California Dreamin'

I wasn’t dreaming of going to California much. It was a few days with my husband, Chuck’s, family, period, end of story. Not prepared to have fun, experience community, feel love, enjoy myself much or have a wonderful time. It was all of that and more.

My husband’s only sister, Vicki, and her 12 year old daughter, Alissa, live in Southern California, in Riverside. Riverside is a wonderful place, especially since it is NOT L.A. I had one visit to L.A. a few years ago, and it was enough to last me for my lifetime. Not that L.A. is bad or anything, it’s just too big, too polluted, too hot in the summer and not very friendly to visitors. Riverside is friendly. Riverside is easy to get around and close to other places including one hour to the beach, if there is no traffic.

Speaking of the beach, I had a lovely afternoon, at Laguna Beach on July 3rd. But the traffic was bumper to bumper when we got within a few miles of it. We travelled there on some rather expensive toll roads, but then had to get on a smaller four lane road that went down to two lanes. Not tourist friendly but it was a beautiful cool day and the beach was full of people enjoying themselves. We did too. Ending the visit with a trip to a cute little ice cream shop. A mango-orange-banana smoothie hit the spot after being in the sun for several hours. I had the sunburn to remember it by.

Speaking of food, we had a memorable meal at The Mission Inn in downtown Riverside. The inn has several restaurants with the best having an inside courtyard which reminded me of Mexico City or being in Europe. The seafood buffet was gourmet quality and the service rivaled the best restaurants that I’ve experienced in the past. Lovely company of Chuck, Vicki and Alissa; incredible food and desserts!; a beautiful evening with cool weather and an almost full moon in the night sky.

Speaking of the night sky, it was of course not too clear it being still near to Los Angeles. We visit three evening minor league baseball fans. Chuck is a die-hard baseball fanatic. Especially for visiting minor league teams on our vacations. He’s attended six games so far… Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga and Lake Elsinore. He has enjoyed every minute of every game. On the 4th of July, we saw the Inland Empire 66ers play and then a wonderful fireworks display. A day full of patriotic symbols that I hold dear. Baseball being one of them, at least as far as Chuck is concerned. It’s almost a religion to him.

Speaking of religion, I had the opportunity to visit a local Riverside church… All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. I’ve been a practicing UU since 1993 when I joined a local Plano church. It’s a church that believes in community, service to others and being a welcoming place for people of all faiths, those searching for their religious home or just a place to be themselves. It’s a place that like Toastmasters, where I can be true self. The Riverside UU church was a welcoming place full of friendly folks that were happy to have a Texas visitor. I listened to an uplifting service with good music and a diversity that’s nice to find at any church. I hope that they continue to bring a sense of justice, service, love and community to people entering their doors.

I walked through a door to California and found love, community, fun, good food and cool weather. I’ve been California dreaming’ and it was good.

Vacation Memories

My husband loves to plan our vacations. In the last couple of years, we haven't taken a long out of state vacation unfortunately.

Here's the line up of past Bloom productions (you might notice the theme of baseball running through the vacations... well Mr. Bloom is a die hard fan. His goal is to visit all the major league ballparks in America some day.)

• 2002 - Trip to a conference in Atlanta
  Great drive-in (The Varsity, the world's largest such place), great downtown fun (Atlanta Underground), wonderful history (MLK National Memorial), tallest escalator (to the metro), and a great ballpark (Atlanta Braves)
• 2003 - Texas to New York with many stops along the way.
  Tennessee (great Memphis BBQ (Corky's) & Chinese Giant Pandas at the Zoo and Greenville - home of President Andrew Johnson)
  Virginia (Manassas battlefield and home of a good friend of mine in Fairfax Co.)
  North Carolina (Durham Bulls game and very good peaches)
  New York (NYC & Catskills stayed in the homes of a college friend of Chuck's; on 4th of July attended a game of the Hudson Valley Racoons minor league team, the best baseball game I've ever been to, ever!) and Cooperstown, home of the baseball Hall of Fame, and the Hudson Valley, Hyde Park (FDR's home and the Vanderbilt Mansion - both national park sites)
  Mongomery, Ala. (visited the Southern Poverty Law Center headquarters and saw the Civil Rights Memorial)
• New Orleans, visiting with Chuck's son and wife, and Shreveport.
• 2004 - Texas to Michigan & Chicago with many stops along the way.
  Highlights: Chuck's daughter Kelsey came along; visited Lincoln's birthplace & national historic site; visited Oak Park and Frank Lloyd Wright museum and attended Sunday service at Unity Chapel that he designed; Chuck & Kelsey attended a Cubs game at Wrigley Field; University of Michigan; a great art museum on the campus; Ann Arbor; Detroit; Kentucky (the famed Kentucky Horse Farm); Cincinnati chili and much more; stayed in Oak Park with my BBF and her hubby; Arkansas (home of a good friend of mine and Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball game)
• 2005 - California & Oregon
  Chuck drove from Dallas to California (LAX) to meet me there (saved a few days of vacation time for me); He visited New Mexico and Arizona along the way with Joshua Tree, Saguaro and other national park destinations; San Diego: zoo, water front, famous hotel (Coronado del Rey), Chuck's sister Vicki and her daughter Alissa; Getty Museum in LA; San Francisco: ship museum, Ghiaderelli square, wonderful Dungeness crab; Aquarium under the Bay; Golden Gate Bridge; Muir Woods; Redwood forest; Oregon visiting Jennifer & her little girl; Harry & David factory store; Crater Lake; Ashland home of Lithia water (natural lithium in the water); ZZ Top concert outdoors; Yosemite National Park; Whiskeytown in Redding, Calif.
• 2006 - The Texas Tour
  Gonzales: visited the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery and saw the graves of Dr. John Turner Tinsley and his wife, Nancy Willis. Ancestors on my mother's father's mother's side of the family. Her name was Cordelia Tinsley, daughter of Fountain Gillespie Tinsley who was John Turner Tinsley's son. Dr. John Turner Tinsley was a patriot of the Texas War for Independence.
  Bigfoot: my maternal grandmother's home town, visited my great-grandparents graves, John T. and Cornelia Boyd.
  San Antonio: family home
  New Braunfels: German Texan history
  Boerne: Zoeller Family Reunion
• 2007 - Family Reunion & Austin
  Louis Mueller's BBQ in Taylor (one of the top five BBQ places according to Texas Monthly) and Kreuz Market in Lockhart (also in the top 5)
  Austin, TX (research at the Texas State Library)
  Boerne, TX
• 2008 - Family Reunion & San Antonio - some highlights of where we visited
  Smitty's BBQ in Lockhart (guess what? Also top 5) http://www.smittysmarket.com/
  Fredricksburg, TX plus Enchanted Rock, Luckenbach TX (famous due to Waylon Jennings-Willie Nelson song). Passing through Sisterdale & Comfort. These were all German settlements of the mid-1800's like Boerne, TX.
  San Antonio Riverwalk & Jazz at Jim Cullum's Landing
  Brunch at the Menger Hotel (next to the Alamo)
  Luling City Market (great BBQ and the fourth of the top 5; sausage 1 blouse 0)