Day 20-Governor Newsom rescinds restrictions. Outdoor dining reinstated!

Made it to Mt. Rubidoux…

2/13/21. Saturday.

8:00 –9:00 -  B. is a morning person and is up at 8:15.  This means I have to get up soon.

9:00 – 10:00 – I am NOT a morning person.  Shower. Lotion. Make-up. Covid-19 uniform.

10:00-10:15 – B. and I walk to Prohibition, a restaurant that L. recommended.  I tried to make reservations a few days ago, but they operate on a first come-first served basis.

10:30-12:00 – Brunch is excellent!  We are seated outside, but too close to the other tables.  I’m glad the infection rates are dropping throughout California.  Having said that, the tables are ‘turned’ pretty quickly, although I am shocked to see a party of 7 to 8 women at a table inside!!  Yes, the table is right next to a set of open double-doors and the windows are also open, but inside??  I have the chorizo breakfast burrito and it is massive. Delish and I have an excellent glass of champagne because brunch.  B. has something???  and a Bloody Mary.

12:00 – 1:00 - We walk back to our hotel room so I can store my leftovers.  Then, we walk to the parking lot to get B.’s car. I planned for us to hike Mt. Rubidoux so we drive to the location.  It looks like rain, but I am undeterred.

We reach Mt. Rubidoux but it’s difficult trying to figure out where to park.  B. finally ends up illegally parking in a residential area and we walk a few blocks to the entrance.  A warning from a resident is posted on the gate.  She writes that, yesterday, she saw a transient in her backyard and confronted him.  When she asked him what he was doing, he said, “Meditating.”  The resident told the transient to leave, NOW!  He then asked her what kind of underwear she was wearing and proceeded to piss on her patio furniture.  The homeowner called the police, but the transient ran up the side of Mt. Rubidoux and disappeared.  He is still at large.

B. finds all of this extremely funny (it is kind of comical). B.’s armed and he also has pepper spray. We’re ready for an encounter with the “Underwear Weirdo.”

1:00 – 4:30 – We needn’t have worried.  Mt. Rubidoux is filled with parents and families hiking to the top [this is a ribbon of paved road on an incline of 2.7 miles].  The elevation is 1,332 feet and the views are incredible.  Although chilly, the weather holds and B. and I make it to the top in about 70 minutes [see the picture of the American flag at the beginning of this post].  But, that’s not all…the highest point of the trail is actually the top of a mountain, across from the flag point, where a huge white cross stands. It is a treacherous climb and unsafe.  B. is up for the challenge so he bounds up the side like a mountain goat and makes it to the cross.  I stay behind and can barely see him from my vantage point, he is so high up. I keep thinking, “If B. falls, his daughters are going to kill me.”

-B. climbs down from the cross in one piece and we start the hike to the bottom.

-Halfway down, B. and I sit on a bench, look at the view, and toast our accomplishment with a couple of prosecco-in-a can(s) that I brought along for just this occasion.

-We make it to the car and it wasn’t towed!  Yay!

4:30-5:15 – Driving. Parking. We walk back to our hotel room.

5:15-6:00 – We change and head downstairs for another dinner at the Mission Inn Restaurant.

6:00-8:30 – Once again, dinner is excellent. I have shrimp pasta with a lemon sauce and B. orders from the Pre Fixe menu, this time swapping out the Ciopetto for the Prime Rib, and the Lobster Bisque for the salad.  I have two glasses of the best Napa Valley brut champagne and B. has…something?

8:30 – 10:00 - Back to our hotel room and we watch a few Forensic Files before calling it.

10:30-11:00 – Night time routine. Bed.