Photo Trip Report: JimmyBo's Spring Break

While I don't really have a Spring Break at my job, but Cassie had 2 weeks off so we decided to head out to So Cal and spend some time in the beautiful weather out there. The weather out here in Tucson this winter has been crazy! As of this writing there is still SNOW on our local mountains which is very unusual. We couldn't have ask for nicer weather while we were out in So Cal. The report will be split into 4 parts: Part 1 San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, Part 2 Knott's Berry Farm, Parts 3 and 4 L.A. Area with an extensive look into the Santa Monica Pier

 

Part 1: San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park

I can't remember the last time I went to this park but I'm pretty sure it had to be at least 15 years ago. I remember there being a monorail type tram that took you all throughout the park. The monorail is gone and now it's a normal tram and it only takes you through most of the park. You can walk to a lot more exhibits now. They had one of those giant ballons like at Disney World's Boardwalk but it was closed that day. The animals were out and about and there was even a month old BABY ELEPHANT! He was pretty damn cute.

 

Onto the Photos!

First off...the drive out to California. This is Picacho Peak the greenest I have ever seen it. At the base of this Peak is Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch. If you haven't seen my Trip Report from there then check it out...it's that CRAZY!

At a rest area, make sure your pets watch for Cow Patties...ummm...what?

Here we are at the Wild Animal Park. This is the Flamingo Lagoon near the entrance. This place has amazing scenery throughout the park

Off in the distance are the first animals we see on the tram tour. They were some type of deer with a white oval on their backside...I kid you not!

This bird is taller than Cassie. Of course that's not saying much since she's only 5ft tall but that was one huge bird!

Deer or Gazelle...you name it you get to eat it. Both are tasty!

Here is Geoffery the Giraffe. He has a black tongue because he's black at heart

I think there is about to be a throw down at the eating trough. My money is on the guy with the huge horns

Water Buffalo...the lions best freind! Why? Well, watch the LIFE on the Discovery Channel and find out

Here's more gazelle although I think these guys took some sort of steriod because they are HUGE!

A view from the top of the tram tour looking down on the "African" Valley

Zebra! There is a 3 month old baby in there somewhere. Are Zebras black with white stripes or white with black stripes? Again, if you answer it correctly you get to eat it!

I think this lion is dead

Another Flamingo Pond with more Flamingos! Imagine that!

Flowers...yay...woohoo...a-a-a-choo!

More pretty flowers but none as pretty as Flower in Bambi

Here's another bird taller than Cassie. This is a Pelican and holy hell he was tall!

What the Duck! WTD!

Meerkats are awesome in so many ways...

...they sit on top of their house...

...and they sit in their food piles. These guys are great!

There's the 1 month old baby elephant. Born on Valentine's Day. Oh so cute

Baby elephant's nursing. Look away people...nothing to see here!

Bald Eagle. Why are they called bald? Does that mean every human with white hair on their head should be called bald? I'm going to start doing that now...every person I see with white hair I'm going to say "Hey baldy!"

That is a Prarie Dog. He's poking his head out just to see what's up

Oh my God! An animal is out of it's cage! Oh wait, that's just Cassie. Nevermind, but look at that Big Horn...he can easily jump over the electrified fence!

The California Condor...once nearly extinct and now still nearly extinct.

What a bunch of ugly looking animals destroying a view from Condor Ridge

Now that's a better view that the animals have run away

Hey look! Another bird bigger than Cassie! Her wing span is not quite as big as the Condor

And finally we drive off into the sunset.

 

Next up, Part 2: Knott's Berry Farm

Part 2: Knott's Berry Farm

 

I haven't been to Knott's since right after Sierra Sidewinder opened up so I was excited to get my first new credit in about a year...Pony Express! While I much prefer the Vekoma Motobikes over this Zamperla contraption (Sorry Bruno) it was an ok ride. I really disliked how it started to get interesting and then it just ended...Boo! Cassie and I took our friend Kenna and she had never been on a looping coaster before and she was terrified of coasters. So what ride did I take her on first...Silver Bullet of course (too bad Xcelerator had to rip it's cable in people's faces otherwise that would have been our first ride). We had lunch at the amazing Ghost Town Grill and found out interesting facts about the Knott family like that Mr Knott invented the Boysenberry. Delicious! Then for dinner we went to TGI Fridays where there's always a good drink to be had.

 

Onto the photos!

Here we are...America's First Theme Park

The new 2014 Women's Bobsled team. HA! That would be pretty funny

Silver Bullet Loop...check. Derek can get his tissues now.

The inversion that's not an inversion half inversion but still count it as an inversion. Make sense? Good!

A REAL inversion where people lose personal items like their virginity

Helix of death, doom, and terror over the lake filled with a Mega Shark and a Giant Octopus

Ghost Town...the only themed area of the park left alone by Cedar Fair and it's still my favorite area of the park.

Ghostrider oh how you used to be so good but now you are just a used up porn star with many bumps, bruises, and straches that can never be fixed

"Poor unfortunate souls" as sung by the evil octopus in Little Mermaid

Strolling through Ghost Town. This reminds me a lot of Tombstone, AZ.

The Blacksmith was doing his horseshoe making for a school class

Cassie died! Oh No! At least you know if someone died on a ride here they could probably get a good rate for a coffin.

Here's our placemat at lunch at the Ghost Town Grill...fun fact's about the Knott Family and Knott's Berry Farm

Bird Cage Theater where Steve Martin once performed. I've been to the real one in Tombstone and it's haunted.

More Ghost Town scenery and shops

The Old School house which is a National Historical Landmark

Inside the Old School House some of it's original teachers were still there! Just kidding...they are just white haired people who I yelled "Hey Baldy!"

Teacher's wages back in the day. I loved the people that "Gave up". There must have been some little brats in that class

And now it's new credit time. Pony Express in all it's "My Little Pony" awesomeness

The first overbanked turn which goes over the Grand Canyon! No joke!

Here it comes, flying over the station!

Is it just me or does everyone have two pairs of right and left legs? They belong in the Freak Show!

Coming in for the picture! SCREAM!

Then when it started to get cool and enter the tunnel the ride ended. Kind of lame but I got the credit!

OH MY GOD! I am on heaven! Ready for the World's Best Funnel Cakes! I'm drooling just looking at this picture!

Cassie and Kenna shared one with apple topping while I ate my own with Strawberry toppings. I may be fat now but it was so worth it.

Time to check out the Mystery Lodge. At one time the old man used to scare me because he was so creepy looking. Now, he still scares me because he is STILL CREEPY!

Scenery by the Mystery Lodge

The awesome attraction that is the Calico Mine Ride. This used to be my favorite ride in the park back when I was 3 years old!

Timber Mountain Log Ride. If you still put your hands up it still screams at you "Sit Down!"

Boomerang was closed which was a good thing. I wasn't ready for a headache. Maybe they should invest in some of those new trains!

Supreme Scream is where people scream supremely

Supreme Scream is sponsored by Toyota? Pray that the brakes and acceraltors work properly!

Xcelerator is my favorite ride at the park. Even though it wasn't opened today it was still the best ride I went on that day!

And now the long running joke I love to make..."Let's go ride what Tijuana's drinking water gives you...Montezuma's Revenge!" Serious Note: It was running great today!

Jaguar!

No line meant we sat in the front and back and two very different rides. The front has lots of air rushing into your face...

...while in the back seat you get whiplash. End of story

Time to stroll through Camp Snoopy which has changed dramatically since when I was 3 years old

Don't fall in the water ladies!

Sierra Sidewinder Lift Hill. Can you spot JimmyBo?

Neither of the girls like spinning rides so I took this ride by myself. Our car was spinning like crazy cuz there was only three of us. This thing was hauling butt today!

Yay! I didn't puke like Jow after riding Tatsu for the first time!

If you know where this train is, then you are a Knott's Berry Farm NERD!

Hey look! You can ride a Cock on the Carosuel

Instead, Cassie and Kenna ride an Ostrich. And after our tour to Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm, I would never want to be on an Ostrich in my entire life life.

Time for the super hokey and super lame Wild West Stunt SHow. They changed the actors and script since the last time I saw it but still had the same stunts.

Hello Kitty? Seriously? Wow...maybe like 3 girls in the stands laughed at this one

I still love how they use the water effect though. People still can't read "Wet Zone" on the seat they are sitting in and move up halfway through the show.

And the poor cowboy still falls to his death in the end.

Time to drink and eat across the street! This is probably one of the smartest moves made by Knott's or TGI Friday's...this place is always packed after the park closes.

After a couple (and by couple I mean 5) drinks this is what it looks like trying to find your car in tha parking lot.

Thank God that our car was the only car left in the parking lot!

Wait...where is it?

 

Next up, Part 3: L.A. Area with an extensive look into the Santa Monica Pier! You don't want to miss it!

Part 3: L.A. Area with an extensive look into the Santa Monica Pier.

 

We spent the day traveling around L.A. with my sister and her husband. Even though I lived in Southern California for 22 years there were still several places in L.A. that I have never been to. Venice Beach was awesome in so many ways and only pictures can described this wacked out place. Venice actually has canals like in the real Venice. Although there were no Sharks in Venice it was still a good time. We saw a female duck literally get raped by a male duck...Oh how Spring is in the air. Then we visited the Getty Museum which was amazing. The building itself is awesome and the view and outstanding. Ok, enough blabber...

 

Onto the pictures!

Hollywood! Save the Peak!

Ladies and Gentlemen...I give the extensive look intot eh Santa Monica Pier! Amazing, no? Not what you expected? Too bad...deal with it!

Cassie and I ate lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company because she has never been to one. In my honest opinion, it's just over-priced seafood for an ok atmosphere.

At least we had an amazing view that you can't get in Arizona!

Lunch Time! Where's the shrimp Lt. Dan?

At the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica they were giving out free diet coke and food. How can anyone pass that up?

And then we discovered PinkBerry. Oh how I loved Frozen Yogurt. This was Cassie's. Mine had Captain Crunch as a topping and it was freaking delicious!

Venice Beach! I can't wait to see what freaks are out today!

Venice Beach is home to Muscle Beach. If you don't know what Muscle Beach is then let me show you...

Basically people come and work out on the beach. Some guys are completely ripped like the guy on the bike on the left while others are not so ripped like the old bald guy on the right

The aliens have landed on Venice Beach

Somehow I don't think the Wrold's Best funnel Cakes can top Knott's Berry Farm's World's Best Funnel Cakes. If you can't spell world then it can't be good

Acid trip anyone?

After running away from the crazies on the beach, we walk 1 block in from the beach and we arrive on the canals of Venice.

They have walkways and bridges over the canals that guide you throughout the entire place.

This was right after the female duck (in the middle) just got raped by the male duck (upper right). It happened so fast I couldn't even get a picture of him on top. It was crazy watching duck porn LIVE!

Interesting fact about the canals in Venice is that every house along the canals has it's own architecture. This was an Arizonan Adobe house on the canal. Feels like home!

More houses with interesting architecture with the canal running through the middle

We are now on a monorail. Where can we be going?

We are climbing up a steep grade overlooking I-405. Where are we going?

Oh my god...another monorail is going to hit us! Look out! Where are they coming from? Where are we going?

Hey!

That's where we are headed. The getty Museum. It's on top of a cliff and the only way to get there is to get a monorail credit! WOO!

Where should we start? It's like an amusement park for museum nerds like my sister!

I do admit that the architecture was pretty awesome!

In the getty they had 16th and 17th century rooms filled with real artifacts from those eras.

Here's a 24 foot tall painting of some gay King

More rooms filled with stuff

Let's take this bed home. Can you imagine trying to sleep on that thing? Were people really that much shorter back then?

Hey look, another bed that my feed would hang off the edge of.

Another room filled with stuff. I think this was from the 16th century which would be the 1500's people

It's a giant carpet on the wall. Is that where they belong back in the day?

Hey look, my famous artwork is on the wall!

In my spare time I like to apint and then I sell it to these musuems and they display them on their walls. I like seeing my work on the walls

Here's another one of mine...I'm pretty good huh?

This is what my garden looked like so I decided to paint it with these colors.

Another one of my beautiful pieces of artwork!

As i said before...the Getty is on top of a hill and it's view is amazing!

Here's a view from outside.

 

Next up, Part 4: More Getty, Hollywood and The Grove

Part 4: More Getty Museum, Hollywood and The Grove

 

The outside of the Getty Museum they have some awesome gardens. It was in bloom when we were there but if you've ever seen the movie "Coraline" and seen that garden, that's what the garden looked like. Then we drove down Sunset Blvd through Beverly Hills and into Hollywood. We drove by several hot spots but didn't get out because it was super packed. Then we made our way to The Grove which is an outdoor mall with a Farmer's Market attached at the end of it. The Farmer's Market was amazing. There were several different food vendors throughout the Market all selling dinner and it was super ahrd to pick where to eat. They even had their own brewed beer there so I had to try that!

 

Onto the pictures!

The gardens outside the Getty Museum had a Cactus Garden...it's not like we haven't seen that in Arizona before.

Cassie's all ike "Jim, we have this at home. Why the hell are you taking pictures of cactus you nerd?"

A small creek that runs down from the very top of the Getty to the garden below

It's part Alice in Wonderland and part Coraline gardens

Two tree stumps infront of the garden

Four tree stumps in front of the garden

Is that a squatting toilet like in Japan?

Strolling through Beverly Hills

I thinkk this place is pretty famous...I think famous people have stayed here...I think it's in a famous city...I think it's boring

Cruising down Sunset Blvd.

Ghetto Star Seeing Tours! Take a 15 passenger van and cut the top off and make people pay you tons of money to see the hedges of a stars' home

This is where the Academy Awards are held!

Wonder Woman's butt is not looking so wonderful

Hard Rock Cafe!

This is where The Jay Leno Show will soon be filmed

Do all theaters in China look like this? If so then I want to go to China and see Avatar in Chinese!

That is downtown L.A. as seen from the parking structure at The Grove!

Thankfully we didn't park in that parking structure

Here it is...The Grove. It's just another outdoor mall in California

What's so special about The Grove...they have a trolley and...

...they have An American Girl store. If you don't know what that is then you are one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, both my sister and Cassie grew up in that era when this was HUGE and they insisted on going in. Jeff and I left them to go and get a drink.

Farmer's Market! Most Farmer's Market across the United States aren't stationary. This Farmer's market is here year round and they have amazing eats.

Meg is all excited because she knows what she is going to get for dinner while the rest of us have no idea. There are so many options!

If you have ever had some of Robb's amazing wings and loved the hot ones then this palce is for you. There are sauces in here that are hotter than Robb's @$$ burning wings. I think Robb should bottle his hot sauce and sell it in here...this stuff is insane!

Like most Farmer's Market's this one had fresh everything including fruit. Geez...can you tell Meg and I are related?

Finally we all got our dinner and each person had something from a different country.

For desert, PinkBerry Frozen Yogurt with Captain Crunch toppings again.

Here's The Grove at night! Coolio!

They had a mix of wannabe Bellagio fountains and DCA World's of Color going on infront of the main entrance. This fountain also played commercials...lame!

More Grove awesomeness!

The Grove Theaters. Do they have Avatar in Chinese?!?!?!

And that's it for the report. Thanks for reading everyone!

 

JimmyBo out!

Great TR! I love the analogy you made for Grider!

Nice job Jimmy. I need to do the LA touristy thing one of these days, too. Looks like you guys had a lot of fun.

Great pics! LOL Museum nerds. At least coaster people aren't like that.....

Nice pics Jimmy!

 

I went to the Getty a few years ago. That place truly is amazing. I've never seen so much marble!!

 

Btw - Who's that goober with Cassie in the pics??

 

 

 

JJ

Love all the pics Jimmy Bo! Thanks for sharing and glad you had a good time.

Hey Jimmy, what day did you go to Knotts? I swear I saw you on Sierra Sidewinder passing by.

^It's was Thursday, March 18th. A beautiful day at the park because no lines and great weather

Holy freaking crap! It was you!

Man, I thoroughly enjoyed that TR! I wish I had known that canal was there when we were in Venice for the West Coast Tour last year; I definitely would have wandered off the beaten path to see that.

 

If I ever get back there, I'd really like to check out the Getty Museum and the Farmer's Market, as well as perhaps see the inside of the Chinese Theater. I don't know that I'd want to live in L.A., but it was a neat place to visit, especially the downtown area. Thanks for helping me relive some of those memories!