We had pancakes for breakfast. They were amazingly easy to cook on a griddle. These pancakes came out flat, round, and golden brown, instead of lumpy, oval, and dark brown. At home, I just use a
12-inch cast iron frying pan, which is a bit warped and doesn’t sit very evenly on the burner. But they tasted just the same.
After breakfast, we decided to ride to San Juan Capistrano on the train. We caught the train at 10:10, and got there at 11.
Upon arrival, we walked to the mission there and took the tour. We got little audio headsets and I listened at one or two of the stations. I have found that often I find normal history boring. Reading about how this person went here, then here, and gave a speech doesn’t interest me. But I find day to day life very interesting, along with architecture and landscape. For instance, last year I went to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate. His barn, house, outbuildings, orchard, farms, distillery, and gristmill were all preserved or rebuilt, and could be visited. Learning about the kind of fruit he grew, the way that water was used to turn the gears of the gristmill, the process of distilling; all of this fascinated me and gave me a sense of… nostalgia, I guess you could call it.
After the mission tour, we walked down the street and ate at Ruby’s, a small Californian chain. It has a fifties theme with red vinyl seats and shiny metal edges. It also had a train mounted on the ceiling that ran around the restaurant and a large model of a Santa Fe diesel engine. I had a gigantic tostada salad, which took me almost half-an-hour to eat.
After we left Ruby’s, we went to an antique store across the street. It had lots of old posters, magazines, furniture, stuffed cats, beds, linens; almost anything you can think of. We spent almost half an hour there, but couldn’t buy much because we would have to take it back on the train.
Awesome blog, Eli! Your train videos are especially good--it was almost like I was there with you in person.
ReplyDeleteLove, Sandy