Circle left for skin care, or square dancing meets a Mary Kay convention in Bakersfield

Stop #2 in our whistle stop tour of California square dance festivals finds us sharing a Best Western in Bakersfield with 300 or so Mary Kay consultants and (thanks to a late winter storm) no internet connection. Amused that whoever plans these grand events scheduled the annual gun show for NEXT weekend (octogenarians & estrogen-laden cosmetics saleswomen with guns...oh my!) So what did our heroine learn on her most recent central California adventure? First, the Sirloin Steak Baguette at Baker's Square is far tastier than the picture would indicate. Second, we'll be making dinner reservations with our room reservations next year.

We had every intention of celebrating Saturday night in the Basque tradition, with a group of friends at Wool Grower's Restaurant. Apparently most of Bakersfield also thought this was a good idea as well... we arrived for an early dinner to discover the earliest they could seat us was 9:30.

Plan B? Having had our fill of Mexican food in Los Banos, we decided to caravan around the immediate area and see what we could find. Given the culinary preferences and limitations of our group, finding something we thought we all could agree on was no easy task. In the end, we opted for Baker's Square 'cause we had to eat something. And while something was better than nothing, except for the company of good friends, it wasn't terribly soul-satisfying.

I'm glad we're home next weekend...