MAGIC MOUNTAIN and part of LA Posted on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 |

So because amy and i studied super hard on sunday, we decided to reward ourselves by trekking up to Six Flags Magic Mountain!! It's just north of LA, and its main focus is not rides, but THRILLS. Amy's boyfriend had visited the park earlier in August and had a blast, so he emailed us his top picks for the roller coasters. Little did he mention that none of the roller coasters let you bring back packs on the rides or even have areas to store stuff when not on the ride. So, forced into renting a locker for the day, we embarked on the numerous coasters sans backpacks, cell phones, etc. Truly and utterly without any sort of identification or monetary funds, I throughly enjoyed the park actually more than Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens. For one thing, the views from the tops of the roller coasters showed the desolate desert mountains of california. Really neat stuff. And because of the "no items" on the rides (ahem, i mean thrills), I was unable to take any pictures. But thanks to google (so great!), i can show you some neat stuff. My two favorites from the day were the X2 coaster (click on it for pics/review from a "coaster critic") and the Goliath. Yes, Goliath is an insane 25 story drop (roughly 270 feet!) right into a tunnel and then whips you around for a crazy g-force pressure ride. phew.

Driving up to Magic Mountain, we go to pass through the glorious but insanely crowded city of Los Angeles. And more importantly, Hollywood (well, not exactly, but we saw the signs:

Now I feel very Californian...so cheezy but true; i realize it's not "the" sign but close enough. There's always room for another visit up there. After being "thrilled-out" from Magic Mountain, we got to explore Valencia, CA, where Amy's parents lived for a short while when her older sister was growing up. It was a great experience for her, so I am glad she got to see it.

In other news, tomorrow and Saturday is San Diego's annual music festival, Street Scene. Some of our favorite bands are playing including Girltalk, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Cake (jealous?? check out the full lineup for friday). Amy did some expert craigslist surfing and found us cheap tickets, so I am super pumped. It's going to be my first concert since Coldplay last summer (also amazing). Will have updates about the concert and the weekend on sunday.

Shout out to polly for finally getting an apt in Chicago. and happy birthday to KDO (good luck with your move). Also, please support VASST at UVA-it's ski team and they rule, so check 'em out!!