DAY TWO – 21 October 2014
Breakfast
wasn’t served until 6 am, and I was waiting just as it opened. Evert was
coming to pick me up at 8 am, so I wanted to have time to get cleaned up, pack,
and bring my stuff to the car. The manager at the front desk last night
had given me the okay to keep my car in their garage, as my dealer visits would
take me past the normal check-out time.
Checking
out the breakfast area, it ended up being a bit more expensive than my work per
diem would allow. Just to get the buffet would consume one-third of my
day’s allowance, and it wasn’t that extensive. Plus I wanted to save as
much as the day’s allowance as I could, so I could have some left over for
snack items. I opted for the less-expensive (but still pricey) scrambled
eggs plate with hash browns and muffin. It was tasty, but eating at the
hotel meant I was paying for the convenience.
With that
done, I got cleaned up, and stowed by suitcase in my rental. During the
check-out process, I informed the front desk of the AC issues, as well as the internet
situations, and the person seemed rather apathetic to the situation. No
apology, no thought of knocking something off the bill. It was just
“Here’s you invoice. Bye.” Had I time, I would’ve fought this
battle after breakfast, or right now, but I didn’t so I didn’t. The front
desk person should be empowered enough to handle situations like this to ensure
consumer satisfaction. I figured I’d be noting this on the TripAdvisor
article I write. If my situation fell on deaf ears there, then perhaps
it’ll be read by other management, and action could be taken for subsequent
visits. Honestly, I wasn’t seeing any reason for a return visit at this
time.
Riding
with Evert, it gave us the opportunity to connect personally, as well as
discussing the finer point of the specific dealers in the region we’d be going
to. Since the purpose of the visits was business-related, I’m not going
into any details about them, except for the basics of where we went and what
impressions of the area I had.
We shot
east first to Moreno
Valley
We went
further north to get to Redlands .
This had been once a huge producer of citrus products, so it used to be called
“Orange Empire.” At some point later, and probably to distinguish it from
Orange County ,
this began being called the “Inland Empire .”
Since most of the orchards weren’t here anymore, the area was mostly flat and
brown. With the San Bernardino Mountains in the background, it reminded
me a lot of the area around Phoenix
(and parts north). The area was very much made up of working-class people
and ranchers.
Some of
the formally-empty sections are now being developed, so we had lunch at an
In-N-Out Burger in San Bernardino .
Evert suggested that I needed to try a unique California burger. I did mention I had
one on my previous visit, and wasn’t all that impressed. I also said that
we didn’t want to spend a lot of time looking around for a place to get a quick
lunch, so it was also acceptable. This wasn’t carrion-level food like
what’s served at Jack-In-The-Box. A double-double cheeseburger (with no
fries) was sufficient to feed the hunger beast for now. My eating habit
is usually a bit more regimented, and I just figured my diet would be slightly
out-of-whack this week.
After a
stop in the extremely economically-depressed San Bernardino ,
we shot back down to Riverside .
I picked up my rental, and followed Evert to our dealership on the southern
part of the city. After that visit was done, it was about 3 pm so we were
done for the day. Evert would be heading home to the Anaheim Hills
region, and I had the drive along Route 91 (Riverside Freeway) to look forward
too. I hoped to be able to reach my destination quickly, as MapQuest said
this shouldn’t be more than an “hour or so.” I kept that conservative
estimate in mind because that’s what it gave me to go from LAX to Riverside to start with.
Yeah, the
trip took over two hours, due to the slowness of the building rush hour
traffic. It took over 30 minutes just to cross Santa Ana . The first part (going from Riverside to Anaheim Hills
area) was actually pretty nice to look at, with the Chino Hills to the north
and some other mountainous region (which I couldn’t identify) to the south of
the highway. It was much slower when I picked up Route 55, which took me
between Santa Ana and Tustin . As an aside, whenever I hear
the name Tustin
I always think of the Sand People from Star Wars, which are the “Tusken Raiders.”
I’m sure I’m not the first person to have their brain go to this weird
place. Thanks to the Garmin plotting the route for me, it took me right
where I wanted to be. I took the opportunity to see what eateries and
establishments were here, although I wasn’t sure how much time I was going to
get to explore. I was going to want some food as soon as I got checked-in
so I could get back to taking care of the emails which had been blowing up my
phone all day.
I soon
neared the small area known as Sunset
Beach Warner Avenue ) had
deposited me on Pacific Coast
Highway , and according to the directions the Best
Western I’d be staying at was pretty close. The area reminded me a lot of
the “downtown” area of Seal Beach
I’d seen last month. There were mostly businesses and lodges visible from
the road (I assumed the houses were located on the side streets), and no
building was over three-stories. This was certainly a place which had the
“vacation location” feel to it.
As an
aside, I’d been on this section of PCH during the September trip, when we drove
from Seal Beach to Huntington Beach for the evening. It
was after dark when we drove that, so I wasn’t able to see too many landmarks
then. I know we chuckled about names of restaurants and such as we went
by, but I didn’t commit any of them to memory. So while I’d technically
been here before, it was still new to me.
I saw my
hotel, and wondered where the parking was, as Garmin was telling me I’d arrived
at my destination. I turned a corner, and saw a sign for their lot.
The entire ground floor of the hotel was the parking garage. There was a
nice mural on the wall, which showed all the local establishments. I knew
I’d have to get a picture of that at some point. The parking garage was
cramped, and didn’t have much ceiling clearance, but I had a small car which I
could easy maneuver. Still, I figured I’d leave my suitcase in the trunk
for the duration. I’d check in first, see where my room was, and then
come back for it.
At the
front desk was a pretty young smiling face with a name tag that said
“Alex.” She was very personable and polite, and a joy to talk to.
When I asked for some recommendations on local restaurants I should try, she
gave me a couple ones I could try. The front desk had a painting on it
which matched what was in the parking garage.
My room
was on the third (top) floor, and faced the highway. And before you can
say anything about potential road noise, I have to note I also had a westward
view. The sunset was already in progress. There was a small patio
which I could sit and enjoy it (perhaps on another day). The beach was in
that direction too, but I just had to figure out how to get there.
Once the
suitcase was brought in from the car, and I’d changed out of my suit into some
casual wear (khakis and polo shirt), it was time for dinner. I opted for
something which sounded it would be quick, so I cruised back down to the corner
of Warner and PCH. There was a sushi joint (Tsunami Sushi), and an
Italian restaurant (Firepit Pizza), but I opted for the Mexican place.
Super Mex
was a local chain, and was tucked away in the strip center. The interior
was small, but not crowded. One of the first things I noticed was the far
wall had the same mural that my hotel did. I wondered if every locale
here had this. I liked how it added some local flare. Instead of
the cheese enchiladas like I normally do at a Mexican restaurant, I just went
for the three enchilada plate so I could get one of each type (cheese, chicken,
and beef). I know, radical departure from the norm. It was very
good, but this time the beef was the one which tasted the best.
Back at
the hotel I wanted to try to get some work done, and there was some internet
connectivity issues, which Alex was able to take care of. She also
pointed out the breakfast area, and what I could expect. Hmm, didn’t
sound like I’d be getting much (if any) protein items tomorrow.
I made a
quick jaunt across the street to the stop-and-rob in order to grab some protein
bars to be able to nibble during the day tomorrow. Even though it was
after dark, and the area was decently lit, it was still like playing a game of
Frogger. In the middle of the day I might stand in the median if I needed
to, but not after sunset. I’m not very visible then, no matter what I’m
wearing. Then I worked what escalations I could before it was time to
drop off.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
Anaheim
Hills (CA): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaheim_Hills,_Anaheim,_California
Santa Ana (CA): http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/
Chino Hills (CA): http://www.chinohills.org/
Tustin (CA): http://www.tustinca.org/
Tsunami
Sushi: http://www.tsunamihb.com/
Super
Mex: http://supermex.com/index.php
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