On Monday, May 14th, we worked on chores and then met Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth for a fantastic dinner at their house. We chatted and chatted the whole evening after enjoying an excellent home-cooked meal with them. What a fantastic time we had!
 |
| Jenna and Kim |
On Tuesday, we ate again. Several times. This has become a bad habit and
our roundness betrays our desire to slim down a bit. We have been told
repeatedly some version of 'but you're on vacation!', and alas, it
shows. To combat this growing problem, we took a long walk around
Lake Balboa, near our campground. Several hundred other LA residents were
taking advantage of the consistently beautiful weather and nice walking
path as well...but we brought weights! After the lengthy trek and a
relaxing afternoon, we went to my cousin Kim's new house where we met Chris, Jenna
and Kim's new husband, Brian. We enjoyed a very tasty dinner
from a local bbq restaurant,
Wood Ranch. We had a nice time catching up with Kim about her new house and hectic move.
 |
| Red and Blue |
 |
| Pam and Uncle Willie |
On Wednesday, we drove out to
Redlands to see my Great Uncle Willie, a citrus and avocado farmer as well as the family genealogist. Greeted by the wagging tails and silly faces of his two black Labs, Red and Blue, we made our way into the house. Uncle Willie regaled us with tales about our family going back many centuries and anecdotes about his many fruit and avocado trees before we headed to lunch in town. He took us on a personal tour of the town of
Redlands and showed us a bunch of different areas of town, especially the older homes, a rarity in southern California.
Uncle Willie treated us to lunch at
The Eating Room, a lively place with tasty fare and a delicious and crispy sugar cookie that arrived with the bill. We continued our tour of town and saw the
University of Redlands where Uncle Willie used to teach and he also told us about his time in office as the mayor years ago. Back at the farm, we chatted for a while before he took us on a bumpy Kubota ride around the acreage. He pointed out some of the 12 different varieties of avocados he grows, as well as the oranges, figs, plums, pears, apples, lemons, grapefruits and other assorted trees he and his family harvest for sale at local farmers' markets. It was fascinating! We had a great time with Uncle Willie and hated to leave, but finally said our goodbyes late in the afternoon.
 |
| Josh, Wendy, Taylor, Ken and Pam |
We drove to nearby
Highland to catch up with my cousin Josh and his wife Wendy and their son, Taylor. We had a wonderful time chatting about all kinds of topics over dinner at their favorite Thai restaurant,
Mu. What a fantastic day!
 |
Uncle Bill with the
1931 Cunningham Series V-9 |
On Thursday, we again went for a walk around
Lake Balboa to combat some of the vacation eat-a-thon we've been on for the last several months. We're convinced it's already helping, though our clothes disagree. Nonetheless, after a quick lunch at
Lulu's Restaurant, we met Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth for a trip up to Sylmar to see the incomparable
Nethercutt Museum. This place exhibits the finest collection of antique automobiles we've ever seen, without exception. And for free. Wow. What a collection.
 |
| 1937 Talbot Lago |
 |
| 1936 Pierce Arrow |
We saw lots of cars mostly from the turn of the century through about 1940, with each one more interesting than the last. There were a few newer cars sprinkled in, too, but the older ones really captured our attention. We even saw two automobiles made by
Cunningham Motor Cars, one in 1919 and the other in 1931, their last year of production.
We saw a bunch of
Pierce Arrows, including a dark blue one with a matching 19 foot Travelodge camper, one of only 105 made before the company went under.
The
Nethercutt Museum also maintains an extensive collection of hood ornaments, carburetors, horns, pull straps, and hundreds of other assorted original automobile accessories. We saw Cadillacs, Mercedes and Chevrolets, but also
Grahams,
Knox,
Simplex,
Duesenbergs,
Cords and
Bugattis. It was amazing seeing all these old automobiles in perfect condition in one location. What a find. J.B. Nethercutt collected cars built between 1898 through 1997, and in turn, amassed a beautiful and priceless assortment of automotive history.
 |
| 1932 Rolls Royce |
 |
In the Travelodge camper
by Pierce Arrow |
After touring the
museum for a few hours, we drove to Valencia for some happy hour brews at a pub called the
Twisted Kilt, oddly, sort of the Irish version of Hooters. After a light dinner there, we headed back to Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth's house to chat for a bit before reluctantly leaving.
What a wonderful time we've spent in southern California visiting family and friends!
On Monday, May 14th, we worked on chores and then met Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth for a fantastic dinner at their house. We chatted and chatted the whole evening after enjoying an excellent home-cooked meal with them. What a fantastic time we had!
Uncle Willie treated us to lunch at The Eating Room, a lively place with tasty fare and a delicious and crispy sugar cookie that arrived with the bill. We continued our tour of town and saw the University of Redlands where Uncle Willie used to teach and he also told us about his time in office as the mayor years ago. Back at the farm, we chatted for a while before he took us on a bumpy Kubota ride around the acreage. He pointed out some of the 12 different varieties of avocados he grows, as well as the oranges, figs, plums, pears, apples, lemons, grapefruits and other assorted trees he and his family harvest for sale at local farmers' markets. It was fascinating! We had a great time with Uncle Willie and hated to leave, but finally said our goodbyes late in the afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment