2015 - October 21st - Oak Glen and Palm Springs Adventures

Our plan for this lovely Wednesday is to drive over to the Apple Country in Oak Glen. It's only an hour away nestled in the California foothills. There is a five mile circle of farms that have lots of apple orchards to stop and visit. During the Fall, many folks go there to pick-your-own apples. The farms have added gift stores and restaurants as well. The largest, Riley Farms, also has lots of activities for youth and families and does Civil War reenactments on the property. We arrived mid morning.

First on the schedule was to stop for mid-morning coffee and a slice of apple pie! We arrived at the first farm, Oak Glen's McCurdy's Farm bakery-restaurant. We made our pie selection and grabbed a table.

After a good chat, outstanding pie, and a hot cup of coffee, we started our circle tour of the farms. Stopping at Mom's is always a pleasure with the apple assortment and their large gift store to browse around in.

Mom's offers a Cider making press if you want to buy some apples and make your own. We must admit, the bees were having a great meal on the juice from the cider press! Think that prevented some people from making their own!!!
               
Los Rios Rancho offers a wide variety of apples for purchase.
               
               
There are several farms to stop and see what they offer on this circular drive of the community. One of the most fascinating farms is Riley's Apple Farm. It is always busy due to all of the activities that they offer for kids and families. Many schools do field trips here where the kids can shoot archery, interact with Civil War reenactment folks in period costumes, explore the farm and much more. I believe it is the largest of the farms in Oak Glen. We looked around the property and had a lot of fun! We had lunch in Riley's Hawk's Head Public House Restaurant. The Public House reflects the early settler days of the US.

               
               
Our lunch at The Hawk's Head was so much fun and so delicious! Our drinks were served in pewter tankards straight from the freezer ... drinks never got warm! The servings are large, packed with flavor. We enjoyed the surroundings and the scrumptious food!
               
Riley Farm's Hawk's Head Restaurant

Hawk's Head Restaurant open-face roast beef and mashed potato sandwich with fresh string beans and home-made apple sauce - a Riley's farm special!
Apple Walnut Salad at the Riley Farm's Hawk's Head Restaurant
Cider Baked Ham, scalloped red potatoes, fresh green beans and home-made apple sauce at Riley's Hawk's Head

Fresh home-made Corn Chowder with Side-Salad at Hawk's Head Restaurant at the Riley Farm (can you tell someone, aka Mary Anne, picked the onions out of the salad?!!)
We looked around the farm and the gift shop to burn off some of those calories we just gained before heading out for a couple of more stops in the loop of this great apple country and it's farms. The rolling hills scenery is beautiful on this drive. It's hard to believe it's only a short distance from the major freeways and so close to crowded and populated greater Los Angeles!

Ray and Sandra caught a glimpse of a sign showing Palm Springs. We had no plans previously made for after Oak Glen, so we took the journey to Palm Springs. It's all freeway, but different countryside than they had seen before. Approaching the Palm Springs area there are huge Wind-Turbine Farms on both sides of the freeway. This is one area that you literally see thousands of these great machines, not just a handful clumped together.
                  
We drove into Palms Springs on the famous US 111 where everyone, whether a movie star, politician, or an everyday Joe, has driven going to Palm Springs. Even though there are now other routes to take, the 111 is still the only way to go in my opinion! Entering Palm Springs, we stopped at the Visitor Center to take a look around, chat with the docents, and Ray & Larry walked out to take a picture of the Palm Springs sign on Highway 111. It was only 84 in Palm Springs and we were told that temperature at the top of the Skyway Tram ride was 44 degrees; we nixed the thought of riding up to the top of the mountain. No coats with us to keep warm so no ride for us to chill-out!
               

We continued into downtown to park and walk part of the shopping area of this quaint world-renown resort town. Palm Springs has Walk of Fame stars sidewalks. Not quite the same as those in Hollywood. Only a few names did any of us recognize. There are local politicians, city leaders, local talent (we assume), as well as some well known stars, probably those who have lived here or have property in Palm Springs. We came across a sculpture of Sonny Bono with his sidewalk star ... Palm Springs honoring the one-time Mayor of their city. It was fun trying to recognize the names on the walk, exploring the trendy shops, and popping into the unique stores along the way.
               
Between Palm Springs and Lakewood lies Murrieta where Eric's live. Jordan and Mikayla had a softball game coming up for their double-header day, so we headed towards the ball field to check-in with everyone and a chance for Ray and Sandra to see everyone one more time on their holiday here in the States. We arrived about a half hour before the game started, so everyone got in some good "talk" time. We stayed for the first few minutes of the ball game before heading out. We had decided it was a Pizza and Beer kind of night, so Eric told us where we would pass a BJ's Pizza going back to Lakewood. We really enjoyed the Flatbread Pizza and the Deep-Dish Pizza at BJ's.
                             
Another glorious day with many new memories. Most of the pictures are in the blog, but all of them can be seen at this link.