In which I completely wear myself out

One day a couple of weeks ago, Alex was visiting us and mentioned that she wanted to go to Magic Mountain. I'd had a stressful day for whatever reason, and decided to see if I could find cheap plane tickets and go with her. I checked Jet Blue's website and found $69 tickets to Long Beach. With my bluff called, I bought them. Call it an impulse purchase.

Flash forward a week and Jeremy was visiting. Fortunately, he was due to fly back to Long Beach the same day we planned to head down there, so he switched his ticket to get on our flight. However, with him here all last week, I spent many late nights hanging out and having fun, and didn't sleep much. Despite my best intentions, we ended up playing Rock Band pretty late Friday night. Bobby was out playing poker, and didn't get home until after midnight. Jeremy and I were still up. He was playing "Wig in a Box" on my guitar and I was singing along. Finally, around 1:30, we went to bed.

The alarm rang at 4:30 in the morning. I hit snooze a couple times and finally sprang out of bed at 4:45. The three of us got ready and headed for the airport an hour later. We got on the plane, and it was a smooth flight to Long Beach.



We approached the runway about 10 minutes early, and I began to dance in my seat, excited to get off the plane, get in Alex's car, and head north to Magic Mountain where Scott was waiting for us. However, right before we landed, the plane abruptly took back off. We ended up circling Catalina Island for an hour and a half, which threw off my entire schedule. Plus, I had no way of telling Alex or Scott what had happened, so I had several voicemails waiting when we finally did land. Alex picked us up, and we were on our way. After a brief detour to In N Out, which took forever, we picked Scott up. Shortly thereafter, we were there:



We had planned to arrive around 10:30, but we pulled into the parking lot just before 1:00. We expected the park to be dead, since the new school year had started, but Magic Mountain frequently holds special events during the off-season. Saturday's event was not listed on the website, as it was Muslim Family Appreciation Day. It was quite interesting riding roller coasters among so many women in Hijab, and I also found it really cool. I did not photograph any of this, as I am respectful of such things. I was just glad no stupid redneck families walked up to the gate, saw the sign, and made a scene. Everybody was very respectful of one another. Fun is a universal language.

Alex and I decided on a schedule for the day. We would turn left at the entrance, hit Revolution, Viper, and X2, and then move on to the other side of the park. Though it's old and has only one loop, Revolution is one of my favorite rides at Magic Mountain. The line was surprisingly long, but we didn't mind, because Magic Mountain is the best place ever. After the Revolution, it was time for Viper. Viper is the first ride I went on when I visited Magic Mountain for the first time back in 1994. With seven loops, a corkscrew, and a giant drop, it once held the title of tallest looping roller coaster in the world. Here is a photo of Viper from the line for X2.



Seven loops later, we ran over to the line for X2, which used to be X, which I had only ridden once before. That was back in 2002, when Tara took one look at it and decided to hold my purse. We got to the front of the line, and were directed to the last two rows. Bobby and I took the last row, and Scott and Alex took the row in front of us. However, the joke was on us, because of the way X2 is designed. The back row in the station actually ends up being the front row. We climbed the lift hill tilted onto our heads as Metallica (UGH) played over the newly-installed speakers. I started to flip out just a little bit as we approached the top of the lift hill, and for the rest of the ride I was screaming like somebody was sticking a knife in my belly. Bobby was laughing at me when we arrived back at the station, as I could not let go of my death grip on the handles. Got off the ride and toddled, shaking, to the exit while feeling like my heart was going to explode. Fun! I saw the ride's photo of me, and was horrified at the face I was making. Needless to say, I did not purchase it. If you're wondering why I was so terrified, see this video.



We walked from X2 over to Goliath, which is in the middle part of the park. Goliath is a super tall hypercoaster that tops out at 85 miles per hour and has a tendency to make riders black out due to its extreme G-forces. Fun! The sign outside the ride claimed there was a two hour wait, but I didn't believe that. The ride is 10 years old and isn't that remarkable. As it turns out, the wait was indeed two hours long due to the fact that they were only running one train. Once again, our schedule was thrown off. I did snap this photo of a train going down the first drop:



After Goliath, we found a churro cart, whose operator could not do math. For two $3.75 churros and a $3.75 bottle of coke, we were charged $8.50. I was not about to correct the girl, as prices inside the park are highway robbery. Also it made the churros extra delicious. We inhaled our snacks and rounded the corner to Colossus, which is my other favorite Magic Mountain ride. It's a classic wooden coaster built in 1978, and there is almost never a line. I can't go to Magic Mountain without going on Colossus at least once. Next to it is Scream, which is a floorless coaster I have only ridden one time, but we realized we had to budget our time as it was already close to 7:00. With this in mind, we headed over to Gotham City for Batman: The Ride and The Riddler's Revenge.



The Riddler did not appear to be running, and Alex wanted to wait for the front car of Batman. We were happy to oblige. The wait was pretty short, and Batman was much more fun than I remember. As we boarded the ride, we noticed that they were running cars on the Riddler's Revenge again, so we got in line. On the way, we looked for a snow cone for Alex, but there were none to be found. With less than two hours before the park closed, I checked the line for Riddler and determined we would only be able to get on one more ride before 10:00. We unanimously chose Tatsu, the other completely terrifying coaster and the only one that has ever made me whine and want my mommy. It was terrifying enough to ride in the daytime the last time I visited the park. Riding it just after 10:00pm nearly did me in. I had my eyes shut the entire way up the 300+ foot lift hill, and was squeezing Bobby's hand tight enough to break his fingers. Why do I do this to myself? Because it's fun! The following video isn't mine, but it's from the front row of Tatsu. Take a look if you dare.



With a brief stop at the gift shop to buy superhero capes, we were on the road around 10:45. We dropped Scott off at his car, stopped at In N Out for the second time in one day, and arrived at my parents' house in Palm Springs at 2:00am. By this time, Bobby and I had been awake for 22 hours. We had a picnic on the floor and promptly collapsed.

The next morning, I jumped out of bed at 9:00, threw on my swimsuit, said hello to my parents, and dove straight into the pool.



Bobby and Alex woke up a bit later, and the neighbors joined us to hang out in the back yard. By 10:00, it was already 96 degrees. After splashing around in the pool and lying in the sun with Alex for a while, the three of us ate some breakfast and lounged around a while. We ordered some lunch from Las Casuelas, and went to pick it up.



Sadly, my enchiladas were not the best thing I've ever ordered from them, but the salsa was delicious as always. Jumped back into the pool with Alex and floated around for a while,



and Erin dropped by to say hello.



Too soon, though, it was time to go back to the airport. My parents drove us back to Long Beach, which has the tiniest terminal ever.



However, there's a bar in it! They wanted $10.75 for a glass of wine, so I ordered a "cheaper" $7.50 pint of Stella. We chatted with a fellow Portland passenger who was also complaining about the absurd prices before it was time to board the plane. We landed in Portland around 9:30 last night, and made it home in time for Mad Men. It was a whirlwind trip to California, but it was fun as fun can be.

Unfortunately, my body was tired of operating on five hours of sleep every night, so it decided to punish me by striking me with a cold about midway through the day today. I'm feeling pretty under the weather, both literally and figuratively (stupid clouds), so I am taking it easy tonight in the hopes that I'll feel better tomorrow. Everyone loves a crazy adventure.