...Dan's birthday!! His birthday was December 1st and I got the
perfect gift for him this year. He's recently discovered a progressive rock band he loves called Dream Theater, and he listens to their albums all the time. So when I saw that they were playing a concert in downtown San Diego on his birthday, I had to buy tickets! I even managed to surprise Dan (not an easy feat), and he absolutely loved the concert! The musicians are amazing technically, and you could tell that the audience was made up of long-time fans (i.e., we were rocking out with a bunch of middle-aged men). :)
It was a blast and definitely a favorite birthday memory!
The birthday week menu consisted of all the free meals we could get by signing up on restaurant e-mail lists!
Over the weekend, we drove up to Anaheim to visit our friends, Chris & Adessa.
Instead of going straight home from Anaheim, we wanted to go somewhere to see Christmas decorations and kick off the holiday season. We were not disappointed by the awesomely over-decorated Mission Inn in Riverside! Get a load of all those lights on their palm trees!
And they had glowing horse-drawn carriages so you could live out your princess fantasy, like this man.
I loved all the lights on orange trees - only in Southern California! And yes, that is an elf sitting on a cannon. I assume he's responsible for the children on Santa's "naughty" list.
Despite all the kitschy decorations on the outside, the Mission Inn was surprisingly classy on the inside
They had life-sized animatronics figures all over the hotel, too. (okay, maybe "classy" wasn't the right word)
A view of the back side of the Mission Inn from Riverside's cute shopping square
By the time we left, we were fully in the Christmas spirit. Mission accomplished!
It was a blast and definitely a favorite birthday memory!
The birthday week menu consisted of all the free meals we could get by signing up on restaurant e-mail lists!
Over the weekend, we drove up to Anaheim to visit our friends, Chris & Adessa. 
Instead of going straight home from Anaheim, we wanted to go somewhere to see Christmas decorations and kick off the holiday season. We were not disappointed by the awesomely over-decorated Mission Inn in Riverside! Get a load of all those lights on their palm trees!
And they had glowing horse-drawn carriages so you could live out your princess fantasy, like this man.
I loved all the lights on orange trees - only in Southern California! And yes, that is an elf sitting on a cannon. I assume he's responsible for the children on Santa's "naughty" list.
Despite all the kitschy decorations on the outside, the Mission Inn was surprisingly classy on the inside
They had life-sized animatronics figures all over the hotel, too. (okay, maybe "classy" wasn't the right word) 
A view of the back side of the Mission Inn from Riverside's cute shopping square
By the time we left, we were fully in the Christmas spirit. Mission accomplished! 
1 comment:
I love when you find the 'perfect' gift for someone. :) Those lights looked awesome!
Post a Comment