Matt McIrvin's Freaky Alternate Reality

For the first time in 87 days we got above freezing today! Just for a couple hours in midday but still, it was there. ... Also we got another inch or so of snow, just in time to make bunnyhugger's fourth drive up to work this week lousy. But it also meant we have a somewhat clean-ish driveway for the first time in a month or so, with the snow and ice scraped clean. That's nice.

It also puts me in mind of unending days in the 90s or above, like during the Most Extreme Mid-Atlantic Parks trip, and our day at Kennywood that was too short because for some reason they closed at like 8 pm against all reason and decency:

Here's the Lucky Stand, now a self-service pop refill station, and the silhouette of The Phantom's Revenge in the late afternoon light.

And the fountains of Lost Kennywood's midway looking into the late sun.

We're back to the Grand Carousel for the last ride of the day!

And here's a picture of a horse with the pole almost lined up to the decoration of the railing around it. This is a good idea that maybe I can execute better next time.

So, shockingly, Kennywood closed before sunset that day. The result is the traditional picture from the bridge looking out at Racer and Jack Rabbit over the lagoon looks like this instead.

There's the carousel with the lights all off suddenly. They closed it fast on us, including running a weirdly short cycle after waiting for everybody to get on.

This directional sign is new but I like it, for building on the Kennywood Arrow and for letting all the attractions have their own typefaces.

We didn't even get to see if the Refreshments neon was still neon!

Since the park didn't have printed-out maps I grabbed a photo of one of their too-few map signs.

Spotted this car in the parking lot. Wonder if it's an amusement park fan's.

This is a picture outside our motel room. bunnyhugger found a spot with a great 50s-60s style layout (the interior was sadly fresh-renovated) that was really sweet.

Here's the road sign which could not be much better.

Trivia: The International Olympic Committee accepted its first female members (Pirjo Haggman and Flor Isava-Fonesca) in 1981. Isava-Fonesca became the first woman elected to the Executive Board in 1990. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle.

Currently Reading: Joke Farming: How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense, Elliott Kalan.

On my humor blog last week I kept trying to get around to reviewing my readership figures for January, and breaking news-like things kept getting in the way. Here's the rundown:

• MiSTed: FX Down To Mobius, Part 2: A Moral Argument, Part 1
• This Is Like the Time I Saw on Usenet That John Candy Was Dead
• Statistics Saturday: Februaries on the Calendar, Ranked
• Robert Benchley: The Dangers of Bass-Singing
• _Rex Morgan_ and _Gil Thorp_ look weird because of surgery and probably marriage
• What’s Going On In Gasoline Alley? Since when does Gasoline Alley have EV chargers? November 2025 – January 2026
• Now the Time Has Come, There Are Things to Realize
• MiSTed: FX Down To Mobius, Part 3: A Moral Argument, Part 2

But that's nothing compared to pictures of Kennywood, starting with our less-often-visited Kiddieland time:

Kenny's Karousel, which I guess has to count as the oldest carousel running at Kennywood by about three years.

There's something appealing in the extremely basic carvings of cat and dog on the chariot here.

And there's the maker's plate, in case you had any doubts that was a W F Mangels ride there. Somehow.

Turtle Chase, the kiddie turtle ride, which I learn from Wikipedia apparently adults are allowed to ride? We didn't know. I'm not clear if that's ``allowed to ride with their kids''.

And here's a waterfall nearby, in the afternoon sun so it looks like a complex ice sculpture instead.

And then here's a silhouette of Steel Curtain in the afternoon sun.

Ran across this redemption game with the prizes these plush kangaroos, whose signs --- Don't Touch My Joey, Get In My Belly!, and TKO --- are pretty much all three kinds of kangaroo furry too.

Historic marker for the Golden Nugget which was back this year to having square ice cream. The year before they had a weird problem with cone availability somehow.

An expansion to Kiddieland was briefly Thomas The Tank Engine-themed, and now it's become Kennywood Junction, a Kennywood-themed area. Andrew S McSwigan, huh, now where have I seen that name before? Oh yeah, right here! Yes, Kennywood when it opened was at the end of the Monongahela Street Railway.

Some of the Kennywood Junction buildings that look like yeah, you can kinda see where this would have made sense as a new Thomas the Tank Engine area.

And here's Thunderbolt again. This is the mural put up and replacing the decades-old mural and, you know, I don't hate it. Do like how packed with cryptic park lore-y stuff it is.

And here's a slightly better view with different colors. I too agree it's weird George Washington isn't in the picture (as he was in the old one).

Trivia: The International Olympic Committee's original conception was that the presidency and headquarters would change with each Olympiad. This did not happen; in 1901 Pierre de Coubertin was re-elected for a ten year term, and six years after that re-elected for another ten year term. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle.

Currently Reading: Joke Farming: How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense, Elliott Kalan.

Our elder mouse Crystal turned two years old today! Notionally, at least. We don't know when she was actually born, but it's the anniversary of taking her home and we were told she was a year old then. So, she's made it a healthy lifetime for a house mouse, and we can hope she has a nice stretch of bonus time.

When I left pictures off we were walking the long way to get to The Phantom's Revenge. And how did that turn out?

Finally, we get to The Phantom's Revenge station. Note the Phantom whose heart you walk through to actually get on the train.

From this spot you get a great view of the Turtle, a decent view of Thunderbolt, and in the distance, a view of Steel Curtain.

Here it's all Phantom's Revent and Thunderbolt, though.

We had some great light for pictures that day. Here's the back end of the roller coaster station.

And looking out from the exit queue on the Black Widow, a Giant Discovery pendulum ride that I've been on, without bunnyhugger.

Huh, wonder what ride this sign is for.

Now over near the kiddieland is still the Snack-A-Saurus snack stand proudly using the Jurassic Park typeface. There is a fossil dig attraction nearby so this doesn't come completely from nowhere.

I think they just didn't have the correct sign to explain why the ... Dizzy Dynamo(?) ... ride wasn't open and put up the ``weather is bad'' excuse and were bluffing.

Crazy Trolley's another kiddie ride we watched several cycles for. It swings a lot like a Moby Dick ride, though smaller. We also noted the Kennywood Arrows there are the older style, fitting the trolley styling of the ride and the picture behind of old-timey folks at the park.

And Leo the Lion's a paper-eater trash bin.

The park explains the history of the Kiddieland, along with the mildly surprising news that this is at least the second Kiddieland.

The kiddie Ferris wheel, which they got in 1924 and so goes back to a previous Kiddieland arrangement.

Trivia: In 1966, to meet the processing requirements of Medicare, the Massachusetts Blue Cross/Blue Shield --- which claimed to have the first fully computerized Medicare in the nation --- had to begin renting time on a second IBM 7070 computer, with employees driving a car packed with decks of cards to Southbridge every evening to run overnight and drive back to Boston in the morning. Source: A History of Modern Computing, Paul E Ceruzzi. They had bought a 7070 in 1961.

Currently Reading: Joke Farming: How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense, Elliott Kalan.