Tag: road trip

Road Trip Highlights

OK, so in summation about the road trip, here are some highlights and bullet points.

  • My little Honda Civic averaged about 40 miles per gallon
  • Number of pit stops on the trip home – 3, one at a Washington rest stop, one at a truck stop in Pissbreak, OR, and one at a truck stop in Wizzstop, CA
  • Total time to get home – 14 hours
  • 3 – the number of Go Jimmy Go songs heard in a juke box while in Seattle.  (And no, I didn’t pick them)
  • Number of times carded – 4
  • 1 new pair of Elvis shoes, 1 new pair of capris, 1 new hat, a bag of tee shirts and 1 new wallet bought for myself
  • Number of uncharacteristically self-aware epiphanies I had while I was alone for 14 hours on the road = 2
That was an awesome trip, but I don’t want to do it again any time soon.  My next trip is going to involve a plane ticket, for sure.
Pissbreak, OR

Road Trip – Day 8

There’s a friend of mine, Apple, who’s living in Seattle these days.   I haven’t seen him in a while, and it’s been even longer since I got to really spend any time with him.   It was really nice to be able to chill, just the two of us.  And even though I love my family, it was also nice to take a break from them.   So, I headed down to Seattle for a night out on the town. 

We started out at an old haunt of Go Jimmy Go, The Knarr.   This place was a dive.  Really.   It’s sort of in the university district, but it’s not the type of place I could imagine Suzy College hanging out.   After a pitcher of beer and some pizza, we decided to put the car to bed, and stick to the area near Apple’s apartment.   

Our first stop was an Irish bar.   We ordered another pitcher, and were just goofing off and watching a bit of the baseball highlights, when we realized that we had stumbled into a comedy show.    I don’t want to go into too much on the show, but let’s just say that we left before it was over.   

On our way to our next destination, Apple and I started talking about our respective successes and failures in the romantic arena.  We had both come to the conclusion one evening long ago that Love sucks.   Actually, I think what we had said was “Fuck Love.”    

So, here we were at this bar, both of us kind of feeling low, and we decided it was time to throw the towel in.  We caught a cab on the way back, picked up some Chinese food, and settled in the apartment to watch some cartoons.   We passed out pretty soon there after.

In the morning, we went for a little bit of a sight seeing drive to West Seattle.   It’s a great spot for a great view of the Seattle skyline.    When we had seen a bit, we headed back for left over Chinese and Big Lebowski for breakfast.   Then I got a phone call summoning me back to the parents’ place to take Momser and my aunt shopping.

I took quite a few pictures of the evening and morning in Seattle.   Click to enlarge.

Road Trip – Day 5 & 6 & 7

OK, so by the time the weekend was over, I was ready for some nothing.  So there’s not much to tell about day five of my trip.  There’s not a single picture of day five.  I don’t remember day five.  I think I slept a lot.  Stop judging me; I was on vacation!

Most of day six was spent waiting for Aunt J to arrive.  She’d spent the first week of her vacation in New England, and was in Boston for the 4th of July.   When she arrived we had a good time listening to her tell stories about her adventures.  I love to listen to my aunt tell a story.    

Hearing her talk about New England made me want to go, too.  It’s definitely on my list.   But the way things are going, I don’t know how I will come up with the time or money.  I mean, I just used up all vacation for the rest of the year on this one trip.   

Day 7 was all about errands.   Since my aunt hadn’t been in Washington for years, there were some things that she needed to do.  One of the top things on her list was going to the DMV to get a change of address and a new picture.   So I spent two hours in the DMV in Washington.  Not a very vacation-y activity.

The other thing that need to happen was that my grandfather’s ashes had to be scattered.  A tradition was started with my grandmother.  A bit of her ashes were scattered into the ocean at a particular beach, and the rest were taken and buried in the churchyard in Cambridge, England where she was from.   The family decided to do the same with Grandpa.   So we went to the beach.  This is just a little illegal, so I don’t really recommend it.


 

We never really had a memorial for Grandpa, so it was nice to be able to send him off somehow.

And then we went for a decent lunch with a really crappy waiter.    How much does that suck?   

Then we went home and had some grilled goodness on the deck.   I used to have a huge deck, but my parents’ deck puts that one to shame, I have to say.

Road Trip – Day 4

Should I still be referring to it as a “Road Trip” after I got there?    Whatever.

On Sunday, we stayed a lot closer to home.   It’s become somewhat of a tradition to check out the local minor league baseball team.  This may not be such a good thing for the team, because I think of the six or seven games I’ve been to, they might have won one.  

The really great thing about The Minors is that you can get some really awesome seats for super cheap.  We were pretty much right behind home plate, and the seats cost just $15 each.   It was a great spot to take some really awesome pictures from.   Click to enlarge.

Although, they lost, they nearly had a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, so it ended up being pretty exciting.   Also, we were sitting behind the scouts and the pitchers starting pitchers from both teams who were taking notes.  It was all fine and good until I got a little too excited.  😉


This whole trip was quickly turning into an excuse for me to take a lot of pictures.    Just wait . . . There’s more.   

Just sayin’.

Road Trip – Day 3

I’m still quite behind on blogging about my trip.  On Saturday we went to the Pike Place Market.  It’s pretty touristy, but I discovered that it’s a great opportunity for my new photography hobby.  The first shot is of the sound from the parking lodge.

Here’s the tourist shot.

I loved seeing this sign I saw inside the market.

Almost.   Just almost.

So, here are the pictures I took of the produce and fresh seafood for sail at the market.

HOLY HUGE LOBSTER!

 

 

HOLY HUGE SALMON!

OK, here’s just some more random shots of fish and stuff. Click to enlarge.

 

The funniest thing that happened all day was when we went into the jade store.   The little Chinese man who owns and runs the store asked me if I was married, and when I said no, he asked why not.  I didn’t want to go into it with a stranger, but my mom was yelling at him, “she doesn’t want to be married.”   Anyway, the guy told me he’d give me $500 to get married.  I told him he better remember that he said that, and I’d be back to collect.

Any takers?  I’ll split the 500 bucks with you.  60/40 split, though.  I mean, finders fee, and all.

Just sayin’.

Road Trip – Day 2

So, when last we met, I was staying the night at Motel 6.  

I got up the next morning, not too early but not too late, either, and was on the road about 8:30.   

This is what Oregon looks like in the daylight hours.

I doubt you can make it out, but the sign on the left says says “Oakland 1 Mile”.    You go so far, and yet, you barely get anywhere.   Story of my life.

More Oregon.

So, have you guessed where I’ve gone on my little road trip yet?  Here’s a hint:

 

Do you got it?   Well, if you’ve never been here, you might not, but bridges like these are a very common site in Washington state.

Isn’t it pretty?

The hat was still doing what it does.

A little product placement never hurt anyone, right?

It seemed like it took longer than it should, but soon I was passing through the Emerald City.

Not long afterwards, I was ringing the doorbell at my parents’ place, and my dad was pouring me a Guinness.  Several Guinnesses later, here I still am.

More on my goings on later . . .

Road Trip – Day 1

I left town on Thursday afternoon, and started driving.  I ran into a lot of traffic trying to get out of the Bay Area.  Once I was beyond Fairfield, though, it was smooth sailing.  At my first stop, I took out my camera, and I took some snapshots along the way. 

That’s my new hat.  I think it’ll be prominently featured in pretty much all the photos taken of me during this trip.  I’ve decided I look good in hats.  I know, super shallow, but really, it’s about not having to do my hair.

So, this is pretty much what I saw for hours:

And I took this picture to show Me’da that I wasn’t speeding:

Ok, maybe I was speeding, but just a little, uh?

Northern California is still on fire, so this is how the sunset looked.   

 

 

 

Passin’.  

 

Mountain.  It looked bigger in person:

And then it was dark, so I switched my eye gear out.

I decided to stop for the night, and I’ll be damned if the bathroom in the Motel 6 isn’t bigger than my own back home???  WTFH!

 

 

So, by the end of the first day, I had driven halfway to my destination.  My good old Honda Civic got about 38 MPG.  Not bad considering the mountains and traffic.  I mostly listened to my iPod, but I also got to listen to Darby’s mix twice.    There were some great travel tunes on there, including a cover by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes of Sinead O’connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” which I used to have, and am so glad to have again.

Get Outta Town

I’m getting ready to leave for a road trip.   Actually, I’m not really actively getting ready.  I’m sort of working from in anticipation of leaving later this afternoon.  I haven’t exactly packed.    I’m kind of a procrastinator.

Right now I’m just sitting here trying to remember how many chargers for how many pieces of electronics I have to take with me.  Living in the digital age has certainly changed the Great American Road Trip in a lot of ways.   Like, I haven’t been up late every night this week trying to make mix CDs or tapes, because almost all the music I own is on my iPod.   Although, Darby did make me a CD, and I can’t wait to hear what’s on that.

I didn’t get around to washing my car like I wanted to before I go.  It’s probably not such a big deal, because it’s just going to get filthy on the way.  I’m driving through Northern California, and last i checked, it was still on fire.   Maybe I’ll just wash it when I get there.

I also need to get all the camping gear out of my trunk.  As you may know, I live in a dinky little studio apartment.  There’s not a lot of extra storage space here, so there’s certain things that kind of live in the trunk of my car.   There’s the sleeping bag and tent, specifically, and a lot of other miscellaneous crap.   It’s a lot better than it used to be, that’s for sure, but if I’m going to fill it with my luggage and my sax, then I have to make some room.

Yes, I’m taking the sax with me.   I can’t afford to go a week without playing.  For now, I go nowhere the sax can’t go.

So, in a few hours, I’m gonna hit the road.    I’m going to try to remember to take my camera and take a lot of pictures, so hopefully I’ll have some good stuff to post when I get back.

Ciao!