Presidential Lounge, Lake Alice

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're all having a great time with your families.

So last night some friends and I decided to go grab drinks at the Presidential Lounge at the Mission Inn. This is a more upscale bar that sometimes has live music and even has a grand piano in the bar. There were people in all different attire- everything from sweatshirts and beanies to suits. I ran into one of my friends from high school there and there were a couple other people I recognized as well. This is a more relaxed bar, lots of people, but not too crazy.

After the Presidential Lounge we went to check out Mario's, but there was a line and a $10 cover charge. We decided (despite it being really cold) to walk over to Lake Alice. The cover charge there was only $3 and there was no line. There were people there that we knew also- typical for the holidays when everyone comes back into town to visit relatives. Lake Alice was a lot more upbeat and had a live band. There were different sports channels on, even though it was around midnight. There were people playing pool, shuffleboard, and just hanging out talking. I like this bar because it's a great place to just have fun. They have two small patios and it's just a great casual atmosphere.

Thursday Night Drift at Adam's Kart Trak

I found the website for Adam's Kart Track online when I was doing some research on stuff to do in Riverside. They do go-kart racing there (theirs are gas powered, not the weak electric ones!), timed races, and drifting. So last night I "dragged" one of my friends over there for the Thursday Night Drift. I say that I dragged him because he's into cars and racing, but we really didn't know what we were getting into and didn't know how long we would stay. Anyway, we got there and it was AMAZING! If you've ever seen the movie Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, then you have an idea what this is about. It's cars driving on the go-kart track and sliding around the turns on purpose.

Some of the drivers were absolutely amazing, while others needed some work. This is because anyone can enter their car for $20 for an hour. It only works if you have a car that is rear wheel drive, and most of the cars there were Nissans. There was a Dodge Viper Mopar, Toyota Supra and some other pretty impressive cars there, too.

If driving doesn't appeal to you, you can also pay $10 for a ride along. Next time we go we're gonna try that, so I'll comment on how that goes later.

For the most part just watching was pretty spectacular and for $3 per person you really can't beat the price. They have good music, food, and the announcer is pretty entertaining. This is probably not the best outing for little kids though. They had an eating contest and some other contests, but those were geared towards an older crowd.

Well, we are definitely going back and when we do we're going to try a ride along, so I'll let you know how that goes!

Shooter's Pool Hall

Last night a friend and I went to Shooter's Pool Hall. It's been awhile since I've been there and they've remodeled since I was there last. They have the pool area and the bar area separated now so that there are a couple distinct areas of the facility. The night that we went there was a tournament going on, so it was packed. There was a good mix of music and we were still able to get a table and drinks. It was a fun atmosphere with people in the league joking around and drinking. I expected a pool league to be more serious, so that was a nice relief since we aren't very good and our game of pool probably lasted three times what any of their games did! It was a fun casual night... hmm... maybe I'll join a pool league. :)