Gah, Jodie and Tim-Tim, you guys know how long I have wanted to go to Coney Island. I don’t know WHY it took me so long to get my fat ass there but props to Henry and Chooch for, as usual, dropping everything to attend to my Birthday Girl Needs last week.

It worked out so perfectly that we could just swing by Philly and scoop up Chooch after his last class on Thursday (my birthday, bitches!) and that he doesn’t have classes on Fridays. So, no selfish impediment on his college education from Needy Mommy. (He was annoyed though because as usual he forgot the itinerary and had booked a ticket for an advanced screening of Spiderman for that night and had to miss it—if you don’t know this about Chooch, he is a HUGE fan of the Spiderman franchise. Sorry, Chooch! You can see that ANYTIME. Coney Island with MOMMY is once in a lifetime. OK, not really, but you know what I mean!!)

We got in around 7:30PM, checked into a Best Western that was mostly OK but had the WORST bathroom lighting so I felt like I was leaving the hotel looking a freak every time. Google maps said that it was a 30 minute walk to Luna Park from there, or a 26 minute subway ride (??). We decided to just walk and it only took us about 15 minutes past a ridiculous amount of autobody shops.

Our first order of business was eating. There is a very slim window before I turn into an asshole so we chose the first pizza place we saw and look—we are not foodies by any stretch of the imagination and weren’t looking for AN EXPERIENCE or whatever, but Chooch and I knew as soon as we all walked into a completely empty Pizzaria that perhaps this wasn’t going to be the best of the best. So, expectations were low.

I just got a slice of cheese and had immediate remorse when I tried the white pizza that I conned Henry into ordering because it was actually pretty good compared to the below basic slice I was saddled with. I mean, it wasn’t TERRIBLE. There are plenty of school cafeterias in the country churning out way worse pizza. Henry and I ended up splitting each other’s slices but I’m pretty annoyed with myself for not just going back up and getting my own full slice of white.

Still, it was a pleasant experience overall because we were all getting along, there was no attitude, I liked the grungy vibes of the place, and I had Chooch there to take pictures of me where I actually look like myself and not Jay Leno’s daughter. (Henry is terrible at taking pictures of me! I know that this is largely because I’m Queen Ugz but come on bro, use your words and direct me into poses and positions where I look at LEAST homely rather than something dragged out of the holler on a humid July afternoon after a rain storm.)

Oh look at my little Lomography half-frame film camera there! I used up a whole roll and anticipate 99% of it coming back as developed trash.

P.S. I had an eye doctor appointment two weeks ago and the new, young eye doctor who I instantly adored goes to me, “Erin, is your favorite color pink?” and with no hesitation I said YES with my whole chest but this is not actually true!? Purple is my favorite color! Anyway, she asked me that because I was wearing like 5 different shades of pink all the way down to my shoes and now looking at this picture I realize, wow, I actually do wear A LOT of pink A LOT of time.

He apparently still plays Pokemon Go. Not sure if that’s what he was doing here, but 9/10 times I nebbed at his phone screen, he was doing Coney Island Pokemon Go things.

This place definitely had a cool vibe. Just, you know, probably a tourist trap. Two people did come in while we were there to get pizza to go so maybe it was just a slow night? There weren’t a lot of people out in the park or the boardwalk either.

I like that the train runs right over it. Also, perhaps we should have went to Taoxi instead.

We weren’t going to be doing any of the rides until the next day but now I kind of regret not paying $10 to ride this that night when there was no one there. It was a station wait for us the next day but I wanted to ride it again at night and there was somewhat of a line—-not even an outrageous one but after riding it earlier that morning, we got a taste of the slow-AF ops so Chooch said, “No, I refuse to wait in that line, it’ll take hours with the rate they send the train.” Ugh, he’s more of a dad than Henry sometimes.

But yeah, even if you’re not a coaster thoosie like us, you perhaps still might know that Cyclone has a ton of historical relevance in the coaster scene. It’s a legend! One of the main reasons I wanted to get out there sooner rather than later because you just never know. Luna Park I feel like is “on the verge” of closing more often than not. Currently, it seems stable ever since the amusement ride manufacturer Zamperla bought it.

One of the Luna Park entrances! The great thing about this place is that like some other boardwalk parks, you don’t have to pay to enter. So, we were able to stroll around and check it out before coming back to do the actual riding the next day.

OMG Henry was obsessed with that apartment building in the building because there was some guy standing in the top balcony, the one with the light on, and he was dancing or watching whatever local baseball game was being played on the field down there, who even cares. Henry, apparently, because he was trying to use his phone to zoom in to see what the guy was doing and Chooch and I were like, “Get away from us, you creep.” I would NEVER do something so invasive!!!

NEVER!

Come on guys.

OK, maybe I do it less now than I used to. That has to count for something.

I loved the atmosphere so much.

It was the best of both worlds: the beach vs. a big city. I am so much more a “city vacationer” but so enjoy spending SOME time on a beach. I just can’t do the full week slow-living beach vacations. Not for me. I have too much energy and too many things to see and do! So Coney Island is actually perfect for me—I got to walk on a pier, a boardwalk, smell sort-of ocean air, ride a ton of rides, and then take a train into the city for urban stuffs. I was honestly really content and I think it was apparent in the way that NONE OF US ARGUED. And I’m not just talking that evening. I mean the whole long weekend. It was like we were a….happy family.

LOL LOOK HOW HAPPY!

We were on some pier with a bunch of old men fishing right before it started POURING down rain.

We kept goading Henry to get a hot dog from Nathan’s but he never did. Weird.

We decided to go back by subway (bro is it always called the subway or do you call it a train when it’s above ground?!?! It’s all above ground in Coney Island / Brooklyn it seems) because the walk there wasn’t too bad in the daylight but we are tourists and don’t know if it’s safe to be goofing around on foot there at night, you know?

I embarrassed Chooch by making him stop here for a picture lol.

UGH the first evening was so good. I mean, the sleeping part sucked because Hotel Henry somehow snores like 5 Home Henrys combined. Chooch piled pillows on his face in the middle of the night but not even that helped. Ugh.

No comments