Socal Mom

Cabazon: Desert Shopping and Swimming

My plan for today's post was to write about the Palm Springs area and what a bargain it is for travelers in the summer months (when demand for desert uh, warmth is on the low side).

Megan and I were going to leave the house early, check in to our Rancho Mirage hotel and then check out the local sights, like the Aerial Tramway and...

...well, that was the only activity I was aware of here. I figured we woud spend the rest of the day shopping at the River complex, and hanging out at the pool.

That was before Megan turned on her newly charged cell phone and found a text message from a friend, who happened to be staying at the Morongo Casino and Resort, out in Cabazon... which we would be passing by on our way to Palm Springs. The Desert Hills Premium Outlet mall is located right next to the resort... I had always wanted to check it out (for some reason, my husband never seems to want to stop and shop when we're traveling) and Leesa and her family were planning on having lunch there. So why not?

While there, Leesa's family invited us to come and hang out with them at the resort's fabulous pool. So instead of an awesome aerial view, we ended up spending the afternoon at an Indian casino... and it was good.

Sunny San Diego (and Coronado, too)

When I was a kid growing up here in the San Fernando Valley, my family's favorite vacation destination was San Diego. It's relatively close (just a two hour drive if traffic is light), it's on the coast, and the weather is almost always perfect (even when it's raining in Los Angeles, as it was this weekend).

So when I received an invitation to attend a blogger event this weekend at Sea World (to try out the park's new Sesame Street themed Bay of Play area), I jumped on it. For the last couple of years, we've been heading down to San Diego purely for gymnastics meets. How nice would it be to go there for fun?

As it turns out, it was very nice indeed.

Fun in Long Beach

My university student niece and nephew were visiting us this weekend. Rather than just sit around and hang for two days, we decided to take advantage of a brief moment of sunshine Saturday to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

Our family could be classified as "Aquarium People." My sister's in-laws (Carly and Alex's grandparents) have long been involved with San Pedro's Cabrillo Marine Museum. This is the oldest marine education facility in Southern California; in operation for over 70 years, and their innovative programs have served as a model for many of the public aquariums that have opened since, including the larger, more famous ones in Monterey and California's newest one in Long Beach. One of the best things about Cabrillo is that it is owned by the City of Los Angeles and is FREE to the public (they do request that visitors consider leaving a discretionary donation).

"Don't tell Grammy we're going to Long Beach," my niece admonished her brother.

The Aquarium of the Pacific IS bigger, more modern and has a location advantage: downtown Long Beach has become a really happening place, with restaurants, shopping and nice hotels.

That's a good thing, because the moment we got there, my husband announced he was hungry (which usually means we must drop everything and feed the beast -- he has low blood sugar or something, so these things must be taken care of quickly). It was warm and sunny, so we walked along the pier to the Shoreline Village restaurant development and ended up at the YardHouse: Great salads, sandwiches and a huge beer menu (which we did not partake of -- will have to save that for another visit).

Lunch done, it was time to head back to the Aquarium.

(Oops! The 15 minutes I've allocated for writing posts on my main blog is up... this post continues over on my Review Blog, Socal Stuff. View more photos of our day in Long Beach at Flickr.)

Rawhide, Arizona

At first glance, my husband was disappointed with Phoenix.

"It looks just like the San Fernando Valley," he said glumly. "Only bigger."

Admittedly, our whirlwind weekend did not give us any opportunity to really SEE much of the city. Our 8:00 a.m. flight arrived in Arizona at 10:30, and it took us a while to get out of sprawling Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. By the time we picked up our checked bags (complicated by the fact that the airport's baggage claim monitors had mislabeled our Southwest Airlines flight out of Burbank as a USAir flight from Calgary) and made it to the rental car center (three miles from the terminal!), it was nearly lunchtime.

As this is the off-season for the compulsory gymnasts, only three girls from Megan's Level 6 team had opted to participate in the Arizona meet. One of them, who had an older sister competing on Saturday, was already there. The other girl and her mother were our traveling companions. This made the entire trip even more exciting for Megan, as she and Samantha are close friends. It made it fun for me, too, because Sue (Sammie's mom) is one of the gym parents I enjoy hanging with.

After collecting our rental car and checking into the La Quinta Inn in Chandler, I had to admit my husband was right -- at least, about the part of town we were staying in. It was a lot like home -- just larger. And our hotel was located in Retail Central. We were close to a Super Wal-Mart, Target, Sports Authority, JC Penney and countless chain restaurants. The latter was a good thing, because everyone was hungry. We found an Applebee's (which has something for everyone, including Weight Watchers meals for Sue and me) and began planning the afternoon.

Our girls' meet fees included admission to a big barbecue Saturday evening. The coaches were given wristbands to distribute to the team members, but they had left for Arizona without giving them to Sammie and Megan. So I felt that our first priority was to catch up with them at the meet (which was already in progress). Besides, we needed to orient ourselves. It would be important to figure out how to get to the meet location and know exactly how much driving was involved.

Fortunately, it was pretty close by -- just two miles away.

This meet will be fun," the Head Coach had told us. It was definitely being held in a unique spot.

Rawhide is a Western-themed tourist spot, currently located in the Gila River Indian Community.

The Gila River Indians are creating quite a tourist resort on their land. As we made our way to the western town, we could see that their development at Wild Horse Pass includes a Sheraton hotel and spa, a golf club, an equestrian center and (of course) a casino. And it looks like there's more to come.

We knew we were in the right place because the gymnastics meet was signposted with directions to the large dirt parking lot in front of the entrance of Rawhide, which featured western artifacts like covered wagons. The theme from the old Rawhide TV series was blaring on a continuous loop from the town entrance. This made me flash on its old opening credits, with closeups of cattle being rustled along the frontier. I was confused. "How can they be holding a meet HERE?" I mused, as we approached the covered wagon that adorned the front gate.

Then, I saw some of our level 7 girls leaving the town with their parents. They had just finished their session. The coaches we were looking for were still inside, working with the level 8 and 9 girls. "It's a really fun place," one of the moms told us.

And it was.

The "town" consists of a wide dirt street lined with the kind of shops you'd expect to see in a frontier outpost (in fact, they are exactly the ones you have seen in hundreds of Westerns since the dawn of film and television). There is a large steakhouse (with a saloon), a General Store (where you can buy sunscreen and Tylenol and all kinds of souvenirs), a Jewelry store, ice cream stand, margarita stand (something for everyone!), a clothing shop, a toy store, rock climbing, mechanical bull ride... OK, so it's geared more towards the kind of things a family with kids would be looking for, but still...

There were also countless props for photo ops (covered wagons, big sagauro cacti, etc.), a petting zoo, burro rides, rock wall climbing, and live entertainment in the form of a wild west show and a "showdown" in the middle of the street.

We passed an outdoor plaza advertising a Saturday night barbecue under the stars. "That must be where the girls are having their party tonight," I mused. But none of the buildings were large enough to hold a gymnastics meet attracting teams from all over the country.

We made our way to the end of the long street and hung a right past a pen holding a lonely looking bison. There was a sign posted indicating that the meet was straight ahead. In the distance was a huge ultra-structure.

Once inside, the girls quickly found their coaches and obtained their purple wristbands. That accomplished, I was able to relax a little -- our daughters were NOT going to miss any of the fun that evening.

We spent the next hour perusing the shops. Sue bought some beautiful jewelry from one of the vendors at the meet, and I picked up a funky jade and amethyst bracelet in the Rawhide jewelry store. I couldn't believe how inexpensive it all was. "That's because the silver and stones are all produced locally," Sue pointed out.

We still had a couple of hours to kill before we had to bring the girls back for their barbecue. Sue and I and the girls used that time to relax a little at the hotel. My husband took advantage of that time to get out and explore a little (he was dying to take some photos that weren't off in a tourist trap). We all got what we wanted:

As it turned out, the party wasn't outdoors, but in the Rawhide Steakhouse. One of the team moms had the foresight to make a reservation for all of us parents and coaches, so we could enjoy a nice meal while the girls partied in the banquet room.

The Steakhouse menu featured all the usual suspects (steak, ribs and more steak), plus some delicacies (fried rattlesnake, anyone?) and even a few healthy choices (I love finding vegetarian options in steakhouses!). Ever conscious of my dietary requirements, I chose the grilled salmon, which was very good (if a little bit highly seasoned -- I'm afraid I've been on such a low-sodium regimen that I've become sensitive to salt).

I wish I could say that I totally adhered to my diet. I was good on my food choices, but terrible when it came to beverages: I ordered a drink in the saloon and then enjoyed a Mexican coffee as my dessert. Between the fact that I'm 50 pounds lighter and haven't been drinking much the last six months, these went straight to my head. (But it was worth it!)

A few words about our hotel: I have never stayed in the La Quinta chain before (you guys know I tend to reserve at 4- and 5- star places), so did not know what to expect, other than an inexpensive room with free Internet access (which I didn't use, having left my computer at home for a change). I have to say that I was impressed with the relative value of what we paid for. The room was nicely sized, the bathroom was well planned, and the facility was nice and clean.

A few words about Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport: Our return visit wasn't any better than our arrival (when they couldn't give us correct information about our luggage). Our terminal featured a huge shopping/food court -- BEFORE you get to the security line, which was one of the slowest, least efficient ones I've ever had the displeasure to stand in. (And if you've ever visited Heathrow, you know I've been in some doozies.) Once you get through the line and are waiting for your flight, there is NEXT TO NOTHING to choose from. There may have been other outlets in the hallways leading to other gate series, but we didn't have the time to explore. If you travel to Phoenix and plan to grab some food at the airport, give yourself plenty of time so you can eat BEFORE you visit the TSA. (Better yet: eat before you get there.)

A Perfect Day in La Jolla

Megan's best friend in second grade was a girl named Rachel. That year, the two of them had weekly after school playdates -- often at Rachel's house. This gave my only child a taste of living with a lot of siblings, as she also got to play with Rachel's younger sister, little brother and the baby (also named Megan). My daughter was heartbroken when Rachel's dad got a new job down in San Diego. Strangely enough, so was my husband. "They are just the nicest family," he lamented.

So we have stayed in touch, and when I saw that we would have to go down south for Megan's last meet, I called Rachel's mom to see if we could arrange a get-together. Fortunately, they were available.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked. I suggested we meet in La Jolla. After all, who needs a plan when you have five kids and a beach?

I began to worry on Thursday when SoCal got hit by a winter storm. Fortunately, it passed quickly... and Saturday was about as glorious a February day as you could ask for.

I had never before been to La Jolla, which is a beachside community within the city of San Diego. It boasts Ellen Browning Scripps park, beautiful expanse of green lawns on a bluff overlooking a beach, with protected coves, lots of native wildlife. And it is adjacent to a lovely upscale "Village" with art galleries, expensive stores and good restaurants. In other words, something for everyone.

We began our day by crossing Scripps Park to Children's Pool Beach, which really was once a protected beach area designated for children, but several years ago, was overrun by harbor seals, who discovered that it was a nice, safe spot for their children, too. The seals won; it is now exclusively a nesting site for them and it is roped off during pupping season - as it was on Saturday. The good news is that we got to see a lot of mommy and baby seals swimming in the cove (when they weren't basking in the sunshine).

From there, we moved on to a beach designated for humans. I hadn't thought to pack swimsuits... or sunscreen (I was focused on gymnastics and besides, it's FEBRUARY). And as the kids played in the sand and climbed the rocks for what seemed like hours, I realized what a mistake it was to omit the latter! Fortunately, my friend was well-prepared (after all, she is mother to four children between the ages of 3 and 10) and we all got the protection we needed. (In my defense, Gareth usually keeps sunscreen in his car, which was in the shop for the week for repairs after our break-in last month -- so we drove to San Diego in an empty rental).

The kids never got tired of building sand forts and watching the waves knock them down, so it was up to the hungry parents to make the decision that a little lunch would be in order. Rachel's dad actually works in a building overlooking the park and has to live with that view every single day (we really do feel for him). He also knows where the best lunch spots are, and he led us to a beautiful little cafe with a patio facing the ocean. We were told that from 3:00 on, they were only serving coffee and pastries. It was 3:02.

"They probably saw five kids coming up the steps and hauled out the sign," my friend grumbled. So we went to Plan B - walking into the little Village to find a restaurant that served food both the kids and the adults could enjoy. We were having a little trouble with that - until he remembered that there was a nice Hard Rock Cafe with good hamburgers and fries and decent salads... as well as a large outdoor patio that would allow the kids to enjoy themselves without disturbing other diners.

It was just what the doctor ordered. We followed lunch by taking the kids upstairs to Cold Stone Creamery. We moms decided that was too sweet for us -- and not only that, but it was getting kind of chilly out -- so we left the kids with their fathers and walked down the block to Starbucks for our version of dessert.

We then walked back towards the beach to the Sunny Jim Cave Store, featuring an entrance to La Jolla's largest sea cave. The tunnel you enter through the store was dug out over 100 years ago, making this one of the area's oldest ongoing tourist attractions. The 145 steps leading down to the cave are somewhat uneven, and as you get closer to the bottom, they are slippery. It's a bit of a spooky trip down, but it's the kind of spooky that kids enjoy - and the destination is definitely worth it. There is an admission fee to enter the tunnel: $4 for adults and somewhat less for the kids (all eight of us entered for under $30).

The sun was setting when we emerged from the cave, but there were still plenty of beaches and coves to explore -- which we managed to do until it was too dark to play any longer. We'd had such a late lunch that no one was ready for dinner, which is a shame, because I wanted to explore more of the restaurants in the Village (probably just as well, as they didn't look to be very kid-friendly). We bid our friends good-bye and went back to our hotel -- satisfied and tired after a perfect winter day at the beach.

"Toto, We're Not in Anaheim Any More!"

When Gareth and I first started dating, he told me about his hometown of Cardiff. I thought it was romantic that there was a big old castle right in the city center. And when he told me that it is now a popular spot for weddings, I started planning one of my own. (Never mind that when we did finally decide to get married, we ended up in Sacramento -- that fantasy wedding in a castle still sounds so romantic!)

The dream only intensified when I finally got my first peek at Cardiff Castle, in the winter of 1991. (Note the long, curly hair in the photo above -- I did spend an entire decade with a perm!)

"I know you Americans -- all you want to see is castles," my new father-in-law explained, as he drove us around from one ancient relic to another. Although there were plenty of other kinds of sites I wanted to visit, he had a point; until I'd set foot in the United Kingdom, the only castle I'd visited was the one at Disneyland, and I longed to see the real thing. I had come to the right place. Wales is littered with castles. After about a week of sightseeing, I started complaining to my husband that I'd become all castle'd out.

That does not mean that we never returned to any of those castles, especially after we had kids. The truth is that there's nothing quite as exciting for a child to explore as an old castle. (For proof, check out this five-year-old photo of Megan, who enjoyed her visit to Caerphilly Castle despite getting caught in a downpour!)

Another truth about kids: They don't always remember the places you visited five years ago. They also process the information at different ages very differently. That's why, if you had fun seeing a site a few years ago, you may want to do it again, even if you think you'll be bored. After all, it's a different experience for you, too, when you are seeing it through your kids' eyes.

Which brings me back to Cardiff Castle. Megan was still in preschool the last time we took a guided tour there. She had NO MEMORY of the castle interior -- which is a shame, as this old fortress has a fascinating history and contains some of the most spectacular rooms in all of Britain.

The castle (and much of Cardiff) was part of the holdings of John Crichton-Stuart, the 3rd Marquess of Bute, who inherited a huge family fortune, thanks to his father's (the 2nd Marquess) decision to develop Cardiff as a port city to export the coal and other minerals mined on his vast property holdings in Wales. The Marquess was an educated young man with a particular interest in Medieval times, one that he shared with his college friend, an architect named William Burges, who turned the castle's residential apartments into a wild, Gothic fantasy.

As so much of the castle was renovated in the 19th century, purists might decide it's not worth seeing. I disagree. Walking around the castle grounds is like taking a journey through history, as there are bits that date to the Roman Empire, the motted Norman Keep in the center of the courtyard, the residential apartments, which date from the 16th century, and of course, the Burges-designed interiors. These rooms are unlike anything else I've ever seen from both an art and a craftsmanship POV (even more fantastic than Disneyland!). The docents who conduct the tours do an excellent job of explaining the origins of the symbols Burges scattered throughout, and put it all into historical context.

Your kids will love being able to run around the courtyard, climb the steps of the Keep, and watch the peacocks and birds of prey on display there.

Cardiff Castle is open daily (except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day), from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (March to October) and until 5:00 p.m. the rest of the year. (Last entry is 4:00 p.m.) Admission (including the guided tour of the apartments) is £6.95 for adults (appoximately $14) and £4.30 for children (about $8.50). You may enter the grounds only (without the tour) for about half that price, and there are family and group discounted rates, as well.

The Castle has a gift shop and a full-featured cafe which serves light meals and tea (as well as wine and beer).

A Day at Techniquest

For a blog that's supposed to be focused on family and travel, I've been doing an awful lot of the former and very little of the latter.

This is partly because we're still recovering from our last visit to the United Kingdom and have barely begun to think about leaving home again this year. (Suffice it to say that there will be no BIG, multi-week trips in 2007 -- but we do have some vague plans for some weekend getaways, which will be chronicled here.)

The other reason is that I've simply been overwhelmed by all the everyday parenting and life stuff we've had to deal with here at home. So when I was going over my notes, I was surprised to discover that I'd neglected to write about one of the best kid spots in all of Cardiff, Wales.

Techniquest is a kids' science museum, located in a huge, hangar-like structure in the very trendy and modern development of Cardiff Bay. We had visited many times in the past, but had no plans to go this time, as Megan is now nearly 11 and I felt she had outgrown it.

"No, I haven't! I want to go!" she protested. As it was yet another rainy, cold, dreary day, we decided to go for it. So did my brother-in-law, who holds an annual yearly membership for his boys.

	It turns out that Megan was right. We spent a couple of happy hours there (until the place closed), and I didn't hear one complaint that she was bored. The museum features dozens of brain-teasing hands-on puzzles and exhibits that challenge the kids... and on that day, my husband and his brother, who spent the afternoon competing to see who could solve them the fastest. All afternoon, the kids pretty much had to fight their dads to get to play them! The ground floor of Techniquest deals with all manners of science and physics. Hands-on exhibits like what happens when you fire a rocket; testing your reaction time; racing electric cars; launching a hot air balloon, etc. The second floor is more of the same, with a lot of the exhibit space devoted to sound and light and their properties. There are some cool music-making activities, and demonstrations on how sound travels. There are also a couple of theater areas for live presentations. We attended one on bubbles. I was impressed by how entertained the kids could be by something so low-tech. The two museum staffers demonstrated bubbles and their properties (creating the kind of soap bubbles we are used to but also using different gases to make bubbles that could ignite). The highlight was when an audience member was invited to stand inside a giant bubble, which they created by instructing the child to stand in the center of a halved truck tire that held the bubble solution -- and using a hula hoop for the wand.

Techniquest is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 to 4:30 and Weekends and holidays from 10:00 - 5:00. Admission is £6.90 for adults and £4.80 for children (approximately $13.80 and $9.50, respectively). There are also family and group rates available.

The museum also has a nice cafe and gift store (and plenty of good restaurants within walking distance).

Jump in Cardiff

Today, I begin a series of posts about kid-friendly sites in Cardiff from our recent UK visit. I wrote this in longhand during our recent visit to Cardiff:

I text my husband: "I'M IN HELL."

The Hades in question is 123 Jump, a huge indoor playground for the elementary school set.

The truth, however, is that it's not that bad -- definitely not as bad as one would expect, given the fact that it's a rainy afternoon during Christmas break, and it appears that every harried mum in Cardiff has had the same idea. After all, what else do you do with your energetic little tykes when your home is too tiny to contain them and the parks are too cold and wet for comfort?

No matter how many terrific sites you see on a vacation with kids, they need some time and space to unwind and run around. That's why we try to build park and playground visits on our family trips. And this place happens to be the best run indoor play establishment I've ever visited. It puts Chuck E. Cheese to shame.

Housed in a gigantic strudcture within a modern industrial park, 123 Jump's centerpiece is a monstrous climbing structure. It also boasts a trampoline (supervised and sheltered with security netting), coin-operated bowling, age-appropriate video games, a moonbounce, ball pit, preschool area, and a decent cafe, which swerves healthy meal options in addition to the usual kid favorites like sausage, chicken nuggets and chips.

Unfortunately, we've arrived too late to commandeer a nice table in the cafe, and as I'm laden with all the coats, jackets and backpacks brought by my daughter and two nephews, I'm not in a good position to hover round so I can swoop in on a table as soon as it becomes empty. Besides, there aren't any. The lucky parents already here are in position for the duration.

Fortunately, 123 Jump has plenty of wide, cushioned benches situated throughout the facility, so I at least have a place to dump said accoutrements while I settle in for our visit. I'll deal with the tabvle situation should the kids stop running around long enough to realize they're hungry.

In the meantime, if the noise gets too unbearable, I can move into the sound-proofed quiet room where I can keep tabs on the little monkeys via CCTV.

That never happened. And at 4:00, as the time rolled around for the mums to gather up their kids and start cooking dinner, several tables freed up in the cafe... which is a good thing, because as I predicted, the kids suddenly decided they were hungry. We ended up visiting 123 Jump three times over the three weeks we were in Cardiff, and the kids never got tired of it. Weirdly enough, neither did I. It's kind of nice to have a little time to sit by yourself with a book and know that the kids are happy and safe (the place has tons of staff supervising all the areas. That does not excuse you from your own duties -- but right now, with an almost-11 year old, I don't feel as compelled to watch her every single second of the day in a place like this.)

L.A. With Kids

While we were in the U.K., I received an email from Sabrina Weissler. Sabrina produces a podcast called "L.A. With Kids," which is exactly what it sounds like -- a rundown of things to do in Los Angeles with young children. She bases it on her own outings with her twins. Check it out!

And Yesterday, We All Took a Bath

(Note: Some of the photos in this post were taken by Megan -- I really have to pack EACH of us a camera the next time! -- and in a few days, I may add some taken by Gareth. Stay tuned.)

I had a good laugh Christmas Eve, while watching the weather report on the BBC News channel.

"Today was cold and gray all over the country," the weather reporter intoned. "Tomorrow we'll have more of the same. Frankly, we don't foresee anything different until later in the week, when we will see a drastic change…"

I held my breath, hoping for the announcement that we would finally have a sunny day.

"…when the gale winds return, bringing colder temperatures and rain."

Drastic change? I told my husband of this forecast, and he just groaned. Of course, having grown up here, he couldn't have expected anything else in late December. The days are short, the skies are gray, and the temps are as far away from Southern California as you can get.

"It's beautiful in L.A.," my sister told me on the phone Boxing Day. As usual, she spent Christmas Eve with her mother-in-law in San Pedro, before moving up to our house. (After all, why should the fact that we're not there prevent her and her family from spending a restful day at our house before driving back up to Sacramento.) "The sun is shining, and I think it must have hit 80 degrees this afternoon."

"Is it smoggy?" I asked her.

"No, it's clear and beautiful," she replied.

I sighed. I was definitely feeling a whiff of homesickness. Come to think of it, that's what usually happens after I've been away for two weeks. It's predictable.

Besides, after three days of Christmas partying, we were all getting a little stir crazy. I still cannot get used to the fact that EVERYTHING closes here from late afternoon Christmas Eve until the end of Boxing Day on December 26. That's three days of little to do but enjoy the company of your family within the confines of your home. Yes, the parks are open and we saw plenty of folks walking around Roath Park Lake, but that wasn't all that appealing to this heat-seeking Californian.

It was clear to all of us that it was time to plan a day trip.

In 15 years of travel to Britain, I've seen remarkably little of the country. For years, we've talked about taking side trips to other areas of interest: the Lake District, Devon, Cornwall, even North Wales and Edinburgh. The problem with each of those locales is that it would take more than an hour's drive to get there - and all would be more enjoyable in the summer, when we have a shot at enjoying some decent weather.

"How about Bath?" I asked my husband.

Bath is in southwest England, just about one hour's drive from Cardiff (and two hours from London). Gareth and I met friends there on my very first trip to the UK 15 years ago, and we returned with his fam ily a few years later, but we've never brought Megan there, so it would be new to her.

"I don't know. You really want to go to Bath again?" he asked.

Well, it's close. There's plenty to see and do there. And the gorgeous architecture and scenery would ensure that he would be able to take some wonderful photos, even if the weather is horrible. That last point clinched the deal. We awoke early yesterday and set out for Bath.

We couldn't have picked a better day. "What's that funny looking yellow thing up in the sky?" my husband joked.

"I believe it's called the sun, Gareth," I said. And it remained visible in the sky until it set.

Bath has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, thanks to its spectacular Georgian architecture and the remains of baths and temple built when the town was a major outpost of the Roman Empire. However, the restorative waters of the hot spring that gives the city its name have made it a destination since the days of the Celts. This year, the city opened up a state-of-the-art new spa where modern day visitors can experience the reputed healing properties of Bath's famous hot spring.

We began our day by touring the ruins of the Roman baths, which were uncovered in the 1880's by sewer system workers. Excavation revealed one of the most elaborate structures left by the Roman occupiers. As I'm still feeling a little guilty for taking Megan out of school three days early so we could save some money on this trip, I've been determined to include some education for her. This was a no-brainer.

The tour concluded in the 18th Century Pump Room, where Jane Austen (and many of her characters) often dined. There, a man dressed in Georgian attire was handing out glasses of the fabled spring water. Gareth and I weren't going to try it again, but Megan was game.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said after her first exploratory sip. "It's not so bad." She then proceeded to drink the water and almost did a spit take. "Yes it is that bad!" she coughed. We thanked the gentleman as we returned her glass.

It was lunchtime and the Pump Room was still fairly empty, so we decided to stay for a bite. The room is rather formal, with a bill of fare to match. Fortunately, they offered a children's menu that included simple dishes like spaghetti, so everyone was happy.

Gareth and I do not usually drink at lunch, but the ambiance of the room suggested that a glass of champagne would not be inappropriate. I started my meal with a mixed green salad dressed with an olive oil and coarse mustard vinaigrette. Both Gareth and I ate the Slow Roast Belly of Somerset Pork, a small roulade of meat set on a bed of creamed cabbage and leek-mash potatoes and apple gravy. It was delicious, but I think my mother-in-law made the best choice: a vegetarian strudel of butternut squash and spinach in puff pastry.

It was after 2:00 when lunch was finished, and Gareth wanted to get some pictures of Bath's famous Royal Crescent, where people still reside. As we only had about 90 minutes of daylight left, we decided to find it - but first, we were captivated by a pair of very professional buskers, performing a juggling and unicycle act in front of the Pump Room. (Sample patter: "Oh, you're from America? Here on holiday - or studying a foreign language?")

As we made our way back down to the center of town, we passed the Jane Austen Center, and I realized that there was so much to do and see in Bath that we should have planned this to be an overnight visit. We decided to leave Jane for the next time so we might be able to tour the city's magnificent Abbey before it closed at 4:00.

It was dark when we exited the Abbey gift shop and we were feeling a little peckish, so we decided to have a spot of tea before heading back to Cardiff. We stopped at Sally Lunn's, which has been in operation for 300 years in Bath's oldest former residence (built around 1482 -- but with foundations that date back to when the Romans were there). Sally Lunn herself was a French refugee who opened a shop in 1680, where she sold buns that became the rage of Georgian England... and whose recipe is still used today. I ordered the "Victorian Cream tea," which included one-half toasted bun smeared with the establishment's own lemon curd and accompanied with clotted cream. My bun-half looked like the bottom of a giant hamburger bun -- but it was soft and fresh and yummy, as was the lemon curd. I would definitely return.

We left Bath feeling happy and full. And as we awoke this morning to a day of steady rain, we are happy to have had a sunny day in Bath.

(See more of our photos at Flickr!)