Fun Adventure Tour in Southern California

Southern California is a great place to go vacationing and there is no lack of fun and exciting things to do there. Really, the sky is the limit as you have the ocean, the desert, the mountains and some valleys all right in a general vicinity. This makes for some great times and memories. My family came up with this little "tour" that turned out to be fun and full of adventure. While the two days are packed full, you can spread them out if need be.

First stop is Knott's Berry Farm, then Medieval Times for day one.  Then a Deep Sea Fishing Trip, and come home to a Ruby's Diner Dinner or dessert to round out day 2.  If you don't like Fishing, you can do another kind of boat tour. They have many to choose from in Newport and Balboa area.

Knott's Berry Farm is a special place in the "heart" of the people of Southern California. Its history goes back a fair bit, and its unique take on an amusement park is appreciated. It is located in Buena Park as well and if you are looking for a good dinner to round out your day, they have the best fried chicken restaurant that I have ever eaten at. It is a very well known and called Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. People come just to have the food even if they don't go to the actual theme park. It is that good, and that worth seeking out.

You may have heard of the Knotts products, jams and syrups that are so popular over many decades now. This idea grew from very humble beginnings when Mr. Knott would sell berries, and pies on roadside stands. There was a farm called Boysen's farm long ago. When people asked what kind of berries he was selling , he would say "well these are boysenberries." If you have never had the specialty jams, and syrups that Knott's still makes you are really missing something.

Well on to the fun, the theme park itself. As you can imagine they have a log ride, and the well known Montezuma's Revenge (how brave are you?), and a host of newer rides added over the years. I can recall way back when you could go and see animals and the stables and where they lived. It is quite a diverse place. You can buy geodes and have them cut, you can go to shows, or play games.

The sheer number of shops on the outside of the park near the Chicken Dinner Restaurant will amaze you. Great shopping for gifts and souvenirs. I hope that if you ever get the chance, you will go to Knotts Berry Farm.

Medieval Times is a place that is great fun, and if you ever get a chance to go to one, it is well worth it. I have been there a couple times only, but it is unforgettable.  There is an older fashioned medieval dinner served, with no silverware just like from the medieval era.  The food is great, a wonderful chicken dinner, served with a beverage in a goblet, soup, bread, and much more. 

Each group gets assigned to a color, which corresponds with the Knight they will be rooting for during the tournament. It is quite the show, with horses and flags and even a King and a Queen.  There is usually some dramatic mystery involved.  During the show, when you are eating you get to enjoy what some think actually occurred during medieval times.  You sit in an arena type setting, and look down onto the floor where the fights, and games which include jousting begins.  Throughout the course of the evening, one by one the knights fall out of the running. One Knight is victorious over all and the group of people he belongs to are quite happy! 

During my first visit to Medieval times, my knight actually won!  It was very exciting indeed.  The second time, we weren't so lucky but my family and I had a wonderful time.  The other thing I didn't experience the first go around was the medieval torture devices museum.  We thought this would be great to take the boys in, but I quickly realized that I didn't fully want them to know too much about such things!  Still all the decorating around the whole Medieval Castle is great fun, and you can even speak before or after the show to your knight and get autographs and pictures.

There is a neat area where you can do some shopping, and even a stable area where you can see the horses as well while you wait.  Its a very unique night out, one you will never forget.  We did it for a birthday celebration for my son.  It was a great gift, and something he looked forward to for a long time.

This is maybe the most exciting but somewhat costly event we did one summer in California.  It was a special gift to the family though, and we all really wanted to try our hand at deep sea fishing.  Wow, what an incredible experience.  You will find that as you do research, there are many places to choose from to charter a boat, so that you can get to experience deep sea fishing.  There is a large variety of fish and they have great ways to find the fish underwater.

We learned so much that day, and even got to have breakfast cooked to order on that boat.  What an unexpected treat.  We learned how to fish with much bigger hooks and weights of course.  The area we got the boat from was Balboa.  You go in on the side of the fun zone, facing Balboa Island actually (its a peninsula you will be on) and find the place to park.  Its very early unless you are going out at night in particular.  They will set you up with absolutely everything you could possibly need.  They will even clean your fish on the way back from being out on the ocean.

One of my very favorite and surprising things, was looking back onto the coastline, while out at sea.  Keep in mind, that my whole life I had been on land, looking out to the ocean, and I knew the shoreline well.  This was an unexpected treat for me, to see things from this angle.  None of us got seasick not even once.  We did get way more sun than I would have thought.  That unexpected glare from underneath, the suns rays reflecting off the water onto your eyes and face can really get you.  So just prepare for that as you can.  Its way more sun than just being at the beach for a day.  Even if you aren't experienced, they will help you on the boat.  We hope to do it again one day.

What a great way to round out a long day at Sea, than to go to Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier.  Look out again onto the ocean you were just fishing in, as you either eat  hearty Meal, or just have a dessert to cool off.  They do have the best burgers and shakes and fries.  Its literally walking distance from where the boat just came back in from the fishing trip, so you don't have to go far. Another option would be a corn dog, or hot dog and a balboa bar ice cream treat which is even closer to the boating area.  Great ending to a couple of busy days. We needed to fit in a lot in a short time. This was how we did it.