Seaside, Seaside, Seaside... I moved there when I was three, and if you grew up around that salty…read moreair and carnival glare, you know exactly what Funland means to me. My mom was a die-hard Ms. Pac-Man slinger back in the day, and my brother and I would burn through quarters like we were trying to keep the Oregon economy alive. The place still carries that old-school magic classic skee-ball lanes, the photo booth that's been snapping goofy faces for decades, and enough blinking lights to make a grown man feel like a kid again. Old games, new games bells ring, tickets sing, and nostalgia swings.
Now these days your fun card works over at the rides too, and let me tell you something about those bumper cars. The track looks small... but those little devils spin, bang, and ricochet like a bar fight on roller skates. Fast, loud, and chaotic in other words, perfect. I always run a few laps there, but this trip I talked my wife into the Tilt-A-Whirl, that beautiful old beast that feels like it's been spinning folks silly since the 1920s. You know the one with the operator stick push forward and she flies, pull back and those cars start spinning like a politician dodging questions. By the time it really got going, we were holding on for dear life. I was laughing. My wife... not so much.
Now I'll admit something bittersweet. Seaside isn't quite the little carnival town it used to be. They tore out the old roller coaster, a bunch of rides, and even that little snow cone shack at the end. These days it's more shops, more crowds, more folks than a church picnic on payday. But even with all that... Seaside still holds the crown on the Oregon coast. The beach cuts the wind just right, the Prom is perfect for a long walk, Broadway's buzzing, and the Turnaround still feels like the center of the whole show.
So here's the rhyme and the reason, the simple seaside truth:
Walk the Prom, hear the gulls cry, smell the salt in the air.
Play some games, crash some cars, spin 'til you don't care.
Drop a few bucks, laugh all day, let the good times expand
Because a trip to Seaside just ain't complete... without a little time at Funland.
Five stars. Still the king of coast-town fun.
