Knott's Berry Farm

Brodie and I had a boy's weekend together because he needed to attend a TaeKwonDo tournament in Corona this weekend, and Nik travelled with Marion to earn his swimming trophy at her parent's summer swim show. (I'll have a seperate post on this in a day or so.)

After the tournament on Saturday, Brodie and I stayed overnight in beautiful Norco (yechhh!) and then drove to Buena Park Sunday morning for Knott's Berry Farm. I haven't been there in over 25 years, and boy, how the park has changed. They truly have 2 or 3 world-class coasters there. But the question is, would Brodie ride them?



Oh boy, how he rode them! We started off on Silver Bullet, a suspended coaster where you are tossed and turned upside town about a dozen times. We were in the first coaster of the day, in the second row. From there we ran off to Xcelerator, a monster of a coaster where you are launched from 0 to 82mph in 2 seconds at 4 gees of acceleration. You shoot straight up a 210 foot hill, and then immediately straight down those 200 feet again at a 90 degree angle. Yes, straight down. There was literally no one in line for that ride, so we rode it once in the front seat, and then, since there was still no one in line, we moved back a few rows and rode it again.

After that we hit Boomerang. The twist in this coaster is that after you get flipped upside-down 4 times in loops and bow-ties you end up high on the end of the track with no where else to go but back down through the whole ride again, but this time backwards. I was sick for 10 minutes after that one, but Brodie was game for more. We did all of this in our first hour in the park!

After that start, I needed a little rest for my swooning head, so we rode the Log Ride, which Brodie thought was boring. If I had started with that ride he might have like it, but now, nothing but killer thrills will satisfy him. We hit 2 more coasters, Montezuma's Revenge and Jaguar before heading across to the other half of the park.

On our way over, we ran into a little show that was just starting, Cowboys 101. They were asking for 5 volunteers, so Brodie ran up and got chosen. During the show, Black Bart escapes jail and it's up to the deputies to re-capture him. The deputies go from the sherrif's office to the jail to the blacksmith to the train depot, all the time hot on ol' Bart's trail, before finally capturing him and taking him back to the sherrif's office in chains. The deputies got to keep their cowboy hat, bandanna and Knott's Sherrif's badge. (That saved me about 30 bucks in the souvenier shops!)

After that, we rode Bigfoot Rapids, a free-floating raft where you navigate their river. Brodie and I both got pretty wet, but by then it was finally over 80 degrees outside, and it felt good to refresh. Next we hit Pony Express, a coaster where you ride sitting astride horse-shaped seats. Our last ride was Ghost Rider, a nearly mile-long wooden coaster that reaches close to 60mph on the wooden track. It's a monster.

Unbelievably, for a summer Sunday, we got in the park when it opened at 10, rode every ride we wanted, saw shows, shopped and had lunch, and then left at 2pm, completely satisfied. A short 2 hour drive home on traffic-free freeways, and we were home and rested by 4.

Camping at Refugio

We spent the last week camping at Refugio State Beach, just north of Santa Barbara. We camped in a group campground with about 8 other families, some of whom we know, and the rest are now new friends. Everyone had kids about the same age, so it was wonderful for them all to play together.

Dodger Game

What a busy Saturday today.

We started off with a workout at the YMCA after breakfast this morning. Marion and the boys swam laps while I worked out in the gym.

Next we dressed in our Dodger's gear and loaded up in the car for the 75 minute drive to Dodger Stadium where the Dodgers were hosting the Chicago Cubs today. We had great seats, on the third deck right behind home plate. It was a beautiful sunny day, but our row of seats was in the shade of the fourth deck above us, although the next row of seats after us was in the full sun all day. What a difference 3 feet can make to your experience!

It was an exciting game, with great defensive plays, 3 home runs, and best of all, the Dodgers won. We all had Dodger Dogs, the grilled ones, not the steamed ones, and we brought our own bag of peanuts from the store to share between the 4 of us. We also brought bottled water stored under a bag of ice.

Not that we can't afford it, but a day at the ballpark isn't cheap anymore. Hot dogs: $5 a piece. Drinks: $5 a piece. Frozen lemonade: $5 a piece. Parking: $15 a car.

5 dogs, 3 drinks, 2 frozen lemonade; $50! Plus $15 for parking, and of course, the $135 for the tickets. So all in all, our little family day at the ballpark cost us $200. I feel sorry for the people who are buying the $10 beers, too.