I've never been to a tea house before, but I always wanted to visit one. I'm a fan of teas, and drink green teas every day, but have never been to a loose leaf tea house like the Bird Pick Tea & Herb. All I can say is WOW! If you've only ever had tea from a tea bag, then you have no idea what you're missing.

When you walk in you immediately notice the many jars of unique and interesting dried tea leaves all throughout the store. Open up one container to smell the almost intoxicating smells of some truly amazing teas. The teas are organized in various tables by type. Greens, Oolong, Black, etc.

The staff is extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Find an interesting tea, and ask them to sample it. They'll scoop out a sampling with these cool little bamboo shoots and mix a pot right there with you. Ask them anything and they'll let you know how to prepare it, compliment it, and just some other interesting tidbits. They'll then pour you a sample cup, and partake themselves!

Once you decide on what you want, just have them brew you a cup or a pot and grab a seat and enjoy. I'm a fan of green teas, but I never knew you could have a cup of buttery green tea. Amazing! Seating is tight so be warned that if it gets busy you may not be able to sit down.

Definitely buy some of your favorite tea to go. I regret not grabbing a few ounces of the green tea I loved, but I'll be back later this week to pick some up.

This is a really nice park that is usually crowded with organized sports every weekend, but it's real shining point is the hill right off the edge of the playground. You'll need some good footwear, and the hike up is a good challenge for little legs, but when you make it up and turn around, you can see a spectacular view of the entire Corona basin. The playground is nice enough, but my kids always make a beeline straight for the hill.

Unfortunately, it lacks a few amenities for visitors such as BATHROOM!

All in all, it's a really nice park. The toddler play area is a nice touch, and is fully canopied and elevated away from the main play area. Plenty of play space, and more than enough field space for a good game of organized sports, or game of fetch.

I really wish I would have brought scooters with us. The lake that is this park's centerpiece is perfect for a nice walk around it, or a bike/scooter ride. Nice little playground at the end, and on the opposite end there's a basketball court.

All in all, there's not much to complain about, but for an afternoon out, the children may lose interest after an hour or so. But, like I mentioned earlier, had I brought scooters, I'm sure we could have stretched out our time.

I was really surprised at how nice Rutland Park is. It's deep in the heart of Riverside, but it is a really expansive park with some really great open fields for sports. There were at least 6 basketball hoops, and 3 to 4 large covered patios. The playground was fantastic too, but far too many spinning torture devices for my taste, but the kids loved them!

There's also a nice circuit training track around the 1 mile perimeter of the park with many great workout stations. All in all we found this park on a lark, and left it with a lasting impression. We'll definitely stop by to play if we're in the area.