Mission Inn Festival of Lights

I finally made it to the Festival of Lights last night! I usually go on opening night, which is amazing because they have fireworks and a huge assortment of vendors, but I couldn't go this year. I talked one of my friends into coming with me and we headed downtown around 7:30. I have to say that the whole downtown area around the Mission Inn is fun to see around Christmas time. The holiday spirit seems to spread from the Mission Inn and affect everyone around. There is an ice skating rink as well as horse drawn carriages. (As a side note- there was one carriage driver who almost let his horses run into the back of my car. The other carriage drivers around were appalled at how close he came as well. I own horses and would never put my horses at that kind of risk by being so close to a car where there is unpredictable car and pedestrian traffic. The rest of the carriage drivers were very careful and polite, so it's horrible that one can ruin things.)

Once we parked we walked past the pedestrian mall on Main street where they were selling gingerbread cookies. On the other side of Main street they have a rink where you can go ice skating, which is amazing for the holidays. The front of the Mission Inn is beautiful, and is decorated with millions of lights and Christmas decorations. We walked past the front valet entrance and into the main entrance of the hotel. The inside of the hotel is as beautiful if not more beautiful than the outside. The Christmas tree inside is decorated with gorgeous ornaments, and the mantel is amazing as well.

After we finished walking around the Mission Inn we went down the street to Lake Alice. Lake Alice is one of my favorite bars because it has just about anything you could want to do there. Since it was a Thursday night they had karaoke. One of our friends met us there and sang, but they have a lot of regulars, so the wait was pretty long. We played darts, shuffleboard and pool while we were there. Some tips for anyone who goes- people tend to walk in front of the dart boards, so block off the path with some chairs. For the shuffleboard table, the pegs in the middle tend to stick, so you might have to push them down.

I recommend that anyone who hasn't been to the Mission Inn for the Festival of Lights go at some time. The last day for this season is Sunday January 2, 2011.