Best Seaside Saturday

I thought I had posted this last night.  I hadn't.  My bad.

Saturday.  Laura from High School was in town to swim an ocean race at Coney Island.  I met up with her in the afternoon, had the best time, and took some pictures.

There's rides there that weren't there before.

The aforementioned Ocean-Swimming Laura from High School.  She says there's lots of jelly fish in that water, that with every stroke she was touching a jelly fish.  So now I am never going to sign up for a Coney Island ocean race.

There was a sand castle contest.

This one "Hardest to Tell What it Is" (Turns out: It's an eagle standing on top of the globe)

And . . . The Winner:

I kept running into these girls everywhere I went.  Maybe the universe was trying to tell me something?

Another new ride!  On this one you ride horses.

Forget the Cyclone, this is the best old ride.

Didn't ride this time, though.   But if you want to know what the best ride is, it's the sliding cars on the Wonder Wheel.  Trust.

There are two haunted house rides at Coney Island.  Spook - a- Rama is one of them.  I'm going to talk about the other one soon.

Surf Ave bumper cars.

The Freak Show.  Has anyone been to this?  Is it cool?

Grabbed some food at Doña Zita.  This place isn't some boardwalk joke, it's a real deal top notch taco stand. 

I mean, LOOK at this torta they made me.  Look at it!!  And it wasn't just giant, it was delicious.  I don't  about how giant a torta is, I care about how delicious it is.  And if it's real delicious, I'm awful glad it's giant.

Maybe next time, Mozzarepas.

Okay, the other haunted hose is called the Ghost Hole.  It is a lot better, from a Coney Island shock value standpoint, than the Spook-a-Rama.

Because it has this dummy in front of it.

We couldn't stop laughing at the dummy.  Here is a video of what that dummy does.  This is probably the most potentially objectionable thing I've ever posted on this blog.  That said, you ought to watch this video.  For anthropological reasons.

A regal needle lost in a crude, seaside haystack.

Slow day at the 3D Paradise Roller Coaster Machine.  It's getting too much competition from Star Tours II.

Back on the boardwalk for a minute.  Took my favorite picture of the day.

Finished off with a Grateful Dead cover band outside Cyclone Stadium.

In Conclusion: Coney Island is one the most underrated summertime Saturday destinations in the city.  It is worth the hour to two hour (geeeze) subway ride from wherever you might be in the city.

Additional Reading:

My trip to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade in 2008
The time I saw Daft Punk play at Coney Island, a.k.a. the Absolute Best Concert You Can Imagine