Lake Cahuilla - St Patrick's Day in Balboa Park

Fran has some gal-pals heading to Indian Wells Open to watch a couple days of the early rounds of the tournament.  I was surprised to find that Lake Cahuilla Riverside County Park had sites available and booked us three nights.

To get to the campsites first we had cross over a Speed Bump.

Then within the campground itself there a a couple Speed Humps.

The Bump can definitely break dishes, while the Hump is just a gentle reminder to keep your speed down.

Sites are very generous.  Both the RV and the Jeep are fully contained in our site.

In addition to our water/electric site there is an option to dry camp on the beach.

The park is tucked up to the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains.

The campsites do offer some shade from the old oak trees seen throughout the park.

While we were there the Day Use area was being renovated with new shade covers and the addition of Pickleball Courts.

I wanted the electric site to use the oven.  It was time to bake my Valentines pie ;)

Smells so good, and tastes great.  Yes another Apple Mountain Berry!

I was anxious to go with Fran, not for the tennis, but I hoped I could do a bit of research on Ancient Lake Cahuilla.  The park rangers knew of the ancient lake, but not of a museum featuring it.  At it’s peak the ancient lake covered the the entire Coachella Valley at a depth of over 170’.  Fed only by what is now the San Felipe creek.

We skipped the Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Balboa Park, as the park is now charging $20 p/p!  That festivity was Saturday, instead we opted for the performance at the House of Ireland in the Pan American Plaza on Sunday.  Still we have never seen the park so dang crowded!

We secured a parking spot behind the Organ Pavilion.  And walked past the Recital Hall.

Such elegant dance!

On Sundays a different nation hosts a program at the pan America Plaza, today it was Ireland. 

The house on the the right is the House of Ukraine on the left is the House of the United States

The US house is closed and with an obvious alarm system … Ukraine is welcoming guests!

House of Denmark is serving cookies!

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House of China served pot stickers.

The triangular shape of the Chinese flag was worth a photo.
but not the Costco potsticker 

We settled in front of the dance stage and took a walk to see what else attracted so many folks to the park today.

Behind the Comic-Con Museum there is a large Nowruz celebration.

Nowruz celebrates the Iranian New Year.  And is a big deal, with entertainment and food.  Very well done!

Who knew we had so many Iranian's in town

The space has alternating US and Iranian flags.

Today was also the last day of the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival.  All these folks are in line to enter the Japanese Gardens.

At least the organ concert will be performing soon for their entertainment

Three gals enjoying the view from the overlook, while waiting to their turn to see the cherry blossoms.

And at 2pm the Irish begin their performance as they parade into the Pan America Plaza.

The guy in the wheelchair is the president of the House of Ireland.  Fran confirms he is wearing a kilt!  I’ll take her word for it, if it was a skirt he’d be wearing underwear!

The pipe band has been practicing since 1846 here. 

I’m not Irish nor Scottish, but I do like the pipes.  I have no idea if they are wearing Kilts or skirts.  In fact I really don't want to know!

The pipes are followed by the dancers.

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Fran was once one of these high-stepping gals, and still has the shoes to prove it!

This fella could be with River Dance!  He was really that good.

These 2 gals were also really good

A finale for the teens

I don’t have a good picture of the kids to share, but trust me they were cute!

The crowds in the park made for a traffic jam to leave.  We made it in time for  ‘Last Call’ at The Artifact for a glass of wine.  No picture though.

Again we stopped for tostadas at El Indio on the way home.

Mine is Carnitas, Fran prefers Pollo Asada.

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