I miss Rocky Point...

Yesterday morning, as I was reading blogs and drinking coffee, I heard a song on the television that stopped me dead in my recliner. It was Van Halen's Panama. I was instantly transported back in time about twenty-five years and I was listening to that very song on the Musik Express ride at Rocky Point while enjoying the breeze with my bestest friends.

Rocky Point Park was just awesome. When I was a kid it was the absolute coolest way to spend a day with friends. Our parents would usually come along and give us a time and place to meet at the end of the day. These were the best of those long days of summer vacation - packed with the feelings of freedom, invincibility and many, many crushes on many, many boys. We met up with friends and spent hours running from ride to ride, getting drinks and snacks from the various venders, playing games with cheesy prizes, cooling off on the log flume ride and enjoying every single second. Nights were even more fun as the sun set and the stage was set up for bands. The views overlooking the bay from the super high rides were just amazing. And I loved every ride, the slow, the fast and the scary - but the crazier the better. Rocky Point had something for everyone.

Oh, how I wish it hadn't closed. I wish it was still a functioning amusement park. And - even though I grew to loathe the Rocky Point Shore Dinner Hall after having worked there in my teens - I wish I could go right this second and sit by those big old windows enjoying the best clam-cakes around. I'd love to find a place like this to take Scarlett to. I want her to have a special place to look back on with such fond memories as these. We were so lucky to have what felt like a gigantic personal carnival in our hometown. I miss Rocky Point!!