Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Off And Running To Long Beach & Riverside

Fact:   Like most authors, Clement Clarke Moore was his own harshest critic.  The intellectual professor wrote “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” for his kids, but did not publish it under his own name until 21 years had passed at the insistence of his then-grown children.  He essentially was the last person to admit writing it.

You can see all of today’s pictures and stories here!

We were up at 5:30 AM to get ready for a trip to Long Beach to have my stitches removed.  We arrived early and were out of the office at 8:15 AM. Mary’s doctor’s appointment was canceled, so we went to Old Ranch and had breakfast!

We sat at the picture window and saw the crazy golfers head out.

I guess we looked so happy together that our waitress suggested we stand by the tree!  We did, and the picture came out like we felt happy!

Our waitress could not resist getting a picture of us!

We headed home, policed the house and yard for the expected rain storm, and then went to Robin’s home for a visit before going to the  Mission Inn in Riverside.

Robin was so excited when she got her present from Colleen!

Bob returned from work at about 3:30 PM, and we headed to Riverside with Nick. It’s our tradition to have dinner and walk around the “mall” next to the Inn.

We arrived right on time!

We selected our wine, and Mary suggested we taste two of them.  Robin took a swig and gave us her unbridled opinion!  As Mom once said, “Pour it back in the horse!”

Robin had a strong opinion on the house chardonnay!

When Mary spotted the vineyard being in Medford, Oregon, that was it!  We shared a bottle of Medford wine during dinner.

Mary could not decide between filet mignon or rack of lamb, and I made it easy; we ordered both and shared them.  The food was excellent, and the service was OK, considering the place was loaded with people!

The people at the next table had four little kids, and I thought, “Oh no, screamers!” They were so well behaved I got up, tapped one of the dad’s on the shoulder, and told them how well behaved the kids were!  He was proud and thanked us for saying such nice things.  We tried to buy the kids ice cream, but the freezer for ice cream was on the fritz, and they were out!

Mary picked out a nice Oregon chardonnay from her hometown of Medford!

As we departed the restaurant, a lovely lady asked if we wanted our picture taken.  I thought we would surely have our feet and heads cut off, but amazingly, the picture was quite nice!!

After dinner photos!

We meandered to the antique store and shopped for quite a while, seeking treasures!

Finding treasures is hard work!

Bob and Santa had a small altercation, and I think Bob is now on the naughty list for next year!

Next year Bob will not try and tickle Sants’s tummy!

It was beginning to rain, so we cut our visit short and headed to the car via the inn lobby!

Millions of lights on the Inn.

We went home via the Duda’s.  The rain got pretty hard, but we made it just fine.  After getting home, the real storm hit, and we got a good amount of rain before going to bed.  We did stay up and watched a movie.

You can see all of today’s pictures and stories here!

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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