February 24, 2024 Brunch - Raven Hill Bagels shop, Idyllwild. Dinner - The Inn at Death Valley and Oasis Restaurant at the Inn in Death Valley

February 24, 2024  Brunch - Raven Hill Bagels shop, Idyllwild. Dinner - The Inn at Death Valley and Oasis Restaurant at the Inn in Death Valley

We awakened at 6:30 and it was already a terrible day in the market.

Trump must be one of the few persons who fail to see the devastating effects of his tariffs and the possibility of a trade war.

I call it the Trump Slump.

Luke made tea and coffee and we shared a slice of his latest banana bread that was moist and delicious.

Then Ari drove us to the Raven Hill Bagels Shop and we walked to the creek and around the block before ordering bagels. Ari ordered one with tuna, Luke and I ordered ones with Slices of nova lax and Suzette ordered a Cali with avocado and turkey.

We then returned to Ari’s house at 10:00 and left at 10:30.

We were able to book a room at the Inn in Death Valley, so we decided to drive to Death Valley, a place neither of us had visited.

We drove until 4:00 stopping only for gas in Barstow.p and a vista point overlooking Palm Springs on the drive down from Idyllwild.  

The inn is a sumptuous Harvey House dating from 1927 built in proximity to a 87 degree warm springs.

We went to our room and Suzette discovered she had left her bathing suit at Debbie’s house in La Quinta.

So we waited for a driver to take us about 1 1/2 miles to the General Store at the Ranch that offers more moderately priced accommodations and where Suzette was able to buy a bathing suit and I bought a bottle of Barefoot California Pinot Grigio.

Our driver then drove us back to the Inn. We returned to our room and put on our bathing suits and walked to the pool. The pool was lovely unchlorinated spring water that was around 85 and the staff had lit fires in the two fireplaces by the pool, so we could dry standing near the fire as we talked to a lady from Oakland. It was one of the nicest swims I have had in a long time.

We then returned to our room at 6:30 and dressed for dinner. Our reservation was for 8:00 in the Oasis Restaurant, so we went to the dark sky observation deck on the 4th floor.  The sky was clear and magnificent.

We picked out the three constellations we Knew and then went to restaurant at 8:00 at our reserved time

The main dining room is the Oasis and it was busy.  We knew what we wanted and ordered a rigatoni pasta in a mushroom cream sauce with a poached egg on top that was fabulous and the Venison medallions glazed with a date sauce with mashed potatoes with a pile of sautéed mushrooms and sautéed string beans. The venison steak was large and grilled perfectly to rare. It was the best venison I have ever tasted.

We ordered glasses of Pinot Noir, but the waiter said they were out of Pinot, so we ordered glasses of Malbec, Terraza del Andes.

It was heavy, so we asked for a glass of ice cubes and four or five cubes tamed the wine and made it drinkable.

Dinner was the best meal of the trip and today’s two meals were the best two meals of the trip, so a great day of food and we have a slice of bagel left for breakfast tomorrow.

Bon Appetit