#6 - Violets Are Blue (1986)

Sissy Spacek returns to her childhood home of Ocean City, MD where she rekindles a romance with her high school boyfriend (Kevin Kline) who happens to be happily married with children. As their secret romance blossoms, one thing remains the same - the sound of carousel music. At least 80% of the romantic yarn is scored with the constant sound of a carousel. If one were to view this film, without the knowledge of the geography of Ocean City, he or she would come to the conclusion that there is either a merry-go-round on every corner of the city, or the one merry-go-round pictured is the loudest amusement park ride every constructed by man.

At night, when dining with Kline's family, the amusements from Ocean City can be seen in the distance cross the bay. Easily a few miles away, yet dinner music is provided by the carousel. Never mind the fact that Spacek decides she's going to walk home, even though her home has got to be at least 4 or 5 miles away.

In fact, the only time where the two of them get anywhere near the Ocean City carousel, is during an amusement park rides montage which is legally bound to require generic 1980's "having fun" music:



Don't worry...family values win out in the end. The carousel never kills anyone, and Kevin Kline eventually decides to return to his wife and child. That is after he has sex with old girlfriend in a sand dune while wild ponies watch on and he shows us his bare rear end.

Always Good Eats in O.C.

I like to take pictures of food. It's just one of the many weird things I like to do that generate stares of bewilderment from onlookers. Here's a couple of yummy things people ate while we were at the beach the other week. These first two are from Shenanigan's Irish Pub & Grille at 4th St. & the Boardwalk. They have plenty of seating directly on the boardwalk which has made this spot a new favorite with my family.





Skibereen Po'Boy: Traditional shirmp Po'boy. Spicy breaded shrimp on a six-inch toasted hoagie roll with lettuce and tomato, served with home-made remoulade sauce.

Gallagher's Banger: Authentic Irish Banger sausage flame-broiled, topped with caramelized onions, red peppers, and spicy brown mustard served on a toasted hoagie roll.

And from de Lazy Lizzard at 1st St. & the Bay, Godzilla Nachos which we had to order just because of the name.

Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah

My kids aren't exactly daredevils. They are very cautious children. Even though they are both developing a roller coaster bug, neither of them are really looking for big thrills. So I was pretty surprised last week when they both showed interest in doing a zipline course for kids at Jolly Roger Amusement Park in Ocean City, MD.

Jolly Roger has installed ziplines for adults over their waterpark, but they've also added a nice little zipline obstacle course for children. Once suited up, the kids cross bridges of increasing difficultly until they come to the end of the course where they must zipline back to the starting point. Elias and Tanner both tore up the course. I was really impressed with both of them and also very proud of them for stepping outside their comfort zone. The best part is: they had a blast.

Here's Elias zipping back to home base:



And then Tanner (You can hear him scream with excitement)

Trimper's

To some people, Trimper's Rides in Ocean City, MD is nothing more than "the rides at the boardwalk." But the amusement park is really a gem of vintage amusement antiques and history. I love taking my time and checking out all the little details and nooks and crannies of the property. The majority of the history of the park on display resides inside a year round indoor building. Here's a few snapshots I took this past summer...

From Trimper's website: "A 1912 purchase also adds to the historic significance of Trimper's Rides. It was that year that Daniel Trimper purchased a massive carousel from the Herschell-Spillman Company in North Tonawanda, NY. It was 50 feet in diameter with a uniqueness derived from the only other carousel made by the firm at that time having been sent to Coney Island, and that one was later destroyed by fire.

The merry-go-round's forty-five animals, three chariots and one rocking chair were driven by a steam engine; rides originally cost just a nickel. One-hundred years later, the ride (now electrified) costs you four tickets, or $2.00 - unless you buy the discounted package of 40 tickets for eighteen dollars, and then your ride only costs $1.80. Classified as one of the oldest still operating carousels in the nation, generations of families come every year to ride their favorite animal."

The merry-go-round is filled with beautifully hand carved, hand painted animals of all types. This attraction is the pride and centerpiece of Trimper's. They reportedly have someone on staff who's only takes care of the carousel. My kids always fight over who gets to ride the dalmatian. They love all things puppy...especially dalmatians.

These fun, old-fashioned animal mouth trash cans used to be fairly common at amusement parks. There are serveal of them still in service around Trimper's. This pelican helps set the mood set up next to a very cool little boat ride...

Like most of the other rides in Trimper's indoor building, this kiddie boat ride dates back at least 70 years. There is no track under the water. The boats are all connected to one another in a way that keeps them in a tight loop around the pool. I've always enjoyed the elaborate scenery along the walls of this attraction. I've tried several years to get a good picture of this ride, but with how the ride is situated - It's been hard to capture the ride properly. This was the first year I was able to snap a decent shot.

I've got some more neat pictures of Trimper's Rides that I'll share in future posts.

Back From The Beach `09

We spent a week at the ocean. We brought our laptop so I figured I would update the blog while we were there but then I never felt like doing it. So now we're back in the WWoB offices and the fun and mirth can continue! We were in Ocean City, MD for one whole week. We had a great time. Quite a few friends of ours were down there the same time we were. Some planned it that way, others we ran into! The weather was hot and beachy with highs of 103. The actual beach part of the beach continues to be my children's least favorite part of the beach experience. They prefer the mini-golf, candy stores and rides and quite frankly that's fine with us. We spent a lot of time at the pool and many evenings strolling the boardwalk listening to the sounds of the ocean and a guy wearing a cardboard box painted like Spongebob Squarepants and playing the banjo. Life is good!

One of the new attractions at Ocean City that we were looking forward to checking out is The Pirates Plunder Museum and Gift Shop on 26th St. With all the same ideas repeated over and over in Ocean City...it's nice when something original and different opens up. This little museum is small and doesn't have a whole lot to offer but at $3 bucks a head (kids 10 and under are free) it's worth the price. There are plenty of pirate artifacts on display such as weapons and treasures, and there is a bounty of information to be had in this small space. Who knew Blackbeard the pirate had a home and a wife right here on the East Coast of Maryland!? The museum offers lots of photo opportunities and it even has a small theatre that runs a very fascinating National Geographic film about Blackbeard. There's a large gift shop attached with all sorts of pirate goodies to take home including toy weapons which happens to be the very favorite item of one of my own little crew members and believe me, he left a happy little pirate! And yes, in case you were wondering, the soundtrack to Pirates of the Carribean was playing the entire time we were there!

Of course, eating plays a big role in a visit to the beach. For me, and many others, nothing is better than a serving or three of Thrasher's Fries. I also visited the wonderful Dough Roller for my beloved Pizza Omelet and traveled over the state line into Delaware for my newest favorite pizza in the world: Grotto Pizza.
I also established two new food traditions; a Peanut Butter Fudge and Banana milkshake at Dumsers and Kohr Bros. banana frozen custard with chocolate sprinkles! That's flavor country, my friends. We also hit up other favorites like The Bonfire, Tequila Mockingbird, Phillips Seafood, Big Peckers and Harpoon Hanna's. Oh, and the kids dragged us into at least a dozen Candy Kitchens.

A highlight of the trip for me was finally getting to ride the Haunted Mansion ride on Rehoboth Beach's boardwalk. Rehoboth Beach is about a 20 minute drive from Ocean City but offers a completely different beach experience. Rehoboth has a small amusement park called Funland which operates a handful of rides in a tightly packed but beautiful little area. Their Haunted Mansion is considered one of the best dark rides in the country. It only opens at 6:30pm so the lines are very long. I've tried to ride it two other years and waiting in a long line isn't an option when you've got two little ones with you. This year, I went back and checked on the line near the end of the night and there was no wait. I bought my $1.50 worth of tickets and walked right on this legendary ride. Unlike most Haunted Houses, this one's cars suspend from the track and the whole ride is actually upstairs from the loading area. It's a really cool ride filled with all sorts of old fun house gags and props collected from other classic dark rides. One of the highlights of the ride is the "Peeing Skeleton". Sounds charming, don't it!? It's a great ride which I hope I get to do again soon!

On the way home from Ocean City, we decided to make a small detour and visit Cheeseburger in Paradise in Pasadena, MD. There used to be a CIP not to far from our home, but it closed down about two years ago. We've often talked about making the 75-90 minute drive down to the next nearest location, but sole Maryland operation ended up only being about 10 minutes out of our way on our return trip. We were so happy to be back. Cheeseburger in Paradise has the best sliders - hands down! They also have lots of yummy island inspired dishes and drinks and you get to chow down while listening to Jimmy Buffet tunes. It was a great conclusion to a fun (and calorie) filled week!