Birthday Fun in Idyllwild

My youngest son just turned three, and to celebrate we decided to spend the day in the beautiful mountain town of Idyllwild.  Just 30 minutes from our house, it is the perfect little getaway.  Our plan was to have lunch at a local restaurant, and then afterward we would grab some ice cream and head to the park so the kiddos could play for a while.

First stop: Lunch at Cafe Aroma

Once we got up the mountain, we headed straight for one of our favorite restaurants, Cafe Aroma.  You can see in the photo below that they have generously provided signage to alert passers by to the possibility of a Sasquatch crossing.  I don’t know about you, but I would be pretty peeved to be caught unaware by a Sasquatch, so I am grateful for the warning.

Here are a few pictures from the outside.  I love the final note on their welcome sign: peace, love, garlic.  All three of these are evident once you enter the restaurant.  🙂

Cafe Aroma has both indoor and outdoor seating, both of which are great.  But if the weather is nice, you should definitely sit on the patio.  Just a heads up, if you choose to sit outside, you may be seated next to a doggy diner.  I personally love that dogs are welcome, but I realize this may not be everyone’s preference…

One of the great things about this restaurant is the live music.  If you come at the right time, you can enjoy your meal to the lovely backdrop of live music.  This afternoon we were treated to two different musicians, both of whom greatly increased the pleasant atmosphere of the dining patio.

And of course I have to mention the food.  Even though it was the early afternoon, we opted to take them up on their breakfast menu that remains available until 4pm.  As always, the food was great.  The boys shared the pancakes special (candied pecans and chocolate chips–mmmmmm), and the rest of us ordered some of the savory breakfast items.

breakfast machine

pancake special

pesto benedict

uptown Idyllwild sandwich

Next Stop: Ice Cream

After lunch, we set out in search of an ice cream shop.  Being that we were celebrating a birthday,  ice cream was of course a nonnegotiable! We found a parking spot near the center of town and then started wandering until we stumbled upon Idyllwild Ice Cream & Jerky.  Yep, you read that right: ice cream and jerky!  I unfortunately did not get any pictures inside (as my camera is nearly the size of the teeny tiny shop), but I got the most important pictures covered:

Be still my heart: brothers holding hands while eating ice cream ❤

Last Stop: The Rustic Theater

Okay, so if you have been paying attention, you may have noticed that there was some park time planned after dessert.  But as we were sitting outside enjoying the lovely weather and delicious ice cream, we happened to notice that we were right next to the Rustic Theater, a cute little one-screen theater that we have always wanted to go to. And what was playing, you ask?  Guardians of the Galaxy 2!  And forgive me if my inner geek comes out, but how could we not go see Guardians?!?!  So it was a done deal: we polished off the last of our delicious ice cream and headed in to watch the movie.

After the movie (which was great, of course), we slowly meandered back to the car to head home.  Along the way I got some pictures to commemorate our lovely day in the beautiful mountain town of Idyllwild.

Idyllwild town monument

As we were walking, we noticed some deer out and about–it is a mountain town, after all–so I tried to get a picture. So as not to frighten them away in their natural habitat, I crept silently toward them, becoming one with nature, making no sudden movements.  And what do you know, they must be used to people being around, because they did not run and in fact seem quite well trained to pose for pictures.  😛

After our deer sightings, we made it back to the car and reluctantly drove back down the mountain.  We decided that a return trip will have to happen soon, so be on the lookout for more Idyllwild goodness at some point.  🙂

Tips and Lessons Learned:

1. Idyllwild gets pretty busy when the weather is nice, so finding parking may not be the easiest.  But don’t give up–it took us a good ten minutes of circling to find a spot, but totally worth it once we were all parked and able to wander around.
2. There is a lot of art to be found in Idyllwild.  If you have a chance, you can check some of it out.  Here is the website for the Art Alliance of Idyllwild.
3. If you are bringing your little ones to Guardians of the Galaxy 2, be sure to bring ear muffs.  😉  The language was a little rougher than we anticipated, and I may have spent some of the movie trying to cover their ears 😛

Next Up:

The Travel Tag