printersdevil78

Time for the second round! "I'm not a witch; I'm just seasick!" "Hi! Wanna stay for dinner?" Hey baby, how about some tongue? Gurgle! "Come play with us!" Boo! "In this town, we call home, everyone hails to the pumpkin song!" OK, now THIS was neat! As a fundraiser for police and fire departments who lost their headquarters during Hurricane Katrina and Rita, Blaine Kern began a huge Halloween party last year. This year they're adding a Halloween parade, and we got to see some of the floats and props. Doesn't this just scream "Mardi Gras" to you? Looks like the Fantastic Four have a few sequels planned.... Hmmm... I wonder how much it would cost for them to recreate this for my home. Hobbits! How many people here think Felix got his nose chopped off by a light sabre? Anyone? "I will require one miiiiiiiiiiiilion beads!" And now back to our our feature presentation: "The Little Mermaid III: Prince Eric and the Tramp." Elvis loves Lucy. ...and Sandy (or is that Tige from "Buster Brown"?). ...Daddy Warbucks... Everything in the museum/workshop/warehouse is just scattered randomly. Though I assume they were all part of the same float at one point, I had to go to three different areas of the complex to find Little Orphan Annie... So yeah, some of the earliest figures were a little off-model.... There's no place like Mardi Gras World.... There's no place like Mardi Gras World.... That polar bear has a Dharma logo on its back! OK, maybe not... but that Dino was originally supposed to be Jeorge Garcia, I swear! There's no need to fear! Underdog is here! (Right behind Bugs Bunny.) Even the politically incorrect ones. Kern Studios holds the props for the annual Mardi Gras Zulu Parade. "Good even-ing." It's the souuuuuuul train! Just a few architecturally aesthetic shots, if I may.... This is the court of the Louis Adam house, constructed in 1788 and restored in 1978. Just in case you were wondering. After the Mardi Gras World tour and a ferry ride back to Riverwalk, I spent the rest of the afternoon giving myself a self-guided tour of Disneyland's Main Street... er, the French Quarter. I want my mummy! Seriously, this is the scariest thing I've ever seen made out of Styrofoam and papier mache! Hey, it's Darth Maul! WTF? "Help... meeeee!" ...and his son. ...Dracula... The guests included Wolfman... "Hi, I'm death. Some people say I sound a lot like Dennis Miller." Frankie says "Relax!" Who says green vegetables can't kill you? Flame on! "I'm melting! Meeeelllllting!" And this would be the courtyard of the famous Court of Two Sisters restaurant. This is the entrance to the famous Court of Two Sisters restaurant. I could afford to take pictures here, but I couldn't afford to eat here.... At Pat O'Brien's you can get the wonderful miracle drink known as the Hurricane... but more about that later. So I ended up paying my own way at the hotel restaurant that night. The result: a Bayou Burger! That's a hamburger with pepper jack cheese and boiled crawfish. Yummy! And that's that. Ten hours later I was on a plane back to Baltimore. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Surprise, surprise! A huge storm delayed my shuttle back to the airport, and when I got there, I found out my flight had been canceled completely, not because of the storm but because the flight wasn't full and it wasn't in USAirways' best financial interest to operate the flight that day. Thank God hospitals aren't run by the same people who run the airlines. The good news is that I didn't have any plans on Friday, which was the earliest they could send me home. They put me up in the Hilton (which my mom had me take this picture of since no one in our family has ever been able to afford the Hilton before) and gave me meal vouchers, which I thought was very nice. Until I found out from every single place I tried to cash the vouchers in that no one would accept them. Turns out that in an effort to save on costs, USAirways not only cut out free pretzels and started canceling undersold flights with just a couple hours' notice; they also decided to stop paying most of their bills altogether. At least that's the excuse most of the airport restaurants gave me for not accepting the vouchers.... Then I had one of these little delicacies for dessert. But I once again had to leave fries (and some bread) on my plate to squeeze it all in! What a treat it was! I tried a crawfish poboy, and it was tremendous! When I first walked in, I wondered if I had made a mistake; the place just looks like a greasy lunch counter. Then I noticed all the signed celebrity photos on the walls.... When the lunch crowd started in and the line stretched out the door within 15 minutes of placing my order, I knew I had made the right choice. For what I thought was going to be my last meal in New Orleans, I headed to Johnny's Po-Boys, which I had read about in a travel magazine. I had tried to go there for dinner the day before, but found out they closed at 3 p.m. Whenever I'm on vacation by myself, I always leave the "Do Not Disturb" sign on my hotel door so I can come and go without having to worry about the maids being in there during the day. There are always more than enough towels, etc. Well, this time the maids left a bagful on the doorknob just in case! Story time! I had bought beads at my local Wal-Mart in case I found a *ahem* use for them in New Orleans, especially since I read the beads in the Big Easy were typically way overpriced. By the time I finished up at Krystal, I decided I just wanted to get rid of them. You have no idea how hard it is to give away beads on Bourbon Street without asking anything in return! Most of the people I tried to give them to were--understandably, I suppose--put off. Within a half hour, I did finally manage to give away all 12 strands of beads, thanks in large part to the help of some very drunk young ladies who were in town for an LSU class reunion. And no, I didn't receive anything in return (though I probably could have). Well, I guess karma is as good as Earl says. I was still feeling a little dizzy from the Hurricanes, so right before heading back to my hotel to turn in for the night, I stopped by one of those Lucky Dog stands. As the guy was preparing my hot dog, I saw a girl pole dancing on the lamppost next to his stand, which I thought would make a funny shot for this TR. So I pulled out my camera. The girl standing immediately next to her says, "Hey, I want you to take MY picture!" So she traded places with her friend, and... well, even though there were much more risquee sights on Bourbon Street, this is the only photo from her performance that I feel comfortable posting here! I decided it would be best to get something on my stomach. I tried to go back to a restaurant I had seen that offered alligator bites (with honey mustard dipping sauce), but it was closing by the time I got to that end of Bourbon Street, so I figured now would be the best time to try those Krystal burgers I had seen the day before! Then came the Hurricanes! As I said earlier, I don't usually drink much, so after my two dinner daquaris, the mint julep and a couple of these babies, I was feeling a little lightheaded! My photos from the rest of the evening reflect that.... During the show, I decided it would be uncivilized to leave New Orleans without trying a real mint julep, so afterward I went next door to Pat O'Brien's. For those who have never had one, they don't taste anything like their Disneyland namesake! The other members included Le Blanc on banjo, Elliott Callier on sax and a guest bassist whose name I didn't get (sorry, guest bassist). No food or drinks sold here, either (though you could bring drinks in--wish I had known that). No matter, the music more than made up for the discomfort. The evening's quintet included Joe Lastie on drums and Lucien Barbarin on trombone. Lastie played his way around the stage, drumming everything from the chairs to the door frame, during the world's longest rendition of "Tiger Rag." The band leader, Carl Le Blanc, made a point of noting that this sign had hung in the hall since 1968, encouraging the audience to round up for inflation! I was amazed at the building's interior. It was dilapidated inside, with only enough seating for 24, and that on extremely uncomfortable, backless wooden benches. (I stood in line for 45 minutes to make sure I got one of those seats.) The rest was standing room, and since the whole complex was about the same size as my living room, people were packed in like sardines with more waiting outside. There was no flash photography allowed inside, but my luck held out. A documentary crew was on hand to film a web segment for some food and wine magazine. Their floodlights provided so much illumination that a flash would only have washed out the picture! Unfortunately, it also made the non-air-conditioned building excessively hot. But the most exciting part of my trip was still to come! Last year, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band put on a free show literally right next door to my office. Now, I got to see a live jazz show in the legendary Preservation Hall! At the waitress' suggestion I took a photo of the cross-section, as well. All this plus my two drinks cost... are you ready for this? Just $11 after tax and tip! And this lovely morsel would be the muffaletta! After having spent nearly $70 on food the day before, I decided today needed to be a cheap dining day. Boy, did I pick the right place for dinner! I went into this place called Maspero's because they advertised the muffaletta, a sandwich I've always wanted to try at Disneyland but never have. I made an excellent choice! I got two strawberry daiquiris for $2 (though you couldn't prove to me either of them had any alcohol in them). No pictures of the inside of this place! Actually, I didn't visit any of the fine strip clubs along Bourbon Street, but that's not to say I didn't see any strippers. Some of the clubs, classy establishments that they are, had girls out front in nothing but their underwear (and barely that), beckoning gentlemen inside. These Lucky Dog carts were all over the city. I eventually tried one of their chili dogs. Meh. I wish I was big! New Orleans was full of random artwork.

Continuing my travels to "Places I Want to See Before I Die" (which may not be that far away, what with the world ending in 2012 and all, according to DBru), I spent a good chunk of last week in New Orleans. I can definitely see why Walt Disney loved this place so much! No, I didn't go to any of the hurricane-devastated places--I don't go on vacation to be depressed. And I didn't take any swamp or airboat tours--I also don't go on vacation to get eaten by alligators! My only regret is that I didn't sign up for a cemetery tour, as the ones we passed on the highway looked amazing (very Haunted Mansion), and I was advised not to venture out to them on my own, as most of them weren't in the best of neighborhoods. Regardless, I had a great time, and now I want to share (most of) it with you in this big TR of the Big Easy. Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk! I'm sure these two were off on the road to somewhere. ...and Charlie Chaplin! They had Groucho Marx, too, but his cigar had broken off, and he just looked... uncomfortable. It's the legends of comedy, featuring Laurel and Hardy... Only in New Orleans would you find Santa Claus posing with Andy Capp, some totem poles and a random giant red high-top sneaker. Howdy, Pilgrim. Oh wait... that's better! Look! Up on that shelf! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Clark Kent? "Is it true that Leviathan ate Lumiere?" And Buddy Pine? Hey, isn't that Bob Parr? Proof that King Kong actually faked his death in the Universal Studios fire! That would be me posing with a section of Leviathan, the first Mardi Gras float to include fiber optics. He's owned by Harry Connick Jr. (Really!) Leviathan! Do not eat Lumiere! Hey, that's not the real Elvis! His hips aren't moving! He had high hopes his son would grow up to succeed him on the throne. Alas, Burger King's call was stronger. The studio employs Oompa Loompas when schnozberries are out of season. This Reggie Bush figure will be part of the "Madden NFL" float during the Mardi Gras parade (can't remember which one) themed after video games in 2009. This was officially the best figure in the entire warehouse! George is all like, "Been there, done that, bought the Sunoco T-shirt." Benjamin Franklin was on his way out of the warehouse, en route to Philadelphia's Southwest Airlines July 4th Parade, held in connection with the Sunoco Welcome America! Festival 2008. Not that they want it to be too commercial or anything. And yet, not a single Olive Oyl in the whole museum. "I yam what I yam! And what I yam is covered in spiderwebs." Mmmm... cows! "Ma'am? You forgot your purse." Yes. Yes, it is. "...day!" "Here I come to save the..." Donde est Donald? If this figure could talk, it would sound JUST like Thurl Ravenscroft. Watch out for the killer Blow Pops! "Zim Zim Zalabim!" Harold? When did you escape from the Matterhorn? Then they cover it with papier mache before painting it. If it's a piece that needs to last longer than a parade, like an outdoor statue, they add a clay coat and fiberglass the final product. Building a float takes lots of hard work. First they sculpt a figure out of Styrofoam. As is the Cyclops. Marilyn's here! And dual-colored boobs! As well as a cobra. This museum has a little Captain in it.... This was the only Hurricane Katrina damage I saw during the whole trip and the only piece of Kern Studios' collection that was damaged in the hurricane. It used to be Mick Jagger's head. Now it's half of Mick Jagger's head. Alf gives Mardi Gras World his seal of approval! Moving on to the Sphinx, a buffalo and some rich dude. Third order of business: take a three-hour tour of the float museum and workshop, starting with the New Orleans Saints' mascot! Second order of business: eat a piece of ceremonial Mardi Gras World king cake! First order of business: get dressed in the ceremonial Mardi Gras World costume! Finally made it! As does the Mardi Gras World shuttle. A statue of Satchmo greets guests on the other side. Finally aboard the ferry Louis B. Porterie, I'm on my way to Algiers and Mardi Gras World. The riverboat Nachez is a fixture along the Riverwalk, featuring concerts by the famous Dukes of Dixieland during its evening cruises. I tried to make reservations for one. Sadly, there were no evening cruises during my stay. The fountain at the Spanish Plaza reminded me of the one in Chicago featured prominently in the opening of "Married with Children." From there I headed back down to the Riverwalk to catch the Algiers Ferry. This little fellow greeted me along the way. Across the street diagonally from St. Louis Cathedral, ironically enough, is the Jackson Brewery, now home to several high-fashion shops. That's progress. Another nice view from the Louisiana State Museum. Holy water goes in here. And the reverse view. Closeup of the area over the altar. And this would be what's below the ceiling. This would be the ceiling. This is what you see immediately on the inside. The whole place is as ornate and gorgeous as can be. St. Louis Cathedral is one of the square's most popular draws. The square also includes the Cabildo, now a part of the Louisiana State Museum, where the Louisiana Purchase was signed. This is a popular place for horse and buggy rides. The square includes a giant statue of its namesake, General (and later President) Andrew Jackson. You might know him from the Battle of New Orleans. And the $20 bill. From there, it was a quick hop across the street to view the sights of Jackson Square. Ah, but these babies were the real draw! Three beignets and a bottle of water all for just $4. They were so good that I repeated the process the next morning. Once again, my table had a spectacular view. This place is like something straight out of the '50s. I started the next day the way all good New Orleans tourists should, with a late breakfast at Cafe du Monde. This would be my hotel at night. My first evening in New Orleans, and after a looooong two days before, I was in bed shortly after 11 p.m. This surely would not happen again. These gentlemen told me in order to save my soul, I needed to get away from all the alcohol and strip clubs on Bourbon Street... so I went back to my hotel instead. Best. Walgreens. Ever. These kids with the Next Generation Brass Band were great! Some of the best music I heard in New Orleans. Apparently they play nightly at the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets, next to Foot Locker. I loved this guy! His eyes moved, and if you got too close, he'd speak to you. This would be the beginnings of that party! At a certain time of night, the police completely block off Bourbon Street, and it becomes one big party. The house band was great, but the terms were a little hard to swallow (literally). The club had a one-drink-per-set minimum--and the drinks were $12! The sets were a little less than a half hour each. I don't usually drink, but I ordered a hot-buttered rum and enjoyed one set. Then I quickly got out of there! For those who've never had one (I hadn't), a hot-buttered rum tastes kind of like a warm Captain Morgan's with a Werther's Original crunched up in it. Maison Bourbon, however, did not disappoint. Unfortunately, Bourbon Street (and most of the French Quarter, for that matter), tends to do more disco than Dixieland nowadays. I must have heard "I Will Survive" coming out of about a dozen different clubs. I asked the waitress if she could recommend some good places to listen to live jazz. She suggested two: the Famous Door and Maison Bourbon. When I walked into the Famous Door, there was some chick in torn jeans belting out Janis Joplin. Not exactly what I was looking for.... ...and then had a soft crab poboy. It was amazingly good and extremely massive! For the first time in my life, I left French fries on my plate. Only one complaint: I found most of the fried seafood in New Orleans to be pretty tame, spice-wise. I guess I'm just used to Old Bay. By now having been awake for 43 of the past 48 hours, I needed an extra boost at dinner to keep my energy going for the New Orleans nightlife. I started with the crawfish bisque... I ended up at Desire for dinner, with a window table offering a nice view of Bourbon Street. The restaurant and oyster bar is named after the famous streetcar. ...and Pete Fountain. Bonus points to any readers of this TR under 30 actually know who the latter two are. ...Al Hirt... And then there were the real statues. Approximately 90 percent of all bronze in New Orleans must go toward recreating likenesses of Louis Armstrong. Local Legends Park (really nothing more than a "wienie" for the Cafe Beignet) used part of the other 10 percent to depict Fats Domino... Lots of living statues and other street performers in the French Quarter. This cowboy was one of the better ones. Once the rain lifted, I set out on a more thorough self-guided tour of Bourbon Street on my way to dinner. Voodoo, anyone? On the way back to my photo to wait out the rain, I ducked into a candy store to escape the worst of the downpour. They demonstrated how to make pralines and gave out free samples, which tasted Heavenly! I wanted to go back and get some later, but I couldn't find the store again, nor did I remember the its name. I ended up buying my pralines from Aunt Sally's on Decatur Street, equally Heavenly, but pre-packaged. This fellow stands in front of the Algiers Ferry terminal. I had planned to pay an afternoon visit to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World on the other side, but since it was raining, finding Red Fish Grill took longer than I anticipated, and I wasn't sure how long it would take to tour the museum, I pushed it back to the next day. Given the amount of time I eventually spent in the museum, it was a good decision! Next it was on to Riverwalk, where I thought I would take a short self-guided tour. It turned out to be a lot shorter than I thought, as it started to rain just as I took this photo. First stop on the riverfront: Harrah's Casino, where I won $33! More than half of it was on a "Hee Haw" slot machine. Having toured only Bourbon Street so far, I wasn't too sure how to get around the rest of the French Quarter yet, so I took the trolley to the Mississippi Riverfront area. After I figured out how close it actually was, I ditched the trolley for future excursions here and just walked. Across the street was a Krystal. Having dined at Little Tavern, White Tower and the ubiquitous White Castle, I made a note to add this to my collection of little burger dining experiences later. The double chocolate bread pudding, on the other hand, was awesome! Not $9 awesome and not really bread pudding--it was more of a souffle--but good, nonetheless. First thing I needed to do was get some food, seeing that the airlines have cut back so much, I didn't even get a bag of peanuts/pretzels/cookies on the planes. All I was entitled to was half a can of ginger ale. Each way. Oh, and a cocktail napkin telling me how wonderful the airline's website was. I ended up at Red Fish Grill on Bourbon Street, which was recommended by a friend. I got the jambalaya pasta, seen here. Looked great. Cost $18. Had about as much taste as Styrofoam. I stayed less than half a block away from Bourbon Street! I loved that the hotel used actual keys instead of magnetic strip cards... though the key was a bit oversized, seen here in comparison to a 1973 nickel. After having stayed awake for 28 hours to get everything I needed to do done before my trip, spending seven hours in airports and on airplanes, and suffering a tire blowout on a three-lane highway in the airport shuttle van that nearly killed us all (seriously, thank God for the driver's skills and the sudden lack of traffic on that stretch of road), I made it to my hotel, seen here. It was worth the wait.

^^I was trying to figure that out at first too. Apparently the back of her shirt and the front of her shirt are held together with spaghetti straps on the side, and the light is casting a slight shadow where the straps meet with the back of the shirt, causing the appearance of a bulge where in fact none exists. Still, not exactly, um... yeah.

Don't you know the official state motto? "Pennsylvania: Expect Delays"

^Garfield told me he wanted it to be called "manor." His will be done!

So you weigh, what, 14 pounds now?

^^I think one of the vendors had deep-fried broccoli on a stick. Otherwise, not so much. Then again, you don't find too many vegetarians around this area. It's very much a place where "Because that's how John Wayne would have wanted it" is a valid way to end an argument.

I had a quite a week last week, spending several days in New Orleans (TR coming later this week on the "Random, Random, Random" board) and then flying back to Baltimore to join some friends for a roadtrip to Kennywood. A family friend of one of the friends was hosting his company's picnic at the park on Saturday, and we attended as his guests before retiring to spend the night at his 14,000-square-foot mansion (I slept on a wrap-around sofa between the movie theater, bar and video arcade/casino). Our hosts couldn't have been more hospitable, and it truly was one of the most memorable weekends of my life thus far. It was a great day until around 7 p.m., when a powerful storm ravaged the park, blowing over trees, flooding the pavilion area and knocking out power. Upon being evacuated, we each got a free pass good for re-admittance any day after 5 p.m. this season. At any rate, I managed to get in more than 200 photos before the storm took over. Enjoy the highlights! And so we bid an early goodnight to Kennywood. And some of us secretly hoped lightning would strike Garfield's Nightmare and put it out of our misery. Sadly, it still stands. The power outage forced an evacuation of the park. Nothing from the rides to the cash registers to the escalators to the upper parking areas was operating. The storm felled a tree over the bridge, forcing most of us to take the long way out of the park. Gotta hand it to Kennywood, though. Had this been a Cedar Fair park, they would have closed the rides in May in preparation for this storm. Kennywood kept everything open until the first raindrops fell. And then the storm came. This photo was taken approximately .0000002 seconds before the sky fell out. We took cover under our picnic pavilion... which seemed like a good idea until all the lights went out and water started to pool inside the pavilion. I wish Parques Reunidos doesn't screw Kennywood up too much.... So exactly what do you think the guy who came up with the giant red mushroom fountain was on at the time? We see you, George! ...a whole armful of purple stuffed animals! And a photo that says, "I play with dolls." Paul is good at midway games. In fact, he won... Historic carousel pictures are always pretty. The Kangaroo in all its hoppin', last-of-its-kind glory. Bonzo doesn't have any teeth because he eats garbage. Take a lesson from Bonzo, kids: Don't eat garbage! He's a lumberjack... and he's OK! And a flower clock. How 1970s! Afro fountain! The train was broken down almost all day. It made only two and a half complete circuits that we saw. This was one of them. Laffing Sal is entombed in here. You can tell the train station is historic because of the extra "E" in "Olde." An historic car from that historic ride. Another historic ride. I'm much more excited than I look in this photo. Honest! In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room.... This alien, however, does nothing but stand around the park and take pictures all day. He's a Radial Orbiting Blue Being, or R.O.B.B. for short. So does this alien. Mr. Potato Patch Man agrees. This is what angels eat. Trust me on this. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Heaven. In keeping with its historic tradition (note the sarcasm), Lost Kennywood also featured The Exterminator, an indoor coaster we didn't ride because the wait was 45 minutes while the wait for everything else was about 10 minutes. ...and down this one. And then it made a big splash (big splash not pictured). Lost Kennywood also featured the Pittsburgh Plunge flume ride. Boats went up this ramp... It contained several fountains. This was one of them. This is Lost Kennywood. I found it. They made me give it back. The entryway is based on the one that once greeted guests at Luna Park. And this would be the Phantom seeking his Revenge with a telephone pole in the way. This would be the Phantom seeking his Revenge. I am the Phantom. Please remain seated, keeping all hands, arms, feet and legs inside the vehicle at all times so that I may seek my Revenge upon you. Time to show the Turtle some love! And this would be our Doombuggy. Ain't no ghost followed us home from this ride. Ghostwood Manor. It'd kind of like the Buzz Lightyear rides at the Disney parks. If Buzz Lightyear lived in The Haunted Mansion. And his targets didn't register all that well. But it's still eons better than Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge at Hershey Park. And now the orange one. Because I'm a completist, remember? Whee! Green Thunderbolt car. Signature shot No. 2. Signature shot No. 1. From left: Kenny Kangaroo, Laffing Sal, Cowboy Joe, Noah, George Washington and Laffing Sam. He's a juggler. He juggles things. Like his schedule. Do you know how tough it is for him to make it on time to his second job as a street mime and still work in five minutes for a smoke break? Lay off, people, just lay off! Um, captain? You're doing it wrong! Eh, I've seen bigger. A Noah's-eye view of the park. Well, no fiberglass monkey holding a sign in a funhouse has ever steered me wrong before.... Hello, Mr. Noah! How does it feel to be among the last of your kind in the world? Mmmm... fried Oreos! I, on the other hand, found something MUCH more appealing! Some people got Duble Heders for dessert. Mmmm... picnic food! Even the buffet at the company picnic came with an arrow! Most elaborately themed restroom ever. Kenny Kangaroo also lives in Kiddieland, though he's not a "Garfield" character. Is he? Has anyone actually even read "Garfield" in the past 20 years? Seriously, maybe Garfield and Ziggy need to consider going the reality TV route. Odie's here, too. Because little kids dream of the day they can go to Kennywood and have their picture taken with Odie. This is where Garfield lives. When he's not busy ruining classic dark rides. Next stop: Kiddieland! Um, does Sluefoot Sue know about this? Hey, maybe this is where the museum's going.... Apparently standing equals death. And not just because of the officially sanctioned Kennywood sniper standing over on top of the Jackrabbit with an itchy trigger finger. See the red cars? See the green cars? I'm pretty sure they did that just to make Holiday World jealous. Racer... yeah! OK, seriously, you can stop with the freakin' arrows now! This is Liz and Paul. They were the reason I was able to join this trip to Kennywood. Liz is smiling because Paul's 5-year-old niece convinced him to ride the Jackrabbit, his first and only coaster of the day. Paul is smiling because it's over. And the blue Jackrabbit from far away. Because I'm a completist. The blue Jackrabbit close up. The orange Jackrabbit close up. Ending sentences in prepositions, apparently. Jackrabbit... through the former trees! And speaking of fireworks (look closely; they were advertised on the sign below), this giant example was placed somewhat randomly along a park path. Yay for random odd theming! Still, this historic sign remains in front of the ride as a reminder of simpler times, left over from when gas just cost FUN per gallon instead of $4.17. The cars no longer have gas pedals. Instead, they run on an electric current furnished by the track. You just know Ed Begley Jr. wants one. OK, enough with the arrows already.... The pagoda snack bar is cool because it serves authentic Chinese food. Like Icees and soft-serve ice cream. Fortunately, at least part of the "good" Old Mill remains in the park in the form of these dragon heads at the pagoda snack bar. They used to be attached to the Old Mill boats. (I learned that from the video loop we got to see about eight times while in line for Garfield's Nightmare.) Garfield's all like, "It wasn't my idea, I swear!" ...THIS Old Mill! Cedar Fair could buy Kennywood and turn this building into a trashcan museum, and it STILL would suck less than Garfield's Nightmare. Just look at that old mill. It sure looks a lot better than... You 2008 park map. Apparently it's, like, historical or something. To all who come to this happy place, welcome! Oops, sorry... wrong park. We're finally here. Those big yellow arrows are better than GPS! Yep, definitely close now! What's that I see off in the distance? We must be getting close.... After getting a 6:30 a.m. start, we drove for a couple hours before stopping for an Elissa-approved breakfast in Breezewood, PA.

Just got back from a week-long, multi-destination vacation that included New Orleans, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Chincoteague, VA (along with layovers in Philadelphia and Charlotte, NC), and I have many, many park and non-park photos to share. However, needing to be back at work in seven hours, I'm too tired to resize and post them all tonight. Now, with all that exposition out of the way, one of the places I visited on this extended trip was Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, home of Blaine Kern Studios. During the tour, we were encouraged to take as many photos as we wanted of the floats, figures, concept art and other pieces on display in the warehouse and working studio, and one series in particular caught my eye, stamped "Kern Studios for Universal Studios Florida." They look like something that would have been for Islands of Adventure, but I could be wrong. Having not visited any Universal park in more than four years, I'm not sure if these concepts were ever used, are in production, were scrapped, etc., but I thought they were pretty interesting, and I'm hoping you will, too. The shop designs all kinds of floats and props not only for Mardi Gras, but for Disney, Universal and other parks and parades throughout the United States and occasionally abroad. According to the museum program, the studio's founder was once personally offered a job by Walt Disney (he declined, not wanting to relocate from New Orleans). Anyway, hope you enjoy this small offering. Several more (and much larger) TRs to follow in the coming days. The rest were in color, but not titled. El Dorado This is the board that caught my eye....

This weekend the Jaycees embarked on our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Delmarva Chicken Festival! If you've never been to the Chicken Festival is (and most of you probably haven't), it's exactly what it sounds like it would be--a weekend-long celebration of poultry, which is the area's leading industry. We ran the barbecued chicken concession and had hoped to make about $10,000. The festival rotates to a new town each year, so we only get to do this a couple times every decade or two. We try to make it count! Due to a short rainstorm on Saturday evening that chased a lot of people away, we didn't quite reach our goal, but we still made several thousand dollars for the chapter's charitable activities. Anyway, now that you have the details, on to the photos! And finally the last chicken was pulled off the grill! Of course, we had to go back the next day for cleanup... and the grill itself won't be cool enough to dismantle until Tuesday! But all in all, I was happy to participate in the festival... and I was happy when it ended! My former high school band director ended up on stage with his oldies band as the final act of the festival. We see you, Mr. Dragon! Of course, this is the part you really came to see--the ghetto fair! Right after the 6 a.m. shift began on Saturday, I walked over and took a picture of every single ride, so enjoy! As Big Mike would say, something for my female readers.... ...while the other gave tours of its news helicopter! Which one do you think was more popular? (If you chose the children's activities, you were right.) Both local TV stations were on the scene. One sponsored children's activities, including this photo op... We felt the need to warn the women on site that Travis was on the loose! And the local sheriff's office prefers this one. It used to be the county bookmobile, recently upgraded into a mobile command unit. They let us count our money in here at the end of each shift. Buddy preferred this ride. Chicken Festival special! The Maryland agricultural organizations were out in full force. Exhibits on the grounds included this old-time incubator. Back then, farmers were excited to get coal in their stockings, as that's what kept the chicks warm. The main attraction here was the really cute chicks! Of course, some of the breaks were Elissa-friendly.... Break time! Eric and Tatiana from our Waldorf chapter showed up to help. Tatiana did the chicken dance in front of our booth and helped us drum up business for the last couple hundred dinners. That's better! Um, excuse me, but this is NOT a hot dog festival.... Our chicken was rated G for all ages. Sexiest man alive (or so I'm told). Standing over naked chickens. Shannon and Lesley were working hard as usual. Actually, Lesley co-chaired the entire festival. Which is a lot harder than just standing around cooking a few thousand barbecue chickens! Even Maryland Jaycees President Cia stopped by for a bite. Jeff! Do not strangle Christine! Double trouble! Our favorite twins from the Towson chapter came down to give us a hand (or four, to be more accurate). After awhile, I defected to the Lions Club... but only in the name of the apron. As was our secret sauce! And our free sunscreen samples were a big hit. We showed some love for Relay For Life. Of course, all this cooking takes lots of charcoal--a little over three pallets worth, to be exact. Turns out the forklift driver who delivered our third pallet at Sam's Club was a past chapter member. He wouldn't let us have the charcoal until I recited the Jaycee Creed! Final step: Save some for yourself! Tenth step: Deliver piping hot chicken dinners to all those happy people in line! Ninth step: Ring up the sale. Eighth step: Add pickles, rolls and potato chips. For the record, Jen handles pickles really well! Seventh step: Rotate the now-empty front grill to the back to load up more raw chicken. Sixth step: Throw the cooked chicken into a foil-lined cooler to maintain temperature. The chicken must be sold within two hours of hitting the cooler or else it faces the health department's wrath. Fifth step: Check the temperature so no one gets sick and calls the health department! Fourth step: Wait for those bad boys to finish cooking, flipping twice. Third step: Baste! Coincidentally, Travis is a Master Baster. Second step: Place 216 raw chicken halves on top of the 38-foot pit. So how does one cook award-winning chicken? First step: Light the pit. And why not? After all, we were serving award-winning chicken! We were in action from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. both days. This was my home for the entire festival--the barbecued chicken tent. Stats for all you frying pan enthusiasts. The giant frying pan is a staple of the Chicken Festival. The local Lions Club ran it this year. Just in case you didn't believe me!

I'm not a Celtics or Bruins fan by any stretch, but I loved this TR... even if it did make me feel old.

I received season one of "CHiPs" on DVD for Christmas, and it included an episode with Ponch and Jon briefly visiting Magic Mountain (for lunch, no less). "CHiPs" is the one show that always made me wish I lived in southern California. Oh, and I think I remember reading somewhere that the "Three's Company" opening mentioned at the top of this thread was filmed at Pacific Ocean Park, but I could be wrong.

That was awesome! Thanks, Groteslurf!

^^^Yeah, the fire was pretty bad and happened just a few weeks before the season started. The day after it happened, on the website for one of the local TV stations, they had a picture of a bulldozer pushing down the last of the charred remains with a headline that read "Historic Boradwalk Businesses May Not Open for 2008 Season." You think? For the record, The Dough Roller at that location may have been quasi-historic. The other burned business was a T-shirt shop identical to the other 500 or so on the boards. The apartments at Marty's Playland and the skee-ball machines suffered some smoke damage, but nothing too serious. The skee-ball machines were cleaned and placed back in action a couple weeks ago. I stopped in and played them Monday night. Great avatar, by the way! That was probably the first sign I learned to read when I was a kid. Well... either that or "McDonald's." ^^I was having trouble figuring out a way to explain the Inverter, so I did a web search. I think this blurb from Knight-Ridder News Service says it best: "The 24-passenger Inverter, which lifts riders 50 feet into the air before flipping them 360 degrees -- is one of four products being introduced this year by Wichita-based Chance Rides Inc., the nation's largest manufacturer of amusement park rides." Obviously the article was a couple years old. And no, no Looping Star for me. Got that credit some time ago.

Great interior shots of the dark rides! The Haunted House is one of my favorites of all time.

Playland opened in 1965, the same year as Jolly Roger, and closed in 1987. It opened as Ocean Playland and for awhile was called 65th Street Playland before it became just Playland (I have postcards and newspaper clippings with all three names from various years). It was on 65th Street where Slide 'n' Ride is now. In fact, somewhere I have a photo of one of the old Playland signs that was converted into a Slide 'n' Ride sign. I'm not sure if that particular sign is still there or not; it wasn't looking so hot when I got my photo about five years ago, and I've never thought to check in the summers since.

Thanks, brilinjo! TPR was especially great for this trip because it allowed me to use some of the photos I couldn't post on our chapter's website for insurance reasons. Our insurance policy has a clause that states none of the photos on our website can show any of our members holding or consuming alcoholic beverages unless it's for an event that falls under another organization's insurance coverage (like when the local county tourism office or chamber of commerce hires us to staff the beer wagons at their events). It's a little strange, but that's the extra "price" for low-cost non-profit insurance. Needless to say, if the carefully cropped photos on our website are to be believed, we took a brewery tour and attended the free sampling session without ever touching or consuming a single drop of beer. Don't believe those pictures!

The Jaycees' 2008 day trip series continued today with a tour of the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic area, are a fan of micro-brews or have ever seen the movie version of "Reno 911," you've heard of Dogfish Head. Basically, if Ben and Jerry had opened a brewery instead of an ice creamery, this would have been it. The entire business seems laid-back and quirky--and extraordinarily friendly. We were late for the tour (MapQuest sucks--'nuff said), which left 20 minutes before we arrived. We explained our situation to the guy behind the counter who said we wouldn't be able to see the bottling area, but otherwise, he would be happy to take us on our own private tour! Apparently the guys on "Orange County Choppers" are fans, as well. When one of our party told the tour guide she thought she recognized him from a Discovery Channel show on the history of beer, he told us that he'd actually been filmed a number of times not only for that, but for a pilot that would be a reality show about working in a brewery. The production company found out about Dogfish Head through the Orange County guys. Anyway, enough idle words. On to the photos! Of course, my Dogfish Head-battered fish and chips turned some heads, as well. You can't tell here, but that's three HUGE fish fillets on the plate! I still have one in my refrigerator. Thanks for reading! We were all envious of Brian's bacon cheeseburger. The calamari with Old Bay seasoning and jalapenos was out of this world! That would be soy sauce on the left, cocktail sauce on the right. After the tour we headed down the road to Rehoboth Beach for some tax-free dinner at the brew pub where Dogfish Head got its start. A few for the road.... Apparently our good friends with the Delmarva Shorebirds Class A baseball team (Baltimore Orioles affiliate) were at the brewery, as well, though we didn't see any of them there. Dogfish Head had a number of random signs scattered throughout its tasting area/gift shop. If you've never been to Punkin' Chunkin', you don't know what you're missing! Basically, the weekend after Halloween each year people gather in a big field in Delaware to see who can shoot pumpkins the farthest from cannons and throw them the farthest from catapults. Honest! Even Paul Bunyan likes Dogfish Head! We got to sample four different products. And me! Cheers! As are Mike and Shannon! Angela and Brian are happy! At the end of our private tour, we met up with the people from the real tour. Time for beer tasting! This is where the magic happens! If by "magic" you mean "hops and yeast storage." These huge wooden vats were the first ones constructed for beer aging since the 1920s, our tour guide told us. Dogfish Head ages its beers anywhere from one to three months each. A small (really small) "museum" shows off some of the early equipment from the company's opening in 1995. I suspect it's only there because someone decided making signs was a lot easier than hauling it upstairs into the attic. And this is a truck for... some random reason. But it looks cool sitting in front of the tour entrance. These are some of the old vats. Pay no mind to them. They're tiny compared to what we're about to see. Welcome to Dogfish Head!

Great photos! These remind me a lot of pictures I've seen of the Riverwalk in San Antonio.

^^^Thanks, Nat! You should read it again when you get your new laptop. The photos look a lot better when they're not bisected.

^Welcome to the 100-post club, signal!

^^Fixed! By the way, one rant I forgot: Do parents know their teenage daughters are running around Kings Dominion with little to no clothes on? I saw enough 14- to 16-year-old boobs at this park to last a lifetime. Where were these girls when I was in high school? Seriously, 80 percent of all teenage girls at the park walked around in shorts and bikini tops. The other 20 percent didn't even bother with the shorts. I can't even imagine how it would be comfortable to ride a roller coaster in nothing but a bikini. It sounds more like a Playboy Junior photo shoot... but honest, I saw it with my own eyes! And I saw it more than once. The best part was when I was taking cover from the storm in the Emporium and there was a man inside without a shirt on. A security guard came up and asked why he wasn't wearing a shirt. The man and (presumably) his wife said they had just come from the water park when the storm hit. The security guard asked him to put his shirt on, which he did, but asked the guard, jokingly, why there was a double standard that men had to wear shirts when the teenage girls could walk around the park in nothing but skimpy bathing suits. The security guard assured him that the only place swimsuits of any kind were allowed was the water park, and any females in the theme park wearing only swimsuits or bikini tops were asked to cover up as well--the rules were strictly enforced. All of us within earshot, including the man who had just put his shirt on, started laughing because we honestly thought the officer was joking back. The security officer assured us he was NOT trying to be funny. At which time the guy who had just put his shirt on looked him straight in the eye and said, "Well then someone is seriously asleep at that wheel!"

The Jaycees and I made the four-hour drive to Kings Dominion on Saturday (including an hour-long backup on the Capital Beltway), and I must say... I was less than impressed. Rides broke down all day long. We got to witness an evac on the Shockwave and a kid get evicted from a restaurant (if not the park) after trying to pocket some $3.59 bottled sodas (I opted to save nine cents and buy my bottled water from a vending machine--the first I've ever seen that accepted credit cards). The park was clearly short-staffed, and to say the food service operations were poor is a vast understatement. At two restaurants I attempted to get food from, the SOP seemed to be for the lone person on duty to take the order, go back in the kitchen and cook the order, return to the cash register and serve the order, then take the customer's money and attempt to give correct change (this last step is apparently is a LOT harder than one would think). Twice I walked away when my wait time, with only two people in line in front of me, topped 25 minutes. When I did finally get food in under a half hour at the third counter-service restaurant I tried, it took the girl working the cash register three tries before being able to correctly ring up my chicken sandwich, fries, water and cake (for a grand total of $17--and I thought Disney was overpriced). Beyond this, when the coasters weren't broken down, many only had one train running. The crowds were moderate and lines (except for Dominator) were minimal, but the shortest wait time I experienced was 45 minutes, and that was for Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion. And then the hailstorm came. The entire area was under a tornado watch and thunderstorm warning all day, and by mid-afternoon, they made a park-wide announcement that all the rides would be closing due to a National Weather Service advisory. The storm was still a good 45 minutes away, but they took full advantage of the opportunity to encourage the thousands of admission-paying patrons with nothing to do until the first raindrop fell to patronize the gift shops. Once the 20-minute storm passed, it took a full hour and 15 minutes for the rides to reopen (and Scooby Doo--one of the only indoor rides in the park--never reopened for some strange reason). We were third in line for Dominator during that 75-minute wait. In all, between the 20-minute hailstorm that closed down the entire park (except the gift shops!) for two hours and the below-standard operations that caused lines to back up exponentially, we got to ride five rides the entire day. The one good thing was, thanks to a Google discount code search and the good people at the Virginia Commonwealth Tourism Office (use VAFUN in the "Corporate Code" box on the KD website), we had to pay only $35 for tickets in advance instead of $52 at the gate. As one of my fellow travelers put it, "As it was, not counting gas, food and parking, we paid $7 per ride today. If we'd had to pay full price, it would have been more than $10 per ride. Next time, I think I'll just stay home and pretend I rode five rides." I concur. Fortunately, all the down time did give me a chance to take lots of photos--including some scavenger hunt pictures! I've posted them toward the end of this photo TR. I'll post the locations in a few days, if anyone is interested. If my experience on Saturday is any indication of the way Cedar Fair plans to run this park, you'll have plenty of time to scout out the answers for yourself on your next visit. And now for the scavenger hunt! Where in Kings Dominion can you find the following scenes? Answer to follow in a few days. Travis stuck to more traditional fare. Being the cheapskate that he is, however, he mixed ketchup and picante sauce to create his own hash brown "chunking" instead of shelling out the extra 40 cents for real diced tomatoes. Joanne made history, becoming the first person in the history of Waffle House to order a salad. Which, coincidentally, consisted of a shredded head of lettuce and several Kraft Singles split in half and thrown on top (really). You should have seen the waitress' face when Joanne asked, in all seriousness, if they had oil and vinaigrette! ...we have one last stop to make! Thanks, Kings Dominion! We will! But first... You know, maybe they should have put some of those trash cans in the parking lot instead.... The second oldest ride at the park. Travis, Joanne, Angela and a member of the Cedar Fair Trash Can Army. We tried to kill it, but two more took its place. My 45-minute wait for the one-train Avalanche pays off. Travis! Do not eat Joanne! Sadly, I'm old enough to remember when these games cost only $1 to play (and my dad always said they were a rip-off then). Now it costs almost as much as a 20-ounce bottle of water. Almost. They didn't reopen Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion after the storm, so this was as close as Joanne and Travis could get. Joanne and Travis waited patiently for an hour and 15 minutes for Dominator to reopen. And then the hail came. I holed up here in the Emporium with about 500 of my closest friends. Everyone else in my group made it to the photo shack outside Dominator, where the kid behind the register threatened to call security and throw everyone out of the park who was sitting on the floor or leaning against the counter. You know, maybe they should have taken some of that trash can money and diverted it to customer service training. Just a thought. ...and especially this. ...and this... Like this... I was fortunate enough to get to ride Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion before it went down for the day (I was the only person in my group to have this foresight--everyone else went on White Water Canyon instead). The theming at this ride was about all that really impressed me about Kings Dominion. Now this would make a cool TPR slogan. I'm ready for some shrimp. Let's go to Bubba--er, the Outer HANKS Shrimp Shack! Get it? HA HA! Ha. Um, ha. Hey ladies! Lindsey and Bethany are ready for some White Water Canyon. Oh yeah, like you thought you were going to read a KD TR without seeing this! Slither, my pretty! The Anaconda in all its snakey goodness. A gratuitous shot of Scooby Doo since it's right next to Dominator. Dominator by the numbers... for those who are interested (you know who you are). View from the rear. But this is what you all came here to see anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Dominator! Plastic signs on a construction fence count as "theming" in Cedar Fair Land! The only attractions in the park that didn't have ridiculous wait times were SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D and this sign in front of the fountains. We want Paramount back!

^^Any luck with the interior shots, esvadj?

^The slingshot ride is still there. I didn't get any photos of it in flight, but you can see the support cables that steady the towers at the right and in front of the Ferris wheel in the panarama. I haven't been to Knobels, but I've seen pictures of their haunted house, and it looks awesome. I'm planning to bridge my one-day gap between the Ravine Flyer/Behemoth Mini-Trip in Philadelphia and my state Jaycees convention that weekend in Baltimore with a side trip to Elysburg, so hopefully soon I'll be able to compare for myself. In the meantime, I just got a text from a friend inviting me to Kennywood next month, and I leave for Kings Dominion in eight hours, so it's shaping up to be an eventful summer. Bring on the rides!