Gobble down a bunch of deep fried Twinkies and head for the nearest spin ride – it’s time for the State Fairs to begin!

If you’ve got a road trip coming up, see the dates and websites of all the State Fairs here.

I’m going by two of them on my trip next week. I’m hoping to run across a Tango, a rare ride in North America. Taller than a Ferris Wheel, you’re in a standing position on the ride while it flips in various directions.

But State Fairs aren’t just about the rides – there’s also the food! So far, I’ve tried deep fried Twinkies, Oreos, and Snickers. But this year, even though they look disgusting, I’m trying deep fried Mars Bars. How could they not be good?

As for the games, I usually can’t pull myself away from the deep fried heaven of food and the rides. But if you can, check out this website to see tricks of winning games like the ladder climb, ring toss, guess you birth month, balloon dart game, or basketball free-throw.

Ultimate Sprinkler

If you are into gardening at all, or just own a home and have to water the lawn, you know how tough it can be finding the right sprinkler. I just stumbled onto a great one, the turret sprinkler from Dramm. It is made of heavy metal, is a little pricey (I bought mine for $29 at Adams), but is well worth it. When you put it on a pattern that shoots water forward, or to the side, or both, you can stand right next to it and not get wet. The precision water placement on this is the best I have seen. You do need to adjust your pressure at the tap…maybe not have it on full blast…as this unit uses water better than any other I have come across. Find out more on the Dramm homepage:

http://www.dramm.com/html/main.isx?sub=61

This is not a radio endorsement, just a product I really like! Hope it helps your watering!

I finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and I feel the same way author J.K. Rowling says she felt after finishing the book: simultaneously happy and sad. The sense of sadness I feel isn’t just because the story’s over; those feelings are deepened by the realization that I probably won’t ever be so fully invested in anything that much fun again, or at least for a very long time. The whole Potter series got so much better book after book, and it’s such escapist fare that getting lost in the characters and the magic is more or less a prerequisite.

In the first Star Wars movie (yes, I’m a geek), Ben Kenobi uses a “Jedi Mind Trick” to get past a storm trooper check point.

“You don’t need to see any identification,” Ben says.

It’s certainly easier to think about blueberries and a full tank of gas than what’s really going on at the highest seats of our government today, but I’ll instead leave you with this:

If you like flipping upside down, I’m sure you’ve been on Twister at Darien Lake. Something frequently heard coming from the ride – people counting how many times they go upside down. Usually, the number is about four or five.

If you were riding a similar ride overseas though, the number would be a lot higher. Manually running rides is an art form in other countries and results in each ride being a completely different experience.

Check out this video of a Top Spin in Germany (same thing as Darien Lake’s Twister, but with a different name). Imagine being lucky enough to get on a ride that’s run like this!

Effective immediately, CBS has removed this disaster of a reality series from its schedule. But don’t worry, they’re not going to leave you hanging.

For putting up with the annoying contestants this long, you’ll be rewarded with the final five episodes. CBS will be posting an episode per week every Tuesday for the next five weeks at cbs.com – after that, the show will be hopefully forgotten forever.

Win a trip for four to one of two Indiana amusement parks!

It’s the Great Indiana Getaway, sponsored by the Indiana Office Of Tourism Development. In addition to the vacation, you could win gas for the trip and an RCA digital camcorder & mp3 player to record the vacation!

Just write up a brief essay on why you should win and submit it online. But hurry, the deadline is July 27th.

Good luck choosing between these two parks. I know I wouldn’t be able to decide and would just have to visit both of them.

Indiana Beach has a kind of Crystal Beach feel to it. The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain is one of the weirdest roller coasters I’ve ever been on – it’s an extremely unique wooden, partially inside, ride forwards or backwards coaster that you have to see to understand. Then there’s a Chaos ride, Cornball Express, Air Crow, and the whole atmosphere on the lake – this is one of my favorite places to go in Indiana!

Holiday World has three incredible wooden roller coasters (including The Voyage – the world’s top “air-time” wooden coaster), a gigantic water park, some very cool holiday theming, and unlimited free soft drinks. It’s a perfect park for families and has been voted cleanest park for the past 7 years and friendliest park for the past 9 years by Amusement Today, an amusement industry trade publication.

Let me know if you win. Actually, forget that, just take me with you if you win!

The final “Harry Potter” book is out this Saturday morning at 12:01am. If you haven’t started yet, chances are you won’t be able to re-read the previous six books before then.

When I’m at an amusement park, it’s always all about the rides. The restaurants, games, stores, and shows are things I don’t even consider bothering with. Especially the shows as I’m not a fan of theater or musical productions. Le Grande Cirque is something completely different though.

Le Grande Cirque is the new show in the Galaxy Theater at Darien Lake. It’s free with admission to the park. I heard that if you go to Darien Lake and only see this show, you’ve still got your money’s worth. I was skeptical.

Turns out, it’s true. And factual – the only other Le Grande Cirque in North America is in Myrtle Beach at the Palace Theatre. Ticket prices to see the show there range from $28 – $44 for adults. So you’re actually getting to see the show at Darien Lake for less than the cost of seeing it in Myrtle Beach AND getting a full day at the park on top of that.

In addition, the show runs up to four times a day at Darien Lake and you could see all four 40-minute performances if you want. That should include all the acts and segments that rotate (as every show is different with the acts being swapped out throughout the day).

Click here to see a video preview of Le Grande Cirque at the Darien Lake website. I’d suggest not watching the whole video though and instead, go see it live. Forget “suggest”, I highly recommend it.

The Wheel Of Death is my favorite. The tumbling through the raised loops was incredible (and surprising). The contortionists and acrobats blew my mind. Even the “ringmaster” who never said anything was very entertaining – and that’s a shock, as the ringmaster is usually as obnoxious and annoying as clowns (which there are none of in this show – another plus).

And things don’t always go exactly as planned during the performance. You really never know what’s going to happen, which makes it even more fun as you root for things to work out for the performers.

I’ll probably always take a ride on the Silver Bullet on the way to the Galaxy Theater, but this show has managed to pull me from the rides for at least an hour or two while at the park. Go see it soon – it’s only here through Labor Day.

And no, this is not a paid commercial for the park. Anyone who knows me well knows Darien Lake is one of my favorite places on the planet already. Le Grande Cirque has done the almost impossible and made Darien Lake even better!

Heather and I had our first kid-free “date” in weeks on Sunday night, and watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, just like the rest of the country did. If you haven’t seen it yet, let me just tell you that it’s NOT for the little ones. There are some pretty scary parts that could give kids under 13 bad dreams. But, if you’re a fan of the books, the director did a great job taking the best parts of the 700 page book and leaving less interesting plot points out. I think J.K. Rowling – like Stephen King – tends to go into a little too much detail on the printed page, adding far more than is necessary for the big screen.

I must admit I’m not a big “movie goer” but in the last year I’ve been intrigued by the movie series with Matt Damon THE BOURNE IDENTITY and THE BOURNE SUPREMECAY. Matt’s newest installment in the series, based on the novel by Robert Ludlum, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM will hit theatres on Augustg 3rd and I literally can’t wait! If you’re not familiar with the plot, Matt’s character JASON BOURNE is a CIA amnesia-suffering agent/assassin who is trying to find his true identity that takes him (in the first two movies) to exotic destinations in France, Germany and Russia. I highly suggest if you love suspense movies, with car chases/crashes in Paris, Berlin, and Moscow, check out these first two “BOURNE ” movies and get set for the newest BOURNE ULTIMATUM the first weekend in August.

There’s a proposal out there for a 109-million dollar expansion to make Darien Lake a year round park. This would involve an expanded hotel, an indoor waterpark, and possibly indoor rides.

This proposal is the focus of an article in last week’s print edition of the Rochester Business Journal. But don’t expect it overnight – it could take a few years to happen.

I bought a new pair of Saucony running shoes, and tried them out tonight on a little run with Rocky. The difference between these and my tired old shoes was dramatic! It is occasions like these that remind me of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. There is magic in a new pair of summer sneakers, although I doubt I’d be able to duplicate the book’s story of 12 year old Douglas Spalding finagling a free pair from an honest storekeeper, swept up in the boy’s rapt description of summer, and tennis-shoes.

My son Connor, on the other hand, might be able to someday. Obviously I’m biased when I talk about him, but since he’s been able to talk, Connor has surprised me with his poetic descriptions of nature. When he was 3 years old, the sun was setting in a blaze of purples and reds, and he said “Look, Daddy, someone painted the sky.” Some kids can barely speak in complete sentences at 3, my son was profoundly summing up a Blue Ridge mountain sunset in four words.

We spent the July 4th holiday in Toronto at Ontario Place, a veritable kids paradise when it’s sunny. We weren’t so lucky! As we waited for the slow, steady, soaking rain to ebb, Connor matter of factly said “Trees are God’s umbrellas.” Hearing this I remembered the many times I stayed dry under a tree in the rain. I always thought there was something poetic, primal even, about the act of seeking shelter beneath a tree, but I never once thought of the term “God’s umbrellas.” Leave it to my 6 year old to succinctly state the obvious.

Anyone with children knows how swiftly time goes by at this stage. It wasn’t weeks, it was three years ago that Connor described that Virginia sunset – but the memory of it will be fresh in my mind forever.

–Brian