We ate a full breakfast at IHOP right next door the motel. Then we headed over to Mom's high school and walked around to take some pictures there. She said it looks very different and is much larger than it used to be. We rode out (being careful to avoid the breast cancer awareness walkers that were out today) to Hillside Memorial Park to visit the graves of some of Mom's relatives. We were luckier this time and didn't have much trouble at all locating the graves. It is a beautiful cemetery full of trees, including what Mom calls "Graveyard Cypress." Here is a picture:
Different, huh? I'm going to talk about some of the differences between Georgia and California later.
It was getting hotter, so Mom wasn't real interested in going to the picnic her class was having (with no food or anything provided and not enough places to sit. I kid you not. And we would not have know this if Freddie had not asked at the reunion last night. All they kept saying was "no host picnic." We did not know that meant bring your own food. Plus when Freddie asked if there would be enough seating for everyone, she was told "Well, some can sit on the wall." !! Can you see a class of 68+ year olds sitting on a concrete wall?! I think not!) So we skipped the picnic and took the scenic route to Yucaipa, which is the actual town (only about 6 miles from Redlands) where Mom grew up. Along the way, we traveled along this street:
Unfortunately, Mom's house in Yucaipa is gone... it's just a field now. We rode by her elementary school (still there) and her church (no longer a church, but still there). We rode by her junior high, but it's a high school for 9th graders now, but still in the same location. We found a Big Lots and bought a few scrapbook things.
Then we headed back to Redlands. We decided to have lunch at El Pollo Loco. They are all over the place out here. They specialize in flame broiled Mexican-style chicken or something like that. The food was good, but I noticed when I was ordering, the girl at the register was looking at me funny. I didn't think a whole lot about it since I get that a lot after people hear my accent. After we finished eating, I went to the restroom. I looked in the mirror and one of my earrings was missing. (Look closely at the picture above... you can see the new style I'm sporting! LOL) I came out and told Mom that now I knew why the girl was looking at me so funny. Then I told Mom that she doesn't notice anything and how long had I been without one of my earrings? And my mother... the woman who carried me for nine months and bore me from her body... says to me, "I don't look at you."!!!!!!!! Can you feel the love?? So obviously from the picture, I was without the earring a lot longer than I thought.... before we left Redlands... which means I walked through Big Lots like that, too.
After lunch (and after removing my remaining earring), we went to the Redlands library. My mom spent a lot of time there when she lived here, and it is a beautiful building. It opened in 1898 and is the oldest continuously operated library building in the country, It has a Spanish tile roof and wonderful stained glass windows. Here's a looksie:
Neat building.
Behind the library is the Lincoln Memorial. It is basically an Abraham Lincoln museum. It was donated by a family in honor of their son, who was crazy about Lincoln. It was interesting, especially since I'm such a Civil War buff and admire Lincoln so very much. Here I am with the great man:
They had quotes on the wall from famous people, and this is my favorite: "Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln." - Will Rogers. :)
We walked across the street to the Redlands Bowl. It is basically an outdoor amphitheater... and where my mom graduated. She said they would have plays, etc. there during summer evenings back in the day. Obviously they still use it.
By this time, it was 2PM and we had done everything we had wanted in Redlands and Yucaipa. We had planned to just go chill at the motel, but then I asked Mom how far was it up to the mountains. She said it wasn't far so we hit the road. After stopping at the California Welcome Center in San Bernardino (??? - It is NOwhere near the state line!) and getting directions, we took off. I had no idea that where my mom grew up was so close to Lake Arrowhead (20 miles) and Big Bear (45 miles)! We only made it as far as Lake Arrowhead today. The drive was a little scary... VERY curvy road up a VERY high mountain -- over 5,000 feet elevation. At Lake Arrowhead, there is shopping and restaurants. The best part was the temperature was only 67 degrees up there. It felt wonderful! And the entire village is geared toward dogs. They are allowed into the stores on leashes - there were dogs everywhere! It was great. And check out the door sign at the Three Dog Bakery - a bakery for dogs:
Isn't that awesome?!!! Anyway, we shopped a little and got an ice cream. The drive back down the mountain was a lot more fun and certainly didn't seem to take as long! LOL Here's a view:
See that road way up there... yea, we were there.
So that was our busy day. After supper at Red Robin, I've been right here at my laptop, recording it all for you... and me! :) Tomorrow it's back to the big city and the crazy drivers. We're going back to Hollywood for the 3rd time - hopefully we'll get it all done this time around!
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