I was a little heartbroken earlier this week. An icon from the summers of my early twenties came crashing (literally) down.
When I was in college, I spent my summers working at Cedar Point (America's Rockin Roller Coast!). The actual work was sometimes grueling, and embarrassing, and some dignity may have been lost, but those were some of the best summers I had. When I explain about my summers there, the person I'm talking to usually looks back at me with a face that says, "Really? Working at what sounds like a labor camp doesn't sound appealing at all. Why would anyone work there?" And that person would have a valid point. Yes, I'd work 60+ hours a week outside, in the hottest temperatures of the year, but those 60+ hours a week were spent with your best friends. That's what made the whole job worthwhile. Working there helped me make friends with people I never would've met otherwise. We were all stuck in the same place, doing pretty much manual labor, why not make the most of it and have fun? Once the work day was over, everyone would party, live it up, go to sleep, work 12-14 hours, then, party again.
One of the summers, I worked with my best friend from home, at a ferris wheel. It was the "Giant Wheel Triangle" because there were two additional rides: Troika, a spinning ride, and the Space Spiral, an observation tower of sorts. Our jobs were to pretty much run the rides. They weren't the most thrilling of rides, but hey, we still got our share of fun. But seeing Space Spiral go down brought up all those fond memories of not only that summer, but of all my Cedar Point summers.
I have so many stories from those days. I'm sure I have enough content for a full book, which I was seriously considering doing. It would've been called, "Secrets of a Carny," or something along those lines. I could write a full chapter just about the different types of vomit I've seen or about the park guests that get upset because a ride is closed due to weather or that the line is too long. And I'm sure at some point, I'll share those stories, whether it be a little at a time or all at once.
But for now, I'll end it with this video of Space Spiral imploding to make room for a new roller coaster, which does look really awesome by the way. It's shown on the video after Space Spiral falls. And I guess if you have to go, then this is the way to do it.
Since I'm not a teacher or a student or anything, Labor Day doesn't really affect me. Growing up in Kentucky, we were in school by mid-August (usually the week of my birthday for crying out loud), so by the time Labor Day hit, I didn't care. The only thing I looked forward to was the cooler fall weather.
But for many, Labor Day is a symbolic end to the summer. There goes the days lounging by the pool, the long days of sunshine and bbqs.
Earlier in the summer, before I got this hair cut that I hate, the BF and I discovered this awesome trail not too far from us via these crazy, windy country roads. We live a Baltimore suburb, and you drive around and then bam! you're in backwoods going over one lane bridges. It's so weird. Anyway, this place is probably one of our favorite spots. It runs parallel to a major river. We even ended up in the next county...and that's when we promptly turned right around. The highlight was this patch of rocks right over the water where we sat down with our legs dangling over mini waterfalls and in view of this sketchy abandoned warehouse that I'm convinced would be great for Ghost Hunters or something.
And now, I think we have our go-to picnic spot.
I hope your summer was fantastic and adventurous. Here's to a great fall! Bring on the falling leaves and cooler temps.
This year was the first year the BF didn't have to work, so we wanted to take advantage of that and make a whole day of the holiday. Despite the heat advisory warnings, we still spent the day in DC...outside. 100+ heat index, not so great. The plus side, the heat probably scared alot of people away during the day. We were among the crazy fools that decided to spend the day outside. And on the plus, plus side, we found our now go-to Tex Mex place up on Capital Hill. There was hardly any shade on that uphill walk and barely any air conditioning inside, but the food was fantastic and made it completely worth it. I'm starting to drool thinking about that place.
To sum it up, we saw a parade, ate some Tex Mex, lost about 5 pounds in sweat, saw some new memorials and monuments, took naps on the steps of the Tom Jefferson Memorial, fed a squirrel and watched the fireworks over the Tidal Basin.
Front view of the Capital
The new MLK Jr monument.
The Navy Seal tranined squirrel
The view behind us from our fireworks viewing spot.
I've been on a hiatus for the last week. The BF and I were in Kentucky visiting my parents. And I didn't want to disrupt family time with my blogging. Pictures from that little adventure will be posted soon!
A couple of weeks before the Kentucky trip, we explored a little more of our area. We ate ice cream at Broom's Bloom Dairy Farm that of course, made their own ice cream.
We walk around our neighborhood all the time but never bothered to take pictures of the pond at the end of our walk...and the turtles that always greet us.
We also spent a day at the Smithsonia National Zoo, which, by the way, if you're looking for a fun and free thing to do in the DC area, this zoo is a great option.
This escalator coming out of the metro station is the longest I've ever been on.
This guy was just walking around the bird habitat and creeped up on me.
I always view s'mores as a nostalgic summer treat. There's just something so cool about melting marshmallows over a fire and smooshing them in graham crackers and chocolate. What's not so cool, is the mess. Everytime I ate them, I think I ended up with it more on my face/hair/hands than in my tummy.
Low and behold, I found a recipe for s'more bars from Lovin in the Oven.
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (do not use melted marshmallows!)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough, breaking them if necessary in order to fit. Spread over the chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together). Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer and with the temperatures lately, it definitely feels like summer.
I wanted to make a nice little drink for the holiday and I came across one through Pinterest. This drink came from Froggy and the Mouse.
One cup of lemonade mix (I used Countrytime). Two cups of water. A 46 ounce can of chilled pineapple juice. Two cans of chilled Sprite. Mix all of it together.
The BF and I thought the pineapple was a little too sweet, but we added some Bacardi rum and it drowned out some of the sweet. It was actually a little hard to taste the rum...which could be a bad thing. I had 2 glasses of this stuff and I had a bit of a buzz. It's a nice adult ending to a hot day :)
I also got my Warby Parkers a couple of days ago, and I'm in love with them. I find them to be really flattering on my face and they were so much cheaper that going to LensCrafters. I lurve them...
