Driving

Whenever I go too long without posting, I feel like I should offer a treat to my readers. So here's a photo taken a few weeks ago during an outing to the Oakland Zoo.

I was a little uncertain about letting Isaac try this ride -- I wasn't sure that he fully understood that he would have to ride alone, and I thought he might get scared once the ride started.* (He likes to sit on the train kiddie ride at our local hardware store, for instance, but he refuses to let us put a quarter in it because he doesn't like when it rocks back and forth in place and makes noise.)

But I need not have worried. Isaac went on the car ride four times in a row, and he would have ridden it all day long if I hadn't insisted that we go home for lunch. He chose a blue Mustang for his first ride, and then he moved on to the orange Corvette you see in this photo, a fire engine, and a purple hot rod.

Isaac had a wonderful time, but it was clear that he took his "driving" very seriously. At first when he drove by I called out his name and waved to him, because I thought he looked a little grim, but I guess he didn't need reassurance because he didn't even turn to look at me. He kept his hands firmly on the wheel, his eyes fixed on the road, and he even seemed to be "steering" in the right direction. So he didn't smile while he was driving -- but when he got off the ride, he smiled a lot.

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It reminded me of when I was in elementary school and "drove" in the Autorama at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Even though I knew it was only a ride, I was still overwhelmed by the power I wielded from behind the wheel. I never really enjoyed it, because I was afraid that if I made a mistake or if I stopped paying attention to the road, the car would crash. But the Autorama cars had actual gas pedals, if I recall, and their steering wheels really did work! The wheels of the cars straddled a single metal track, so if you didn't steer quite right, your tires would keep banging against it. And if you accidentally let up on the gas, the car would slow down (although not to a stop, I think) and other cars would end up tailgating you. I found it all quite stressful.

If you can't quite picture the ride, here's a (kind of boring) video of a little girl who seems to be enjoying it more than I ever did:




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* Edited to add: Not that I feel the need to completely protect him from being scared, which would be impossible anyway, but his friend Jasper once got so freaked out on this ride that they had to stop it to let him off. I wanted to avoid that, if possible!