After Bumbershoot, and a horribly long train ride back from Seattle (I'm never going Amtrak again) I spent a couple more days in Mountain View with Barbara & Brent. Went to Rasputin's Music in San Antonio, bought another pile of records...
Brent took me to In n Out Burger, and I immediately fell in love with the place. There're only three choices on the menu! Far better than Subway. I can't comprehend all their questions about bread and cheese and sauces. In n Out Burger, what paradise. You sit there and watch them stamp the potatoes into chips! Amazing. Now I know what Walter and the Dude were talking about.
The following night I was taken to the Tied House Brewery for dinner, and beer. Apparently it's well-known as a venue where major deals are struck by the Silicon Valley folks. So Barbara & Brent convinced me to try the Full House sampler. Basically 5 8oz glasses of various beers. I started heavy, with stout, and worked my way through to the lager. What a joy that was. On top of that, I had a Chili Burger with fries. I've been so spoilt it hurts.
And that was Friday night. Saturday, we jumped in the Cessna and flew down to San Luis Obispo! It was very hazy due to the fires, but still I saw Stanford and their famous particle accelerator! It's pretty big.
We landed at SLO, and B&B continued on to San Diego. Ryan picked me up, took me into the town, we visited the infamous BooBoo Records, where I found a Bonnie Prince Billy lp, and he found a great double lp of Dylan's greatest hits. We visited the town's main tourist attraction: the bubblegum wall! Following that was a pint of Guinness with Jameson's on the side, beautiful Mexican food for dinner, and an evening surf at Pismo. Truly, this was Heaven. In my last two weeks in USA I haven't found a place I would live, but SLO, I could stay there easily. Check out the photos:
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| San Luis Obispo and onwards |
So now I'm in El paso, Texas. At the public library. It's a quiet town, what I've found so far anyway. And I like it. After SLO I took the Greyhound down to Hollywood, staying at a hostel just off Hollywood Blvd. I had dinner at Mels Drive In. No one on roller skates unfortunately. Hollywood to me seemed a tacky sordid ghost of it's heyday, which I'm guessing would've been the '30s. I went to LA expecting concrete and plastic, that's what I got. I am certain it is a more enjoyable city by car, but I was on foot. Anyway, I saw some interesting stuff - like the Christopher Walken poster I took a photo of. The Greyhound from LA to El Paso was not too bad. About 16 hours overnight, but I got sleep, and saw a lot of New Mexico. Had McDonalds for dinner at Blythe CA, stopped in Phoenix AZ, had McDonalds for breakfast in Lordsburg. Now I'm off to find some cowboy boots. Tomorrow, on to Austin.
