California Pictures: Magic Mountain

Here are few, completely stolen-from-Google, pictures of a few of the best (in my opinion) roller coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain. I stole them from Google because we took exactly zero pictures while we were there. We were too busy having fun. :)


Can you guess what this ride is called? Do you want to know why it's called that? Check out that first drop, close to the right side of the picture above, or in the center of the picture below. That drop is FOREVER long. I went from excited, to horrified, to almost sick before that drop ended.

It nearly killed me. I loved the rest of the ride, but that first climb and first drop will have you begging for the rapture to take you right then.



This ride is called Deja Vu. You go forwards through the ride, and then you go backwards through the ride! Does that sound nauseating enough for you? We went on this 40 minutes after we ate. I had my eyes closed for 80% of the ride. Otherwise, I think I would have been wearing my lunch. I may never do that one again.


This is one ride that absolutely nobody should go on. This is the wooden, old-style roller coaster that rattles your brain. It's 0% enjoyable, and 100% agony.


I LOVED this one. It's called the Riddler's Revenge. I'm not sure why. But you stand up in it. Which sounds scary and unstable. But it's awesome!


This one is called Tatsu. It's supposed to be like you're riding a dragon? Or you are the dragon? I'm not sure. But you sit down, and then the jack your seat backwards so that your back is parallel to track. If you put your arms out in front of you, it seems like you're flying. I was so scared to go on this one, but by the end of it, I was laughing like a crazy person! I loved it!


Okay. This picture. I'm sorry. I couldn't find a real picture that showed the ride accurately. So this was my best option. Anyway. My favorite ride was this one. It is also a wooden roller coaster, but it's smooth, and it's not called "The Terminator" just because. It actually uses the theme really well before you get on the ride, to get you all psyched up for it. Loved it!


I guess this would be a good time to tell you that these pictures aren't in order at all. This was the first ride we went on. It's called X2. Do you see the seats? How they are on either side of the track? That's because the seats rotate strategically throughout the ride to up the thrill. And it was thrilling, all right. So thrilling, I had my eyes closed for at least half of it. I couldn't handle it. But it made every ride after that seem a lot more manageable.

I looked for these pictures specifically because they were the most exciting of the 12 or 13 rides we went on that day. If that doesn't seem like a lot, that's because the line-ups for some of these were anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and a half. Plus all the walking in between. But it was enough for me. I was more than happy to exit the park at 8:00 pm.

So that was Magic Mountain. Next up, pictures from the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum.

California Pictures: Monteray Bay Aquarium

I might as well confess this right away: some of the pictures here were taken by other people, and I stole them from Google. Because some of our pictures didn't turn out very well, and I REALLY wanted to show you some of the things we saw. Okay, here we go.


Can you believe they build and grow there own coral reefs?








More coral reef





A huge tank sported a few of these. And some large rays. And huge tuna. Very cool.


Another one of the many huge tanks.


Can you guess which display was my favorite?


Some of these were so tiny! Like, smaller than your fingernail. Very cute.


I LOVE jellyfish! They're just so mysterious, and weird, and beautiful!


One of the interesting displays featured garbage, demonstrating how the water world adapts to things that collect at the bottom of the sea. NOT that they were endorsing throwing garbage into the ocean. Anyway, it was cool.


Ever wanted to be on the underside of a tidal wave, but not be hurt? (Or even get wet?) Voila.


This was a shallow pool featuring rays. That you could TOUCH. None of them swam near me though. I was disappointed.


The seahorse display was really cool. These ones are just plain crazy. Their leafy disguise is part of their body. I love it!

That's all for the aquarium pictures. Magic Mountain pictures are next!

California Pictures: Fresno Zoo

Like the title says, these are some pictures from our lovely afternoon at the Fresno Zoo, where Art's dad has his very first job.


Joe pretending to be a turtle.


And and I pretending to be a two-headed turtle.


Mari and Art pretending to be a two-headed turtle, where one head annoys the other....


It's an ugly frog statue. But frogs are lucky in the Philippines, so it doesn't matter how ugly it is. Mom had to get a picture with it.


Some bird and a giant turtle sharing lunch.





Flamingos. Because I have this need to state the obvious.














Here's a face only a mother could love.


Or maybe this is. It's called a tapir.


Condor. This picture doesn't do it justice, because these birds are FREAKING HUGE.


This is a mini deer. I believe this adorable guy/girl is full grown. So cute!


A trumpeter swan. One of my favorite childhood books was The Trumpet of the Swan, by C.S. Lewis. I was just a little bit happy. :D


So.....two of us make a gorilla?


Just as I suspected: no difference between the two of them.


They had a part where we could pet the animals. Only goats and sheep of course. Why won't the let us pet tigers? Psh.


This is the story of a demon-goat. This demon-goat had no friends (because he was a demon-goat. Duh). Then, one day, he saw Art.


His life was changed forever. He was determined Art would be his new best friend.


But then Art ran away from him. Look how sad he is. And demon-like. He was pretty scary looking. With no ears, and all...


Anyway, those were basically the best pictures we took. We were there for a few hours, and I saw lots of animals, and I loved it. More blogs of more pictures yet to come!