Flight of Nostalgia

There's a piece posted to the Seattle Times's website today about the Flight to Mars, a ride in the Seattle Center's Fun Forest amusement park section from the 1960s to the 1990s. (The Seattle Center was the site of the 1962 World's Fair, of Elvis fame.) When I rode it in the 1970s, it was a plywood-y ride, one's car careening along a rickety track past various supposed-to-be-scary things jerking about on wires. The name of the ride never quiet matched up to what was going on inside; it was really more of a hodge-podge of horror and sci-fi stuff.

In fact, the last time I rode it must have been around 1980 (perhaps being silly with my boyfriend my senior year of high school during some church youth group venture). Someone had added a new figure inside: a white Darth Vader. And that is how I will always remember the Flight to Mars: chipped plywood, worn paint, and an albino science fiction antagonist.

Oh, and a nice young man I dumped right after graduation. Sorry about that, Bob. You deserved better.