Stay Positive: Bumper Cars

"It's gonna be a fun-filled day!"

If you recognize that snippet from a jingle, you're either from Iowa or you've spent some time in Iowa.

For those of you unfamiliar with the lyrics, you can check out this commercial for Adventureland, circa 1985, if you want to invite an earworm into your head.

This past weekend, the Nasty family traveled to Iowa on Thursday to visit my parents, and then we headed down to Des Moines for a family reunion of Mrs. Nasty's at the Adventureland Inn in Altoona.

I think I only went to Adventureland once as a kid, probably in the early 80s, but the amusement park hasn't changed much--log ride, the galleon, the Tornado, etc. In fact, there are parts of the park that look decrepit, making it a good set for a slasher movie or something.

The new portion of the Adventureland experience is its massive water park, with all kinds of water slides, kiddie pools, a swim-up bar, cabanas, and a lazy river. I could make all manner of unkind comments based on my observations at the water park befitting a Notes from a Crank post, but I'm staying positive with this one.

Of everything we did Saturday, my favorite part of the experience was competing on the electrified vehicular battlefield of bumper cars. It's an old fashioned ride, but it's a damn fine experience--never goes out of style.

You get in little cars and get to smash into your relatives. Quinn, my four-year old, informed me, "You're going down!", before we started, but that was not the case, I got a couple of side shots on his car driven by his grandpa. And Hannah, she got me once, but I got her back. On the bumper car grid, I don't play, people.

Heck, just writing about bumper cars makes me want to go on them again. It was a fine time.