By the end of the semester my Sunday walks were taking me further and further away from my town house, and google-mapping my treks (search for advanced google maps distance calculator) turned me on to a possible amusement park a few miles from my home. Since I'd made it through four years of college nearby without so much as hearing of the park, I figured it was closed. And since google maps showed a few roller coasters, I figured I was in for a treat.
After walking 2+ miles (and talking to an old guy) I came upon a possible entrance, a bridge over a river with plenty of trees growing through it, fences across it, and no railings. I love that sh*t, so I went for it.
Climbing over the bridge was fun, and involved some time below the bridge to pass the easily climbable (but too unsturdy to try) barriers. This spat out at the bottom of the roller-coaster, a nice, ~60' wooden coaster. I wandered the length of the coaster, thinking to scope out the area. As I started I saw a truck pull in, so I walked to the edge of the property, towards picnic areas and the pond.
F*ck geese/swans. I've never wanted to strangle wildlife so much. Anyways, I walked away from the noisy beasts and to the old merry-go-round house, now devoid of the merriness, and left just being round. This is when truck dude's dog saw me. So.... I made sure my camera was visible, introduced myself (sorta, not with names or anything), petted the dog, and was on my way down the main drag.
It became obvious that not all was abandoned, unlike the narrow gauge train tracks partially buried beneath the grass. There were a few shops of antiques and the like that were obviously cleaned and well stocked.
Further on there was a haunted house, several food stands, and a go kart track, but I passed this all in preference to the new goal I saw infront of me: a 4 story water slide. The fence was no problem, the pool house boringly filled with cushions, but the tower seemed sturdy.
I ascended carefully, taking care to have a railing incase a step went, and steps in case the railing went, but it was fine. The closets on the way up even had a few plumbing supplies in them. The view from the top was great, and I could see the entire lay of the relatively small park. After taking a few notes on what to visit next (and seeing the truck leave) I set off down the slide.
Not sure why really, because I could? They were fibreglass, not at all sturdy, and held up by frames ranging from 4x4s to old 2x4s. The slides end in a pool, which is 3' of muck, complete with tadpoles.
I now set off towards what had attracted my attention: an old church. I love abandoned churches. So beautiful and sombre and perfect. The doors were unlocked, but instead of the expected pews and pulpit there was plywood and poor paint jobs. They'd gutted the chapel for a laser-tag place. The lights still worked though, and through holes in the drop ceiling you could see where bats fluttered, obviously pissed that someone would throw the switch.
I wandered the park, seeing the pond, an old house (locked up tight and used for storage if peeking in the windows give any indication (which they do) ), and found the next fun thing: An old playpen type jungle gym, like you'd find at McDonald's... only half of it was missing, so you'd drop 10' after climbing through a clever door if you weren't paying attention.
I skipped climbing it though, as I had a better goal, which is painfully obvious to any readers. I had to climb the roller-coaster. Which was quite easy to do. Slightly nerve racking, as the railings were at about knee height and no help, but fun all the same. The roller-coaster even looks like it would work (even though it might kill whoever volunteered to test it) if power was hooked back up.
Then I wandered back to my apartment, through a covered bridge, stopping to climb a steam engine @ the historical society (which they arrived at to stoke up for a community day (I left)), visiting the (empty) dirt race track, and stopping to wander through an abandoned farm. If I hadn't already been wandering and climbing for 4 hours, I would have climbed the industrial-sized silos, but I just couldn't be bothered. They did have sweet winches and every-such, as well as milking? trenches in buildings next door.
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A week later I returned (with a girl, of course).
Highlights include:
Walking all of the roller-coaster (you get better at it, balancing on the rails, skipping across struts, teasing girls).
Checking for the second roller-coaster (it was removed)
Climbing into food shops
Wandering the pitch black haunted house by the light of a cell phone. It's more creepy when there are holes in the floor.
Wandering around inside the antique shop
Climbing the superstructure of the water-slide
Playing in the playpen
Seeing a snake when we went to see the swans/swan nest
Edit: Pics (+ rephrasing)
[last edit 7/11/2009 6:12 AM by MindHacker - edited 2 times]
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