viva fairyland!

when i moved back to the bay area in 1989, i lived near lake merritt, and that's when i first became aware of children's fairyland.

i used to see the sign for it, as i walked around the lake, which is not really a lake, if you ask me. i mean, lake tahoe is a lake, lake michigan is a lake. lake merritt is more of a duck pond.

anyway, fairyland. i read about it in this column by jon carroll and then never really thought about it again until a coworker suggested that my nephew might like it.

well, we took him there in april, and he loved it! it has everything that appeals to a kid that age. exotic animals, outlandish architecture, live entertainment. it's kind of like vegas for preschoolers.

and with the holidays coming up and last week pretty much shot to hell as far as the office was concerned, tony and i decided to take a day off on monday (two days before Christmas) and treat the kid to a fairyland encore.

last time, david was all over the jolly trolley, which is not a true trolley, but a whimisical looking scale train. the big attraction this trip was the pirate ship, which has been recently refurbished. david still doesn't quite have the coördination to climb all the way to the crow's nest, but by this summer he should be ready for that.

i'm also hoping by then to teach him how to talk like a pirate.

Kurt "big daddy" True
27 december 2003