Eulogy

I have better pics of the Cyclone, but I chose this one because it looks so sad.

As promised, here are the highlights from Astroworld, broken up into Saturday night and Sunday (in a later post):

Saturday (the Employee afterparty)

1. Bucket on a handle--We get to the gate and receive a giant 64 oz mug with some goofy cowboy and a vague semblance of the Cyclone on it. Good part: it will keep us hydrated for free all day long the next day.

2. Free beer: all the Bud products you can drink. Don't like Bud but don't complain when it's free.

3. Free food: nothing like ballpark cheese, refried beans, and round tortilla chips. The boys ate fajitas.

4. The Electric Slide: there's nothing better than eating bad cheese while watching people do the electric slide. What is the enjoyment in that dance?

5. The Wall of Fame: pretty cool. They had a wall of past employees in their little outfits, dated from the 60's. One guy was staring at a picture of his young self. Apparently he worked there when it opened and stayed for 30 years. He still has his namebadge--Eugene, employee of the month 1983. He had tears in his eyes. Very touching. Kept me talking there (while Edgy and TwoShirts left) for nearly an hour, but it made him so happy.

6.Finding the hidden passage: there was a little walkway between the Big Red Barn and Greased Lightnin', so I grabbed the boys and walked right into the park with a 64 oz bucket on a handle of beer.

7. Kid in a Candy Factory: it was like a dream I had once where I was locked in the park after dark and made the most of it. we walked around the park after hours with no one around except the brave souls who found the hidden passage. we explored the park sans security for 4 hours, climbing on rides, taking pictures in graveyards. I can't put into words how much fun it was.

8. pretending to drive the Taxis: we broke into the antique taxi area and pretended to drive them, like we would've if we were kids.

9. Snapping a picture of the Chat N Chew: a place we always ate because the name was so damn cool

10. The astroway: we broke into the cable car area and took pictures in one of them

11. Going to the bathroom without a line: There was no one around. I could pee whenver I wanted.

12. Playing the carnival games: we played pop and shot, ring toss, milk cans, all the carnie games for free

13. James humping the bald man: I took a pic of James humping the cardboard cut out of that man that dances on TV

14. Our own personal sountrack: not only were we the only ones in the park, but the music was still going and was programmed to be eerie for fright fest. Pretty freaky, really, especially on Main Street

15. Returning to the big red barn: chocolate fountain--need I say more

16. Confirmation and validation: I kept talking about how before the Looney Tunes invaded, Astroworld had its own characters, including a red haired foofy hat guy. No one believed me until we saw Marvel and his magical animals on some guy's shirt.

17. Making the GM cry: All I did was talk about how meaningful Astroworld was for me and about how I appreciated getting to come back and say goodbye after hours. And I told him about how Edgy and I met here when we were 12. I mean, I didn't mean to make the man cry.

18. Scoring free tix: we got free tix to the park on closing day. Whoopee!

19. Afterafterparty: we went to Cecil's and Two Shirts ogled a drag queen, though he didn't know that. After finding out she was a guy, he had a look on his face like his paprikash didn't go down right and whispered, "That doesn't make me gay, right? I mean, nothing's wrong with being gay, but that doesn't make me gay, right?" It was like Jack from Will and Grace worrying about being straight after sitting on a stripper's lap; although, Jack's stripper turned out to be a drag queen.

20. Can't think of a 20th because my cats are crying for attention. Have to go.