Then I did my hotel magic and found lodging on Hotels.com for another $120. For both nights. They live just outside of LA in a charming little college town called Claremont. There are literally 5 colleges in this tiny town, and a plethora of the things college towns are famous for. Cute shops, great dining and nightlife, although Pomona has more night life than this sleepy family area berg.
We hate driving in Cali, so Richard found public transit, including a train, to get us from LAX to Claremont. It took about 15 minutes longer than us driving ourselves, and infinitely less angst to arrive at Claremont's train station, which is smack dab in the middle of the lovely town. It was a 17 minute walk to our hotel, and 18 minutes to my son's house. We opted for Über as I was lugging a 35 pound suitcase filled with family crystal and I didn't want it to get dragged for just under a mile.
The hotel was much better than the trucker haven I was worried I'd booked us into. The room was large, the bed was comfortable and the traffic noise was muted. We were right next to I-10 but couldn't hear the noise at all. And in the parking lot were a fabulous Thai restaurant, a massage parlor and a liquor store. Across the highway were Starbucks and In and Out. Seriously good location for us and we'll stay at the "Claremont Lodge" anytime we return. If you take Über get picked up at the Thai food place, we found out there's a google map glitch for the hotel's address.
We had hoped to visit the beach, but both days were set to rain. As it turned out, we had mostly blue skies and we didn't see a drop of rain, although it did rain Saturday night. And even though we were out on Saturday night, we still didn't see a drop!
Cassidy and his girlfriend Brittannee sleep late due to his work schedule, so upon arrival we headed to the Thai restaurant for lunch. After lunch they picked us up and took us to their house. It's a great 2 bedroom condo, but they have a roommate and CATS, which Richard is allergic to. We spent a great deal of time unpacking all of the family crystal that both my grandmother and I had collected over the years. And Cassidy found a belated Christmas present for us, two Van Gogh ornaments:)
Then we went to go tour downtown Claremont, and after some fun and funky antique shops and a great little coffee bar, we made our way to a Spanish restaurant that had the best Sangria I've had in a very long while. We ate many delicious Tapas and got so full we never ordered a full entree. Then afterwards we went to a cute little club in Pomona that combined great music with great art. We oldsters didn't last long there and we got in a bit after midnight.
We used Über to get to the grocery store to pick up the makings for Corned Beef and cabbage on Sunday early. The nearest store was a Vons, which we don't have in Denver, but it sure felt familiar. Turns out it's owned by Safeway and they accepted our discount card. We picked up some lovely daffodils for Brittannee to put in the crystal vases as well. On the ride to their house from the Vons, we passed through some lovely old stone houses that our driver, a native to Claremont, told us were some of Claremont's priciest real estate. Each is unique and there are no two the same for block after block. They were so quaint and beautifully landscaped, I wish I had thought to take a picture or two.
They made amazing homemade Huévos Rancheros for us at their house. We debated the beach, but the gray skies and forecast of rain warned us off, so we went to Uptown downtown and cruised through some more fun little shops. I had started corned beef and cabbage prior to leaving the house, and we returned to the fragrant smells and had dinner in that night. We then went downtown to a little Pie shop and had a small dessert in honor of Pi day, 3.14:)
Monday we intended to do a chicken and waffle brunch, but we didn't realize that the restaurant was closed on Mondays, so we ended up getting an In and Out fix after all! Cass dropped us off at the train station and we made our way back to LAX as pleasantly as we had made our way to Claremont, opting for train and subway instead of train and bus, due to the timing. The flight was uneventful, and though scheduled to be one hour late, they swapped planes and got us in on time. I'm a fan of Frontier.
At these prices, we hope to see Cass and Brittannee more regularly!
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