travel-ish

Hello! This post was written Wed Jun 26th (and therefore dated as such), but it didn't go live until the 27th. We're traveling, and I had issues with the hotel's wireless.  I finally figured out today that there is one more reason to be in love with my iPhone:  it's a mobile hotspot. Woot!  So here we are, connected again :-)

Today was a travel day. Something like an 8 hour drive, with the stop for lunch and all that. Only two hours into the trip and MyFavoriteKid was already whining, "are we there yet?"  (this behavior never ends, I guess).  We're staying down in the Riverside area for MyFavoriteKid's snare drum camp with the Blue Devils and we checked into our hotel room at about 4:30. 
Let me say a bit about our accommodations :-)  <---that cuz="" did="" i="" me="" s="" smilin="">goood
).  
The Blue Devils informed us with the registration packet that there was a hotel to be had a 1/2 mile away from the camp, and that they were getting a group reduced rate.  I immediately booked our room. That was a couple of months ago.

About a week or so ago, I started googl-ing and yelp-ing around to see what I could possibly do with myself for 12 hours a day while he is at this drum thing (it's not an overnighter camp, it's a "commuter" or day camp).  I put in the address of the group rate hotel, and then clicked for "nearby" things like food and entertainment.  Guess what.  A Carl's Jr, a plumbing supply store, and a strip club. (??!!)  Oy vey.  So then I searched for movie theaters. Nothin'.  Then shopping.  A K-Mart and a Walmart. Hrmph. 

Then I decided I better look at the reviews for this suggested hotel.   One guy wrote, "If I could give this place a zero, I would....but you have to give at least one star to be allowed to write a review. Trains ran right past the hotel every 30 minutes all night long, and people were partying in the hot tub until 7am."  There were a pile of reviews like that.

So I chose a different hotel.  Not at a group rate sadly, but hey. You get what you pay for, right?  I'm at the Hyatt Downtown Riverside, and it is lovely. Their internet has been crashing on and off, and they have apologized, but who cares!  The place is lovely, and quiet, clean...and I got a queen-gueen accessible room that has a little livingroom area to spread out into.  The hotel is absolutely packed with teenage girls right now, though...but it's cool (I think MyFK might even like it a little LOL).  It turns out that the girl/teen Nationals in Synchronized Swimming Finals are here in town. I actually might go check it out today!

So after we got settled into the room this afternoon, we went and checked out the 'hood. Lots of cute shops and restaurants for me to explore tomorrow! Several quirky antique-y looking shops, too. We ate dinner in the more casual bistro of the uber-fancy Mission Inn next door, and then after that we discovered THE (and I do mean THE, cupcake place).

Couldn't pass it up.  The place had won Cupcake Wars 2011!!  And I have to tell you. It was honest to goodness the best cupcake I have ever eaten.  It was something about the frosting.  It was like it had a little marshmallow mixed in or something. I don't know, but it was amazing.  Not overly sweet, just overly amazing.   I might have to try another flavor tomorrow. LOL



Okay, we're off to bed. Huge day tomorrow for MyFK, and who knows what's in store for me. Adventures!  They are calling for a heat wave down here for the next 72 hours (official alerts included), so whatever I do, I hope it will include air conditioning. Not so for MyFK though!  A good portion of his day will be spent out in the sun. Gah!  He'll probably be quite wilted by day's end.