Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn

On Saturday we trekked up to Riverside to visit with Joyce and take her to the Festival of Trees and the Festival of Lights.  Both were happening at the same time and only a block away from each other.  But first Joyce wanted to take us to the Patio Store which always turns into a Christmas Store around the holidays.

The Patio Store had about 25 fully decorated Christmas trees, each with a different theme.  The trees were packed with hundreds of ornaments and they were beautiful.  Some of the undecorated trees sell for over $400!

The trees at the Patio Store

Elly & Joyce at the Patio Store

 After viewing all the trees and shopping for ornaments we headed over to the Festival of Trees after stopping for lunch.   The Festival of Trees was held in the Riverside Municipal Audition which look like a church at first glance.  Here is a Google Street view of the auditorium. 

Riverside Auditorium where the Festival of Trees was held

The streets around the auditorium & the Mission Inn were really crowded.  It was next to impossible to find a place to park!  I let Elly & Joyce off in front and parked just around the corner, I got lucky!

There were about 10 trees set up in the auditorium with amateur singers performing on stage when we arrived. It was family day!  The rest of the trees were downstairs, probably about 40 more.  To say the least, I was less than impressed,  I thought the trees at the the Patio Store were much better!

I liked this Wizard of Oz Tree

After we viewed all the tree, we walked next door to the Mission Inn. It was more crowded than the tree festival.  The sidewalks were packed with people and there was a line to get into the Inn itself, but the lights were spectacular!  The entire Inn was decked out in thousands of lights!

 

The Mission Inn lit up.

 Small video of the festival of lights at the Inn.

 
The area just outside the Inn is a open air shopping plaza that was packed with people shopping and just enjoying the evening.  It was difficult to get good pictures due to the crowds, the poor lighting and my cheap camera. We will be going back during the week when it is less crowded and we will be able to see more of the Inn. I will try to take better pictures then.

The crowds in the shopping plaza

One of the cutest sights were the "Cinderella Carriage" rides.  They were horse drawn carriages decorated in Christmas lights.  It looked like fun, maybe next time we will take one of these!
 

Cinderella Carriage Ride

Cinderella Carriage

 Here is a small video I took of the carriages.

After a full night of revelry and merry making we left for home.  Hope to come back soon when it's less crowded.