I drove up to Youngstown (Boardman, really) on Wednesday, to my parents' house. Early Thursday morning, Mom and I got on a bus, were joined by my second Cousin, whom I call Aunt Nancy and her daughter, Kim, and went to NYC.
(picture shows Nancy, Mom and Kim)
It was a long trip, and there seemed to be several delays, the most dramatic of which was when the other bus blew a head gasket (whatever that is) and started billowing nasty smoke, just before we reached the Lincoln Tunnel. We were late to dinner at Pellegrino's in Little Italy.
The folks on the other bus missed dinner (they packed it up and loaded it onto our bus for them for later), and we were late to the show (Chicago, which was great, but missing my favorite song sucked). But, I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Aunt Nancy and Kim and Mom are EXCELLENT travel companions!
The main reason we went to NYC was for Friday morning . . . to see and ride the restored carousel that was the carousel of our youth. Idora Park was a smallish amusement park, originally constructed to entice people of 1899 to the end of the streetcar line in Youngstown. When I was a kid, we used to hold backyard fund-raising fairs to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy and get free tickets to get in to the park.
The carousel has now been restored (took her 22 years), and is in a warehouse in the DUMBO district of NYC. It is now being called Jane's Carousel, for Jane Walentas, who is the artist who did the restoration.(This is Mom with Jane)
We got to see it, ride it numerous times, and I took over 100 pictures. 
Each horse has a medallion like this one that tells what row it is in and what model it is. Very cool!
Jane's resoration work is nothing short of miraculous. The precious-metal leaf used, the beautiful color, it is all amazing. It was cool, too, to see these people (mostly elderly) so thrilled to see this bit of their childhood.I loaded more pictures to my Facebook Account, if you want to see them. Let me know if that works, or if not, I'll load them into Flickr.
3 comments:
What a fabulous trip, Cathy!!! NYC, Old Carousel, Little Italy, Broadway, and family--what could be better??? Happy to hear you made it back safely. --Kristin
What a fun trip. I love carousels. There is something so magical about them. I saw some pics on Facebook too. Hey - since I have to get into Flickr a weirdo way with UAE filters, can you email me your Flickr name? I'd love to see more of the carousel. Best, Cheryl
The head gasket seals off the combustion chamber at the head of the pistons. So if it goes, all your bang goes out the top of the engine block.
Sheesh, girls.... all about the carousel and don't know anything about engines! :-)
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