Stardate 20020324.2040

(Captain's log): I went to LegoLand yesterday. I'd never been there before. It's an amusement park intended for kids in gradeschool, and Legos are definitely part of the attraction. There's a room where kids can build their own cars with wheels and then race them down hills and get times, and some other places where there a huge numbers of Legos available for building. There are the requisite statues made of Legos, and a certain number of buildings.

But mostly the place has rides. Given the ages of its target audience, the rides are not what you'd see somewhere like Six Flags, needless to say. Still, some of them looked pretty impressive. I say that because I didn't ride anything. I was mainly just trying to get out for some fresh air and a bit of a contact high.

What appeared to be the most exciting ride in the park is called "Technic Test Track". What it reminded me of more than anything was a portable ride which was a mainstay of the wandering carnivals when I was a kid called "The Mad Mouse". Except that as a fixed ride, they could spread it out more and make it a bit classier, and it was taller and generally a lot better.

You can sit right at the edge of the layout next to the big hill at the beginning of the ride, and I confess I spent some time there; it was fun. The cars have four seats and they let kids as young as five on if they're tall enough. For a kid that size, the 42 foot drop of the first hill is plenty exciting, and it was cool to watch them. Screams galore, of course.

They seemed to love it. A lot of them would crest the hill with their hands held in the air, and a few even managed to stay that way all the way down and up. More often they'd grab on part way down.

Sometimes I'd see a kid I was sure was terrified and not having a good time. One little boy looked that way and I made a comment about it to someone else standing there (that area drew quite a crowd) and it turned out his mother was nearby and she said it was his third time. Tells you what I know about reading little kid's faces.

There was a girl maybe 8 I thought was going to be crying coming off the ride, but she was all smiles. I don't understand kids. Actually, I don't recall seeing any kids coming out who didn't look happy.

I don't understand roller coasters either; it's never been a thrill for me. I used to have a girl friend whose second greatest pleasure in life was being disoriented on carnival rides such as roller coasters; we'd go and she would ride and I would watch. All those ever did was to make me motion sick. But I like watching other people on them, so I was never bored.

The place isn't cheap; it cost me $40 to get in, and the obligatory junkfood meal inside was another $8. But that $40 would have gotten me unlimited rides if I'd been so inclined, so I guess it's a reasonable price. Still, a moderate sized family could easily drop a hundred bucks there in one day. I guess it's a good thing they built it in the prosperous part of San Diego or it would have gone under long since.

It must be exciting; as I was leaving I saw two women pushing four little kids around in strollers and all four kids were crashed out hard; I made a joke about it to the women and they said it had been a long day.

I spent three hours yesterday surrounded by small bags of germ-ridden protoplasm and I may have gotten my reward; I've got a fever and I feel like death warmed over. Maybe it will go away tomorrow.