A Lloyd Life: California Adventure

Last week we packed our bags and headed to California with the rest of the MacKay family. It was a much needed vacation for all of us!

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Our first day in California was spent at Six Flags - we're all suckers for amusement parks, and we had a really good time rushing from one coaster to the next. Going on a Thursday in May was brilliant, as the park was pretty much empty, making the lines for the rides nice and short. The weather was just about perfect too ... not too hot, and not too cold.

We hit just about every roller coaster in the part ... here's a breakdown in case you ever happen to make it to Magic Mountain:

Viper (70 mph, 19 stories tall) - a good, fast, twisty, loopy coaster, but the restraints must have been meant for a midget, because they were really uncomfortable for all of us
Tatsu (62 mph, 17 stories tall)- this coaster was awesome! you are face forward on this ride, so it's kind of like you're flying! The beginning was terrifying though, because you were 17 stories in the air with nothing below you!
Scream (65 mph, 15 stories tall)- this coaster reminded us all of Sea World's Kraken coaster, which is quite the compliment!
Batman (50 mph, 11 stories tall) - tight and kind of violent, but really fun!
Goliath (85 mph, 26 stories tall) - this is a huge, long, and very fast coaster ... there was a part where you do some really tight loops, and we all almost blacked out from the G-forces (our vision started to go dark... which was awesome)!
X2 (76 mph, 20 stories tall)- I saved the best for last ... this coaster was crazy. You face backwards, and the seats flip forwards and backwards. It was pretty thrilling!

This is a stock photo of X2, but no photo can do the ride justice

Lincoln loved riding on this jeep, but it was a little cramped for everyone else

Lincoln taking a train ride

We couldn't pass up this photo-op

La Jolla Diving

Day two involved a trip down to La Jolla for some diving. None of us were really prepared for our first unprotected shore dive - we didn't quite appreciate how hard it was going to be to swim out past the crashing waves in full dive gear. Several of us made the mistake of trying to put on our fins before we'd made it past the breaking waves, and we were quickly so tired that we had to turn back to recuperate before attempting it again. Richelle, Adam and I spent 30 minutes underwater ... the visibility wasn't great, but we saw endless sand dollars, lots of crabs, and a number of flounder like fish that would hide on the sandy floor. At 69.5 ft (the deepest depth we went) the water was only 55 degrees, but in our thick wetsuits and full hoods it wasn't uncomfortably cold. Overall it was great fun, and we were glad we persevered in fighting through the waves to make the dive.

We spent our time diving a little past the La Jolla Shores and East Wall area

Getting ready on the beach

Richelle getting ready to go under ... you can see the big waves we had to battle through in the background

Adam and Richelle at 50 ft

Visibility wasn't very good, but all of the dark spots are sand dollars ... there were millions of them covering the sea floor everywhere we went

Lincoln and Grandpa MacKay sporting matching hats as we were packing up

Newport Beach

Our third day was spent playing at the beach. The Pacific was pretty impressive that day ... the waves coming in were pretty big, but we wouldn't have had it any other way. Sure, the water was take-your-breath-away-cold, but that didn't stop any of us from getting in and playing. Most of us did some body boarding, or at least just played in the waves. It was a lot of fun!