Best Western Empire Inn Rialto

... That is why I am writing this, so that when i am filled with doubt I can read this and remember why I want to do this crazy trip. <br><br> When we are children we want to be, see and do such incredible things and unerringly believe that we can do it. Somewhere between cartoons and crayons and college and work, we stop believing that dreams or wishes are attainable. The rationality and responsibilities that are drilled into us by our schooling, both ...

... center on our list. It was the California Welcome Center at Barstow, which is located in the Tanger Outlet Mall. The center's design has changed from Brian's first visit, but he still wasn't overly impressed. The Center seems to be more of a gift shop than information center. Lorraine found a few more creative ideas to put on her list that she'll be sharing with Brian since he's doing all the driving! We printed off our itinerary for the trip, only three days late as ...

... and how much the front line staff look to him for guidance, education and leadership. Now back to Brian's Blog.....Quick mini-meal with conference attendees. Good was really good, cooked by a local Chef from a local Bullhead City hospital who owns his own catering business. But if the hospital is as good as the catered food, admit me now! We left for Las Vegas via Christmas Tree Pass and Searchlight, NV. We drove straight to the Las Vegas CVA's Visitor Center ...

... information and then drove by Hotel Brunswick, which was owned by Andy Devine's family. I pointed out the jail where Warren Jeff's the infamous polygamy leader was being held. We arrived in Laughlin, at about 8:30pm. We went to the Pendleton Store at the Outlets in Laughlin, but bought nothing. We visited a very fun hat store, which we'll both return to sometime.Lorraine purchased some cheap plastic bracelets that ...

Racing the last two nights was great, and we enjoyed having a chance to catch up with JP - unfortunately, the car he was with spun and was wrecked out of the race pretty early on. And our friends Gary and kathy came out to the races last night, so we had a good time with them, as always. JP came over this morning and had breakfast with us - he had heard some mention of Santa Ana winds coming in, so we checked it online, and were expecting to be ...

A few miles south and a few hours easier to get to is Rialto Beach. Only ever seeing southern California beaches this place threw me for a loop. Cold water with rock islands and drift logs strewn about was not what I had expected of a beach. The Rock islands offered great pictures and the drift logs gave us a ...

I haven't updated for a long (considerin net is free and fast!). A lot can happen in a week it seems. After I updated that Sat eve we followed Johnny and his friends to a Karaoke bar. Oh yes, the typical dice games, public embarassment aka public singing, and beer that is associated with Chinese "K" ensued. It took a lot of Ann's persuasion before I got my ass up, but I finally did it and we sang along merrily to English songs, to the puzzlement of the very few people sat at the ...

... hadn't really seen much of LA, so it was like arriving in the States for me. We stopped at Fishermans Wharf, and area of san Fran which is quite touristy and Chessingtonesque - lots of cartoonified souvenir shops and food! We had yummy clam chowder, which is essentially cream of clam soup - delish! The area has some cute chubby sealions splashing and lazing around. We went on a ferry tour that went under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz - which is the old prison on a ...

... made our way to the information desk to ask about vouchers for cab fare. We hoped amtrak would be so generous as to cover our further transportation needs, seeing as the three hour delay they caused us greatly inhibited our desire to catch a bus out of downtown LA. We ended up carpooling with two older ladies and an amtrak employee just off his shift. He took us to a 7/11 where we met Amy. We were ...

... After trying the spinning teacups,watching local music heroes 'Bill and his Hillbillies' and Snow White - The Musical it was back for more of Thunder and Splash Mountains (7 and 3 times each respectively) - we couldn't get enough you could say. To finish the day the Christmas Parade went sauntering past us with all the usual Disney suspects before the curtain was brought town with a late-night fireworks display. A really great day for us but ultimately this place is ...