Purple Cows and Spinning Chickens

 

Just before leaving Roswell we decided to search for one more letterbox located within Spring River Park and Zoo, a little community park and small zoo, located on 34 acres near the center of Roswell.

(This charming purple cow was hand-carved in France)

The zoo and park are both free for all visitors and is a true gem for the citizens of Roswell. Besides the animals, which include native species of animals as well a few species from around the world, most that have been injured or are un-releasable into the wild. There is also a Children’s Zoo with goats, chickens and llamas, and a Livestock area with miniature horses and Longhorn Cattle.

(This peacock was walking across the parking lot in front of our van)

(Most of the animals were taking it easy in the shade on this very hot day, like this sleeping Bobcat)

There is also a miniature train that was added in 1976 to give rides around the park. The park also features a small fishing lake, covered picnic shelters, a play ground, a hiking trail along the Spring River, green grass and lots of huge shade trees, too.

But the pearl within the oyster is the antique wooden horse carousel located within the heart of the park.

This carousel is a real treasure is one of about a hundred left in the United States and features hand-carved wooden horses and animals from various artisans from all over the world.

What surprised me the most, was that the cost to take a ride on this treasure, and be transported back through history, was only $.25 a ticket!

Inside the Carousel barn, they had a copy of a newspaper showing some of the history of this carousel, along with photos.

But once we got home, I did more research on this site: National Carousel Association.

I have always had a love affair with antique wooden carousels. How about you? Do you have a favorite carousel or fond memories of riding carousels?

(This Rooster was hand-carved in France. Jen wanted to ride it, but it was just too big for her to climb up)

(So Jen chose this smaller rooster to ride instead)

Whenever we visit a new place, I try to discover if the area has a carousel so we can have a ride. My daughter and I could ride them all day and have done just that. Our local Amusement Park, Cliff’s, has a more modern carousel, and when we visit, my twinlings will go off and ride coasters, while Jen and I pretty much just sit on twirling, spinning ponies all day.

(I can see that I should have ridden a larger horse, or maybe that mega rooster, but this little pony reminded me of my Apache. Plus I can see how weary I was. It was getting so hot and we were all feeling the effects of the heat and some dehydration. Right after this ride we left the park and gorged on cold stuff at Sonic Drive-In)

Oftentimes when we have ridden, the carousel operator just lets us stay on, while other riders come and go. One of our local Malls has a modern carousel, too, but we haven’t been in years because I just don’t like Malls, plus they charge $2-$3 per ride and one ride is never enough, so it gets very expensive.

Anyway, this is the fascinating stuff that I discovered about the Spring River Park and Zoo Carousel:

*Park: Spring River Park

*Description: Spillman Engineering

*Carousel Class: Classic Wood Carousel

*Year Built: 1927

*Type: 3 rows, Park, All Wood composition

*Figures: 20 Jumping Horses, 1 Standing Horse, 1 Donkey, 15 Menagerie Animals (3 Roosters, 2 Deer, 1 Pig, 1 Rhino, 1 Zebra, 2 Dogs, 1 Ostrich, 1 Swan, 1 Tiger, 1 Lion, 1 Cow), 2 chariots

*Music: No Band Organ: Taped music

*Note: 2 chariots: Muller & Dentzel. International mix of figures inc. menagerie. Donated to city by Marianne Stevens in 1971.

*History: Rainbow Gardens, Wilkes Barre, PA, 1927 to 1971
Spring River Park, Roswell, NM, 1971 to present

*Directions/Hours: Park located at College & Atkinson Sts. Opens Easter weekend & runs through the last weekend of Sept. Hours 1-6 Wed - Sun

*Mailing Address: 1306 E College Blvd, Roswell, NM, 88201

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both Jax and the flying Pig look very hot and tired.

This little deer was hand-carved in France

Isn’t this swan adorable? It’s just for the babies and toddlers to ride

Oh! If only we lived in Roswell, we would be visiting Spring River Park and riding the wooden carousel every chance we got!

See, there really is more to Roswell, New Mexico than just Little Green Men.

Ride Your Pony ‘Round and ‘Round

 

Our home school group decided to have some fun on Tuesday and visit our local Amusement Park in Albuquerque, called Cliff’s. It’s only open to school groups during the week and the general public on weekends until after Memorial Day.

 

 

My friend, S, offered to pick up my twinlings and take them to the morning session, along with her kids, including her son, my twinlings best friend. This way Jen and I didn’t have to rush around in the morning and we were able to arrive later for the afternoon session and still spent the rest of the day with Jax and Jem at the amusement park.

I had brought lunch with me, so after we found everyone we all ate together at a picnic area inside the park. Then it was time for rides!

First on the agenda was riding the The Carousel, which is my daughter’s favorite ride in the entire universe. I am not kidding when I tell you now that she rode those carousel ponies ‘round and ‘round, for most of entire 2 hour afternoon session. 

 Jen’s best friend, C rode with her on the carousel quite a bit, too, but she also rode other rides as well.

I was proud of my boys for riding the carousel with their sister. I knew it meant a lot to her. And even though Jax looked less than thrilled, I know he enjoyed himself, too.

 

 And I am positive that my twinling, Jem enjoyed himself quite a bit. haha!

 

 Jax, on the other hand, did whoop it up a bit on another one of the kiddie rides for his sister. He can be such a goof ball!

 

Jen’s friend, C did manage to talk Jen into riding one other ride…twice. But Jen was less than impressed. 

 

And she couldn’t wait to get back to her beloved carousel again.

 

And Jax and Jem couldn’t wait to get back on the big kid rides again. 

 

 Maybe they weren’t riding ponies, but they were riding ‘round and round’. See them there, second row facing backwards at the rear of the coaster?

 

There ya go. Now you can see them.

 

 They called this ride The Fireball. Maybe because it touched the sun?

 

Jem was brave and kept his hands up. Do you see his hands down at the bottom making the love sign? Is this angle making you as dizzy as it’s making me?

 

Man! They had fun! See, I told you Jax is a goofball. He always makes me laugh.

 

 Afterwards they talked me into riding a roller coaster called The Rattler. They thought I’d be too afraid to ride and would say no or talk myself out of it. I’m sure I surprised them, because I was secretly glad they wanted me to ride a coaster with them. When I was their age I lived for riding roller coasters. Every summer I’d visit Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens and spend all day riding roller coasters and fast spinning rides. My favorite coasters are the old fashioned wooden ones and the mouse trap style, though. I don’t like the coasters that spin you in circles while flipping you upside down. I feel like my eyes are going to come out of my eye sockets and my brain might ooze out.

Thankfully the New Mexico Rattler is an old fashioned wooden coaster…and it packs one doozy of a fast, exciting bite, too. I loved it! I screamed the entire time and kept at least one of my arms up at all times. I think my sons were surprised I wasn’t scared, but they also said I was cool. That made my day! 

They still tried to talk me into riding one of those upside down spinning coasters, even though I told them I preferred my brain not to end up over-easy. 

 

 

Meanwhile, my daughter Jen was still riding her ponies ‘round and ‘round on the carousel. The Ride Operator was nice enough to just let Jen stay on and ride, even when there was no one else riding the carousel. He would show her the ‘round and ‘round sign with his hand and she would shoot back a thumbs up signal each time. It was sweet.

My friend, S, had offered to hang out and watch her while I rode The Rattler with my twinlings.  

 

So when I got back I offered to watch her things and encouraged her to ride with her daughter. And of course I took a photo. I love this!

 

 

 

 And then I rode a few times, too. I rode next to C in this photo, but Jen rode beside me a few times, too. But like me, she also likes the outside ponies the best. They go around the fastest and tend to be a little bit bigger than the inside ponies, too. I love to ride the carousel and could have ridden with Jen all day. I think it was good for my balance, too. I would practice riding without my feet in the ‘stirrups’ and without holding on… The carousel horses aren’t as wide or as yielding as a real horse, so it was a good exercise. 

 

Do you like to ride the carousel (merry-go-round), too? Do you like to pick out a ‘special’ carousel pony to ride? Do you ride the traditional ponies or do you choose the zebra, cow, pig, rooster, ostrich, unicorn or other animal to ride instead? Do you remember grabbing the brass ring? 

Scenes from the New Mexico State Fair

 

Two weekends ago my kidlets and I joined our homeschool group on a field trip to the New Mexico State Fair. We spent the entire day there, ate lots of fattening and yummy fair food, spent way too much money, saw so many great things, and had so much fun.

Here are some of the photos we took while we were there.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the New Mexico State Fair has passed and the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta has begun, it is officially Fall here in New Mexico. Fall won’t last long, though. Already we’ve had a hard frost and days with gusty cold winds, and mornings waking up to ice in the water buckets up at the barn.

 

My mare, Baby Doll is growing her winter beard and is already covered in a soft, thick fur coat and is fattening up like a Thanksgiving turkey. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m predicting a harsh, cold, snowy winter. 

I sure do miss summer…….

From the Tower of,