Of all the time we were away on this big break, our time in LA was designated family time, the principal reason for embarking on this family trip being to attend my grandma’s “80th” birthday celebration.

The celebration was being held in LA as although my grandma lives in New York, most of the family was in LA and it was also a good opportunity for her to visit the west coast for a change. Of course the celebration turned out to be a family reunion of sorts, though I’m not sure you can call meeting aunts, uncles, cousins etc. for the first time a “re”-union. The celebration went off fine. My Uncle’s house was a madhouse for a few days before and after the celebration as the celebration turned into an almost week-long family reunion.

After things settled down, we were able to go off and do some sight-seeing around LA including visits to Santa Monica and Venice beaches, Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. We also squeezed in a day of outlet shopping at Camarillo Premium Outlets.

Santa Monica Beach and Venice Beach speak for themselves. The weather wasn’t picture perfect but you can imagine how nice (and how crowded) they are in the height of summer. Finally I got to see the famed Muscle Beach, the outdoor weightlifting gym on Venice Beach’s Ocean Front Walk. I didn’t see any great big body-builders – and the one body builder that was there got a derisive “put your clothes on” comment from a passer-by.

Knott’s Berry Farm claims to be America’s first theme park and actually started life as a way to entertain crowds lining up for Mrs Knott’s fried chicken dinners. When the Farm was sold to Cedar Fair L.P. the park saw a shift towards thrill rides, with the construction of a number of large roller coasters and high-thrill water rides. The latest in rides is the Silver Bullet a multi-element inverted coaster. Woohoo – it was our first ride and set the tone for the day.

Despite these changes I would say that overall Knott’s Berry Farm is still targeted towards the younger audience (so it was good we had our nearly 11 year old cousin with us! :)) with plenty of shows and gentler rides and attractions. I don’t know what the Farm would be like in summer with the crowds but we were pretty lucky as most kids had finished with their spring break and lines were short if not non-existence. In summary:
– Shows worth seeing are the very mystical Mystery Lodge and the entertaining Wild West Stunt Show.
– Rides worth riding include the most of the coasters: GhostRider, Xcelerator, and Silver Bullet (Boomerang I didn’t enjoy so much as it was extremely painful!), and the water rides Timber Mountain Log Ride, Bigfoot Rapids and Perilous Plunge but make sure to do them early in the day because you will get wet! For a bit of fun ride the Butterfield Stagecoach (up top and at the back is most fun) though mind that the wait is long even if the line appears short.

In contrast with Knott’s Berry Farm, our visit to Six Flags Magic Mountain saw more of a crowd. Although most local kids had gone back to school, we were faced with larger crowds as many of them came to Magic Mountain for physics class field trips (nice excuse) and also because a lot of the older kids from other States were here on field trips. Magic Mountain, as you’ve probably gathered, is part of the Six Flags chain of theme parks based around thrill rides (so its not really for the little ones or those with weak stomachs.)

I could go on and on about all of the 16 coasters (and other assorted rides) at Magic Mountain but I think I’ll just stick to suggesting some of the better coasters:
– Batman The Ride. A suspended looping coaster with hair pin turns and zero gravity.
– Déjà Vu. Like the Boomerang coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm but better. First you go forwards and then backwards. The view from the front is the absolute best.
– Goliath. With one of the tallest drops in the world this ride was exhilarating to say the least. We rode this one 3 or was it 4 times?
– X. A four dimensional coaster (due to seats that spin 360-degrees forwards and backwards). I couldn’t handle riding this coaster more than once, as it brought on the most immense headache, but you have to ride it at least once for the novelty factor.

Celebrity sightings

I’m always on the look out for meeting a celebrity or two. Although I didn’t really have an opportunity for star sightings I did make eye contact with a minor celebrity in the form of Enrico Colantoni (known best to me as Elliott DiMauro in the TV series Just Shoot Me but now also starring in Veronica Mars) whilst walking through first class to get to the economy seats on my flight from New York to LA.

Additionally, any fans of the Amazing Race will be familiar with the pocket rocket Mirna (of Charla and Mirna) from Season 5. Technically I didn’t see her but Mum did go up and have a chat with her. Go Mum!