Old Town and other stuff with Hank and Ann

The four of us like learning about the history of places.  In fact the History Channel is one of my favorite TV channels. (Granted some of the shows have little to do with history, still like those too.) Old Town gave us a close up view of the settling of San Diego.

Old Town is a small village.  One of the homes of original settlers is now a museum.  One of the homes is a hotel.  Other buildings such as the courthouse are now small shops.  Others are wonderful restaurants.

This is the square the little town is built around.

One of the stores.

This is what was the Estudillo home.  It is a typical Spanish home built around a courtyard.  Nearly all rooms open onto the courtyard.  They were very successful farmers.  The home reflected that success.

                                                    

To truly learn about a culture you need to experience the food and drink. So we had lunch at Casa de Reyes in Fiesta de Reyes.  Ann is enjoying a Margarita and chips with guacamole.

Ann took a picture of Marty, me, and Hank.  We should have asked the waitress to take a photo of the four of us.  Oh, well.

Isn’t this pretty and yummy looking?  My lunch was a wet shrimp burrito.  It had a red sauce and sour cream across it.  See that little yellow pepper top right?  That nearly took the top of my head off.  I have eaten these before and they are hot, but not like this one was.  One bite and I put it down.  I think it’s a Cascabella  pepper.

  

After lunch we walked through the shops around this courtyard. 

All of the above was on Tuesday.  Wednesday we relaxed, and made some of the food for Thanksgiving‘

Thursday Ann and Hank set the Thanksgiving table with our hosts’ good china.  Hank has poured our Champagne and some of the food is on the table.  On the table we had ham, hard dressing, giblet gravy, turkey, fruit salad with a Grand Marnier sauce.

                                    

Marty has carved the turkey and is ready to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner.

Front row left to right:  Soft dressing, mashed potatoes , corn pudding in the front.  Top back row left to right:  hot home made rolls and brussel sprouts.

We also had acorn squash stuffed with apple sauce.  No one went hungry.  We had Chess pie and cheesecake for dessert.  Except we were so full we couldn’t eat it until 11:00 that night.

We had such a great time with my brother and his wife.  Today we took them to the airport to fly home to Kentucky.  That is the downside to having a great visit with those you love so much.  They leave and you miss them before you’re even get a block away.