Bakersfield, CA

We arrived here in Bakersfield a few days ago. After many years apart, we looked forward to seeing our nephew, Andres and his family. We got together with them on Wednesday evening at their home. We met his wife and their 2 children for the first time. We had a very nice visit. Sorry, no pictures yet, but we are going over there again this afternoon and hope to spend more time with them over the weekend, so that will be my next post.

We are staying here at the Orange Grove RV Park. This is a very unusual setting. We are in an orange grove and we are encouraged to pick oranges for our eating pleasure. This is a very nice park and is reasonably priced. The orange trees are located throughout the park and the oranges are the best we have ever had. Very sweet and juicy. Al never ate oranges much, but he really likes these. I guess fresh off the tree is always best!

They provided us with a picker to reach the high parts of the tree. You can catch 4 or 5 at a time in the scoop that is on the pole.

John, a friend of ours from the Montana Owner's club, who lives near Bakersfield, called us and asked us to go to lunch. He took us to his favorite Italian Restaurant, Luigi's, here in Bakersfield. The food was excellent. This is John's favorite dish called the 1/2 and 1/2. Half pasta with meat sauce and half Italian beans. We both ordered it on his recommendation. Of course, it was very good. We hadn't had good Italian food since leaving NY in October, so it was a real treat.

The walls inside the restaurant were covered with pictures. This restaurant has been here for many, many years and visited by many famous people, including John F. Kennedy. All their pictures are on the wall. If you look closely, you will see Al and John at the bottom right corner of picture.

More pictures. It was overwhelming to see so much memorabilia in the form of pictures. Of course I couldn't study them too closely with people dining there.

We stopped at the Buck Owens Crystal Palace. There was going to be a concert there that evening with a group that Al likes " Asleep at The Wheel". We didn't think we could get tickets since the show was that evening, but they just opened up some new seats right up front and center. We decided to purchase the tickets and talked John into going also. We couldn't have had better seats. It is set up like a dinner theatre, as you sit at a table and you can order food and drinks before and during the show. So, our table was right on the dance floor. There was still plenty of room to dance while the band played. We had such a great time and it was such a treat for Al as he really enjoys their music. This is the type of concert I like going to, as it was very laid back. Lots of people were up dancing and that was as much fun to watch as the band. We are a little out of practice when it comes to dancing, but we did manage to get up and dance one dance together.

Another view of the Buck Owens' Crystal Palace

We are standing in front of the bronze statue of Buck Owens. John, me and Al.

Asleep At The Wheel