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

My Town Monday: US Olympic Training Center, Chula Vista, CA

I spent BEAUCOUP hours this past weekend on a pool deck with Child #3 in Chula Vista for a swim meet. BEAUCOUP. As in, I'm quite possibly in contention for Mother of the Weekend. :)

Chula Vista means "beautiful view" in Spanish. It's located about 11 miles south and a little bit east of downtown San Diego and about 7 miles north and a little bit west of Tijuana, Mexico. Chula Vista is the 2nd largest city in San Diego County with a population of around 200,000, 50%-ish is hispanic/latino.

Forbes Magazine described Chula Vista as one of the most boring American cities. Ouch.

Anyway, I disagree. Chula Vista is home to OnStage Playhouse, one of my favorite local community theatres. Not to mention a pretty cool nature center, a heritage museum, the Cricket amphitheater, and Knott's Soak City (more of interest to the Summy children than to their mother). No doubt I'll visit a couple of these for future My Town Monday posts.

Today, though, it's all about the US Olympic Training Center. Child #3 and I stopped by here after the meet.

Before I forget, on Tuesday through Saturday, there are tours led by an athlete. Here's the general info: 2800 Olympic Parkway, Chula Vista, CA 91915-6007. 619-656-1500. Okay, onto some info. This facility is for the development of America's Olympians (future and current) in many sports such as, archery, rowing, canoe/kayak, soccer, softball, field hockey, tennis, track & field, bobsledding, luge, rugby, tri-athalon and cycling. About 4,000 athletes train here each year. Apparently, the BMX competition events are super exciting to watch.


The complex is on 150 acres, is open year round and, of course, has our magnificent weather. The center was a gift to the United States Olympic Committee from the San Diego National Sports Training Foundation.

If you look closely (with a mega-strong magnifying glass), you can see a very tired (and cute) swimmer on the left.

I tried to snap a picture of Child #3 swimming the butterfly. But, alas, he was too fast!

Click here for links to more My Town Monday posts. Thanks to Travis Erwin for hosting this week. Also, if you're even marginally thinking about writing a My-Town-Monday post, please do! Fair warning, though, it's addictive! Write your post, then leave a comment on the official My Town Monday blog so we can get a link up to you.

Oh yeah, all the photos were taken with my trusty Blackberry.



sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chula_Vista,_California
http://www.judsbook.com/members/31864/posts/2006/1/249961
http://www.ci.chula-vista.ca.us/Attraction/olympics.asp
http://www.chulavistaconvis.com/olympic-training-center

My Town Monday: OnStage Playhouse, Chula Vista

A shot of downtown Chula Vista, taken with my Blackberry, from the car. Photo credit: Child #3

Yesterday afternoon, Child #3, Child #4 and I headed about 20 miles southwest to Chula Vista (means "Beautiful View" in Spanish), a city of about 230,000 located seven miles from downtown San Diego and seven miles from the Mexican border.



Our destination: OnStage Playhouse to see Into the Woods.

The OnStage Playhouse is a non-profit community theatre that's been around for about 30 years, although not always at this location. They usually produce six plays/musicals per year. This is the third play I've seen here. I also saw Cabaret and A Taffeta Christmas. All three were UBEREXCELLENT. Into the Woods runs until May 1. If you live in the vicinity and are looking for some great entertainment, I'd highly recommend it.



See this guy? It's our very own Mr. Cameron Williams. You might remember him from a couple of years ago when he guest-blogged here. He posted a My Town Monday about the Star of India. Also, he's a fifth-grade teacher extraordinaire at Child #3 and Child#4's school with an award-winning class website.

And Mr. Williams has a huge part in Into the Woods. He can sing and act like there's no tomorrow. The entire cast is very talented.

This jar of beans sits in the lobby. Whoever comes closest to guessing the number of beans wins two free tickets to the next show, To Kill a Mockingbird. I'd really like to see this show. So, if you do make it to Into the Woods, please don't enter a guess.

And guess what scary thing happened right after we'd all returned to our seats following intermission? Earthquake!!! Yes, it registered 7.2 with an epicenter in Mexicali, Mexico (roughly 130 miles southeast of the theatre). The tremor lasted about 45 seconds. This is a very long time, the longest quake I've ever felt. We all trudged outside to the sidewalk to wait for aftershocks. I called home. Mr. Summy reported that the water was sloshing around in our pool and some almost sloshed over the edge. Ack.

Please check out the posts by the other My Town Monday participants by clicking here. If you have a MTM post, leave a comment on the My Town Monday blog, and a link to you will be added. Actually, you can even leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and I'll hop over and link to you from the MTM blog.




sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chula_Vista,_California
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978151544
http://onstageplayhouse.org/location.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnStage_Playhouse