Coney Island

Coney Island didn't disappoint! My desire to visit the famous spot has been heightened by everyone telling me this is the last summer Coney Island will be Coney Island - "you better go while you can!" Developers have bought much of the area and soon high rises will go up and the battered amusement park will be "cleaned up". We took the subway there - the last stop in Brooklyn. It took about 50 minutes from midtown. The first thing we saw out of the station was Nathan's Hot dogs - good thing because we were starving, and you know I can eat some hot dogs!!

Nathan's is famous for its hot dog eating contest on the 4th of July. There's even a screen outside the building to countdown the days to the next contest, and it has stats of who has eaten the most hot dogs. I'll be honest - I didn't really like my hot dog, but my hamburger was yum, and yes - I ate them both!!

It was fun just to walk around and see the park - it felt like we'd stepped back in time! But we did make a point to ride the Coney Island icons - the Cyclone wooden roller coaster and the Wonder Wheel Ferris wheel. The Cyclone was so much fun we road it twice! The second time around I kept my hands in the air on the big drops - or, at least I tried to!!

And the Ferris wheel gave us the coolest views - downtown Manhattan in one direction and the packed beach in the other.

A trip to Coney Island wouldn't have been complete without a peep at the side show "freak shows"! The nail in the nose, the snake dancer, the wolfman tightrope walker, the sword swallower, the contortionist, the fire eater...they sufficiently geeked me out and made me lucky to be able to leave them in their dark little building. It was the freako's walking freely on the beach that I was a little more worried about!