NO ONE IS GOING TO SAY YOU CAN'T, or that you shouldn't, or that you wouldn't. But sometimes, if you're in an especially merry mood, and you want to jumpstart the joy, and you need some twinkle to round out a long day, you're going to turn on the tree lights before it gets dark out. It might be an hour before sundown, or 90 minutes, but you're seeking to rev up that sweet feeling that blinking bulbs can bring. Likewise, if you're hoping to jumpstart the holidays, and you know that a certain Riverside spectacular, one that just marked its quarter century, is going to flip the switch on the day after Thanksgiving, well, you might want to get an early start. In fact, you might even want to book your room early, at the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, the castle-like destination that is now sweetly synonymous with the...
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS: This is the annual to-do, which runs from the Friday of Thanksgiving Week through to the beginning of January, which sees millions of lights, and hundreds of animatronic figures, lining the eaves and filling the niches of the historic property. So grand, and so well-known, and so eye-mazing is this event that people come from all over Southern California, and beyond, to see it, even if they're not staying at the Mission Inn for the night. But staying there? Always a fine idea, especially if you feel like you need to rest your brain after all of that bulb-tastic beauty. The Early Book Package is good for Sundays through Thursdays, and there's a nice bonus: A $25 dining credit. For prices, details, dates, all the fa, la, and la, get a jumpstart on your Festival of Lights itinerary pronto.
