Last week we attempted to go to Magic Mountain. (I use the word attempted because it was a valiant effort, only to be thwarted by uncontrollable forces of nature). However, this last Saturday we were successful in reaching our goal, which was Magic Mountain. It turned out to be quite a day after all. Nice weather, some fun memories…all in all, a great day.
Every year our jr high group does an event called Tournament Series, which is a chaotic month-long event where kids divided into 4 teams, each trying to compete for a free trip to Magic Mountain. This year the Knight’s, led by Rob and Niki, took it all in week 4. The plan was to go to Magic Mountain on November 15th. Everything seemed to be going as planned until everything that could go wrong decided to. Let me start at the beginning…
We met at the church around 7am and everyone was super excited to be going to MM. I was helping check kids in when I got a call from my mom saying that a huge fire had just started in Sylmar (right near MM) and it closed all the freeways around it. This meant that we would not be able to take the freeway we wanted to get up there. We still left around 8am and little did we know what the next 12 hrs would hold in store for us.
Rather than taking the 5 freeway all the way up, we had to take the 5 to the 405 to the 101 to the 23, then the 126 would take us to MM. This shouldn’t have been a problem, however the 101, 23, 126 freeways were the only way in and out of the MM area, which was now being evacuated. We hit traffic near L.A. which is understandable, but the fun didn’t start till we turned onto the 23 freeway.
The 23 has got to be one of the sketchiest places ever! It is basically a canyon that you wind around until you reach the city of Fillmore. Since this was the route everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) was taking we ended up taking close to 2 hrs to get through it. By this time, we were still planning on going to MM. We weren’t sure how long we would have once we got there, but we continued on our way down the 23. We arrived about 12:15pm (remember, we left at 8am) in the city of Fillmore. Everyone was starving at this point so we decided to take a quick lunch break and then continue the next 20min or so to MM. When we got there we all divided up to find lunch. A few of the kids went to the market and met a guy who said he worked at MM and that they had just closed due to wind and fire conditions! This of course was not enough evidence so we tried calling. Last we had heard they were open (this was around 12ish) Sadly we received word that yes indeed MM was closed at 12:45ish.
Now let me pause to say that kids and leaders weren’t as bummed as we could’ve been. I mean, we had just travelled 5 hours for lunch in Fillmore, so what could possibly be wrong? I think we all inwardly knew that MM wasn’t going to work out on this particular Saturday, but we all clung to that internal hope that just won’t let up. I will say though that lunch was creative and fun if nothing else. Me and some of the leaders decided to buy lunch meats, bread, and snacks to have a picnic. It would have been perfect had our lunch not just about taken flight due to strong winds, but we managed to eat and have fun. Now back to the story…
Upon hearing the news that MM was officially closed, Travis had to make plans as to what we would do with the rest of the day. We knew we had to get home by 8pm but that was about it. Travis announced that he had found the quickest way home. Can you guess what route that was? You guessed it…the 23 freeway!!! This brought the most grumbles from kids (and leaders) for the day. But we knew that if we took the 126 we would be delayed another 45 min and nobody wanted that so we began our retreat home.
Fortunately, the drive up the 23 was quicker (thank goodness) and we soon found ourselves on the 101 again. We hit traffic of course in L.A. but Travis had decided to stop in Irvine to catch a movie in order to give the kids some fun for the day. We arrived around 5ish and watched a movie til about 7pm. We began the final leg of the trip home, each of us silently cheering to get off the bus.
Time out again–I should mention that during our trip on the 101 a few of the kids needed to use the restroom. We got off in downtown LA and the only bathroom we found was inside a 7-11, where I enjoyed a slurpie from a friend. That was probably the highlight of my trip. Continuing…
With a little more traffic to drive through, we finally arrived home close to 8-8:30ish. Let’s just say everyone was thankful to get off the bus and go the bathroom and get some food. Plus, Travis said that we would still get to go to MM next Saturday, so all in all the day turned out okay.
Word of advice to my readers…
-don’t take the 23 unless you are completely crazy or just want to waste your entire day
-if you ignore the above advice, pack a picnic blanket for lunch in Fillmore
-take water and snacks in case you are stuck on a bus for nearly 10 hours
-SMILE!!! Make the most of every minute and don’t let it get you down
THE END
