cali trip, days 6 and 7

since the majority of our last two days of vacation were spent on the train back to seattle, i thought i'd group them both together.

i was still sick on saturday morning but i rallied. you would've too if you were heading back to the madonna inn for breakfast! due to my sore throat, i drank a lot.



thankfully, our waiter didn't make a big deal about it. (unlike the waiter at a denny's in memphis. (another lame story for another lame time though.))

one last note about the madonna inn and i'll move on. everything is pink there. i mean, everything. even the sugar.



slogrl was a great tour guide the entire time that we were in california but she really outdid herself on saturday! we saw the innards



and outards of the city. including the kick ass boot fence.



she took us to one of the best farmer's markets i've been too since l.a. i'm always amazed at how much produce is available at cali markets. i mean, GRAPES!



there will never be grapes at a washington farmer's market.

a certain person who reads this blog might be interested in the archeological museum that is in a parking lot in slo.



the parking lot is now located on the former site of slo's chinatown. it's neat how the past commingles with present in a garage, you know?

the best part of saturday, however, has to have been the trip to pismo beach.



you know why? because down these stairs are harbor seals!



they were just swimming around and stuff right under the wooden pier on which we'd driven. (that in itself is pretty damn cool. when was the last time you drove on a rickety wooden pier? yeah, that's what i thought!)



anyway, the seals were certainly talkative! sadly, i wasn't able to spend too much time photographing them due to chills, exhaustion, etc. damn it.

around 3 in the afternoon, we boarded the coast starlight for the return trip.



it was really sad to say bye to slogrl. i can't wait to see her again in the next even numbered year!

the train back was not as enjoyable as the one to cali mainly due to the illness. my inner ear was all out of whack so seeing things like mount shasta



was actually very excruciating because of the high altitude.

bullet list summation? why not? we're going to go back to no bullets on monday.

• southernish california is pretty much the way i remembered it from when i was a kid. i'm kinda' glad about that.
• if you take amtrak, remember to 1) get a sleeper car 2) eat in the parlor car
• get me my fucking soy burrito.

thanks to slogrl for everything! and thanks to l for watching the house and cats for us!

up next? in less than a month? LONDON, BITCHES!