Friday the 7th of August 2009
After work my sister and I loaded up Atori (the oxygen blue mini) and headed over to my grandmothers where we were to meet the rest of our traveling group. We left Phoenix around 6pm, I was in the driver set, Farrah front passenger, and my sister and Kaitlyn were in the back. After crossing into California we stopped at the town of Blythe and had dinner at Carol Jr, talk about gross food but I’m not a fan of fast food. Our second stop was for coffee and gas at a Loves gas station around Coachella. Then we got back on the road and didn’t stop until we found our hotel. We arrived at our hotel; The GoodNight Inn around midnight and yes we went straight to bed (its about a 6 hour drive from Phoenix to Buena Park).
Saturday the 8th of August
Woke up early around 7 am…and no I didn’t sleep well. The four of us got around and went to the hotels continental breakfast, not what I would call edible food so we headed over to the McDonalds (which was right by the hotel) instead. After breakfast we made our way over to Knott’s Berry Farm (which was about 3 mins away from our hotel). We got there about an hour before the park opened and got inline at the front gate.
The Park opened at 10am and the first ride we went on was the GhostRider which is a wooden roller coaster made up of 4,533’ of track. It was a fun ride but kind of jerky. The next ride was Bigfoot Rapids, which we got to ride a raft down a little river (yes I like rides like this, slow and safe). Then we got on the Pony Express, this was a fun ride but kind of painful because of how the ride held onto you. Then we found the Bumper Cars, I don’t even remember the last time I did bumper cars but I really had a lot of fun.
After bumper cars my cousin wanted to ride the Perilous Plunge, this is a water ride that sends a boat down a 115-foot water chute at a 75-degree angle. Somehow I found myself in the front row and yeah I got very soaked (good thing I road this ride in the morning when the sun was out). By this point in the day the park was starting to get more crowed which means longer lines… Anyways the next ride was the Boomerang, which I call the purple and green monster. This ride had 6 loops and also went backwards. I really liked this ride but it made me a little dizzy. Wipeout (a flat spinning ride that lifts off the ground) was the next ride we went on.
It was around noon now and a perfect time to take a break and have lunch. We found a little café and had some hotdogs. Lunch was good but I was enjoying the break from walking. After lunch we got in line for the Timber Mountain Log Ride, omg I loved this ride and wanted to go on it again but never found the time. The Calico Mine Ride was next, it kind of reminded me of the mine in Bisbee minus the cold and it wasn’t as cool. Then we took the Butterfield Stagecoach. I wasn’t really into this horse and buggy ride and the guy who was helping with the ride was asking my sister and me to many personal questions, kind of odd.
At this point we separated, which wasn’t the best ideal. My cousins went to the Snoopy Camp and I went with my sister, Farrah and Kaitlyn. Somehow my sister and I lost Farrah and her daughter so we spent some time walking around. We went to Snoopy Camp and found my cousins and while my little cousins where riding on a kids ride I talked my sister into having some Dippin’ Dots. Yes this was our first time eating dippin’ dots, and yes it was yummy. After our snack we got Farrah on the phone and was able to find her and Kaitlyn. So the group was a whole again.
Waveswinger (the swings ride) was next. My sister loves the swings, I remember looking over at her during this ride, she looked so happy. Then it was the Dragon Swing, which I call the Viking ship since that is what it looks like.
After the dragon swings we separated again. This time I went with my cousins and my sister went with Farrah and Kaitlyn (they went on the Supreme Scream, which is a free fall drop, I didn’t want to go on that ride). Instead I went on the Jaguar, which was a fun roller coaster.
Then we regrouped had dinner and walked around the park and road the Bigfoot Rapids again.
Towards the end of the day we separated again since some of us in the group wanted to go on rides that one of my little cousins was to short go on. So I went with my sister, Farrah, and Kaitlyn. We got in line for the Silver Bullet, which is a suspended roller coaster that climbs to 146 feet and has a drop of 109 feet with lots of spirals, curves, and a 105 feet vertical loop. This was such a fun ride and we all liked it so much that we decided to go on it again… So we got back in line and made it all the way to the sits and the ride stopped working. So we had to get off and leave. Anyway this was all fine, I’m just happy I wasn’t one of the people stuck on the ride, talk about lucking out.
So next was the Jaguar again. The rest of the group wanted to ride it and it was such a fun ride that I didn’t care. The last ride that we went on was Montezooma’s Revenge, this ride brings you from 0 to 55 in 3 seconds. It also has a seven-story loop, the ride went forward and then backwards. Such a fun ride to save for last.
The Park closed at 11pm and we made our way to the car around 11:20pm. We waited for our cousins by the cars and said our goodbyes, they where leaving to go back home early in the morning. After saying our goodbyes we went back to the hotel and went to sleep around midnight (again).
Yeah I can’t believe that we spent all day at the theme park but it was such a fun day and the hours just flew by. Knott’s Berry Farms, I give it an A but I’m not sure if I’ll come back. I’m just not the biggest fan of theme parks.
Sunday August 9th 2009
Woke up on Sunday around 8 am and this time I got a better nights sleep. After the 4 of us got around and checked out of the hotel we stopped by Target to get a few items (such as a map and sandals). The Target store also had a Starbucks inside so we decided to have breakfast there instead of trying to find another place to eat. I got a tall hot chocolate and some oatmeal; omg the oatmeal was so good. Also during breakfast we looked over the map and picked the roads to take in order to find a beach.
Again I was driving and Farrah was navigating, my sister and Kaitlyn were in the back. We started our route heading west on the 91 then headed south on the 710 driving towards Long Beach. It didn’t take long to get to this location and before I knew it Iwe was heading towards the RMS Queen Mary.
Incase you don’t know what the RMS Queen Mary is I’ll give you a little history. The Queen Mary is an ocean liner that sailed between the years of 1936 to 1967. During World War II it was used as a troopship. On October 2 1942 she (Queen Mary) snaked one of her escorts on accident. Because of the danger of enemies U-Boats she couldn’t stop and help so 338 people lost their lives. According to the ghost legends some of these men’s spirits are said to haunt the ship. After the war she was turned back to a passenger ship. Today the Queen Mary has been turned into a hotel and a museum.
Ok history lesson over now back to my trip…
Finding the Queen Mary was completely spontaneous, I didn’t even know I was this close to the ship but being so close we had to stop. I have never seen a ship this big before in real life so I was very excited and blown away by it. Anyways the 4 of us got our tickets to go on the self guided tour and also the Ghost and Legends tour. It was so much fun exploring the ship, so easy to get lost, sadly we didn’t have enough time to see everything.
At 11: 15 the Ghost and Legends tour started, the tour took us to the most haunted parts of the ship. The first stop was the first-class swimming pool, and my favorite part of the tour. The pool area is two floors in height and has been closed for over 30 years but the bottom of the pool is still wet.
The engine room and boiler room was the next stops on the tour. Here the ghost of John Pedder is said to haunt. Pedder worked in the engine room and was crushed (or cut in half) by “door 13” a watertight door.
The Ghost and Legends tour was really fun and took us to parts of the ship that you can only visit on the (ghosts) tours. The tour also was set to dramatic effect such as lights and sounds, kind of corny but corny can be so much fun sometime.
After the tour we walked around the deck and took in the amazing view. We also had lunch on the ship at a little deli. Such good food and we had a seagull watching us the whole time (and no we didn’t feed it). After lunch we walked to the back of the ship then walked around the inside. We also found the hotel hallways…I so badly want to go back and spend the night here.
After spending such a nice time on the Queen Mary we made our way to downtown Long Beach and found a beach to visit. We only got to spend an hour at the beach since time was getting away from us. We wanted to get back into Phoenix before midnight. The beach was so nice I just wish we had more time.
So we started on the long drive home around 3 pm. We got back on the 710 and headed north to the 10 and drove pass the skyscrapers of Los Angeles. On the 10 we headed east and at one point almost got in a car wreck. Some big ugly van didn’t see my cute little mini cooper and tried to get over in my lane. Luckily no one was on the other side of me and I was able to get out of the way in time. Once we got away from the more populated area we stopped and got some gas (I forgot the place but there was a lot of windmills around) and then my sister took over driving. We got home around 10:30 pm; I think we made good time.
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