Welcome to Knoebels

Last weekend was my great grandmother's family's 94th family reunion. I never met my great grandmother, but she was the second oldest of thirteen kids (including a set of twins) who survived to adulthood and the mother of my paternal grandfather. Every year, the reunion is held in the same small town. 

Sadly, fewer and fewer people go each year. after 94 years, many members of the family have moved, lost touch, and passed away. However, at one time, my family was able to old a baseball game, a family band, and cakewalk (this tradition lasted until the early 2000s and one year I won the cakewalk which meant my parents had to take home a giant cake). Those of us who are able to attend, have a great time, hold a family meeting, make announcements, and share what's been going on since we last saw each other. In years past, my family occasionally went to the local amusement park (it helped that one of my cousins could get us in for free). 

I swear this is all relevant. 

Last year, I mentioned to one of my cousins how I missed going to the local amusement park. My cousin laughed and said that it was a nice park, but Knoebels was way better. 

This sign is like halfway into the park. 

I had heard of Knoebels from when Travel Channel actually showed shows on travel. I used to love their specials on Top Ten Amusement Parks and Top Ten Best Rollercoasters. It started my obsession with rollercoasters, mechanics, and physics in general (I actually do have a minor in physics, so...). For my 20th birthday, my parents gifted me a behind the scenes rollercoaster tour at Buschgardens Williamsburg. Knoebels was one of the amusement parks frequently mentioned on those shows for having outstanding rides and especially rollercoasters. 

However, I never went to Knoebels as a kid. I also still haven't been to Cedar Point despite constantly being promised that "we'll go next year" whenever we went to Michigan. I suppose "next year" is never going to actually happen.

Alright, I'm done discussing childhood. 

Knoebels is so different from any amusement park I've ever been to. The closest I might be able to compare it to are the boardwalk piers with amusement rides, except its in the middle of Pennsylvania's coal country and surrounded by campgrounds instead of sand and beach motels. 

Also you can go to Knoebels completely free if you want to. 

Parking is free. Entry is free. There are several museums that are also free. The rides are purchased through a ticket system (and they still use paper tickets) or you can purchase a wrist band to ride all the rides (except the Haunted Mansion). The wristband is only offered during the week though, so if you go on a Saturday like I did, you have to purchase one of several ticket books. 

You can even see a swan.

Rides cost between $2.50 and $6.00. The kids rides range from $2.50 to $4.00, family fun flat rides were between $3.00 and $4.50, and the rollercoasters are between $3.50 and $5.00. The only $6.00 ride was the ski lift which gives you a great view of the park (I have only seen this through YouTube videos as I opted to spend my tickets elsewhere). 

The food is also fairly inexpensive, but the carnival games seemed to cost on par with other amusement parks. I didn't play any of the games, but they had most of the classics. There is also one indoor restaurant called the Alamo that's been operating for almost a century. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention one other thing, dogs are allowed in the park. Not everywhere, but you can bring them in. Knoebels is surrounded by campgrounds (nearest hotel is a bed and breakfast) and they don't want you to leave your furry best friend at the campsite while you and your family enjoy the park. 

When I arrived at Knoebels, it took me a bit of time to find a parking spot. Their parking lot is a huge field and has a shuttle that runs up and down the lines of cars. I parked close enough that I didn't need to take the shuttle, but far enough away that I had to wander through their group pavilions that can be rented for events. Most were rented out by large parties, church groups, work family days (I saw Sherwin-Williams there), and a few family reunions. 

If there is a main gate to the park, I didn't find it. After getting through the maze of pavilions, I walked up to a giant board with the map on it which was next to one of those boat rides that take you up real high and then drops you down with a huge splash.

It was at this point that I learned that it was the 100 years celebration of the park's opening. Their old skating rink was set up as a history museum of the park. The skate rink hadn't been used in decades, but they did have a remaining skate in the collection. Much of the park had facts posted around with history facts about the park and surrounding area. There were at least two recent flood markers (both in the 2010s) and displays of old work equipment. One of my favorite finds was the blacksmith's shop where you could purchase a horseshoe, fire poker, or tent post. 

I also adored the carousel museum. Though small, the carousel museum included a brief history on carousels and included examples of horses from the mid to late 1800s. I think the earliest one I saw had been built in the 1870s. Knoebels has two working carousels, a small one mainly for kids (that didn't stop me from going on it) and a big one that also had the ring game. 

If you've never heard of the ring game on carousels, you've really missed out on something special. The ring game is for people who sit on the outer edge of the carousel. An arm is extended down that holds little metal rings. Riders are meant to grab onto the rings and then toss them in the designated area. The rings are maybe two inches in diameter (or big enough to get two fingers hooked in) and traditionally there is one brass ring that wins the grabber a free ride (I don't think Knoebels has this feature). 

The ring game has long gone out of fashion - likely because of insurance. As I hadn't played the ring game in a long time, I quickly relearned how difficult it was to grab them and how easily someone could hurt themselves. However, it is a ton of fun and amazing that Knoebels has the game on their Grand Carousel. 

I ended up purchasing $25.00 worth of tickets. The first thing I opted to ride was the rollercoaster Flying Turns. This ride was built in the 2000s based on a design created in the 1920s. Similar to a steel bobsled type rollercoaster, it is the only known wooden rollercoaster without a track. It is also freaking awesome and one of two rides I was had to try (the other was the Grand Carousel).

With only $20.00 remaining in tickets, I decided to hold off on the other rollercoasters until my next visit (hopefully when I could get the unlimited ride wristband). Instead I rode both carousels, the tilt-a-whirl, Paratroopers, the swings, and The Haunted Mansion (yes it needs to be capitalized). 

The Haunted Mansion is a traditional dark ride that fewer and fewer amusement parks have. I've only really experienced similar rides at the seashore amusement parks on the different boardwalks. The Disneyland version this ain't. It's loud with plenty of jump scare (though thankfully none are humans in a mask) and some questionable stereotypes. The story for this Haunted Mansion included a cursed object taking over the house after the guy who "acquired" the object got married and moved in with his new bride. My favorite room was one with glowing skulls that seemed to spin around the room. My least favorite part was the truck horn jump scare (if you know, you know).

Though I didn't try it, Knoebels also has an outdoor pool area that charges for entry with the option to upgrade to include waterslides. The pool area looked really nice and the slides looked like a lot of fun. 

I really enjoyed my time at Knoebels, though it was only for a few hours. It's a park that feels much more focused on traditional amusement rides than just thrilling rollercoasters. In fact, most of their big rollercoasters are wooden. I plan to go again and possibly camp there at some point (especially if I can meet up with my family and they bring the huskies). There are definitely some rides I wasn't able to try that sound amazing (like Phoenix and Black Diamond). 

Maybe I can convince my cousins that we need to have our family reunion there (even if it breaks with tradition). We might be able to get more of the family to come if rides are included.

Have you ever been to Knoebels? If so, what's your favorite ride? I still can't believe how awesome Flying Turns was. 

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or l eave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome To Perseverance

Happy middle of August everyone! It's hot as all get out where I am, but that didn't stop one side of my family from coming out to our 84th Family Reunion. It was very hot, but we had around 30 people there. 84 years is a long time and we're hoping we make it to our 100th reunion.

Anything (be it an event, a business, or life expectancy, etc.) that lasts to 100 years is impressive. It requires dedication, hard work, a pinch of fun, and a lot of perseverance mixed with persistence (yep these are two different words with very similar meanings). I also think it's fun to think that so much has changed in that 100 years.

I have wanted to be a writer for a long time. I started a "family newspaper" when I was about 10 or 11 years old. There were three or so issues and I'm pretty sure one of my aunts has a copy somewhere in their house. I unfortunately didn't keep up with it (though thinking back that's probably a good thing). In high school, I took my school's journalism class and two creative writing classes. I also wrote my "first" novel around that time (it's in quotes because though there might be a paper version hiding somewhere out there, but for the most part it's lost to technology advancement).

I figure, if I keep at it long enough, I'll eventually polish up one of my other novels I'm working on, and send it out for publication (whether on an independent or traditional track is up in the air). For now, I keep working on my blogs (click here to see my second one that involves food - shameless plug, this is), my webcomic (see below - the title also shows up if you type it into Google), and experimenting with my writing style with fanfiction (sorry no links provided, but I'm working in the horror genre).

Mortimer's advice for marketing a webcomic...

I've made some progress since posting my first works. I have small followings (and a couple of fans who get annoyed when I disappear for a few months), but nothing major. I'm certainly no Anne Rice or Steven King (or that lady who wrote 50 Shades of Grey - seriously it was originally a Twilight Fanfiction). However my writing career is still more of a pass time hobby, then the driving force of my existence. It could change, but I have a lot more work to do before then.

This past week, I got to see Matthew Santoro at a book signing. He makes educational videos on YouTube, which are entertaining and great to listen to. The book is a "fun facts" type of book, with tons of weird and hilarious fact, much like his YouTube channel. Before he signed all of the books (over 100 people were at the event), he spoke to us for about an hour, allowing his fans to ask him questions. A lot of the questions he answered were about starting his YouTube Channel. He started uploading videos in 2011, but didn't start getting big until late 2013. There were many times he wanted to give up, but he kept on doing what he loved. He also said not to try to make it big with anything controversial. Not only will it fizzle and die out quickly, but you'll likely make a lot of enemies.

That is a great success story. His persistence and perseverance paid off and now he has turned his hobby into something that he loves. He's also not alone. On the website that I upload my webcomic to, there have been a few people who have made an announcement that they have been hired by one of the big comic book publishers. They now get to make comic for a living. The president of my current company is another good example.

Don't get me wrong, it does take some luck to turn a passion into a career. However, it also takes a lot of hard work, and perseverance. J. K. Rowling loves to talk about how many times the first Harry Potter book was rejected and look at how successful it has turned out (I bet all the people who rejected her initially have been kicking themselves ever since). Fred Astaire, one of Hollywood's biggest stars back in the day, was once told that he "couldn't act, couldn't sing, could dance a little." I guess he didn't take that criticism to heart.

I'm sure a lot of people want to be noticed right away (the media certainly seems to think so anyway). They want to go viral, they want to have a following, they want to matter to people. It just doesn't happen instantaneously. Most success stories talk about the first few years struggles and how many times the person or group almost quit. Then there are the failed stories that we never get to hear about (and it might have been for any number of reasons, not because they didn't work hard enough).

I write because it's what I love to do. Would I love to have 100 hits with each post or become a house hold name (well maybe not the latter - I like being in the shadows too much)? Yes, I'd love that kind of recognition. But I'm also happy when one person clicks on any of my work (sure it might be a spam bot, but it was a hit none the less and I will be excited about it).

I still need to balance my writing passion with my day job. I won't lie, I kind of like keeping the two separate right now.

But if you have a passion or a drive to do something, please keep at it! You never know what might happen. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome To The Reunion

We'll see you again next year...

First I would like to say Happy Shark Week! I honestly miss the years my family would go to the South Jersey shore the week after it aired.

Today was my grandfather's family reunion. This was unfortunately our first year since his passing back in October that we were all together. It was pretty small this year, not a lot of children. I think it was because so many of use have moved away. I have cousins ranging from Boston all the way to Alaska. 

Anyway, what's important is that we all meet at this park in the city of Catasaqua. We have a huge picnic   lunch, have our annual meeting, play a few games and then head out. It's a lot of fun. Even if things are changing.

There's an old creek (it's actually a crick, but not many people outside of the region are familiar with that term) that's now dried up close by the picnic area. We used to play in it, catching small fish and bugs. We used to splash around and then run back to our parents for dessert.

There's also a playground and swimming pool. It was a rare summer we went to the pool, but we were always running around the play ground. There's an old merry go round, probably one of the last since they're considered dangerous, that my cousin whose four months older than me and I would spin as hard as we could to make the younger kids sick. The adultery were never happy when we did that.

In years past my family would go to Dorney or Hershey  Park and ride roller coaster. We didn't this year, but that was mainly because I am working and my sister is off on another adventure. Some days I wish I could relive those days. It was a lot of fun getting my (then) 70 year old cousin on the rides.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share or comment. I love hearing from my readers. I hope you enjoy these posts and the crazy things I have learned. Until next week.