Knott's Berry Farm

When we're visiting Emma or she's visiting us, we enjoy playing the Wild West card game, Poker, though admittedly we mostly play 7-Card No Peekie Baseball, which I'm guessing wouldn't have been played in Dodge City or Tombstone.

So, when we knew she'd be spending a week with us in Redondo Beach with us, we decided to visit an authentic Old West town, Knott's Berry Farm.

Okay, maybe that's not the real Old West, but I dare say it's about as close as Emma would want to come to one right now.

Upon arriving just as Knott's opened, Julie suggested Calico River Rapids.  

Emma immediately declined, saying she didn't want to get wet.

Yes, her hair did look beautiful, having been washed the night before and luxuriously brushed to perfection during her night-night routine, but Nana and I aren't quite that sophisticated in our choices, so we took advantage of an unusually short line.

Brief as the wait was, we nonetheless found ourselves spending enough time in the sun to be ready for a bit of splashing fun by the time we boarded our raft.

And of course, Emma hated it.

Nah.

It turns out she's a little girl after all, no matter how sophisticated she may think she is.

Emma liked that ride so much that we went on it twice more later in the afternoon.

No matter how often we went, Nana constantly happened to be in the part of the raft that took the brunt of the splashes.  She was soaked, which we all found hilarious.

Before those additional soaks, however, we headed to the Calico Mine Train, which is one I remember liking as a kid.

Two other little girls about Emma's age were in the same car with us.  They pretended to be afraid of some of the miners in the dark caverns, and Emma added a few sarcastic comments of her own. 

From there, it was over to the Timber Mountain Log Ride, another childhood favorite.  It's proclaimed to be the oldest log flume ride in the USA.  I just know that the big drop is always fun, no matter what age you are.

I can't say the same is true for the giant wooden roller coaster, Ghost Rider, and the other stomach churning rides for big kids.  We weren't quite old enough to want to go this time, though I do remember a time when I was younger at Magic Mountain with teen-aged Jay and his friend Matt.  We took the Goliath roller coaster a couple of times in a row.  I found when I got to the car, I still wasn't settled enough to drive home without sitting in Carl's Jr. for a half hour.  I think Jay and Matt took the roller coaster once more before we left.  Needless to say, Jay's favorite ride at Knott's was Ghost Rider.

Instead, we went on the Ferris Wheel, which was the only ride Emma indicated an interest in taking.

We were disappointed to learn that the Birdcage Theatre Musical Review is closed from Wednesday through Friday, but we went to the Wild West Stunt Show instead.  That turned out to be a big hit with Emma, who as someone who went to Circus School appreciated the stunts, not to mention the water splash special effects that carried on for ten minutes after the show ended, spraying Emma and other kids who wanted to cool down.

Jay had told us we had to get the funnel cake, but having fed Emma waffles with syrup, Reddi Whip swirls and Honey Bunches of Oats sprinkled on top, we thought that funnel cakes might be too much additional sugar for Emma.

Actually, it was because the first funnel cake places we found were closed, and at $12 each, we weren't motivated to find one that was open.  The rest of the food also seemed ridiculously overpriced --- on cruises, this stuff is free! --- so we walked to the nearby McDonald's, which had air-conditioned comfort as well as reasonable family prices.  We all enjoyed far more nutritious...or at least less sugary...lunches, including chicken nuggets, French fries, yogurt parfait and milk shake.  I had a McDouble.  I think the total was maybe $13, and we were all stuffed.

Back to Knott's, we did as many rides as we wanted, which is to say went on Calico River Rapids two more times.

We road off into the sunset...or at least north bound on the 91.

I had hoped to teach Emma to boogie board during her stay in Redondo Beach, but she wasn't into that.  I did get her to the beach one afternoon and built our usual big walls protecting a giant holes from the surf, which is always fun.

Adding a bit of drama to the beach visit, Emma took off her new rainbow sandals by the sidewalk so they wouldn't get sandy.

It happened that a day camp was just heading to their next event at that exact time, and I could hear the camp leaders telling their campers to gather up all there stuff and leave nothing behind.

You guessed it.  Emma's shoes were gathered up and taken away, which we didn't figure out until after we had finished our sandcastle projects.

Emma assured me she had $20 that her mom had given her for just such emergencies, if I could take her to the store to buy replacement sandals.

Fortunately, Julie had noticed the name on the tee shirts, Camp Awesome, when she came down to the beach.  I phoned and learned they were at the arcade on the Redondo Pier, and yes indeed they did have Emma's sandals.

We walked over and picked them up, and we all lived happily ever after.

Maybe next year she'll be ready to ride the wild surf.

Next year, we'll also go to see the filming of "America's Got Talent," if it is still among her favorite youtube TV shows by then.  We watched quite a few best of GOT videos as well as a live semi-finals episode.

I wonder if she'll still remember the song, "The Gambler," which I had her singing during our poker games?  "You've got to know when to hold 'em.  Know when to fold 'em."

I played the video for her and told her she could tell her friends that her grampa was Kenny Rogers.  She only had one thing to say.  "Only one problem, Grampa.  None of my friends know who Kenny Rogers is."