Friday, November 27, 2009

It's my birthday

Well, it's my birthday today. And what I wanted to do was go to the Santa Monica Pier and ride the Ferris Wheel.


Now, I'm a person who likes amusement park rides, and who isn't afraid of heights, and who likes to take a dare.

[The Man I Love] is a person who doesn't like heights, and doesn't much like amusement park rides, especially the ones that flip you around a lot.

But he took me to the Pier and rode the Ferris Wheel with me anyway. Because he loves me.


So we stood in line and watched the giant wheel spin above us, the canopied gondolas rotating past, while overhead the roller coaster twined in and out and around. Because Pacific Park occupies such a small piece of real estate, the rides are close to one another.

While you stand in line to buy tickets, the giant green dragon swingy-thing ride sways up over your head. The roller coaster threads over, under, and around the Pacific Plunge. There's an old-fashioned Scrambler there, like I remember from county fairs in the '60s. It's all so close, so immediate, and contained on this narrow wooden structure reaching out into the Pacific Ocean.

Then we got in and ascended - it was smooth and gentle, and sometimes you could barely sense that you were moving - except the gondolas that were below you soon were above you.


At the top of the circle, the shore stretched away to the north, and to the south.

As the gondola descended again, you could look through its structure to the high rises and hotels on the Palisades, and the huge complex of Cirque de Soleil's striped tents on the beach.



You could smell the salt ocean, hear the screams of the roller-coaster riders, and see the sun sparkling off the water.

It was pretty cool. I wanna do it again.

Except not for my birthday. Next year, I think I want to sky-dive for my birthday.

24 comments:

Sylvia said...

Beautiful! And Chris is a champ. It's cold & cloudy here. Have I told you about going gliding in Prescott, AZ? Another thing to put onyour birthday wish list.

M. Bouffant said...

Lucky you, w/ the occasional conjunction of Thanksgiving or the day after (Now, suddenly, known as "Black Friday.") getting you a day off for your b-day as well.

Expecting pix from next yrs.'s jump.

ckc (not kc) said...

happy birthday!! (I had snow on my car this morning!)

tigris said...

Happy birthday! May you have many, each happier than the last.

Jennifer said...

Hi, g!

Happy birthday!

Larkspur said...

I am coming over to your place, as requested, to say Hey, happy birthday! Thanks for the cheerful, sunny photos.

I have a friend whose birthday is right around Thanksgiving, too. The actual day she was born was, that year, the day before Thanksgiving, and I am not making this up: the OB induced labor because he had tickets to a college football game on Thanksgiving. She nevertheless (or possibly inevitably) grew up to be a big football fan herself. So I guess Dr. Tix was forgiven.

I would be scared of gliding. But if I had to choose from roller coaster, skydiving or gliding, I'd trust the thermals and do the gliding.

J— said...

Happy birthday, g. I'm off to read your series on the taxi dance hall.

Arky said...

Please imagine I've left you a very sincere and original birthday greeting. I'm tired and can't think of nothin' more than Happy Birthday! [Blows party squeaker]

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Happpy B-Day!!

(and two party squeakers!)
~

Jason, as himself said...

What a great way to celebrate. Happy birthday!

cactus petunia said...

Happy Birthday!

CaShThoMa said...

Sounds like a wonderful birthday! Celebrations all around.

Whale Chowder (nee OneMan) said...

Happy birthday, g. Many happy returns.

Gilly said...

Happy Birthday! All the best people were born in November ;-)

I've no head for heights, either, but I agree you can get some great photos from up there!

But you'd never get me up there - perhaps I can sit with Mr. Doves until you come down!!

Tristan Robin said...

What a wonderful birthday gift! (I have skydived once - and loved every second of it. Have never had the opportunity to go again. DO IT!!!)

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Looch said...

And a Happy Birthday (I'm late, so sue me). Skydiving? Does that man love you that much? Guess you'll fond out, eh?

Kathy Rogers said...

Happy birthday! I hope you aren't going to make the poor man skydive with you next year!

Gary's third pottery blog said...

oh boy, taht's what I wanna do for CHRISTMAS!

kingubu said...

Happy birthday, g.

shrink on the couch said...

you sure know how to keep the happy in happy birthday!!

Sue said...

Happy Birthday! I'm sorry I'm a bit late...just trying to catch up around Blogland. Well, you rode a ferris wheel and I took a hike on my birthday...aren't we just too cool! You are braver than I, I never really liked the "big" rides and I certainly wouldn't sky dive...but, I think it is great that you want to. You go girl!

Whiskeymarie said...

Happy belated, my dear. The photos make me want to get on a Ferris Wheel NOW, except that it's November in MN and I don't think that's gonna happen.
;)

BrightenedBoy said...

Happy birthday. It sounds like you had a very good time. I've only been to California one time, but I found it to be a very beautiful place.

You're lucky to live there.

180360 said...

Happy Belated Birthday! I love SM Pier. It's such a fun place to photograph. (I want to skydive, too.)