The Big Trip -- Day Three

Comfort Inns--A Comparison

Hanford

Refrigerator
Train Tracks
Complimentary Cookies
Eggs AND Sausages
Waffle Maker
Tub
Sink In The Bathroom (Where It Belongs!)

Seaside

No Refrigerator
No Train Tracks
No Cookies!
Hard Boiled Eggs
Scary Toilet!! (High Pressure Flush!!!!)
Shower
Lovely Scenery
Waffle Maker
Sink In The Bedroom

Both locations were nice, really, and the staff were very nice.

Some places we didn't visit--



Maybe next time!

Heading south on Highway 1 we found there was a bit a road repair going on. We had to wait for a bit for our turn on the one open lane. Several people got out to enjoy the view. I stayed inside and complained. And then we had to WAIT for them to get back into their vehicles when we got the green flag, as it were! The NERVE!



Traffic was very slow in Santa Barbara, too, but the sky was sure purty!



It was very clear and we could see the Channel Islands out to sea, and the oil wells, too.



There were a lot more oil wells when I was a kid. Not so attractive. Seems a shame that some people want to build more.

This is pretty much the last entry in the saga. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I'd like to thank my son for enabling this trip, driving, and putting up with me.

LATER: Oh, how could I forget my daughter and her help!! If not for her, I would not have been able to go AT ALL! Period! Zip City! ¡¡¡Nada!!! But she was able to help, she volunteered, and it all happened!

Thanks, kids!

Ah, What Was That Again?

I spent a couple of hours trying to remember (and Googling) the name of an artist.

Finally it hit me, POW, it was ZORN! Anders Zorn!

Ok, now that it's documented here if I forget again, all I have to remember is, check this blog entry!

Why, you ask? Well, we had a this picture, by said artist, hanging on the wall for many years. I always thought it was a painting of my grandfather. It looks very like him, if one imagined him with a beard.

--> Here's a link to the painting <---

--> Here's link to the website about him <--

Wasn't that educational?

“There are three things I always forget. Names, faces, and – the third I can't remember.”

Italo Svevo (1861 – 1928) Italian novelist

The Big Trip -- Day One, Part Two...Or So

One of the nifty old things we saw in Hanford was this old car with startling paint job.



It looks a lot like Jay Leno's 1955 Buick Roadmaster, except for maybe the paint...

Big Trip, Day One

A Big Trip requires plenty of planning.

Or, one can just wing it...

We headed out around ten in the morning, not in the family tradition of eating breakfast (those little boxes of cereal that you cut open and fold back the tops) at the side of the road in Ventura.

No, I had breakfast at seven that morning. But we stopped at Jack In The Box where I had a breakfast something without sausage. It was pretty good. I should have had a coffee, too.

Whereas I would have driven straight through L.A., Matt likes to avoid traffic if possible, so we took the scenic detour around the worst of it. It was a big parking lot on the 10 east, but we weren't going that way.

There wasn't a lot to see along the way, at least that hadn't been seen before.

EVENTUALLY we saw some locomotives running along side of road. Trains are always interesting. I took several pics, all of them bad.



Well, what can I say?

It was time for lunch, so we decided to find an In-N-Out Burger. Matt keeps a brochure in his glove compartment listing all the locations. What a clever lad! Be prepared!

The only location in Tulare County is in Visalia, so we headed over there. Saw an abandoned drive in joint there. Right out of American Graffiti!



It was the Pepsi Cola sign that caught my attention, and sadly it's almost out of the shot.

We found the In-N-Out Burger and had a little feast. It was really crowded there. A whole soccer team came in, looked at the line, and half of them left. There was a guy in full Lycra who wheeled his bicycle in line.



Good food!

I saw a nifty old van on the way out of Visalia, but only managed to get this shot.



That's it for Visalia! Looked like a nice place to live, but I bet it's mighty warm in the summer.

Sunday Morning

I would not have the nerve to take my bicycle into a crowded restaurant, but a guy in full lycra did at the In'n'Out in Visalia yesterday. We had a pretty high-carb meal, then headed over to Hanford. We checked into our hotel room at the Comfort Inn. Pretty nice, I thought. The town is nice too, except it smells like cows, for some reason.

And there are a LOT of trains!

We had a nice visit with my dad last night. And some pizza!

Here is me, in the room. I am using a Macintosh to take the picture.



Holding the notebook up to the window, we see a car passing outside in the street this not-so-busy Sunday morning.



A slightly better view of the old hotel across the street, the Artesia hotel, built in 1891.



After availing ourselves of the fine Comfort Inn breakfast (coffee and croissant for me, waffles for Matt), we are getting ready to head out.

Well, that's about all for now, we are headed west this morning.