Tuesday, March 16
This was a low-key day, catching up on some necessary tasks. We spent some time looking at what our next route should be, then repacked some of the RV. We are working on a better way to organize things while we are on the road, so we don’t have several boxes in the living room.
My cousin Jim returned from his Mexican fishing trip and took everyone out for dinner at the family’s favorite Mexican restaurant, Zacatecas. It's easy to understand why this is there fav!
Wednesday, March 17
We drove to downtown Riverside to see the Mission Inn. It’s not a real mission; it is a wonderful inn that was built by Frank Miller in the Mission architectural style in the late 1800’s. Frank had a passion for traveling the world and collecting beautiful or interesting items and bringing them back to his inn. At one point in history the inn fell on hard times, but now it has been beautifully restored into a first-class hotel. We walked into the Spanish courtyard and immediately felt the charm of the place. Having enjoyed several months in Spain a few years ago, we could tell that Frank knew what he was doing and really captured the right ambience.
Later we walked across the street to tour the 1st Congregational Church. It’s a beautiful building with an ornate exterior and a somewhat austere interior. Then, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we went to a local Irish pub called Kilarney’s and had lunch with Jim. His office is one block away from the pub, so it was an easy place to meet. And later for dinner Teresa cooked corned beef and cabbage, avocado/cucumber salad and coconut cream pie. She can cook as well as her mother, and that is saying a lot!
Thursday, March 18
Randy went fishing with Jack again and this time they were very successful! Randy came home with 9 trout and Jack caught a bunch, too. They had such a good time that they didn’t get back until 3pm, and shortly afterwards Mike stopped by to take us to a hockey game at Staples Center. Mike had box seat tickets for a game between the LA Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks. Sadly the Kings lost, but we had a great time anyway. This is the first hockey game we have attended and seeing it from box seats with free food (and desserts!) is a nice introduction. If I could watch all games this way, I would be a big fan!
Friday, March 19
We needed to get a form notarized so we went to Jim’s office. When we got there Randy tricked the receptionist into thinking he was a customer who was mad at Jim and wanted to chew him out. So the receptionist, who is apparently quite loyal to Jim, left him a phone message to see if he wanted to talk to the angry customer outside. I suspect that if Jim said no, we would not have gotten past the front desk! But it’s hard to fool Jim - he knew it was us, and came out to give us a quick tour of his company offices.
For lunch Randy and I went to a local Thai restaurant – Bann Thai on Brockton street - that everyone in the Booth and Burns family recommended. The recommendation was on track and we had a good lunch. Then we went to the Mission Inn again and took a tour about its history. The Inn has four separate sections – Spanish, Italian, Oriental, and the front courtyard. It is beautiful and elegant without being too formal or structured. For example, the outside wall is adobe with sections of iron fences. The iron sections are, on close inspections, from different gates and fences and none of them match, but the overall effect is lovely.
To end a perfect day we went to Aunt Jean’s for dinner. Mike was helping her cook Dorado (a delicious fish that she or her sons had caught in Mexico), and she had also prepared a scrumptious strawberry salad, cabbage-rice salad, corn, peach cobbler and cream pie. Too much good food is never too much!
Saturday, March 20
Randy and I ran a few errands and looked at a few RVs at Giant RV in Riverside. Fortunately we didn’t find anything irresistible. In the afternoon I felt the need for a nap . . . one of the sweet things about retirement is that when you feel like a nap, you just take one!
Later in the afternoon Jim and Teresa came in for a visit. As usual, the conversation bounced between cooking and fishing, and included the best of both worlds - cooking fish.
For dinner Teresa and Jack took us and Aunt Jean to BJ’s, one of their favorite restaurants. The wait to get in was about 45 minutes so they gave out pizza samples while we were waiting. The pizza was very good, and since we were able get it while we were in line, when we sat down to dinner everyone was able to order something else. I highly recommend their desserts!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Teresa fixed some awesome biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Most Californians don’t seem to know much about good biscuits and gravy, but Teresa is really a transplant from Missouri and she knows all about them! Then we were able to spend the rest of the day with her, taking a scenic drive up to Big Bear Lake. There’s a cute tourist town at the lake and beautiful mountain views all along the drive. We didn’t do any skiing, but it was so relaxing to just enjoy the view and visit.
For dinner Jim and Mike smoked some ribs, pork, chicken and prime rib, added some great side dishes, and Aunt Jean brought homemade German Chocolate cake. Everyone ate too much and wished they could eat more - that seems to be the theme on this trip!
Monday, March 22, 2010
We had lunch with Aunt Jean at Bann Thai (it was worth a second trip), then drove to the grade school to watch Tara and Dennis’ son Riley (Aunt Jean's great-grandson and Teresa's grandson) receive a Citizenship award. He’s in the 2nd grade, and he and his older brother Ian are really smart. Ian also received an award on Friday, but we weren’t able to attend that time.
For dinner we met Mike and Claire and Aunt Jean at the Mission Inn. The Inn is even more beautiful at night! I can’t describe it and pictures don’t do it justice. I’ll just say I love this even more than chocolate, so if you get a chance, visit this place!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The weather could not be more perfect but at this time of the year there is tree sap in the air, and it gets onto any vehicle that’s parked outside for a couple of days. Fortunately it’s not hard to wash off, so that’s what we did today. Randy also had to spend a couple of hours on the phone with tech support because our PC security application got messed up and was blocking all Java scripts. Since we use the computer as a link to almost everything, it was critical to get that corrected before we go anywhere.
We‘ve been parked in our cousins’ driveway for a couple of weeks now, using their water and electricity and being chauffeured all over town. It’s really hard to do something for them but everyone likes to eat, so Randy cooked dinner tonight. He made Sweet Sensation salad, fettuccini with Cajon cream sauce and scallops, asparagus with orange cream butter, and Banana nut cake. Fortunately most of the family were available on short notice and we were able to spend another relaxing evening together. It will be hard to leave, but we definitely need to be on the road again by Thursday.
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