Gwilliam Gazette : Spring Break

So this Spring Break, we talked about going on a quick little 4 day cruise.....going to San Diego.....going to Mesa Verde......going to Capital Reef National Park........Cruise was too much $$, we just went to San Diego in October....both Mesa Verde and Capital Reef were too cold still.....

We eventually just decided to stay home and do a bunch of local things....Then Friday, we decided at the last minute to go to Las Angeles for a quick little trip to warmer weather. So we quickly booked the hotels and got Knott's Berry Farm Tickets, and left Sunday afternoon. We stopped in Vegas to visit Shelley's sis and family and had a great visit with them.

Monday, we first went to the abandoned LA Zoo which is semi hidden up against a mountain side. Kinda creepy, kinda cool to be able to walk around, in and on the old enclosure areas. The zoo was here from 1912 to 1966.

This was one of the larger animal areas

Stairs going down/up from the larger enclosures

Probably bird cages

More stairs going down/up from the larger enclosure. The animals could go up/down these stairs

The kids thought this was the monkey cage - so they were acting like monkeys

Standing on top of the stair area

Then we headed downtown to find the hidden tunnels that run under the downtown area. During the prohibition era, these tunnels were used to get away from the anti-liquor laws and hide. Some of these tunnels were abandoned subway areas and others were horse tunnels. It is estimated there are about 11 miles of tunnels all over the area.

Right across the street was City Hall. We went there to the observation deck on the 27th floor. Because the building is tiered, we had to take three different elevators to get there! The view up top was very nice!

Then we went over to the Science Museum that the kids said they are outgrowing now. That's just silly!

Tuesday, we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It's such a clean park and we originally thought it would be busy due to Utah's Spring Break, but we realized most of Utah was at Disneyland instead. Most of the rides were walk-ons, with the longest waits being about 10-15 mins. The last time we went to Knott's was in the middle of some of my chemo treatments in 2009, so it was time to go again. (Here is the post-look how little the kids were!) It was very fun!

The Xcelerator - shoots you to 82 mph in 2.5 seconds! The top of the hill is 205 feet up. This is a 'small' coaster, with the tallest ride like this over 400 feet tall!

Video:

The drop tower ride

This was a very fun 3-D shooting game ride

Probably the most unique themed roller coaster ever. The Pony Express! You ride horses for a very different feeling!

Taking a rest and eating ice cream. Hannah isn't going to barf..she just put it all in her mouth at once

Ghostrider wooden coaster - this thing was FAST and smooth! After 17 rough years, it was completely refurbished last year and it's amazing.

On the train ride, it gets robbed by bandits

We loved the palm trees

This was a kids pie eating contest

Umm..this girl was all in! She was the winner and got "berry" messy

Nice log ride - went many times

Hannah doing a little dance

Wednesday, we went to the beach to do some tide pooling. It wasn't as productive as we had hoped, but was still fun to be at the beach.

We headed home that afternoon, with plans to stop in Vegas again and spend the night....but we got to Vegas a little earlier than we thought and just decided to drive all the way home. We got home about 1:30am and it was so nice to sleep in our own beds and sleep in the next morning.

Thursday we first headed to Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolate Factory (in Salt Lake) for a tour and samples.

Then we headed over to Temple Square to walk around the beautiful grounds with all the Spring blooms, and watched some movies at the Visitor's Center.

I liked the reflection of the Assembly Hall in the windows across the street

We then went to the Church Office Building up to the Observation Deck on Floor 26. Great views of the valley!

We then headed over to the KSL Newspaper/Radio/TV building for a tour.

We first visited FM 100 radio studios, and watched/listened to the DJ do some live traffic/weather. All the songs and commercials are pre-programmed into a computer now.