solid life

Monday, July 18, 2005

Journey To A Ghost Town

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It was July 18, 2005 and Eric, Francesca, Tammy, and I went on a journey.

It all started at Tri-City Park when we were doing our devotions. Once we were done, we decided to do something very random and fun. So we hopped in the car and headed north on the 15 fwy.

The day was already very warm, but it was getting much hotter as we drove through the high desert. Right as we were thinking, "what in the world is out here," we saw this very tall, scary looking fair ride that was operating right off the freeway. Francesca made a comment like, "let's stop and go on it!!!" So we made the exit, turned around, and went back to the scary fair ride.

So here we were, somewhere in Victorville and we exited the car... and let me tell you, it was HOT!!! I think the temperature was around 110 degrees. I have no idea how people survive out there, but nonetheless, we embarked to go on this ride.



I can't remember what the ride was called, but it was so much fun. After five minutes of rotating up and down (much like a ferris wheel) and having your seat make random flips, we were ready to continue our journey to our destination: Calico Ghost Town!!!

About one hour later, we arrived in Yermo... home of the Calico Ghost Town. And let me tell you... the heat in Victorville was NOTHING compared to the heat in Calico. It was 119 degrees!!! It seriously felt like we were in God's cooking oven. No wonder this is a ghost town!



The town is actually really cool. It was once an active town because of the abundance of silver that was found in its hills. Today, about one-third of the old western town is in its original condition and you can take tours in the silver mines, visit shops, and walk in the blistering heat!!!



Its great that some of these old western towns are still around.It enables us to have a chance to see a part of our "wild west" history here in California.



For more information on Calico and to be directed to the official website, click here.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

The Fourth

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The Fourth of July! What a day!!

My family and I got together to celebrate and have a good time. We all met up at Shaye's house (my older sister) in Glendora. We had fun!! We hung out by the pool, barbequed some steaks, and then headed out to Claremont to see the fireworks.

We arrived in Claremont that night and headed toward the colleges just outside the Claremont Village. We decided not to pay the $15 entrance fee for the stadium, so we ended up sitting outside "picnic style." The night was warm and the fun was just about to begin.



So there we were... sitting outside, relaxing and waiting for the show to begin... and then it started. But it started with more than we bargained for. Once the first "boom" hit the sky, a super huge, grotesque opossum hiding in the bushes across from us scurried out as fast as it could looking for refuge! Apparently the "boom" of the firework scared the nasty rodent half out of its mind!!! And as a result, the opossum about scared us half out of our minds. We didn't know what in the world was going on with that thing... and we all just kinda looked at it with big, bright eyes wondering if we should get up and run or what!!! We then, of course, just laughed once it ran away, but the incident was very funny!

The show went on and much to my surprise the Grande Finale was much better than I was expecting. In fact, it was one of the better ones I had seen. If you are ever in the area of Claremont, I would recommend seeing this show on the Fourth. Once the show was over, we all packed up and headed back home.