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When my parents moved out of the old ancestral manse last year, they gave me a box full of old Disneyland books they had collected over the years. Here are the two most interesting items. Soon, the subs will return. Dig that crazy poster for the hotel, cats! Back when it looked like the sort of joint frequented by Frankie and the Rat Pack. Here's a rather cool address book my folks never got around to using. I love their use of those retro-Disneyland posters as illustrations. Ah, the Skyway . . . And here's the back cover. Disneyland: World of Flowers was published in 1965. This book is pretty beat up, but it's full of great old pictures of what the park was like when Walt was still alive.

^There's only one suitable reaction here:

^Don't take my word for it--ask Dr. Science! "Remember--he knows more than you!" "That's right!"

There are two Springsteen songs that use not coasters but amusement parks as metaphors for love and relationships. The most obvious one is "Tunnel of Love," which features screaming coaster riders at the beginning and the end. Another is "Sandy" (from the The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle), in which the singer urges his girlfriend to leave their "carnival life on the water" and essentially become an adult. Actually, a thread in which you interpret songs to fit your theme-park experiences could be fun.

Anybody hear ever listen to Ask Dr. Science on National Public Radio? One of his funniest bits was explaining the origin of spam. Turns out that "spam" is a government acronym for "scientifically produced animal matter." This creature was developed as a protein source for the US Army and has no teeth or fur, thus making it the "ideal luncheon meat on the hoof." It is distantly related to a synthetic jellyfish called "the Velveeta." Remember he has a master's degree . . . in "science"!

Actually, ice storms are often nastier than snow storms in the South (unless you get a blizzard like they had in the Northeast yesterday). We had a few morning flurries around Williamsburg yesterday, with some "spits" of snow throughout the afternoon, but no accumulation. So no big freak outs here. But if it snows more than say, a half inch, it's panic time for a lot of folks! Schools close! The world ends! Dogs and cats start living together! Aghh! They do a lousy job clearing the streets around here, too.

Aw-w-w-w . . . nice old pictures. 'Tis a shame that Opryland is no more. My parents came across some old photos of the family at San Jose's long-defunct Frontier Village, including one of a rather pudgy nine-year-old boy in an ever-so-adorable little cowboy hat and geeky black-rimmed glasses (aka, me). Not enough pics for a decent TR, though. Chuck

Well, take a cold shower, scrub yourself hard with Lava soap, then roll around in hot sand. That should be a suitable penance, Barry.

I'll go with the Loch Ness Monster, because my mind, like Nessie, has a rather eccentric layout. Plus with a name like "Campbell," I gotta go with the Scottish theme. Chuck "Hoisting a pint to Nessie" Campbell

Here's Angus McNasty, who was feeling a bit scholarly this morning. Now if only he'd pay my bills and do my taxes . . .

^I think Bruster's makes this offer because they're just walk-up shops without indoor seating. So, if you're loony enough to go for ice cream during a blizzard, you get a reward.

The VW picture cracked me up--as though an Egyptian pharoah, who was revered as a god, would drive a Volkswagen! A BMW sports car, maybe. Good stuff--thanks. I'm hoping to check out E:E myself this October. Chuck

^Hmm--two enormous albino malomars?

The recently crowned World Tag-Team Champions, the Crazed Credit Whores, pose with their manager, Ariel, the Avatar of Agression!

^If you go to Bruster's while it's raining or snowing, your second scoop is free (at least in Williamsburg).

And let's not forget Fort New France at BGW. That picture of the Boomerang train whizzing by looks like something you'd see hanging in a contemporary art gallery, where men weaaring goatees and ponytails and women smoking clove cigarettes would stand around and look contemplative. Thanks for the pics.

^Gelato is excellent, but, unfortunately, Williamsburg's one Italian ice-cream shop only lasted a few months. Bummer. Has anyone here tried Bruster's? I haven't seen any of their shops outside of Virginia. They have this no-fat, no-sugar-added cinnamon ice cream that's excellent. Their key-lime-pie ice cream is pretty good, too.

^I live in Williamsburg, and on some summer days, you can smell it all over town. Sigh--if only they were brewing something good . . .

^One poster at another site (a good site, just to make that clear) wrote a rather long, rambling diatribe about why he couldn't understand BGW's winning so many "most beautiful park" awards. His complaint--it was too full of trees. Yes, too many trees, not enough amusement park cheesiness. Well, to each his own, I suppose. I'll take (and talk) to BGW's trees, while this guy roasts in the blazing sun at Cedar Point. I've always appreciated the way Busch uses the landscape--now if they could just do something about the smell from the brewery.

I think "what happened" was Robb having to go to Manchester. Life is what gets in the way of what you really want to do.

^Amen, brother! I'm a copy editor by trade, and I've noticed that the TPR boards are remarkably celan, er, clean.

I'm proud to be an American, Because butterfat runs free! We're crammin' ice cream down our throats From sea to shining sea!

^I like it. Now do one of some poor football fan sleeping, snoring, and drooling and call it "Expedition Washington Redskins Offense."

^That's OK--I hinted at the same thing myself, earlier.

I think Cold Stone is pretty good, if overpriced--not to mention a bit too over the top in calories and fat to make it more than an occasional treat. But all that singing . . . especially when you leave a tip: "Scoopy, scoopy doo "We scoop for you . . ." Aghh!