The Great American West Trip - Day One
Beep Beep Beep goes the alarm and road trip day is upon us. Big plans are about to be undertaken, and we have woken up about an hour later than we planned to due to staying up late. So the plan was to leave at 6 AM today December 9th, 2006, and to start the long drive to San Fran. The reason for starting so early was that we hoped to get to San Fran by 8 PM and wanted to see the sights inbetween.
So its now 6 AM and I am rolling out of bed thinking that we would be leaving in about ten minutes (being the time it takes for me to brush my teeth and put on clothes). But there is hair to be done by Tiffany, and I had forgotten to pack a few extra things, so the ten minutes turned into an hour. So around seven, we were all packed up and ready to go. We needed to drop my car off at Innocent’s (former roommate) so that he could get the new tires off my dead car while I was gone, so by the time we hit the road it was 7:30. Now anyone that knows my families or my own procrastination tendencies, an hour and a half delay is pretty darn good.
The plan for the road trip is to use the famous Route 101 and Route 1 as much as possible, but since we began inland we had to decide where we wanted to cut over to the coast. We decided to hit Tiffany’s old college town of Eugene. OR because she knew of some good breakfast places and also because she wanted to see her old house. It quickly became apparent that I would be doing the bulk of the driving of this trip, so I get on I-5S and head on down to Eugene. We eventually switch when we get close to Eugene since she was the navigational expert of the town. So we drive to the old campus of Oregon University and take a few nostalgic shots or the little college town. After seeing the town, and being rejected by a bubble tea maker, we decide to head to Tiffany’s former favorite breakfast spot. The first problem started from the fact that Tiffany never had to go to this place from our current location of downtown, and secondly the place turned out to have been out of business for the last year. So after searching for this non-existent restaurant, we decide that we have wasted entirely too much time in Eugene (1.5 hours) and needed to get back on the road. So we take a pit stop to see Tiffany’s old house then get on a little country road, Route 126, to the coastal town of Florence, OR. Seeing as we were still hungry we decided that we would hit breakfast in Florence and hopefully see a little water while we ate. Unfortunately we had even less knowledge of Florence, and soon found ourselves looking for just anywhere that served breakfast. After consulting a few locals, we got some good advice and hit up a little local spot called Benny’s which actually turned out to be pretty good.
After breakfast we were technically on the road to San Fran and only planned to stop if we saw something extremely cool. Time out, must tell about the bathroom in Benny’s. There was a man coming out of the one-stall bathroom, and as he passed me, he gave me a most peculiar look. After I went in the bathroom I quickly discovered the source of the look, that bathroom was subastank. But hey, when you gotta light it up like that you just gotta do it. Anyways, so we get back on 101 and we proceed to oooh and aaahh at the beautiful sand dunes of southern Oregon. These are the type of sand dunes that you always see those adventure seekers driving dune buggies on. These were some serious dunes, the only thing that sucked was that they blocked the view of the ocean. Well eventually the dunes cleared and 101 showed what it was famous for, gorgeous cliffs and the feeling on being on the edge of the world. You literally ride the edge of the country. A slip of the wheel or the blow of a tire and you are falling a hundred feet to the ocean. The west is very unlike the east coast in that there is no gradual slope towards the ocean. The northwest coast abruptly stops, as if America was supposed to continue but someone cut it down the middle and replaced the missing section with ocean. The coast of Oregon is also famous for the huge rock formations off the coast that look like giant boulders hurled down from the sky. Well these sights continued for the next few hundred miles into the Northern Cali.
So we wanted to stop and see the Redwood Forest if at all possible before it got too dark so we were in a hurry to make it to the infamous Avenue of Giants before 5 PM. It was looking like we were going to cut it close, but then the sky decided to open up and dump all its content onto the roads. Whatever daylight was left was swallowed up by the giant rain clouds that took over the sky. So our plans to go to the Redwoods went out the window, our new primary concern was not dying on the incredible windy roads in the wet darkness. It also became apparent to us that we were going to get into San Fran around 9:30 PM, so seeing the city was out for the day. Well needless to say, we made it safe to San Fran late but exhausted. After getting terribly lost trying to find my friend Katherine’s place in Berkeley, we finally made it to a house. Now, I had been wondering for a while what small ass apartment I would be staying in considering how expensive San Fran can be, so when I drive up to a huge house in the hills I quickly think I am in the wrong place. Well it turns out that five PhD students at Berkeley could afford to pay the rent on a one million dollar house (no exaggeration). I had no complaints, so we moved our stuff into the house and met all of the housemates. Turns out that most or all of the housemates went to the same high school as I did at various times, and that was the thing that tied them to my high school friend Katherine. Now you know that you are in a house full of doctoral students when the place is cluttered, full of board games and computers, and a recently baked ginger bread Trojan horse (complete with gummy bear men in the hull). So my wonderful friend Katherine was kind enough to anticipate my hunger and made some delicious Ravioli for us. After catching up with her and her friends, it was time to hit the sack. Despite being mildly allergic to cats, I managed to sleep quite soundly in a house full of them. What happened the next day, stay tuned… And yes I write long synopsis.
So its now 6 AM and I am rolling out of bed thinking that we would be leaving in about ten minutes (being the time it takes for me to brush my teeth and put on clothes). But there is hair to be done by Tiffany, and I had forgotten to pack a few extra things, so the ten minutes turned into an hour. So around seven, we were all packed up and ready to go. We needed to drop my car off at Innocent’s (former roommate) so that he could get the new tires off my dead car while I was gone, so by the time we hit the road it was 7:30. Now anyone that knows my families or my own procrastination tendencies, an hour and a half delay is pretty darn good.
The plan for the road trip is to use the famous Route 101 and Route 1 as much as possible, but since we began inland we had to decide where we wanted to cut over to the coast. We decided to hit Tiffany’s old college town of Eugene. OR because she knew of some good breakfast places and also because she wanted to see her old house. It quickly became apparent that I would be doing the bulk of the driving of this trip, so I get on I-5S and head on down to Eugene. We eventually switch when we get close to Eugene since she was the navigational expert of the town. So we drive to the old campus of Oregon University and take a few nostalgic shots or the little college town. After seeing the town, and being rejected by a bubble tea maker, we decide to head to Tiffany’s former favorite breakfast spot. The first problem started from the fact that Tiffany never had to go to this place from our current location of downtown, and secondly the place turned out to have been out of business for the last year. So after searching for this non-existent restaurant, we decide that we have wasted entirely too much time in Eugene (1.5 hours) and needed to get back on the road. So we take a pit stop to see Tiffany’s old house then get on a little country road, Route 126, to the coastal town of Florence, OR. Seeing as we were still hungry we decided that we would hit breakfast in Florence and hopefully see a little water while we ate. Unfortunately we had even less knowledge of Florence, and soon found ourselves looking for just anywhere that served breakfast. After consulting a few locals, we got some good advice and hit up a little local spot called Benny’s which actually turned out to be pretty good.
After breakfast we were technically on the road to San Fran and only planned to stop if we saw something extremely cool. Time out, must tell about the bathroom in Benny’s. There was a man coming out of the one-stall bathroom, and as he passed me, he gave me a most peculiar look. After I went in the bathroom I quickly discovered the source of the look, that bathroom was subastank. But hey, when you gotta light it up like that you just gotta do it. Anyways, so we get back on 101 and we proceed to oooh and aaahh at the beautiful sand dunes of southern Oregon. These are the type of sand dunes that you always see those adventure seekers driving dune buggies on. These were some serious dunes, the only thing that sucked was that they blocked the view of the ocean. Well eventually the dunes cleared and 101 showed what it was famous for, gorgeous cliffs and the feeling on being on the edge of the world. You literally ride the edge of the country. A slip of the wheel or the blow of a tire and you are falling a hundred feet to the ocean. The west is very unlike the east coast in that there is no gradual slope towards the ocean. The northwest coast abruptly stops, as if America was supposed to continue but someone cut it down the middle and replaced the missing section with ocean. The coast of Oregon is also famous for the huge rock formations off the coast that look like giant boulders hurled down from the sky. Well these sights continued for the next few hundred miles into the Northern Cali.
So we wanted to stop and see the Redwood Forest if at all possible before it got too dark so we were in a hurry to make it to the infamous Avenue of Giants before 5 PM. It was looking like we were going to cut it close, but then the sky decided to open up and dump all its content onto the roads. Whatever daylight was left was swallowed up by the giant rain clouds that took over the sky. So our plans to go to the Redwoods went out the window, our new primary concern was not dying on the incredible windy roads in the wet darkness. It also became apparent to us that we were going to get into San Fran around 9:30 PM, so seeing the city was out for the day. Well needless to say, we made it safe to San Fran late but exhausted. After getting terribly lost trying to find my friend Katherine’s place in Berkeley, we finally made it to a house. Now, I had been wondering for a while what small ass apartment I would be staying in considering how expensive San Fran can be, so when I drive up to a huge house in the hills I quickly think I am in the wrong place. Well it turns out that five PhD students at Berkeley could afford to pay the rent on a one million dollar house (no exaggeration). I had no complaints, so we moved our stuff into the house and met all of the housemates. Turns out that most or all of the housemates went to the same high school as I did at various times, and that was the thing that tied them to my high school friend Katherine. Now you know that you are in a house full of doctoral students when the place is cluttered, full of board games and computers, and a recently baked ginger bread Trojan horse (complete with gummy bear men in the hull). So my wonderful friend Katherine was kind enough to anticipate my hunger and made some delicious Ravioli for us. After catching up with her and her friends, it was time to hit the sack. Despite being mildly allergic to cats, I managed to sleep quite soundly in a house full of them. What happened the next day, stay tuned… And yes I write long synopsis.
posted by Anthony Jackson at 3:21 PM
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