I spent the weekend with my wife's family out near DuBois, PA. Nice area. Lots of mountains.
We went to Lakemont Park in Altoona PA on Saturday, and despite my better judgment, I rode "Leap the Dips" which is, purportedly, the oldest standing roller coaster in the world.
By today's standards, it isn't much of a coaster, but when it was built in 1902, I'm certain that it probably tickled the liver out of park goers. unfortunately, despite restorations that were completed in 2000, the coaster seems to be in less than stellar condition. It seems to be serviceable still, or they probably would not have it open, but there were signs of chipped paint and some rotting wood here and there (though not in any of the load bearing structure that I could see) that made me a little nervous.
I was a bit underwealmed by the park's lackluster, even dingy appearance. The admission was cheap (my family were given tickets actually), at $10.00 a piece, but even so, I was a bit saddened to see the shape of many of the rides. Perhaps it was just a season's worth of wear and tear, but there was so much chipping paint that it seemed that more than just one season's use was to blame.
In any event, we had a good time, despite the condition of the rides.
Sunday and Monday were spent with family, then I headed back to work this morning. I didn't have opportunity to do any riding over the weekend, though I did see quite a number of motorcycles and a few scooters in my travels. I found myself watching the cyclists from the confines of my car and longing wistfully for the freedom of my scooter.
So, this morning, I took the cover off the Silver Streak and rode to work. It was very pleasant to be back in the saddle again. I'm hoping to see my friend with the Wildfire scooter tomorrow. Hopefully he will have some good news. We shall see.
Posts
2 comments:
We had an old park here (now closed) that had a wooden roller coaster. It wasn't specatular compared to some of the monstrosities that are at some of the big parks now, but at the same time was a lot of fun. Those ups and downs, even if they are nit huge, can still be a lot of fun.
Gee, with a little planning our paths might have crossed if I'd been out that way this past weekend. I read a review about Lakemont not too long ago that sounded a lot like what you wrote and decided not to visit it after that. Did you happen to visit the Horseshoe Curve?
Post a Comment