Kim has a good time on the Turtle
Kim has a good time on the Turtle
The Turtle was right there near the exit of Old Kennywood, so we both jumped on for a spin. I'd never ridden one of these either, and it was fun. We wandered back towards the center of the park, and rode Gold Rusher along the way. This wasn't as bad as Noah's Ark, but still had a few gags I didn't care for. I'm just such a wimp when it comes to stuff scaring me.
As we walked, we passed a large indoor restaurant and decided to get a snack. I got a big glass of pink lemonade...
...and Kim got a square ice cream cone a few shops down. We both sat down to enjoy our snacks, and did some people watching.
We couldn't decide which was worse, the skirt or the sombrero.
We both marveled at the footwear that some people think is appropriate to wear to a theme park. Someone once said a good judge of what shoes to wear is to ask yourself "Would I get on a treadmill with these on?" Obviously some people don't ask themselves that question!
Once we were up and moving again, we went on The Auto Race, which is the last of it's kind in the world. It looked sort of like regular little raceway cars, but they are electric powered in a wooden track, and they go pretty fast! It was an interesting little ride. I just knew I was gonna make a fool of myself trying to squish my butt into a child sized drivers seat, but I managed with minimal embarrassment!
Kennywood's original Laffin' Sal
Next we rode the Olde Kennywood Railroad, where I got my first glimpse of a Laffin' Sal. She was creepy...yet captivating. Like a car wreck, I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. Out of all my pictures, hers is the one that people react to the most..."Ack! She's creepy!!!" hahaha The railroad was pretty interesting, and you can really get a feel for just how high up over the city you actually are.
Since we were in the area, we rode the Racer again, this time loading on the right hand side. The ride is the same no matter which side you load on, and it was just as enjoyable the second time around. As we started walking back towards the front of the park, we jumped on the Jackrabbit again. I sat on the right side of the car this time, and the airtime on "that hill" was even more insane because of having extra room because of the way the lap bar is made. Totally, insanely fun ride.
As we neared the front, Kim suggested that I ride the Kangaroo, another historic "only one like it in the world" ride. I watched it, and it looked like fun, so I jumped on. Well, the restraint was *very* tight on my stomach, and every time it jumped off the little hill on the ride, I caught airtime that slammed my stomach into the restraint. Ow ow ow! The ride might have been fun had I not been fearing for the safety of my pancreas the whole time.
We also spotted another young girl in an interesting outfit...she couldn't have been more than about 15, and she had huge boobs absolutely bursting out of a pink halter top. I'm not the world's most conservative person by any means, but why would you let your 15 year old daughter out looking like an absolute whore? She was bouncing around, making a spectacle of herself, with her boobs just flying in the faces of everyone there! I feel so old sometimes, but 15 year olds shouldn't be wearing something like that. So her outfit prompted Kim and I to start pointing out trashy looking outfits and saying "I wouldn't let *my* 15 year old whore wear that!" hahaha
Me with...uh...I forget his name. He's been there since the park opened in 1898.
I was a bit hungry at that point, so I stopped and grabbed a burger and fries and Kim got some sort of pastry thingie that was only 75 cents! The burger and fries were ordinary, and the employees did not seem attentive at all. I stood at the window for probably 30 seconds while the cashier finished her personal conversation before she took my order.
Next we walked over and rode Garfield's Nightmare again, this time forgoing the glasses. Kim wanted to ride the carousel next, so we headed back over that way. As we watched it, she told me about coming there as a kid and always racing to get the patriotic horse, and how she named it Susan, after Susan B. Anthony.
Kim riding Susan. Get your mind out of the gutter.
So once we started loading, I casually walked my way around and jumped up on the horse next to the patriotic one. She seemed very happy that I'd let her ride her favorite horse! It was a very pretty carousel, with a very cool music box whateveryoucallit in it.
Volcano...AKA Jumbo FAN-tasmic!
It was nearing time for the park to close, so I wanted to make sure to get in one more ride on both the Thunderbolt and Phantom's Revenge since I hadn't reridden those. We passed Thunderbolt first, so we hopped on for another fantastic ride. We went over to Phantom's Revenge next, and again, it was a knock your socks off ride. After the ride, we had about 10 minutes until the park closed, and Kim asked if there was anything else I wanted to ride again. Knowing she didn't care for Phantom's Revenge that much, I said no, that we could leave. But she says "You wanna ride Phantom's Revenge again?" So I say "Ok, you twisted my arm!" and we ran off to get one last ride on it. I'm gonna miss this ride so much! I wish every park had a ride this fantastic!
When we left, I figured I'd stop in a gift shop and see about picking up a Kennywood t-shirt since I'd really enjoyed the park. But right at the stroke of 10:00, all the lights went off, the music went off, the metal doors to the shops were closed and all the employees left! It was absolutely deserted by the time we were halfway out of the park. Kennywood doesn't mess around about their closing time! It was like "Hope you had a nice day! Now get out!"
Geez, I wish that was the real price of gas!
We headed back to Kim's house, where we perused the photos from Cedar Point and Geauga Lake, and pretty soon it was bedtime since we were both pooped.