Discover The Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden In Arcadia CaliforniaWritten by David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
In The city of Arcadia California, right next door to Pasadena http://pasadena.usacitydirectories.com you will find The Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, a beautiful and peaceful 127 acre botanical garden and historical site jointly operated by Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation and Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. The Arboretum is located across from Santa Anita Race Track is at 301 North Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, CA, 91007. It is open daily from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm; admission closes at 4:30. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors (62 and over), $5 for students with ID, and $2.50 for children 5- 12. Children under 5 and members are admitted free. Unlike most attractions these days, parking is free. In middle of Arboretum sits four acre Baldwin Lake which has been used in filming numerous movies and television shows. "Johnny Weissmuller swam in LASCA Lagoon/Baldwin Lake for three decades as Tarzan and later Jungle Jim. A local news story reported that he, in fact, set an unrecorded Olympic swim record when a cage of crocodiles was accidentally opened during filming (Weissmuller beat crocs to lake shore). Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour took up a month-long watery Baldwin Lake residence in homes on stilts for filming of Road to Singapore in 1939, same year Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.,/Madeleine Carroll film Safari managed to sink a paddlewheel boat in same lake. Undaunted, television's original "Fantasy Island" lowered a pontoon plane by helicopter onto Baldwin Lake and propelled it across water to disembark visitors to Mr. Roark's island paradise. For Alex Haley's "Roots II", Baldwin Lake became Kunta Kinte's river home in Africa."
| | Discover Knott's Berry FarmWritten by David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
Of course you know about Southern California's premier attraction, Disneyland in Anaheim, but did you know that less than ten (10) minuets down freeway, in Buena Park, is another great amusement park, Knott's Berry Farm. Knott's Berry Farm, America's first theme park, is located at 8039 Beach Boulevard, Buena Park, CA 90620, telephone number (714) 220-5200 and has over one hundred fifty (150) rides in six themed areas: Ghost Town, Fiesta Village®, The Boardwalk, Indian Trails, Wild Water Wilderness® and Camp Snoopy which is official home of Snoopy and Peanuts characters. The park is home to high-flying 3,125 foot Silver Bullet roller coaster which sends riders climbing to a height of 146 feet and soaring back down an initial drop of 109 feet. It has a top speed of fifty five (55) miles per hour and riders will experience spirals, corkscrews, a cobra roll, and overbanked curves. It is also home to 118 foot tall GhostRider, one of longest and tallest wooden roller coasters in world with a 108-foot initial banked drop, 13 additional drops, sudden dips, banked turns and maximum G-forces of 3.14 Wild Water Wilderness is home to Bigfoot Rapids which "is a thrilling, outdoor whitewater river raft ride that will bounce, toss, spin and splash passengers as they brave fast moving currents and dodge soaring geisers as they experience unforgettable fun of shooting rapids". Towering cliffs, huge boulders, cascading water falls, soaring geysers and trees, shrubs and wild flowers--all indigenous to California--combine to create an authentic setting for Bigfoot Rapids. At Camp Snoopy, whole family can enjoy many of rides, "made for young and young-at-heart. Ride our new Charlie Brown Speedway, or Woodstock's Airmail (the kid-size version of Supreme Scream®), have kids take you for a spin at Rocky Road Truckin' Company, or check out Timberline Twister smallest of our rollercoaster family".
|