on monday, i took a trip to “the first amusement park in in the US”, Knott’s Berry Farm. i haven’t been to an amusement park for the better part of 10 years (maybe more), so i must admit, i have been pretty excited to 1) get out of the store during “daylight hours” and 2) to revisit my youth and simply have some good old-fashioned fun!
we took advantage of the $20 fee with a canned food donation, braved the drizzle and cold weather and set off to the land of Snoopy, the wild west, funnel cake and boysenberry jam. we played Vince Guaraldi to start the mood as images of a lonely x-mas tree and smiling Peanuts faces in the air filled my mind.
as we approached the gate, cans in tow, smiles on faces, we were met with our first many “reality checks” to what would be an interesting day:
reality check #1: i brought 2 canteens (one for cold drinks and one hot) to have filled with tasty (but completely unhealthy beverages!) filled to spare Knott’s a little waste. although they offered large, plastic drink containers for refills, not a single vendor would fill my cups, even if i paid the same amount. the only memorable thing about bringing reusable containers to the park was the question if my beverage upon enter was a “20-80″ drink….i am just now realising what that meant!
reality check #2: the ghost town, that was the “hot ticket” back in the day, not to mention a real slice of the county ala DeadWood, was really a ghost town….the Haunted Cabin is no longer there, the Gold Panning has been remodeled to a long wooden tray (but has 2 gleaming children testing their luck!). have to say that Californians don’t really care about how the state used to be. and what happened to Mystery Cabin, with their tiki-room-ish experience on the Native Americans that was such an integral part of the state? guess no one wants to see that either.
reality check #3: there are no healthy options at Knott’s. if someone was trying to eat right, trying to just have food that wasn’t so heavy before a plunge on a ride…there wasn’t a single thing. i am all for funnel cake, but i cannot spend a day eating that alone, not event real cheese for the cheese fries!
reality check #4: after our day, we decide to ice the cake at Mrs. Knott’s eatery. now mind you, i have been REALLY excited to taste what the whole of Knott’s was founded on…a small berry farm in Buena Park. my mouth salivating as i stood in line, reading of the Knott’s story of creating a small farm and how Mrs. Knott beginning to sell pies and coffee from a road-side stand. As the story goes, she never hired a professional chef, but rather hired neighbors wives and fried her neighbors chickens all while creating preserves from her family’s farm. this woman was the chair of Slow Food for OC people!!! this has got to be great! …
i must say, when you are feasting on corndogs and Coke before, i cannot or should not expect much and i was met with my harshest blow: chicken (that i rarely eat, so this was a treat), from what was probably a far away place, corn from a can that was made in some other place, potaotes from a box and other greens from a whatever Sysco or some other corporate food provider delivered to the back room 3 days ago. not CA agriculture, not Slow. it saddens me to think that this was a great farm loved by so many back-in-the-day.
reality check #5: i am still scared of rollercoasters! i ventured to a montezooma-esque ride called Accelerator, and i have to say, despite the pit-falls, that this alone was worth the $20 (that and the funnel cake with boysenberry jam). this ride lasts about 1 minute, but it begins with a 0-80 mph shoot up a 205ft ramp that leaves you breathless and amazed. i guess i am like so many others going…my heart was pounding out of my chest like a first-time public speaker!
only for the brave…
