Yesterday, I re-experienced the “Enchanted Forrest” through the eyes of a child. My friend, Randy, and I took his granddaughter, Hannah, there as a summer treat and we had a fantastic time. Like many men and women my age who have grown up in Salem, I have fond memories of visiting the “Enchanted Forrest” many times. It was fun to rediscover it and how it really hasn’t changed all that much. The Tudor village was just being built the last time I was there, (I was in college when my sister and I took some exchange students there), but other than that, everything was pretty much exactly as I remembered it. There is still the crooked house, the maze, Humpty Dumpty is still sitting on that wall, and all the scenes you can see through the windows in the western village are the same exact ones I looked at twenty years ago. Even some of the souvenirs are exactly the same. It’s nice to have a part of my childhood still alive and well.
I will admit to you, even though I had Hannah in my care and I was a responsible adult, I was the responsible adult who got to go on all the rides with her. We both jumped in fright in the Haunted House, (though I had to help her be brave), we both went on the Frog Humper, Bumper Cars (she slouched in the seat to push the gas pedal and I steered), the little train, and the log ride and Ice Mountain (twice each). Randy had the camera for most of the time though I took pictures of Hannah when she was on a ride by herself. Hannah will talk to just about anybody so we talked to the staff sweeping the walks, serving lunch, running the rides, and everybody in line with us. The second time we stood in line for Ice Mountain, the people around us got an impromptu concert of, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart to stay!” In short, we had so much fun! Here are some of the photos we took.
I finally found the honest man I’ve been looking for. He’s a keeper.
365-09 #221