Foul weather predictions be damned, Walter borrowed his dad's Caravan, we loaded up the crew after Max and Justin's basketball game this morning and headed down to Knott's Berry Farm to celebrate Max and Joe's birthdays, which were Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
Food, rollercoasters, walking, shopping, exploring the cool vintage displays, more food, more rollercoastering, more walking, souvenirs, arcade games and still more food - plus, a real old fashioned photo booth! LOVE them!
Fortunately, hamming it up in a photo booth is a silly fun passion that Walter and I have in common; we're both life-long photo booth groupies. Here's proof:
We stayed until the park closed at 10pm and the rain held off until the last hour, and even then it was just a drizzle. Not enough to stop the rollercoasters from running, if that gives any indication.
I'm afraid of heights, so even the most infantile of rides will give me a terror thrill (which is why I even dig the Camp Snoopy portion of the park) but I have to say that Montezooma's Revenge was my favorite coaster to ride, while the rickety wood-framed coaster Ghostrider left me feeling like I know know what shaken baby syndrome must feel like. I think I need a chiropractor or at least a good night's sleep to settle my brain down from rolling around inside my skull.
I liked all the displays and shops we saw; Walter's favorite area of the park is Ghost Town so he, Joe and I spent a lot of time there. The three coolest buildings were an authentic Little Red School House, The Bottle House and Judge Roy Bean's saloon, The Jersey Lily. That was especially intriguing to explore because "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" was a movie that Walter had introduced me to last summer.
Wallydog generously gifted the kids and me with fun money and I used mine to get a cool "Mexican Coconut" geode - you could pick the rock and then watch it get cut in half to find out what was inside. The one I chose ended up with quite a variety: amethyst, clear quartz crystal, blue banded agate, limonite and moss agate, plus a bit of volcanic ash which the cutter said was unsual.
I stuffed the rock, wrapped in newspaper and inside a paper bag, into my sweatshirt before getting on the Silver Bullet, then noticed it had fallen out. Walter spotted a chick who appeared to have found it after we got off the ride so I approached her about it, asking if she had found it. She insisted she had purchased it herself so I let it go. A few minutes later she came back with the rocks and said she wanted me to have hers since I had lost mine. It was, of course, mine to begin with, but it's nice to know that there's semi-honest people out there.
After that I decided I didn't want to lose anything else so used the rest of my fun money to buy a hot pink tote bag featuring color photos of Knott's jelly jars. Classicly kitchy, I am sure to get tons of use out of it as it's just too gaudy and LOUD to keep hidden away from the world in the back of some closet.
It was a wonderfully fun day, and I really enjoyed sharing a weekend adventure with my honeybunches Walter, and spending quality fun time with his sons: Nick and his girlfriend Mahalia, Max and Joe and their friend Justin - they're all really great kids, their folks should be very proud of them. Additional photos from the day can be viewed on this Flickr album.
