Friday, May 22, 2009

A Very Special Carousel Ride

This morning Mommy and I went on a fun little outing. We went to Ontario Beach Park, a Monroe County Park that is only about a 10 minute drive from our house, but one that we haven't visited before. This is a really beautiful park along the shore of Lake Ontario which is home to a very special carousel - the historic Dentzel Menagerie Carousel. The carousel was carved and created by the firm of G.A. Dentzel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was installed at Ontario Beach Park in 1905, and has remained in its original location ever since.

The carousel is a menagerie model and consists of 52 riding animals and two chariots, set in three rows. The hand-carved animals include: 22 Jumping Horses; 11 Standing Horses; 3 Cats; 1 Deer; 1 Giraffe; 1 Goat; 1 Lion; 2 Mules; 3 Ostriches; 3 Pigs; 3 Rabbits; and 1 Tiger. Mommy and I are sure that there is no other carousel quite like it anywhere else in the world! This is a really special carousel and I am such a lucky girl to live right near it!

Today kicked off the carousel's 2009 season, its 104th continuous season at the park. In honor of this exciting occasion, Monroe County offered FREE carousel rides all day today (thanks Maggie Brooks!). Mommy and I were there waiting when they opened the doors at noon, and we got to take the first 3 rides of the 2009 season!




Of course we couldn't miss a chance to ride on the giraffe - Mommy's favorite!



Our friends Ben and Megan and their mom, Kathy, met us at the park and got to enjoy the carousel along with us. Thanks to Kathy and Megan for taking the photos!


A really funny thing happened as we finished our last ride for the day...some folks from News 10 (our local NBC station) were filming the momentous occasion, and through a series of random/funny events they ended up interviewing Mommy (and me!) for tonight's news broadcast!

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