Finally California small businesses can breathe a sigh of relief – although still trough face masks as Los Angeles county mandates everyone unvaccinated or vaccinated wear a face mask in public places. And it’s not a bad call considering the Delta variant seems to be sneaking through even the best jabs available so far.
So masked up and ready to explore, my journey began a little clunky with my TPMS tire light turning on about halfway to Claremont from Chula Vista, CA. My first thought was go to the tire store and second was it just needs some air… always go with the first intuition. I go to fill up the front right tire at the 76 gas station in Murrieta, CA and it is just audibly hissing air out. So I call Geico roadside, they send a guy to put on the donut and hands me a ice cold water bottle and across the street I go to America’s Tire where Dave fits me right in the schedule. Literally less than a half hour later, they told me my air valve was leaking and they fixed it for free… so it could have been way worse but oddly it all worked out minus the time suck. But what is life without a little adventure?
I was thankful it all happened before LA rush hour began on a Friday and that I left early to get a jump on the day. Finally arriving at the Claremont Chamber, I told Randy Lopez my tales of travel trouble and he said I needed to get a drink stat and recommended his favorite haunts. With my Claremont, CA press bag in tow, I headed off to the hotel which also wasn’t ready for an early checkin so perhaps it was all meant to work out as it did! I took the extra 20 minutes or so and got some nice shots of the property and was ready to just lay down for a few minutes at this point in the quiet and dark.
Part of the tourism board’s attraction is to purchase hotel packages that includes Claremont Chamber gift cards to their many small business affiliates at Discover Claremont. I had a whole other day planned but since my tire debacle ate up so much time, I was drawn to the cidery straight away to unwind and relax a bit.
I recommended to each business that they have a little “taste of Claremont” booze cruise shuttle so visitors can swing by and enjoy without driving. Fortunately for me, the Doubletree Claremont offers a shuttle that goes within 5 miles of the hotel which is where all the good stuff is anyway!
All that driving and sitting around made me want to move my body and get some exercise so off I went to explore California Botanic Garden. It’s best to come in the early morning so you’re not overheating in the summertime. According to the website, “California Botanic Garden is the largest botanic garden dedicated to California native plants, promoting botany, conservation and horticulture to inspire, inform and educate the public and scientific community about California’s native flora. The Garden is a living museum with curated collections of more than 22,000 California native plants, some of which are rare or endangered. Spread across 86 acres in Claremont, California, the Garden is located approximately 35 miles east of Los Angeles. The Garden displays about 2000 taxa of California plants and includes those native to the California Floristic Province.”
To see more about this adventure, check out the Instagram Story highlights on the Explorewithcassie Instagram page. We had such a great time in this fun little town, we can’t wait to return and explore some more!