Los Rios

(May 28, 2009) As we were leaving the Mission Bob was asking one of the staff there about heading back to Pasadena. She advised that we wait until at least 7:30 or 8pm, allowing for commuter traffic to clear out. So that gave us several hours to kill. She suggested we explore the Los Rios area, just a few blocks from the Mission. So, we found a place to get some dinner and since most of the business were closed for the day, we headed in the direction of Los Rios. The tracks for Amtrak and the commuter MetroLink run on the far side of a big public parking lot and Los Rios is just across the tracks. Los Rios Historic District includes 31 historic structures which line both sides of Los Rios street. This District contains the oldest continually occupied residential streets in California and includes three adobe house built in 1794 as housing for families connected to the Mission. Since we'd been walking most of the day, we did not get to all the houses but we did get by a few of them. These I'd like to share with you.....

I loved this mailbox!

And coming from a railroad family I was intrigued with this old railway station luggage cart.

Yes, there are still people living in the little house at the back of this property.

This is occupied by the Rios family (10th generation) and used as a residence and law office. It is the oldest residence in California continuously occupied by a single family.

The building below is presently a shop for gardeners. They had some very unique yard ornaments, etc for sale. And the business was also for sale ~

The different flower gardens around this little community were magnificant.

Amtrak does make a stop here. We came very close to making a round trip to San Diego while killing time before heading back to Pasadena. It would have cost $34 for the two of us -roundtrip. Very reasonable. I would have loved to do it but was afraid if something happened & we couldn't get back (like missing the return train) we'd be stuck in San Diego and the truck/camper with all our stuff would be in San Juan Capistrano. So we didn't....maybe next time.

Here comes the MetroLink Commuter Train...

That's all of our very long day in this great part of southern California. I'm going to be away for a few days now and will continue this when I get back. I'm anxious to share some more areas we visitied with you in future updates.