Mooching around: Southern California, Days 12 and 13 (28 and 29 July 2017)

A morning in Old Towne Orange – and more

Orange County is, as I’ve said before, an interesting place – full of cities with their own histories. One of these is Orange and, as I mentioned earlier in this blog, I do love to visit Old Towne Orange Historic District. We didn’t take as many photos here this time, because we’ve been here so many times before, but I’m sorry about that because I don’t have them to share with you.

Wikipedia says that

Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built prior to 1920. While many other cities in the region demolished such houses in the 1960s, Orange decided to preserve them.

As we – that is, Len, Carolyn and I – walked from where we parked our car in the street to the shopping area, we looked at the lovely old homes. These aren’t the big double-storey homes of more modern areas but single level homes, mostly being beautifully maintained, which is not easy when you are talking weatherboard (or wood).

One of the things we’ve been learning more about this trip, has been the history behind the street names. So, we learnt that two of the main streets in Orange, Glassell and Chapman, are named for early white settlers in the area, lawyers both in the 1860s, Alfred Chapman and Andrew Glassell. 

One of the things I love to do in this area is check out the antiques and collectibles stores, particularly for depression glass. I didn’t find much around this time – maybe its time has been and gone – but Carolyn and I had fun looking at old items and thinking about lives past versus our own. While Carolyn and I were doing this, Len was ensconced in Starbucks! A very different Starbucks, however, because this one is located in the old Wells Fargo Bank. I say old, because the bank building dates back to the early 1900s and is still a bank, which just happens to have a Starbucks in its entrance! I’ve seen coffee shops in bookshops and furniture stores, but not in a bank.

As well as sussing out the antiques and collectibles, Carolyn and I also sussed out lunch options, and settled on Rutabegorz, a block or two away from the shops, and located in a gorgeous old 1915 residence (one of those not pulled down!)  We sat outside on their “patio” and enjoyed their fresh food, which they claim provides “a healthier diet than the previous restaurant in this site”. I certainly enjoyed my salad, albeit served in a big blue plastic bowl!

On our way back through the shopping area, Carolyn spied in a side street a cafe advertising itself as “Aussie Bean Coffee Roaster”. Of course we had to try it. We all enjoyed our coffees and loved that they knew exactly what a “Long Black” was. The fellow on the counter did point out the Aussie (but he was in the roasting room so we didn’t get to speak to him.)

As is our wont, our plan was to get home in the early afternoon for some down time, but on the way we stopped at the Wholesome Choice supermarket where we found raspberries being offered for $1 per punnet. We bought 2 – punnets I mean!

After our afternoon rest, the five of us spent a lovely evening sitting around the table outside, dining on baked trout, tasty herbed roasted carrots and rice, and discussing “life, the universe and everything” or, more accurately, that day’s Trump antics.

Starbucks, Shopping and more Satire

Saturday morning was set aside for Carolyn and me to have a cuppa at the local Starbucks with BJ, who was one of the lovely mums I got to know when we lived here back in the early 1990s. Although this part of Orange County is known to be conservative (i.e. Republican), not surprisingly the people we befriended (or, who befriended us) back in the 1990s were mostly not of that ilk. So, you can guess where the conversation went. Being women of a certain age, we focused a lot on health insurance and retirement benefits, about which my American companions had a level of worry and fear that we don’t feel so much in Australia. (We did talk about other things too, such as where our kids are now, and travel!)

After this, Carolyn and I picked up Len to go to Brea Mall. We had two goals – a last lunch at the Nordstrom cafe (where I had the delicious chicken-apple salad again) and some specific shopping (including jeans for Len, which we achieved). This is very exciting for you readers, I know, but I do also want to document our holiday, including the more routine parts. (You are lucky that I haven’t also described in detail our hunt for a battery for an ageing power tool!)

Anyhow, after the planned afternoon rest, we prepared ourselves for dinner for which we were to be joined by Carolyn’s oldest son Ben. Unfortunately, his wife Annie had another commitment but we had a fun family time. We spent the first half sitting around the table outside, dining on Carolyn’s wonderful spare (pork) ribs, roasted potatoes and green salad, and talking about Ben’s trial experiences, recent politics, and various other topics of mutual interest, including of course travel. We ended the evening by watching, with Ben, some replays of recent favourite political satire, while snacking on meringues, cream and raspberries. How lucky we are to have good friends with great senses of humour, and supportive families, not to mention good food.

Today’s images

Still

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