A night at the carnival

[Carnival—American style] [1] [2]

“We have to go on the Ferris Wheel,” said Bunny. “We just have to.”

“Okay,” I said. It's one of the few rides I don't mind at carnivals. “Although it's pretty big.” I also have a fear of hights but it doesn't always manifest itself—it's a fear that is partially situational, but that, as Alton Brown [3] would say, is another show [4]).

The carnival itself was in the parking lot of a large strip mall along US-441 and Glades, in Boca Raton, Florida [5]. There are few fields left empty here in Lower Sheol anymore, so I guess they set up where ever they can these days.

[Look at all the people] [6] [7] [Where do they all come from?] [8] [9] [You'll shoot your eye out, kid!] [10] [11]

It was rather slow by the time we showed up, near 9:00 pm. Whether it was due to the hour of the day, or the day of the week, I don't know. But there were hardly any lines to speak of. Bunny picked up the tickets and as we waited (there was one rider on the Ferris Wheel when we queued up) we bantered with the carney. The carnival is operated by a larger company that has several “units” out at any one time (one here in Boca Raton, another one in Ft. Lauderdale, and a few down in Miami) and that what we were looking at wasn't just a Ferris Wheel, but a huge Ferris Wheel, some 90′ tall.

A few minutes go by, and the wheel stops. We get into one of the gondolas, the wheel lurches forward a few cars, and a group get into another gondola; the carney explaining to the other group that the groups need to be spaced to keep the wheel in balance.

And we're off …

And it's clear by the time we peak over the top and are on the way down again that this isn't just a Ferris Wheel, but the Ferris Wheel. Vertigo kicked in and I just had to get off, but it took another three trips to get the carney's attention, and then me waving off Bunny as she tried to help (we were walking down a plank off the ride) but I really needed to get grounded, as in “standing on solid ground, now.”

[All the deep fried heart attack specials you could want] [12] [Time to make the funnel cake] [13]

After calming down a few minutes, we headed off to the Funnel Cake booth. I'm neutral towards deep fried dough but Bunny loves the stuff [Update Friday, November 17^th—Bunny wishes to let it be known that she loves funnel cakes and not just any old type of fried dough –Editor], so she got a funnel cake (she found it good but she's had better—I found it okay myself) and I got a soft-serve ice cream cone (I didn't get sick on the Ferris Wheel, I just couldn't take it).

[Back and forth, round and round …] [14] [15]

Next to the Ferris Wheel was this outrageous ride. Not only does it swing back and forth, but the end, where you sit, spins. I found it horribly disorienting just looking at the thing, but it was very pretty with all the lights. It looked like something you would find in Las Vegas. Or on the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind [16].

[Ohh … look at the pretty lights] [17] [18] [Close Encounters of the Third Kind] [19] [20] [Fling them all to outer space] [21] [22]

[1] /boston/2006/11/15/thumb.carnival.jpg

[2] /boston/2006/11/15/carnival.jpg

[3] http://www.altonbrown.com/

[4] /boston/2006/11/15.3

[5] http://www.ci.boca-raton.fl.us/

[6] /boston/2006/11/15/thumb.b150016.jpg

[7] /boston/2006/11/15/b150016.jpg

[8] /boston/2006/11/15/thumb.b150017.jpg

[9] /boston/2006/11/15/b150017.jpg

[10] /boston/2006/11/15/thumb.b150050.jpg

[11] /boston/2006/11/15/b150050.jpg