The Wanderlust Librarian | Pinball Wizard the Second

After the overnight on the USS Hornet (read about it here), Lizzie had mentioned something about the Pacific Pinball Museum. Wait, wait, wait... WHAT?!!?? A place where I can visit that's less than an hour away from where I live? 

Vintage and awesome! 

Knowing that I loved pinball, Lizzie found her ticket on the Discover and Go website and printed out her FREE ticket. I, on the other hand, forgot to reserve my ticket. The tickets for that day were all claimed. *if you want a ticket, reserve it in advance!!*I had to pay the $15 entrance fee. 

All the pinball in the Pacific Pinball Museum is FREE!!! So, save your quarters and play all the pinball you want. After you pay the entrance fee, get a hand stamp for same day in and out privileges. 

The vintage pinball room

From the outside, the museum looks small. In fact, when you walk in, there are a row of new pinball machines (for $0.50 per game) and behind the cashier, there are a slew of restored machines from 1930's through the 1960's. I was ALMOST disappointed until I looked to the right of the cashier and saw an Addams Family pinball machine along with 2 other machines (of which I ignored because I love the Addams Family machine!). They have a private room for rental. When there's a party, that room is closed and the machines are for the guests only. Luckily, there was no party that day. 

The 80s are alive! 

There are other rooms for machines from the 70s and 80s. There were a fair amount of machines. The rooms were off of an indoor courtyard area. They were small and had a few machines per decade. They were not what I was looking for. 

There is limited pinball art in one of the rooms. There are some pieces on the wall and an interactive display where you can make a bumper hit. The scariest thing in that room is an old clown game (not pictured for "scares the bloggess" reasons). There are 2 machines with a clear plastic body where you can see the innards at work. 

Old pinball boards

Bump the bumper!!

My high school years come alive in music! 

For me, the magic was in the 90s room! It was a lot of my favorite machines crammed into one room. There were about 14 machines and a FREE jukebox. I made a playlist of all of my favorite music from high school: Pulp Fiction, Cranberries, Oasis, etc. Some of the pinball gems I played over and over were: Earthshaker, Doctor Who, Road Show and Twilight Zone. The 90s room provided a good hour and a half of entertainment for me. Though, let me just say that scoring a free game when playing a free game...is not as rewarding as one might think after playing a free game. 

Getting high score, though, is always a huge thrill. It felt good to get a decent win under my belt. Also, it was amusing to see a crowd around me. The folks learned that pinball is an art... and not mashing the buttons around. It was a good run. 

Admittedly, when asked "How do you do that?" I said, "See these buttons on the side? I push them to make the ball go out to the board and on the ramps.". After a hearty group laugh from my sarcastic answer, I told him how to make the points work for him. All in all, it was a good run. 

Should you go to the Pacific Pinball Museum? Yes. 

Is it really a whole day of fun? A few hours, yes. A whole day? No. But if you get your tickets for FREE from the Discover and Go page at the library, it's definitely worth your time and a day trip to Alameda! 

If you enjoy pinball, you can try and find your favorite machine at the Pinball Locator. After all, what good is your love of pinball if you can't play your favorite machine?

xoxo

The Bloggess

I'm the #2 player for the day! 

The Wanderlust Librarian | Pinball Wizard the First

When I was in school, I was a lonely gal. I had some friends but I spent most of my free time with books, musicals, video games and pinball. The town where I grew up was a small one. There was no public transit system, so you either had to have someone drive you, drive yourself, ride your bike or walk. Since my parents both worked and I was sans license, I did a ton of bike riding. 

The video gaming was easy. I played Nintendo with my brother at home. Through my many bike rides around town, I found the new pool hall. It was time to try a new gaming hobby. My billiard skills were awful (trust me, I tried to learn how to play). Apparently, having a long cue in my hands wasn't safe for me or the public. I learned the term "scratch" quickly. 

I tried darts. That didn't last long because I'm clumsy....and darts are pointy. Oh, and did I mention that I can't throw? Alas, thwarted again by arm movements.

I discovered that the pool hall had a small arcade in the dark backroom. None of the video games were ones I enjoyed spending money on. But, there were two pinball machines: 

     The Twilight Zone                           and                 Tales from the Crypt

I discovered that I was pretty good at pinball! I was mesmerized by the ramps, skill shots, multiball, the variety of missions to complete..... these machines had them all! I learned that the art of playing pinball wasn't all smashing the paddles constantly. There was an artful finesse about rolling the ball off the flipper at an exact time to get it up a ramp. It took patience to practice juggling the ball on the flippers to avoid losing it down the drain (space between the flippers). It was exhilarating to get the multiball bonus or win a free game. The games lasted a long time as I got better. It was a better bang for my buck! 

I was addicted. I played pinball at every arcade I went to. 

As I grew older, I moved into other nerdy gaming pursuits. Mostly of the electronic kind, but it was rare that I saw a pinball machine. 

That is, until, I was planning my trip to Las Vegas. I found the Pinball Hall of Fame . Holy. Cow. I had to go. I was vibrating with excitement. I wasn't much of a gambler and I knew my quarters would be much better spent on a game than giving it to a casino. The  was a huge werehouse chock-a-block full of pinball machines. My ideal pinball situation is a dark, windowless room. The Pinball Hall of Fame delivered. I was in heaven. I played my $10 like a champ. When I won games, I left them there for a lucky passerby and moved on to other machines. I've visited a number of times on my visits to Vegas and continue to squee with glee at the thought. It's free to go, but it costs some quarters to play the games! The pinball is in excellent condition and there are some vintage video games to warm your 1980s heart. 

Your favorite bloggess was interested in watching a documentary called "Special When Lit" but it never made it to the local area. There is, though, a book of the same title which covers the history of pinball. If you're interested, request it through our Link + system! 

After the overnight on the USS Hornet (read about it here), my friend Lizzie said we were visiting one more awesome spot.

A sequel to this post is out there (well... SOON it will be out there!)!

Until then, have a great holiday and keep warm! (play more pinball).

The Wanderlust Librarian | I'm on a Boat!!

It's been a pretty calm month for the bloggess... save for the adventure I had on the USS Hornet in Alameda. If you've read my blog regularly (or even if you haven't... WELCOME!), I like to visit places nearby and report back on some of the great things you can do within a 1-2 hour drive.

My friend Lizzie, found a deal on Groupon for an overnight on the USS Hornet (regularly $100/per person but reduced to $50 per person with the deal!). Like Costco, you have to snatch up the deal right away before it's sold out. I'll be honest, when she sent it to me, I only saw "overnight in Alameda" and agreed. When I found out it was on a military ship, I was a reluctant.  When I saw that I had a list of things to bring, I was hesitant.

The USS Hornet from the outside! 

Here's what I had to bring:

• sleeping bag
• pillow 
• blanket (for cold nights)
• small toiletry bag (no showers on board)
• flashlight
• a padlock for the locker

It was like camping but on a warcraft! My poor sleeping bag hadn't seen the light of day since an adventurous camping trip in May 2012. Luckily, I had all of the things needed AND was able to pack everything I needed in a small bag. I'm horrible at packing so this was a gigantic feat, indeed!

I had to remind myself that I had to be adventurous and try new things. So what, that I hadn't been on a naval ship before? The fun was in the new adventure and not in the fear of the unknown. 

(L) The bunks are 3 high
(R) My friend and I slept head to head on the bottom bunks
(so we could talk summer camp style!)

We were on the ship with about 120 additional overnight guests. There were Cub Scout groups, veterans, teens and adults. It was great to see such a mix of people together. 

We were sent to our berthing areas (sleeping quarters) where Lizzie and I discovered...COTS. We shared our area with about 50 other people! To respect the men who served on the ship and to keep our cots clean, we had to take off our shoes to get on them. There are covers on the cot mattresses called.... fart sacks. (I'll let you get your giggles out now, because I giggle just reading it!). 

Step over those doors! 

They fed us, military style (with no metal trays (much to Lizzie's dismay). After a dinner of chicken teriyaki skewers, rice and veggies, the groups were together again to meet their tour guides for a night walk around the Hornet. We were warned to keep with the group and to be mindful of the doors. Since the doors in a water-bound vessel were meant to keep water out, the steel doors were higher on the bottoms to help seal them when they closed. For me, they were a tripping hazard. I was careful because in a ship made of steel versus a person, the guides said "the ship wins every time". 

The tour took us to many places on the ship.
The war room was, by far, my favorite! 

*sidenote* I hit my arm on a door and it hurt like the dickens for about a week. No bruise, but dang... I was in pain!  *end of sidenote* 

The tour of the ship was a ton of walking along with going up and down stairs. It was amazing to see the different parts of the ship and how they fared without modern technology. In the war room, the shipmen had to learn to write backwards behind the boards so the officers could read the boards from their vantage points. It was cool when our guide was telling us about it... but jaw dropping when he turned the lights off and the entire room glowed (check out my pictures above!

Walk in an astronaut's footsteps! 

Did you know that the USS Hornet captured the Apollo 11 capsule when it landed in the ocean? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps out of the capsule IN the Hornet! There was an Airstream trailer that doubled as a  Mobile Quarantine Facility that the astronauts were to go in when they left the capsule. The Hornet has a replica of the capsule and the Quarantine Trailer on site. 

For the military buff in your life or for a trip back in time, go and visit the USS Hornet. If you have a library card, your admission to the USS Hornet museum is free. Just visit the Discover and Go website through our library page, choose a day to visit and print out your ticket! Keep in mind, the Live Aboard / overnight program on the Hornet is an additional cost and needs to be booked ahead of time. 

Military adventures are out there!