Further adventures

Laura arranged her schedule to get as many days off in a row as possible. This does mean that she also works 6 12-hour shifts in a row, but she has a full week off in between. We're now wrapping up one of those weeks off.

Monday we went to the Renaissance Pleasure Fair, a massive ren fair that's been running in the area for almost 50 years. We went with Stephanie, another nurse working through Laura's company. There were a half-dozen different stages with performers, countless artists and shops, and a spectacular arrangement of costumed players. We've been to ren fairs before, but nothing on this scale. With a city the size of LA, there are many more people interested in dressing up like knights and nobles, and I think the presence of the film industry contributed to the high quality of costuming I saw. Laura found a booth selling hand-dyed wool, and she is looking forward to spinning it.

Yesterday we went south for a day trip to Palomar mountain. First, we went hiking in Palomar Mountain State Park. The drive up was beautiful; we miss nature. The park was a Civilian Conservation Corps site in the '30s. The CCC built a forest fire watch tower and a summer camp, and roads to allow logging in the Cleveland National Forest nearby.

After a hike and picnic lunch, we drove further up the mountain to the Palomar Observatory, home of a 200-inch telescope. (That's 200 inches across the lens. Very big.)

We finally replaced the bike that was stolen in Vegas, and we're both exercising more. We've found our favorite course that allows us to work out together. I bike from our apartment to the base of Mt. Rubidoux, about 8 miles away, while Laura drives there. She runs and I bike up the mountain, and once we get back down, I ride home. This gives both of us a good workout, but lets us spend time together.

The trail to Mt. Rubidoux runs along the Santa Ana river. Although you can see a number of factories, gravel pits, and the county dump, the trail is good and the riverbed is full of wildlife. Thus far, I've seen coyotes, a snake, countless lizards, a roadrunner, hawks, and what I'm pretty sure was a bobcat.

Laura has decided to familiarize herself with the birds we see around here. None of the familiar cardinals, robins, etc. Thus far, we've identified the Black Phoebe, the Western Scrub Jay, the Acorn Woodpecker, the Red-Tailed Hawk, and Some Sort of Swallow That Moves Too Fast to Be Identified Conclusively.

So Cal, finally

<=The big building in the middle is the hospital I'm working at

Below: Mission Inn patio, Flowering cacti on Mount Rubidoux, Peace Bridge on Mount Rubidoux, the cloudy beach

Sorry it's taken so long to post. I don't know where time has gone, and honestly I have a hard time thinking of things in my life anyone would be interested in. But, my mom keeps pestering me so here goes.

When we first got here we stayed at the Mission Inn because we didn't have our furniture for our apartment and I had reimbursable money to spend for travel. The inn is a historical landmark and almost every president has stayed there since Teddy Roosevelt. The architecture was beautiful; it was a fun night of enjoying and exploring what will be our home for 3 months. We even got room service for breakfast and were the only ones in the swimming pool.

Matt and I are enjoying Riverside; it is brighter and greener than Vegas, which is what I was hoping for. I love all of the flowering trees and vines everywhere - even around highways. The cacti are flowering here too. We went on a hike up Mount Rubidoux (a small hill near our apartment) and had a great view of Riverside, including my hospital, and many flowering cacti and trees. They also have many good coffee shops here, the dark, older, local kind with baristas that know what they're doing.

Our favorite coffee shop is Coffee Depot, it's in the original train station building in Riverside with a lot of the original architecture and lots of fun events every week including the stitch and bitch knitting club of Riverside (not as cool of a name as Sin City Hookers but equally as fun). One element of the area we could do without is the heat. I know it's only spring and there is more to come (the locals keep reminding me) but 80 degrees in May is just not right.

There was a short trip to the seaside which turned out to be cold and cloudy even though it was 80 degrees and sunny in Riverside, so we watched the waves and birds and sat as long as we could without freezing since we were dressed for warmer weather. It was a fun drive and we saw a movie-making in progress. We don't know what movie but it was fun to see anyway.

That's about all the excitement as of yet, but I've had a rough schedule and not a lot of long strings of time off. I got an official contract at the hospital I'm working at for a month, and guaranteed schedule and time off (I don't have to be available for 5 days and they can call me 2 hours before work to tell me whether I am needed or not). So I should have a nice long weekend coming up and we will have some more exciting adventures to post soon.