Sightseeing

After our day at the beach, we traveled east to visit our boys. But on the way we stopped in Riverside to visit the historic Mission Inn. We have been here in the past during December when it was beautifully decorated for Christmas. So it was different to see it in all it's "normal" splendor. 

 A Pagoda in a nearby park

 the majestic palms surrounding the historic buildings...

 inside the Inn- the Tavern was located to the right of this picture

 the gorgeous furniture in the lobby

 Doug really liked the feel of President Taft's chair, but he shared it with his wife...

 ...and the rest of us! Just behind us is the President's Restaurant--notice the photos of many of those who have visited this place.

 Another restaurant in the outside courtyard; we admired all the elaborate architecture in this building.

 Two parrots are also part of the history of this Inn.

 The primroses lining the sidewalks were so beautiful.

 The women started walking through the Inn and came upon a local Farmer's Market, then just beyond that street, we found a Dicken's Festival taking place! We noticed people dressed in many old costumes, and then we saw the offering of these carriage rides. (we didn't take time for that,--we just kept exploring)...

 and came upon this fair lady and her small suitors...

 a blocksmith shop with hundreds of fun building blocks...

 (castles were the specialty)...

 with dozens of round tables where kids could build with the blocks!

 We decided that this young mom and her babe were the most beautiful ones present!

 I love the irony of this picture--old costumes--and their specialty coffee drink and bag in hand!

 Just shopping...

 We had to cut our time at the Festival short, and try to locate a park for our picnic lunch. When we got to this park just down the road, I realized that it was the same park that Bec and I had walked through last year on the March of Dimes 5K walk. Unfortunately, we had spent too much time downtown and did not have time to walk around the lake that is located in the middle of this park.

We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch (D&M really enjoyed the fact that they were having an outdoor picnic in January!) and then hit the road once again for the rest of our Saturday outing.