Shocking

Sylvan Beach, NY
43 11.71 N 075 43.74 W

Oh the shock. For the past two weeks we have spent most of our time in wilderness. (If it weren't for the canal it would be wilderness.) Few people, few houses, few other boats. Away from the RR and the Thruway, no traffic noise.

All that ended abruptly when we arrived here at 1600 on a Saturday. Sylvan Beach is the entrance to Oneida Lake. It also has an amusement park and a beach. On a sunny Saturday, it is extremely crowded. (see the picture below) It was shocking; shocking I tell you.

From Drop Box

I can honestly say that I haven't seen such a crowded beach ever before. I've never been to the Long Island or New Jersey shores.

We would have passed by and avoided the crowd except that it's storming out on the lake. Just as we arrived, thunderstorms were crossing the lake 4 miles in front of us.

Oh well, we won't suffer. Actually, it brings back memories. When I was 14 years old, I went out and got working papers. Then I got a job at Manlius NY's Suburban Park near my house. I worked there 35 hours per week before school was out, and 75 hours per week during summer vacation. I ran rides.

One of the rides I ran was the Tilt-A-Whirl. Right now, there's another Tilt-A-Whirl tilting and whirling 100 feet from Tarwathie. The main difference between this one and the one I ran is age. The one at Suburban Park had been there for more than 60 years. Underneath it was a foot of grease that dripped from the machinery over all those years.

Once a year, we allowed someone to go swimming in that grease for coins. Every coin that fell out of customer's pockets went into the grease. It was an unbelievably dirty job, "swimming" in the grease and finding each coin by feel. The reward was substantial though: about $1500 in coins each year. Remember, this was 1960. How much would that be in today's dollars. We shared the booty from all the rides among several of us. Yes; I'll reveal the secret. All the amusement park rides were designed to make loose change fall out of people's pockets and for the money to fall someplace that the people couldn't find it. ;)

Below: Libby salivates over a piece of strawberry pie from the famous Eddie's restaurant here in Sylvan Beach. Haven't been there? You should try it.

From NY2010