lake (heavenhelpme) in the same day!

So, where do you want me to buy you a snow globe? Cuz I'll do it.