Written by Darryl Musick, for WheelsTraveler December 27, 2021
We tend to take our local area for granted, don’t we? Anything within an hour’s drive seems like home to us and just doesn’t pop up on our travel radar.
People don’t go to Riverside, California from Los Angeles unless they have a reason to. Same with me…in good traffic, it’s less than an hour’s drive. Heck, I’ve worked in downtown Riverside off and on for the last ten years periodically. I know what’s there…don’t I? I don’t need to go there on a vacation …do I?
Apparently, I don’t know as much as I thought. A recent weekend in the city had us begging to come back for more. Originally, this was supposed to be a trip to Scottsdale. The peg for the trip was to see the Mavericks…one of our favorite bands…who have recently reunited with singer Raul Malo. They were playing at the Arizona State Fair this week and it made for a convenient excuse to go.
Recently, however, the band added a couple of shows closer to home. Even though the prices are more expensive here in California, our recent spate of $5-per-gallon gas prices had us re-evaluating. It was also enticing that we’d be able to see our concert in a 1,600 seat theater from the 9th row rather than an 18,000 seat arena. I’m saving a ton of money by going local for two nights instead of four nights in Arizona. Works out about the same time to do things when you factor in that we don’t have to have two all day drives to get there and back. Riverside is less than an hour.
