Pretty Much a Continuation of my Last Post.

Mom said, "It always rains on Good Friday." Now, if you look at that logically, you can blow a big hole in that statement because it's impossible to be raining everywhere in the world on one day, even if it's just a small smattering of rain. But it IS odd that most Good Fridays do have at least a soupcon of precipitation.

Today's no exception. And sadly, it's also not the exception of most of this week's weather, with the exception of yesterday which was divinely sunny. I visited my Dad at the Arms and we colored and decorated Easter eggs. I walked the dog. No, we didn't walk, we scampered. And eventually broke into a full-out trot.

But today is ultra-gloomy and dank, probably the worst day of the whole week weather-wise. Maybe that's because it's also Good Friday, which is a somber, contemplative day. But, as positive as I try to be, I must also be realistic.

This. weather. sucks.

I've had several park trips get dampened by rain. Let's see: Nelis' Dutch Village, Storybook Gardens, Waldameer, Conneaut Lake (2nd visit), Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Santa Monica Pier. But I still did manage to enjoy our time there and get some good writing done. So it's not all bad.

But it could be a whole lot better right now.

Prayers and white light.

Sending prayers and white light to all those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Heard on the news that the West Coast will be affected, as far north as Oregon. Sending some extra prayers and light to all my pals at Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Santa Monica Pier's Pacfiic Park, and San Diego's Belmont Park.

Peace.

Vintage Fortune Teller Machines: Face Time with Zoltar.

My hubby is 43 years old. Going on about 11. And he's the absolute best partner to have with me on my Roadtrips.

Whenever we come across the mechanical fortune tellers at vintage parks, I always have my picture taken with them, plunking in my quarter to receive my reading for the day. A few times the machine greedily eats up my coin and I never receive the fortune, even after shaking the aforementioned fortune teller, which probably doesn't set up the very best vintage amusement park karma. I picture a secret society of mechanical fortune tellers, with an annual fortune teller ball where they all meet up and swap stories. A throng of Estrellas, Esmereldas and Grandma Fortune Tellers converge on some seaside amusement park, settling into tight little groups, and chat about which tarot cards show up in their never-changing displays, how their mechanical parts need oiling and maintenance (but seldom get it), and compare notes on that peculiar woman with the cat eyeglasses and vintage sweaters who is at once thoroughly respectful of their history and supremely irritable when she doesn't receive her fortune card, shaking the whole fortune teller booth before walking away with a scowl.

Santa Monica's Pacific Park has an actual Zoltar machine.Although it was a slickery cold day, I made sure Ben had some alone time with the mystical seer, much like Tom Hanks' character in "Big" - a film which is not only one of Ben's favorites, but one Ben can often relate to, being a Very Tall Boy. For those of you who are curious, the amusement aprk used for the film is New York's Rye Playland, a park which will be visited later on for my Cotton Candy Roadtrip.

Oh -- I'm fortysomething going on 12 or so. A Very Tall Girl.

Someone just bought an amusement park...

A real estate trust from Florida just bought Pacific Park for $34M, the amusement park that resides on the Santa Monica Pier. The park which will be #27 on my Cotton Candy Road Trip. The park brings in lots of money, but is also expensive to maintain, with paint alone costing $200,000 a year.

I know the park will continue to be run by Santa Monica Amusements so I'm not worried. But the sale brings with it just another reminder as to why I'm doing this book: these parks and their spirit are more important than the almighty dollar. If the money was right, if the new owners, CNL Lifestyle Properties Inc, thought they'd like to go in "a different direction" with the property, the park and it's rides could all be sold and the Pier could turn into a modern day "Pottersville", complete with strip clubs and juke joints and shady women.

Think about it; it really could. Sometimes a park comes very close to becoming a plot of land used for condos (almost Arnold's Park's fate) or a shiny new Costco (Kiddieland's sad fate.)

So I'm relieved this park will carry on. And not just because I'll be visiting it within the next month or so. Imagine if it didn't survive and I pulled up to the gates and had a Wally World moment...

My most recent Kickstarter update

Back in mid-November, the universe beckoned and I was granted my Kickstarter goal. I leave updates from time to time for the backers. This is my most recent update.

Friends, I bet you've been wondering, "What will that Pam put our pledged money toward? When will she conquer her next park? And when do I get even more swag?" Come on, you know you have. Well, let me amaze you with the details!

In mid-February, Ben and I will take off to ports south and west, Southern California to be exact. And there I'll visit a total of five parks! We'll begin our sojourn in San Diego at Belmont Park, an eighty-five year old waterfront pier park, one that's recently declared bankruptcy. I've emailed back and forth with the PR director and he assures me the park will be open when I visit. But beyond February, it's future is dubious. Consequently it's SO important for me to make Belmont a part of my RoadTrip.

My next park will be the Santa Monica Pier, so that makes two oceanside parks in one trip. And what will the last three So Cal parks be? The Holy Triumvirate of 1971, the three places I visited with my mom forty years ago this upcoming summer: Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland. You may ask, "But Pam, they're all so well-known!" Yes, they are, but they're also all over forty and, more importantly, that 1971 trip made such a huge impression on me, forming me into a Mid-Century fan even at a tender age. And it was the only "girls' only trip" I ever took with my mom. Mom's been with me in spirit during every single Cotton Candy park I visit, so I can only imagine her input while I revisit "our" parks a scant few weeks from now.

Your generous donations are making this five park journey possible, and will continue to aid me in April when I take in the park that withstood Katrina. But more about that later.

For those of you who pledged the amount that entitles you to postcards from three parks, be sure to check your mail in latter February!

Peace to all -- Pam