My Town Monday: Knott's Soak City, Chula Vista, CA

Thank you, Google images, for this photo. I did not bring my camera today.

I spent MANY MANY hours today down in Chula Vista (located about 7 miles north of the Mexican border and about 20 miles southwest of my little house) at Knott's Soak City. Who was I accompanied by? Child #4 (11 year-old daughter) + her delightful friend and Child #3 (15 year-old son) and a BUNCH of his delightful friends. Luckily, fifteen is one of my favorite years!

A few fun facts about Knott's Soak City in Chula Vista:
-It was built in 2000.
-The water temperature is an UNbalmy 74 or 75 degrees fahrenheit.
-The cost of food is beyond exorbitant! And you aren't allowed to bring in your own. Not that sneaking in a sandwich and a handful of carrots was all that tough...

A few fun facts about water parks, in general:
-There are over 1,000 waterparks in N. America (Canada, US, Mexico for you non geography buffs). Way over 80 million visitors will hang out at waterparks this summer in N. America.
-There are about 600 waterparks in the rest of the world. Many people in Europe, Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, and S. America will engage in interesting activities other than kicking it at waterparks this summer.
-"Summit Plummet" located at Blizzard Beach, Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida is the "tallest, fastest, single person, free-fall waterslide in the world."
-Tropical Islands (how do you say that in Deutsch??) in Brand, Germany boasts the largest indoor waterpark in the world. It's 710,000 square feet.
-The first waterpark built was Wet 'N Wild in Orlando, Florida. It was built by George Millay, the same guy who founded Sea World.

And...Where is the waterpark capital of the world located? This is where you'll find TWENTY waterparks within a 20 mile radius with 200+ waterslides. You'll be surprised....

It's...uısuoɔsıʍ 'sןןǝp uısuoɔsıʍ

(For those of you who don't like to read upside down, it says Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.)

If you've got some extra reading time, here are links to other posts I've done about Chula Vista (which means "Beautiful View"). You'll find it hard to believe, as do I, that Forbes magazine named this town as one of American's most boring cities. (Those Forbes people were obviously never subjected to my mother's "if-you-can't-find-something-nice-to-say-don't-say-anything speech.):
Onstage Playhouse, one of my favorite community theaters.
A WWII bomber plane is raised from murky depths.
The US Olympic Training Center

Last, but certainly not least, here's a link to the official My Town Monday blog for links to more posts about various corners of the world.

COLLEGE COUNTDOWN: 17 DAYS UNTIL CHILD #2 LEAVES!



sources: http://www.waterparks.org/otherArticles/Waterpark%20Industry%20General%20&%20Fun%20Facts.pdf