The following is a piece of my catalog of travels from the great state of Virginia to the great state of California, up the coast to Washington (also great), and then back east, back home. Nothing in this account has been embellished and/or fabricated. It all really and truly happened. For real. Seriously. I would not lie to you.
Friday, June 16, 2006
OREGON
Wild River Goodness
We woke up this morning in a motel in Brookings, Oregon. What's up Brookings?!? That's a shout out. Here's another: Thank you thank you thank you to the kind woman at Wild River Pizza. We ate there last night and I left my jacket by the pool table. I didn't care all too much about the jacket actually--it's a 10 year old windbreaker and I really need to break down and buy a new one soon--but Dan's cell phone was in the pocket. Argh. Not good. We had an hour this morning when we were freaking out about it. Long story short (too late), the kind woman at Wild River Pizza retrieved said jacket and phone for us and we were relieved and amped to get back on the road. Yay!
Petting Zoo
West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon, Oregon rules! We entered the zoo through a door in the gift shop. Upon opening the door, it was like Dorothy opening the door onto Oz. There was a cool little billy goat there waiting for us.
"Whoa. What's up, dude?" He didn't answer but he looked up at me and winked and chewed. "You're great! Hold on a sec!" I went back through the door and bought him an ice cream cone full of goat feed. He loved it! He ripped it out of my hands and ate it up. "That's good stuff, huh?"
I hung out with him a little bit and then moved on to "The Nursery." There, a pair of zookeepers brought out ferrets and opossums and foxes and a descented skunk and even a bear cub! My favorite one was definitely the baby fox. I held him in my arms. Sweet.
Walking around the open zoo, we got to pet deer, a couple llamas, and more goats. It was tres cool. And the level of coolosity (not a word) was raised by all the little kids who were wide-eyed and enthralled by the animals. The peacock calls and the cougar growls mingled with the delightful shrieks of children. I didn't even care that it was raining.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
WASHINGTON
We drove into Silverdale, Washington late last night. Very late actually, around midnight. We were so spent from the road but we had to champ it out there. That's where my lil bro lives. Corey. He's an engineer and he works on submarines. So basically he's a part of the whole American protection system. He plays with wires and computer programs and makes sure that the subs don't sink. Rock 'n' roll.
We woke up early and drove the car onto the ferry. The ferry ride was a pleasant hour's journey over Puget Sound. When we got to Seattle, we went straight to Safeco Field and bought tickets for the Seattle Mariners game. It was around 10 a.m. so we had some time to kill.
We walked across the street from the stadium and hung out in an outdoor restaurant til the game started. While we were eating our clam chowder and mussels, I noticed the people at the table next to us were looking over our way. I said hello and exchanged brief pleasantries before the big dude commented on my shirt.
"Death Cab for Cutie, huh?"
"Yes sir! They're pretty much my new favorite band."
"Hey Sandy," he said to the woman at the table, "look at his shirt!" As it turns out, Sandy is the lead guitarist's aunt! How cool is that?
We chatted for a few minutes about how cool her nephew's band is and then shook hands and wished each other well. They went into the stadium to watch the game and we did too, a little later.
The Mariners slaughtered the San Francisco Giants 8-1. Me, I'm a Yankees fan. But as they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. With this in mind, I was cheering my fanatic head off for Ichiro Suzuki and company. And, for the record, every time Barry Bonds came up to the plate, the entire stadium booed like our lives depended on it. Long live Ruth's record. Aaron's too.
