I found a new old park! Martin's Fantasy Island!!

http://www.martinsfantasyisland.com/index.html

 

Trust me - when I did my research for my Road Trips, I really did some fine-tooth combing.  So when a new-old park pops up that I didn't know about, I'm simultaneously humbled, intrigued, piqued at myself, and raring to figure out a way to visit it whenever a Road Trip II is in the works.

Take a peek at Martin's Fantasy Island!  It's near Buffalo, NY and has been around since 1961!  With the exception of the antique cars and tilt-a-whirl, it seems that most of the rides are newer, but still it maintains a definite vintage feel!

Never fear! "The Cotton Candy Road Trip Swag" store is almost here!

Had a great week at the Chopra Center retreat out in Itasca last week, meditating and feeling the bliss ...

 

This week, I've had one voice-over job after another ...

 

This upcoming week?  It'll be all about the CafePress store!!  I've got so many nifty items planned, featuring some super images I captured while traveling around for the book.  Like this one:

Beautiful critter on the Crescent Park Carousel

And plan on purchasing your 2013 calendar from me, because it'll be jam-packed with images, all in color, of nifty, creepy and cool things I found in the parks.

That is all for now.  I appreciate your patience.  It'll be well worth the wait!!

"Gotta Go to Knoebels" - awesome video. As much fun as, well, Knoebels!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaO3MkM3fLg

Check out this great video, a parody of "Good Feeling".  It's filmed at one of my Top Five parks on the Road Trip, Knoebels.  Truth be told - with the exception of Disney parks, Knoebels is my favorite of the bunch!

Book signings for The Cotton Candy Road Trip in the Chicagoland area!

Hey funkids!  I'll be signing copies of my book on Saturday the 21st of July at Kindred Spirits in Oswego from 12 noon to 1 PM.  Here's a link to their website so you can learn how to get there:

http://kindredspiritsevents.com/

Then on Saturday, July 28, I'll have a book signing at the Oak Park Arms in Oak Park, where my daddy lives.  It will start at 6 PM.  Here's their website:  http://www.oakparkarms.com/

And there ya go!  Have some cotton candy and call it a day ...

Got interviewed by the Chicago Tribune today at Santa's Village Azoosment Park!!

My beloved Mangel's Roto Whip, which dates back to 1948.

You know what's big fun?  Getting to revisit a park from my book, while being interviewed by Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.  The managers of the park walked through the park with us, filling us in on some of the historical facts about the park in question, Santa's Village Azoosment Park in East Dundee, IL.

It really takes a very special kind of person to run a park, an even more special sort to reopen a park that had been closed for years.  Such was the case with Santa's Village.  It sat dormant and desolate for five years and most of the Chicagoland area left it for dead, until these wonderful folks swept up the debris, put it to rights, brought in some gentle animals, and reopened it back in 2010.  I visited in September, 2011 for the book and was heartened that it was truly as sweet as I recall it was when I thrilled to visit it as a child.

The 2012 season brings with it even more fun, as an antique car ride has opened in what used to be a picnic grove area.  The folks at SVAP are really doing a great job with expanding and growing this historic park, and they promise even more to come, like an old-school, walk-through fun house!

Today, right before my interview, I was photographed by the Tribune staff photographer.  She thought it might be fun for me to sit in one of the Roto-Whip cars, since mentioned it's a ride rescued from the dearly-departed Kiddieland.  Well, sit in one of the cars I did, and let me tell you: my 5'8" frame never felt SO LARGE!  Goliath even!  She snapped away and then the miraculous happened: the kid manning the ride asked the manager if it would be okay for me to realize a little dream I'd had since seeing the resurrected ride almost a year ago:  would it be okay for this 150 lb. human to actually ride the ride?

Yep - I got the green light and the ride operator let the Whip RIP!  This teeny Whip packs a surprisingly good little snap!  I waved at the photographer and ride operator, just like I waved at Mom and Dad over forty years ago.

Yes, it was a very good day.

Cotton Candy Road Trip Swag Store to Open SOON!!!

Cafe Press stores are easy to open.  But crazy-confusing to assemble.  Except when they're easy.  This easy/difficult teeter-totter keeps yanking me back and forth and I'm getting dizzy!

Pals, let me tell you - I've been working for hours and hours in the last few days on harvesting the best/oddest/most unique photos from my Road Trip, images that will be used on a variety of items you'll be able to purchase from my store.  But Cafe Press keeps being difficult.  But then simple.  And my brain is having a hard time wrapping itself around it all.  Until I get it and then I go, "Huh.  How 'bout that?  That was easy enough - a child of four could've figured THAT one out.  Dang."

Anywho, in about a week or so, all will be revealed.  Suffice it to say, I think you'll be pleased and intrigued with the outcome.  The item I'm most jazzed about is the 2013 calendar, which will feature some of my most prized images from the Road Trip, including a number from our beloved Kiddieland and Storybook Gardens parks, now a sad memory.

I'll keep you all posted.

Until then, here's a little something to make you go, "What the heck IS that thing?"

Well, I'll tell you he's from Arnolds Park.  I'll also let you in on the fact that he's part of the month of October ...

New uses for old bumper cars!

My delightful friend, Jill Jackson, who's a great fan of my book, sent me this email and I was blown away by the creativity therein!  While on the Road Trip, I took a number of photos of old bumper cars, always wondering where the retired ones went.  To the trash heap?  To the park's museum (only a few parks actually have museums.  Arnolds Park and Knoebels come to mind; Coney Island has a museum but I don't know if they'd have the space for ride vehicles).

Anyway - I've never copied an email into a blog post, but I couldn't pass this one up.  Kudos to the brilliant Tom Wright who found a wonderful way to repurpose these vintage beauties.  Enjoy!

The ones in Coney Island and Rockaway Park back in the 20’s thru to the 50;s ran on electric . Had a pole on the back going to a metal electrical charged overhead plate.


Remember driving the bumper cars at amusement parks or
a fair, don't you? They were so much fun.

 Well, now what do you do with old Bumper Cars? (and check out the license plates!) 



WHO KNEW?
















Yes, you read that right; these little beasties are street legal.
They run on either Kawasaki or Honda motorcycle engines and co-opt vintage bumper car bodies into the most awesome form of mini-car we've seen in too long. There are seven of these little monsters floating around California and they're all the creation of one man, Tom Wright, a builder in the outskirts of San Diego who figured the leftovers of the Long Beach Pike amusement park needed a more dignified end than the trash heap.

They were originally powered by two cylinder Harley Davidson
Motorcycle engines but they rattled like heck because of the two cylinder vibration and Tom replaces them with four cylinder Honda or Kawasaki 750's.
And a couple have been measured as capable of 160 MPH, which is terrifyingly fast in machines with such a short wheelbase.
By the way, they are almost indestructible in accidents!