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I have a tale to tell, a tale of God's blessing and provision, a tale of fun in the sun, a tale of God touching my heart. This tale starts the last week of April.
My brother was listening to KLOVE and they were sponsoring a contest where if you got through and you were the right caller, you'd be qualified for the Grand Prize of a trip for 4 to Spring Celebration. David was excited and was trying over and over to get through. One night he woke up around midnight and heard the 'roller coaster' sound. He called in and was the 8th caller! He won three CDs and was qualified for the Grand Prize drawing on Friday.
Needless to say, our family was rather excited! We might get to go to California and see Michael W. Smith at concert, not to mention the others and riding the rides at Paramount's Great America! I started praying that God would do a miracle and we would be able to go. Our family needed a vacation!
On Friday, David joined our youth group and headed over to Tacoma for Acquire The Fire, a youth convention. He wasn't going to hear who won until he got back on Sunday. JD Chadler and Larry Wayne, the afternoon guys on KLOVE, announced the winner around 4:30 or so. I was heading up to Walla Walla for a doctor's appointment and heard the dialing sounds. Turning up the radio, I heard "Hope David is home." That started me wondering. Then I heard, "Reagan's, this is Ruth," and I let out a yell! My brother had won!! I was totally pumped!
Mom and Dad got the details and then tracked down the cell phone numbers of the youth group leader and another couple that were with them. They planned a surprise for David, and announced that he had won in front of a hundred kids! From what I've learned, he wasn't too surprised, but the rest of the youth group were pumped! If it had worked out we'd have taken twenty or more people with us!
Now for the tale of the trip itself...
I took Friday the tenth off as well as Saturday, so that I could wait until noon to put my contact in. Our flight left at 6:15 and we needed to leave our house at 4 in order to get to the Pendleton airport. It was quite interesting going through the security checkpoint. The airport workers at this small airport were very nice. Even though I had to take my belt buckle off and they had to search my backpack by hand, it didn't take too much time. And one of the guards was a Christian who goes to a church not far from our town.
The plane trip was quite fun. It was a prop plane that had seats for 60-80 people, I think. We followed the Columbia pretty much all the way to Portland and watched the freeway below us disappear. A trip that normally took 4 hours in our minivan, took an hour in the plane! Too bad we can't do that all the time.
We had an hour layover in Portland and then boarded a 747 to San Jose. The sun set as we flew south and California lit up. It was amazing to see those lights as far as we could see!
We finally got to the (get this) the Santa Clara Hilton around 11:30. We could see the park, all lit up, from our room. The Hilton was a very nice hotel and we slept well.
The next morning, Saturday the 11th, we got up and girded our loins for the day ahead. We walked over to the park and waited in line for a good 30 - 45 minutes to get our tickets and Scooby-bucks. After that wait, we finally entered the park.
Very cool place! The first ride you see is the two-story carousel (which we should have ridden, just to say we did) with a pool and fountains in front of it. Then to the right, there's a large model of the Starship Enterprise ("A" I believe.) and I had to get a picture of that!
We were starving since we hadn't had breakfast and found a pizza place. I believe it was something like 2 bucks for a slice. Ouch! There went a good chunk of the Scooby bucks! Pizza for breakfast was quite interesting.
The Demon was the first ride we went on. This was a roller coaster that had two loops and a twisty thingy. I must not be made for roller coasters because I did not enjoy it and got all tensed up! Very strange! Took me the rest of the morning to get over it. The second ride we took was The Centrifuge and that was fun! I even have the bruises to prove it! The last ride we did was a type of simulation where you sat down and watched a screen and the seats moved to the action in the movie. Very cool! I wish I had something like that for playing video games!
We found our way to the amphitheater and entered it. KLOVE had set up a booth and they had told us to find it and they would help us find the seats. KLOVE was very apparent and we talked to Matt. Matt was really cool and helped us find the front row seats that were reserved. We hung out a bit and then got to meet JD and had our picture take with him. 'Twas neat to meet the person behind the voice.
Slick Shoes was up first. After sitting through 2 songs, we all decided that we didn't really like punk and left to find some shade. Mom and Dad eventually left to ride The Grizzly, while Dave and I sat in the shade listening to the loud music. PAX217 came up next and we didn't even go watch. It was loud enough where we were at.
Reliant K, who I've seen before, came on and I watched them a little. Didn't bother going to the front, it was enough to be at the back and observing. Out of the alternative types, I like that concert the best.
Now the time came to sit in front. Mom and Dad showed up and we all plopped down at the front. The OC Supertones started their concert and it was great! I love ska, but my parents and brother didn't last very long. They left after two songs. *grins* The Supertones have awesome lyrics and they shared some scripture. They stated that their purpose is to glorify God, not to just entertain! It was very cool and I had a blast!
The next artist was Avalon. They sang several songs and talked about World Vision. Testify to Love is one of my favorite songs and I loved seeing them perform it. One of the original members couldn't make it, so they had a stand-in who was excellent! Avalon was the perfect transition from rock to more of a worship style.
Then Michael W. Smith came on. He started out with God is a Great God and the Holy Spirit just came down! I don't think I opened my eyes very often, I was worshiping God so much! Jesus touched me. That's the type of concert I like. Michael took the focus off of him and pointed it to God where it belonged. I was very impressed by that and I think that it is a sign that Smitty is anointed by God.
So after that very awesome time of worshiping God, we headed back to the hotel. We arrived and David plopped down in the chair. I had to take a pic of our first stay in a Hilton! Sidenote: Take a look at his jacket! Isn't that cool how the light reflected off the lines?!
After a restful night that wasn't long enough, we headed to the airport and flew home. Nothing really interesting about that trip, except that I saw the three snow-covered mountains of southwestern Washington and northwestern Oregon.
I think that this trip was a great introduction to California. I will look upon this trip with fondness. What a blessing for God to give us! I am very thankful!!
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