Ventura entertainment and the low desert

We spent a couple of days at Erics beachome in Oxnard and went for kidde fun: spectacular mini-golf and a laughable go-cart-ride one day and six flags Magic Mountain the next. I must confess that after I hit 30 I am finding it more and more of a struggle to go onto the big rides, and these are the biggest in the world. We started tentatively with the Revolution, which was the worlds first looping rollacoaster. Good thrills, but pretty mild by todays standards. We went on to do a bunch of flume rides which got us soaked, and then proceeded into Gotham City to do the Riddlers Revenge and the the Batman rides. Those were awesome and hit speeds over 100 mph whith the train rotating around its own axis as it went. Marty and I then decided to try the screamer, which was one of the highest rides. It gives you a remarkable view of the desert before you plummet. I think this ride has the record for number of loops per second. It was crazy.











After this one, we all went onto the Colossus, which is a classic wooden coaster which I had ridden in a Liseberg simulator before. Needless to say, the real thing was more fun. Although again, it was milder.

As the day drew to an end, Marty and I opted to enter into the queue for the newest and supposedly wildest ride, called the X2. I think the whole thing was a bit over hyped, but here is how they try to overload your senses: You strap into a reclining chair of the type that they use in space shuttles, so that your body can take the G-forces without harming you. They have speakers installed in the headrest that play crazy loud music which is synced to the ride. The ride starts by pulling you 120ft straight into the air backwards, and as you hit the top, you freefall head first, and halfway down the chaird begin to spin. They dont stop spinning as you travel through 19 loops in 3 simultaneous directions and for the climax they launch two real flamethrowers across the track and you travel right through them at 160mph with the chairs still spinning. The whole thing takes about 25 seconds to experience.



We have now left Ventura county and have headed deep into the desert, currently residing in the Lucille Ball spa resort outside of Palm Springs. I am on the laptop by the pool, and we maxed out at 106 degrees earlier today. We will be heading back into santa monica for zazen practice all day tomorrow, so how is that for contrast: Going through X2 hell one day and staring at a blank wall the next?

We are planning to go back out here after zazen to spend some more time in the desert, maybe go down to anza Borego, and see some friends in San Diego too, but time will tell.

We will be meeting our new immigration lawyer on Friday as I have fired the old one due to his lazy english ways. Hopefully the new one will be more cutting edge!

I am also glad to tell you that this blog now has over 10,000 unique visitors every day, so I have to moderate the comments section quite heavily. Please forgive me if yours doesn't make it in there!

Love,

H & J