Travel Note 5th August 2018 My second expedition to the United States this year was, like the first, made primarily for business. As usual I decided to supplement my work activities with a few days of annual leave in order to enjoy some roller coasters. My only constraint was a requirement to be in Las Vegas by the evening of August 8th; aside from that I was free to do whatever I wanted. After some research I decided on a crowded but achievable itinerary that would bring me to two parks on my bucket list in that "general area", a phase redefined on this occasion to mean "within two hours of flying time". Megan was able to join me for the few days, and supplemented her plan with a surprise visit to her parents in Philadelphia. My first thought was to start our adventure with a flight to El Paso and Western Playland, but after reviewing opening hours I determined that we could easily slot in a few hours at Cliff's Amusement Park beforehand. As such as we booked a connecting flight from Dublin to Albuquerque via Atlanta. The routing had a five hour layover, which we took advantage of by taking an Uber to a nearby branch of Cracker Barrel. Atlanta Airport has added some fairly respectable food choices over the last years, not least branches of P.F.Chang's and TGI Friday's, but there is nothing quite as filling after a long haul flight as a portion of Saturday Chicken'n'Rice.

Cliff's Amusement Park 5th August 2018 Cliff's Amusement Park was a small park when I first visited it back in 2008, and eleven seasons later that hasn't changed. The land bank covers around nine acres, and one can walk from one side to the other in less than two minutes. Despite its diminuitive size however it packs in almost twenty rides and a small water park, and management has even found space for some token wild west theming and a few trees. Unlimited ride wristbands are available, as are individual ride tickets for those on a limited budget. We decided to go with the former for convenience sake. We were expecting the park to be busy, given that we were visiting on a weekend in peak season, but we need not have worried; today the queues peaked at around ten minutes for the two larger roller coasters with all other attractions being walk-on. We were able to box off all three credits in half an hour without rushing, and ninety minutes was more than ample to do everything that we wanted to. Our stay was pleasant and enjoyable, with only one minor negative: a number of park shops and restaurants remained closed throughout our visit. The venerable SDC Galaxi is unequivocally in its sunset years, with just ten of the original thirty-eight still in operation, down from twenty a decade ago. There will come a time, and probably not that long from now, when the genre goes extinct. The first few seconds of our ride on the Galaxi today seemed to go on a long time, as our two-car train slowly creaked its way out of the station towards the base of the lift hill. The climb to the top was similarly sluggish, and the flat turn at the apex was traversed at a slow walking pace. It was only after the first drop that the experience came to life as the descending helices delivered a pleasant if not overly forceful thrill. New Mexico Rattler has a novel queuing system with dedicated entrances for front row, back row, and all other rows. This is a wonderful idea that I wish more parks would adopt, though the implementation at Cliff's could do with some work. Today we saw more than one group of guests walk blindly into the "all other rows" queue then look around confused when it became apparent that they couldn't reach the front that way. We decided there was no point in waiting for special seats, and thus we wound up in the second car from the back. Half way around the course Megan announced that "they got the Rattler bit anyway", and she wasn't wrong; the comfort level was far from good, with the only enjoyable portions being areas that had obviously been retracked for this season. Our second ride in row three was quite a lot better mind; I'd happily have ridden several times in that location. Coaster number three was Spin-O-Rama (#2487), a compact spininng coaster with retrofitted seatbelts presumably installed at the behest of some lawyer trying to justify their existence. The ride was equipped with a fairly piercing siren that sounded every time the train approached the station, an unusual addition for a ride with a figure eight layout and a lap time measured in single digits. For us the experience was a tick and no more than that, though we did enjoy listening to a young girl in the car in front of us who was apparently having the time of her life; every few moments she announced to all listening that the ride was "too much fun for me"! Our only other hit was Wind Rider, a Zamperla-built copy of the Funtime Star Flyer where the tower rather than the swing assembly rotates. This turned out to be my favourite ride in the park, both because of the view and because it was a few degrees cooler at the heights.