On a beautiful cool August day, Karen and I set out for one of our favorite spots, Canobie Lake Park in Salem, New Hampshire. We hadn't visited the park since the pandemic. This season, the park had advertised a new ride, a Zamperla NebulaZ. We had just seen one on our visit to Hersheypark. But I was curious to see what their model looked like. And I enjoyed watching it run, though I would never ride it. We hit the road at 8:15 for the two hour trip. Traffic was surprisingly heavy throughout. We arrived at 10:30, the park's opening time. The parking lot was already half filled. We had purchased our senior tickets online the day before. The park, like so many others, had set up security stations in front of the ticket gates. It was a really efficient operation. We passed through without issue and walked over to the entrance. Our tickets were scanned and we were in the park in less than a minute. The entrance plaza hadn't changed much. In front and to the right was a peculiar set of gears arranged into a small stage that held a folded patio umbrella. Beneath it were several laundry baskets filled with groceries. It appeared to be some sort of food bank collection. There was no sign nearby indicating what it was to benefit. While we stared at it, a teen approached, picked up a basket and walked off with it. We turned left and headed for the south end of the park. Since it was such a sunny and dry day, we started off our visit on the Policy Pond Saw Mill, the park's picturesque log flume. The queue line appeared empty, which was unusual. So we wound through the long maze of rough-hewn timber rails. Next to the entrance, the big water wheel was missing. It took us only a couple of minutes to be seated in one of the "logs". In that short time, the queue behind us had completely filled. We floated out of the station and around the corner to the first small lift hill with its gentle splashdown. Then we glided along the concrete trough at ground level. It was not only one of the prettiest flumes, it was also one of the smoothest. On many flumes, turning a corner meant that the boat slammed into the side of the trough. But on this one, the curves in the trough accumulated water that acted as a cushion. The big lift at the end produced a big splash, but because of the scooped design of the log's front we didn't get very wet. We then followed the shady path alongside the flume toward the far south end of the park. For many years there was a set of intertwined waterslides there, adjacent to the flume. Those had been removed. A construction crew was working on something there, but it wasn't clear what it was. Maybe it was the foundation for NebulaZ. There was no signage except a warning to keep out. There were sections of portable steel fencing with banners on them advertising the nearby Dancing Bear Beer Garden, which was closed. One of the signs blocked the entrance to one of my favorite rides in the park, the Mine of Lost Souls, one of the best dark rides I'd ever experienced. The queue line was completely empty, the first time I'd ever seen it that way. I noticed the runaway mine car that used to be suspended above the queue line had been removed, leaving only the supporting structure. We walked right in and sat in one of the little mine cars and were sent on our way. The ride was technically extremely complicated, with a lot of intricate animatronics and some Pepper's Ghost illusions. Usually at least a couple of stunts were malfunctioning. But this time everything was working. And the park had added a few new features (mainly doors that swung open at different sections of the ride). It appeared as if the park had given up on the big water trough finale that never worked correctly; that stunt was partially dismantled. Instead, they enhanced a collapsing ceiling stunt at the end, and that was pretty effective. I was still impressed that Canobie had acquired and maintained such a top-notch dark ride. From there we headed north and turned left past the broken ship and toward Castaway Island, the waterpark. The broken ship was one of the things that made Canobie such a special park. It had no function other than to be visually interesting and set the mood for that area of the park. It looked convincingly like a real wooden ship had split in two. A lesser park wouldn't have bothered with that kind of detail. We had already seen the waterpark on our previous visit, so we continued toward the right along the path that used to abut the Canobie Express railroad and the Canobie Corkscrew roller coaster. That large plot of land was still mysteriously empty. I had assumed the waterpark would have expanded into it. We headed over to the (relatively) new station for the Canobie Express, which was tucked away at the far western end of the park. There too was another large plot of empty land that was partially fenced off and contained only the cage that used to house the park's peacock, which was nowhere to be seen. The Canobie Express was sitting in the station, but when we approached the ride attendants told us that it wouldn't open for at least another half-hour. So we doubled back and instead continued north. We passed by the old green pavilion that was used during Halloween for the park's Screeemfest. It had a haunted house facade on the left front of the building and a demented clown with bloody fangs on the right side. The midway segued into the "Olde Boston" section of the park, where the great Boston Tea Party shoot-the-chutes was sending up its usual massive wall of water. We continued on and passed by the art deco facade of the Dance Hall, which this season featured a performance called the "Twisted Circus". The sign featured a set of gears on it, so I assumed that was the tie-in for that gear sculpture near the entrance. Next to the theater was one of our favorite eateries, Portofino's. But it appeared to be permanently closed. We turned east from there and approached the Sky Ride. Next to it was a ride we had seen under construction on our last visit, the small double-decker carousel. It was extremely ornate and looked really nice. We queued up for the Sky Ride, which didn't have a very long line. In a few minutes we were seated and gliding over the north midway. We drifted above the park's vintage Caterpillar ride, which still looked brand new. When we arrived at the turnaround we could see that the park still had its massive picnic grove, with row after row of picnic tables. Canobie had also finally completed restoration of their historic water fountain, and it looked great. We strolled around Big Bear Plaza where the looping coaster Untamed was flying through its twisted circuit. I was glad to see that the Bear Lodge still housed the delightful Pinball Parlor. We walked around to the right of Untamed along a path behind the coaster. There was a small fenced-off plot of land with surveyor's stakes in it. There were rumors among some park enthusiasts that it was going to be the location of the NebulaZ. But I couldn't understand why the park would hide such a spectacular ride back in a corner like that. No one would see it. We continued along the path, which led to The Magic Seed, a sort of creepy vegetable-themed facade that fronted another big empty field. That was where the park set up a corn maze for Screemfest. I guess it was a great way to scare kids away from healthy food. We headed back to the south. The antique cars had a really long line, so we passed on that. Further down, the wonderful Yankee Cannonball roller coaster had been given a much-needed and colorful covered queue line. The line was absurdly long though, stretching out of the queue and down the midway. So we passed on that as well. Nearby at the midway stage, a dog show had just started for a packed audience. Since it was past noon, Karen and I decided to get lunch. So we headed for the Trellis, which served black bean veggie burgers. The prices were reasonable for an amusement park. Their veggie burger "basket" with French fries was $15. Ironically, the group in front of us ordered two veggie burgers, which they were promptly given. When we ordered ours, we were told we'd have to wait about 10 minutes. They had to send someone out to get more of them, and then cook them. We asked for cheese on ours, but were told they couldn't do that even though they were selling cheeseburgs. So we waited. It was interesting to watch others in line. All of the burgers were served with lettuce and tomato which most of the diners immediately discarded. I guess that helped explain the park's veggie-themed horror attraction. When we finally got our burgers, they were hot and fresh. We did not discard our lettuce and tomato. We sat at one of the shaded cafe tables. The burgers were really good. After lunch we walked over to the Giant Sky Wheel. They had a lighted scrolling sign in the station that in the past listed facts about Ferris wheels. But someone apparently forgot to set it up because it was in demo mode, listing font sizes and displaying generic greetings like "Happy Easter". This was our longest wait of the day, but even so it was only about 15 minutes. Soon we were circling high above the midway and its dense foliage. By that time, the vast parking lot was nearly full, and cars were still arriving. We headed back toward the train, passing by the whimsical popcorn concession. Then we passed by the rooster-themed flying scooters ride. We also took a walk past the former south train station, which was now yet another plot of empty land. That could have made a good location for the NebulaZ, and it already had a covered queue line. When we arrived at the new train station, the attendants told us it was now down for maintenance and they didn't know when it would be running. So instead we headed over to the Yankee Whaler next to the Boston Tea Party and got some ice cream. I got a small dish of coffee and Karen got cookie dough. The park was starting to get really crowded, but we found a covered table nearby. The ice cream was really good, rich, thick and flavorful. We saw the park's tour boat pass by on the lake, so we headed over to the Blue Heron Lake Cruise dock and arrived just as the boat pulled in. As we waited to board, the Canobie Express chugged on by, so we knew that it was finally operating. We sat in the middle of the boat on the sofa-like seats. The captain, who sounded Australian, gave us the safety talk and we set sail past the many million dollar homes surrounding the lake. The park's relationship with its lakeside neighbors had been contentious over the years, with residents complaining about noise from the park that had been there for over 120 years. My take on it was that if they didn't like the park, the neighbors didn't have to move there in the first place. I would have loved to have the park as a neighbor. In fact, from out on the lake you'd never even realize the park was there. It disappeared into the trees. Another crew member was sitting next to us and we were chatting about the lake. I hadn't realized that it was actually a reservoir and that no swimming was allowed. We returned to the dock and continued on our way. Since we knew that the train was running, we made our way back to the other end of the park. I wished that Canobie had retained their north station, next to Portofino's restaurant. It used the only one-way transportation method in the park. As we headed south, one of the park's mascots, Patches, was being escorted around for photo ops. Karen noticed that Patches bore a striking resemblance to Waldameer's mascots, Wally and Wendy. As we arrived at the station, the train was just leaving with a full load of passengers. Since it was a much shorter route, we knew it wouldn't be a long wait. There was a cool breeze and waiting by the lakeside was pleasant. I was surprised that the waterpark was so busy on such a cool day. The train returned after a few minutes. Like the King's Island railroad (but much smaller), Canobie had a propane-powered steam engine. While the train was idle, the engineer stuck a nearby hose into the engine's tank and refilled it. The station attendant gave a safety speech that was nearly inaudible, and sent us on our way. It was a pleasant ride along the lakeshore. But I still liked it more when it was longer. When we returned to the station it was nearing 3:00, so we decided to head back home. First I stopped off at the park's unique carousel to listen to their Wurlitzer band organ, which sounded great. Then we departed. We still love visiting Canobie Lake. The relaxed atmosphere, the shade, the enjoyable rides, the meticulous landscaping and the food still appealed to us. I was perplexed by all the empty space in the park. I assumed that the management had plans for it and would eventually be adding more attractions there. And I was curious what had happened with the NebulaZ ride that never materialized. But I assumed that many of my questions would be answered over the next year. And we'd be more than willing to return to the prettiest park in New England.

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