The Trip, Part 1.

We had such a great time, we are planning another trip already, longer and with the kids.

Ah, where to begin?

We left town about 6:00 on Thursday night, and drove to Ashland, OR. We spent the night there, and left at 8:00 Friday morning, that's where the fun began...

Stopped at the "Border Liquor Store" in Hilt, for gas and snacks. The gas was $3.45 a gallon! The woman behind the counter looked like a sweet grandma type at first, and then she started talking. And talking...and talking. I thought we would never escape. I think she was cracked out on meth or something, she seemed like she was high and she didn't have any teeth in the back. Wow.

Lake Shasta: The pictures don't do it justice, it's absolutely breathtaking in person.




Then we stopped at Yreka for breakfast, and there was a Denny's, a Purple Plum, and "Grandma's House", since Grandma's house looked sorta cute from the outside, we decided to eat there.

And that's when we entered The Twilight Zone.

This place was so creepy. Clocks and dolls and knick knacks and flowery fabric everywhere. All the waitresses were like, 70, and were wearing flowery ruffled aprons.

All the patrons had one foot in the grave, and our waitress was a complete bitch.

She barely muttered responses to our "thank you"s, and the food was awful. We sat around snickering about the decor, and I said, "You missed it, you didn't see Grandma's Goodies behind you."

Jim says, "I don't want to see Grandma's Goodies!"

There was a little tiny overpriced gift shop at the back of the living room restaurant, with Grandma's Goodies displayed proudly above the doorway. Ew.

If you ever find yourself in Yreka, Ca...eat at Denny's, go with what you know.

About the time we hit the Berkeley Area, I noticed people drive differently down there than up here. The freeway is jam packed, yet everyone is going about 70, and cutting people off left and right with no hint of a turn signal. Once we hit the Bay Bridge, we were getting into a toll lane, and the middle part is for people with toll passes. The go screaming through there at what seemed like 100 mph.

We made it alive to the hotel about 3:30 or so. I talked to Nihilistic and we decided to meet up in the morning, when we wouldn't be so rushed for time because of the show we were supposed to see that night.

We left the hotel early so we could find the "venue" (I use the term loosely) and get something to eat.

The place the band was playing at was called "Poundsf", and the band was "Junkyard". We got off the freeway per our mapquest directions, and with every block the area was seedier and seedier. I looked over to my right, and saw a huge pile of crushed up cars, and asked Jim, "Um, are they playing in an actual Junkyard?!?"

They weren't, but close.

To be continued tomorrow, with more pics!