The Snoopy Incident

Cindy and I took a little day trip down to Buena Park, Ca Thursday and went to Knott’s Berry Farm, we were ready to get out of town for the day and started by going to breakfast in Calimesa at the Royale Restaurant, it has been a long while since we sat down to breakfast by ourselves and had actual bacon along with sausage gravy to go with all the other so called normal breakfast items, it was actually nice to just sit there and enjoy a cup of coffee talking with her about nothing in particular with no limit on how long we could sit there, she is a very scheduled person but yesterday all schedules went out the window and sitting in a restaurant only about seven miles from home was pretty nice just as relaxing as if we were worlds away.

Knott’s Berry Farm for you not familiar with it started back in 1920 when Walter Knott moved his Family to Buena Park, Ca and began farming about eighteen acres of land, to make a long story short his wife started serving food and selling jams and jellies to supplement their income during the depression and he added a few themed areas around the restaurant to give waiting customers something to do, Today Knott’s Berry Farm is one of the largest theme parks and Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Restaurant serves some of the best food that can be found, the boysenberry is a cross of three berries which was named after a friend of the Knott’s and it is said all boysenberries today can be traced back to Knott’s Berry Farm where it first came into existence, so that is my rundown on what I learned and my suggestion is if you are in Southern California pay a visit to Knott’s Berry Farm, and next time you are at a restaurant and pick up that little package of jelly with Knott’s on the label this is where it came from.

The traffic was not a problem going down there and we actually got to the park gates right as they opened, going on a Thursday we figured the crowds would be smaller than any other day but so did several eight grade graduating classes from almost all over the place, so needless to say there were a lot of groups in matching tee shirts running all over the park, it was kind of cool seeing the few chaperones attempt to corral all the kids with the mischievous smiles shouting instructions that none of them seemed to hear but eventually obeyed as they were supposed to, a bunch of typical kids out for a good time was not a bad addition to our day.

We started off by riding some of the really fast and scary slower rides like the Merry Go Round, Timber Mountain Log Ride and the Bigfoot Rapids, we went to a few shows like the Wild West Stunt Show and a Saloon show musical which I can’t remember the name of but we had a few laughs as they sang and included the families in the audience into their show, Cindy and I actually got made fun of for being a happily married couple in contrast to the character on the bar who was trying to not marry the lady playing his girlfriend, we have been married as long as they have supposedly been engaged which played right into the show. We had lunch at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Restaurant and did some shopping at several shops including Snoopy Headquarters where you can find all kinds of Snoopy stuff hence the name I suppose, we next went over to Camp Snoopy which is the little kids part of the park, we rode the Snoopy Camp Bus with a bunch of little kids who had their parents standing on the ground watching as the bus spun slowly round and round in an up and down circular motion filled with kids including Cindy and I, those parents don’t know what they were missing, our next stop was a miniature roller coaster and these same parents were on the ground watching again as we rode with the kids, my only problem was getting in and out of the rather small car, I like to have never gotten into it as my legs don’t always cooperate and after getting into a small space the crutches are worthless especially when they are now in the attendants hands who was just kind of smiling at the struggles of us larger kids trying to fit in (the car that is), I finally got out of the car and with my crutches returned I began walking away when I noticed a young girl sitting laughing loudly from one of the cars, I walked directly up to her and leaned down to ask “Are You Laughing At Me?” she kind of looked shocked and sheepishly said “No”, I told her “Well all I was just going to tell you that if you weren’t then maybe you should be”, I had a friend after that because every time we saw her the rest of the day she came by to say Hi.

On our way out of Camp Snoopy all of a sudden there he was off to the side and kind of behind this roller coaster stood Snoopy, I began walking his direction and Cindy saw what I was doing she said “For Gods Sake Jimmy Don’t Yell Snoopy, I will just ask if he will take a picture with you”, I said OK and yelled “SNOOPY!!” (For you who have read me before remember how well this didn’t work for me last time I was here and if you want a refresher read Do You Want To Race) Snoopy looked my way and stared blankly then began to wave, I walked up and asked him if he was going to run he shook his head No, Cindy caught up about that time and was talking with the lady who was with Snoopy, I said last time I was here I yelled Snoopy and you ran, all I wanted was a picture and you ran from me, now it took me five years to get back and I would like a picture, Snoopy pretended he was going to run but turned back for several pictures and laughs which resulted in a moment I don’t know if I should mention because it is kind of embarrassing and just may change the way you look at me from now on, you know how it is when something just all of a sudden happens and by the time you realize it is happening it is too late and you can’t do anything about it, we were standing there talking and Cindy was snapping pictures when Snoopy leaned in close to pose for a picture he looked at me with those big black beagle eyes and: OK I’ll admit it this once---I Kissed Snoopy, there I said it.

After the Snoopy incident we left Camp Snoopy to continue our day in the park more rides including The Mine Train and the Calico Railroad, now the railroad train was just a slow ride around the park where they explained what everything was and gave you a chance to sit down for a little while, all of a sudden two masked gunmen came through the rear door shaking everyone down for money, they got to Cindy and I and one of them asked:

Gunman: Are Y’all Happy Or Married?

Me: Both. Gunman: Really? How Long?

Me: Thirteen Years.

Gunman: How Long?

Me: Thirteen Years.

Gunman: I didn’t want you to repeat it I just couldn’t believe you are still happy.

He then handed me the gun and suggested I put myself out of my misery, everyone got a good laugh and made me wonder if this was pick on married couples day.

It got to be suppertime pretty quick and we decided to hit the road before it got too late, rather than have supper there we discussed driving up the road a bit and stopping for supper in Corona which is only about thirty miles away and we would be there pretty quick, now for those of you who are from or have lived in California I can hear your laughter now so go easy on us, yes I know we will be there pretty quick turned into a typical California freeway drive of twenty seven miles in just about an hour and forty five minutes with several motorcycles riding the white lines and a lot of folks texting and reading books, we even had a couple try to take the front end of our van off, Cindy told them they were number one while they politely waved back, the first exit we came to had an IHOP and we pulled in there, I had my second breakfast of the day and Cindy had a sensible meal which included sirloin tips, we were so tired by then and knew we had to get back on the road to drive about another forty five miles, this was getting depressing until “thank the lord the traffic was moving” we hit the freeway and made it home in just over half an hour. I think we were asleep before our heads hit the pillows.

Theme Park Tickets: Online Special $31.99 ea

Parking: $12.00

Snoopy Backpack (for Cindy I promise) $12.73

Bottled Water: $4.00 ea

Having a great day and falling asleep totally worn out next to the one you love: you know the answer---Completely Priceless.