Going to Wonderland

Just north of Toronto, we have an amusement park called Canada's Wonderland. Basically, it is one of the best places to go during the summer break when you are a kid. I used to get a season's pass every year, which means you could go every day if you wanted. And while it is a great place to go when you're a small child with your parents, there is nothing like hitting the age of about 12 or 13 when your parents start letting you go along amongst your friends. It's a safe place and they know you're not really going to leave the park.

I remember one of the first times I went to Wonderland alone with about three other friends. Joel and Jeremy were brothers and we had anothe friend named Daniel. Daniel was cool because he had an older brother, but the rest of us didn't. So often Daniel knew about things older kids were doing as well as the music they were listening to. I remember that sunny summer morning on the way to Wonderland with Daniel's mom driving. We all had our season's passes and this was probably one of my first times going there without my parents. Daniel had made a copy of his brother's Judgement Night soundtrack and we listened to it the whole way there in his mom's car. I distincly remember hearing this song several times as well as the Cypress Hill/Sonic Youth collaboration several times over again on the way there. That was such a classic soundtrack as I had never really heard hard rock crossed over with hip-hop. Now it has become pretty cliched, but back then it was fairly original. Plus, the Onyx and Biohazard team-up was just so heavy and intense.

This definitely brings be back to that time in my life and I can still vividly imagine the ride that summer morning on our way to Wonderland.