~Coney Island, Cincinnati Style~

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Coney Island is a small amusement park we discovered this year, which we were surprised to learn actually originally opened in 1887! We heard from my sis that it had lots of little rides for small children, and was not so overwhelming as a large amusement park like Cedar Point or King's Island. Both of which I have little to no interest in these days. It seems the older we get- the less we relish getting whiplash from rides that feature

"Six upside-down turns: one vertical loop, two inverted corkscrews, a zero-gravity roll and a "cobra roll" that turns riders upside down twice" (that's the description of the Raptor at Cedar Point).

~There was a time when that appealed to me, but that time has been laid to rest alongside most of my other thrill seeking or otherwise life threatening teen pursuits. (Not like there were that many, unless you count death by extended exposure to cosmetic chemicals, or going into a coma over lack of sleep...)

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So yesterday we made the trip to Cincy and aside from a 1/2 hour traffic jam, and taking a wrong turn in the end and driving for 20 minutes in the wrong direction... we finally made to "Coney Island". Situated on the Ohio river, it is actually quite picturesque, filled with pretty trees and surrounded by the southern Ohio hills. I can sum up this place by saying it basically has the rides of a fair, all the classics most entirely for the 2- 10 year old set I would say.
The upsides of it are that it is very clean, has wooden fencing around every little ride, had a small lake that you can canoe in, paddle boat in, or play bumper boats in. There was a cute little town made up of kid size playhouses, just adorable.

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For swimming it has the world's largest recirculating pool which seriously had a lifeguard in a boat in the middle. (Besides the like 12 other lifeguards there) It was HUGE! It was like a Poolake. The poolake was really the perfect lake for me, because I am so squeamish around mud, dirt, freakish underwater things that might touch my toes whenever we are out in a "real" lake. Fake humongous chlorinated lake is the perfect watery escape! YES! That was built in the 1920's I think so it has been around forever as well. Why doesn't anyone make those anymore? Poolakes are the best.

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My mood at the park was rocky at first as for some odd reason I was have some pretty bad back pain. I have NEVER had back pain before, and I was pretty cranky about it. Luckily I was able to get some Xtra strength tylenol in me and that made me cheer up considerably.

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The kids had a ball though, as Lena called it- "PARADISE!" Dane woke up today and said "Can we go again today?" So it was a winner for the little people, and being small, shaded, pretty, and easy to navigate, a winner for us too.

Clearly I don't know when to stop with the pictures.. they are just too hard to edit down!!