A fairly grey and cool day with some light rain here and there. I won’t complain since I’ve had fantastic weather nearly every day on this trip. However, I understand that it’s supposed to rain non-stop all day tomorrow here in Colorado Springs. We’ll see if they got it right. If it’s ridiculous, I guess I’ll just start the trek home early. Well, not really early since I’m probably a day and half behind and have a LONG way to go.

I was glad I missed out on being back in NYC on 9/11. That’s always such a depressing day. I didn’t notice a minute of silence this morning in Denver if there was one. I avoided the news on the radio today, too. What more can be said really.

I found a fenced legit dog park in Denver today for the dogs to stretch out. Nik was delirious to be running again after being cooped up for a day and a half. Even Fixie, who’s been pretty bored and sulky lately, was happy to be doing tricks for cheese today. Grip is staying in shape retrieving — still very active and fit for an 11 year old. Grem saw some squirrels running around outside the fence and was busy trying to figure how to get at them. She finally got her body halfway under the fence and I quickly snagged her and hooked her up. I had a lot of other dog parks on my list today but skipped them when I read “natural barriers”. Yeah, right — like split rail fencing and brush would be enough to keep my hunters in. “Natural barriers” sounds more like “critter nesting areas” to me. I’ll be happy to be back home in Prospect Park where the squirrels know better than to come down from the trees before off-leash ends at 9am.

One disappointment — Lakeside Amusement Park was closed. Only open Fri-Sat-Sun and this was a Thursday. This is my second attempt (four years ago it was closed for the season). A lot of old neon, some funky rides and a carousel that I really wanted to see. Some day.

One surprise — I stopped at the Air Force Academy to hopefully see the interior of the Chapel. Last time, it was closed to the public on Sundays (I think that was the day). This time, there was majority security at the gate. They had to inspect the van while I took the dogs out. Asked lots of questions. In 2004, I just drove right in. Also, you had to park much further from the chapel. They almost didn’t let me in saying the visitor center closed 20 minutes ago and the chapel would therefore be closed. I begged to let me in to take exterior shots & they gave in to that. When I got there, the door was open! A couple people inside playing guitar and chatting. They didn’t question me so I grabbed my photos quickly. A breathtaking place — glad it worked out!

Time for the photos. Just about everything here was from Denver or suburbs unless otherwise noted. The Lakewood Heritage Center had some fun stuff (the diner and the barber shop appear at the Flickr stream tonight). The also had this neat sidewalk with representations of signs (most of them gone):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been seeing a lot of old Sinclair stations in CO. I think these pumps are old and have been retrofitted with new pump handles, etc. They have a real 1970s robot look to me. But maybe they are newer than that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A contemporary sign but nicely done:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lakeside Amusement Park Tower, sigh — I’ll get into that place someday:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The former Federal Theatre. I’m not sure what it’s being used for now. Behind the Art Deco era marquee is evidence of a much older building:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the way this motel integrated the sign and building:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think I’ve been to a zoo in 15 years or more. I have a hard time supporting caged animals, etc. I know, I know, they’re deeply involved in conservation and all that now. But somehow, it’s still animals confined in small spaces with humans gawking. To the Denver Zoo’s credit, the place was very nice and I saw lots of personnel at the exhibits making copious observation notes about their animals. In my mad dash to the carousel that I just HAD to see and was the sole reason I reluctantly forked out the $12, I couldn’t help but take a quick glance around. All the animals seemed to be eating – which made me hungry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These hornbills were grooming each other. I don’t know if it was a parent/child, husband/wife or just buddy/buddy thing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These cheetahs seemed a bit unhappy to me. They were in a big, naturalistic enclosure but pacing back and forth all along the fencing. Maybe they pace in nature but I doubt it. Maybe they were just waiting for the delivery of dinner. I’ll reserve judgement since I really know nothing of cheetahs or zoos really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m glad that there are places like this when the need arises (from Colorado Springs):

 

 

 

 

 

And, in closing, another bit of signage from Colorado Springs. This place was really busy — covered with paper signs and the bulbs and neon working nicely:

I found out in the morning that I wasn’t through the Rockies at all. There was still a lot more mountainous driving to do. Then, I had a bunch of stops north of Denver before I got down to the busy city stuff. I’m only about halfway through the Denver area stops so I’ll keep banging away tomorrow. There’s a big chunk of Colorado Springs stuff next in my stack so I guess I’ll go south for a bit though any sane person wouldn’t. I’m at least a day behind schedule and it’s looking like the Iowa stuff will get nixed so I can get home in time for work. Yes, I DO work for a living and it’s got nothing to do with roadside stuff or taking pictures. In fact, I’ll be working as much OT as they will allow so I can whittle away at the credit card debt that’s piled up on this trip.

Nik and Grem didn’t get off leash at all today since I discovered that Colorado is abundant in prairie dogs. Grip & Fix are only slightly interested in those dirt mounds so they got privileges. But Nik and Grem were screaming frothing pulling nightmares. I was VERY careful each time I opened the van door as I didn’t trust those possessed dogs one bit. Grem is definitely small enough to fit in their tunnels. I think the prairie dogs enjoyed tormenting the dogs with their squeaking. I saw fields with hundreds of them today.

The weather was pretty warm for a few hours (low 90s) but there was a breeze and it was still much better than it was in Central CA. I did put the A/C on when the dogs started panting. But there’s something definitely wrong as it was cooler outside the van so I turned if off. So I hope we’re done with the worst of the weather. It got grey and dark for about a half hour but then cleared up. By 5pm, there were so many clouds at the sunset horizon that it was really too dark to be shooting but I kept at it. Most of the day was gorgeous though with loads of fluffy white clouds and blue skies.

Now, on with the photos. In Loveland, this looks like it was originally an icebox gas station. Although, it’s remotely possible that it might have always been a cleaners:

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The devilish creatures that made two of my dogs nuts:

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A business in Englewood — that appeared to still be selling violets. Unfortunately, the other side of this sign was pretty bashed up:

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A still-functioning gas station in Englewood. I haven’t seen old pumps like this in operation in a long time.

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A new business and sign in Englewood:

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An unusual Mission style building in Englewood:

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The Smart Car dealership in Denver. I think these cars are even cuter parked in groups. Especially when they only take up half a parking spot each.

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A huge, adapted sign in Denver. I’m glad this bible store kept the shape even though it’s pretty irrelevant to what they are selling. Although I guess they have painted the suggestion of a dove on this kettle.

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I’m sure this one in Denver must have revolved at one time:

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This guy is on the roof of Spin N Chicken in Denver. He was hard to shoot as there was apparently not enough air going into his body to get him fully upright. I’ve seen a lot of these generic flailing guys, but never a chef before.

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And lastly, a couple old painted wall signs in downtown Denver on Champa St.

Although I did a lot of driving today, I’m still about a day behind schedule. I’m also feeling pretty weary and am tempted at times to bag it and just hit the interstate for home. But I will try to hang in there for a few more days because there’s still a lot of good stuff on my lists and who knows when I’ll make it this far west again.

I didn’t have a lot of stuff to shoot in Southeast Utah but I was glad I went a little out of my way for the stops anyway. It started pouring when I got to Green River and I had to actually stop for safety for about 20 minutes. Incredibly strong winds, torrential rain, and I was worried about flash flooding and crazy reckless drivers. Then it cleared up and I went back to work.

I drove through the Rockies in the dark. It wasn’t as scary as April’s trip during the snowstorm. Still, it was pretty nerve-wracking since it started raining and the lighting was not great. Before this leg, I had gulped down a 20 oz. SuperRev coffee (or whatever the gas station called it) because I was feeling a little drowsy and had a two and a half hour drive ahead of me. But I really didn’t need the help.

The dogs were a bit deprived today. The only water I found was at these state park situations where there were huge signs saying “NO DOGS — EVEN ON BOATS. DRINKING WATER”. Other rest areas had weird “no dogs” signs, too. But I managed to find some construction sites, etc. where they could run a bit. Some sticker balls though so everyone but Nik is being a little cautious about where they step.

On with the photos… Some nice old signs in Price, UT:

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An abandoned one in the weeds:

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I’m not sure what will become of this one — the building below is now vacant:

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Also in Price, this building detail at a flower shop. Maybe it has always been one.

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I had never been to Moab before and it was definitely worth the extra hour or so detour. In addition to the breathtaking red rocks, there is the famous and wonderfully tacky tourist attraction:
http://www.theholeintherock.com/

I didn’t feel the desire to take the tour of the house. I was really there to see a couple neon signs and just the spectacle of the place. There is a lot of sculptural stuff there and a petting zoo as well. I was careful not to park the dogs next to the emus or kangaroos.

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Just north of the Hole in the Rock was this hillside rock formation. It looks like an animal’s head to me:

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And lastly, later, taken while driving, on I-70 headed for Colorado:

Somehow I think my numbering got off. I think this is really Day 39. Close enough! It feels more like Day 60 at this point. I’m eager to get home but there are still a lot of stops and maps to get through. It breaks up the tedium of the interstate anyway. Today was an excruciating example. I had done a thorough job of northern NV on the last trip so it left me pretty much driving from Reno to Salt Lake with nothing in between. Straight line, desert landscape — pretty in a desolate sort of way. I found a park with grass in Battle Mountain for the dogs to run & sniff a bit. Otherwise, we were all pretty much prisoners.

After I finally got sick of the news babble about Sarah Palin, the Casey/Caley story, and Hurricane Ike, I switched over to music for the rest of the day. NPR did have some good stories though which helped with the boring drive — including one about global “weirding”. That’s evidently a more accurate description of what we’re in for rather than just “warming” (extremes of hot and cold, more hurricanes, tornados in cities where there haven’t been so before, etc.).

We arrived in Utah around 5pm which only gave me enough time to grab the quick shots I needed in Salt Lake City and Ogden. Lost an hour’s worth of shooting with a time change as well. Tomorrow, I’ll finish up Utah and head on to Colorado. Running about a half day behind still and traffic didn’t help. There was tons of road construction on I-80 which slowed things down to a crawl what seemed like every 10 miles. Then two big accidents near SLC — one which closed I-80 just west of town, then another rubbernecker just north of town.

I stopped by Wells, NV to check on the status of this place which was damaged in a big earthquake back in February. Sure enough, it’s still fenced off and has not been repaired:

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This sign in Ogden appears to be a newbie — still, they get an A for effort. The sign is lit at night as well:
http://flickr.com/photos/19505510@N00/2111795423/

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I have never seen this kind of bird before. He was like a combination of crow and pheasant — a very long tail and a confident big hop. I poked around a little on-line and I think he might be some kind of magpie. Does anyone know for sure?

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As if that bird didn’t give the dogs enough to bark at, there was one of those dreaded art projects in Ogden. Fixie, who usually is very reserved, went ballistic over this faux horse:

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Even camouflaged, the troops went nuts over this one. So I guess it must be the shape without needing any details. Anything with four legs and a head/neck? Did the unusual-ness of this one’s coloration make it more unnerving for them? I really can’t say.

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And lastly, I noticed this little place, Jack’s Shoe Repair in Ogden, had moved to a location. It left behind these nice little details that will probably be gone soon.

I slugged it out in the Central Valley today and finished up CA. It was as hot as predicted and the dogs were panting by 11am. So I cranked up the AC in the van. Even on the coldest temperature seeting with medium speed fans, it’s probably about 75 degrees inside — so something must be wrong. But it’s enough to keep us reasonably comfortable and get us through this trip I hope.

Although many of the stops today were repeats to make up for the accidently deleted photos, I stumbled upon new things so it made the replacement effort worth it. It also made me aware of how much stuff is out there that I have missed/don’t know about and will have to go back for some other year.

I found a grassy park in Lodi early in the day for the dogs to run on. Then it was dry dirt undeveloped areas until the end of the day. I went to check out a fenced doggie area at the Sparks Marina. It wasn’t huge — but plenty big enough and had an open end into the water. It was surprisingly cold and Nik could only handle about 10 minutes of swimming in it before he started shivering. The fencing was vertical bars which would’ve been very easy for Grem to fit between. But luckily I kept her busy enough running around for Cuz toys. There were also some big dogs for her to run with and muck on the shoreline for her to sniff and sample.

I made the decision to stop in Reno so that I could shoot some neon signs that I won’t have the chance to see til who knows when again. I’ve only been to Reno once before and wasn’t here at night. There are so many wonderful old signs left but sadly most of them are either partly lit or not at all. I was too tired to push on to eastern NV anyway in the dark. I’m about a half day behind now so some of my plans for stuff closer to home may get ditched.

Here’s a nice sign from Stockton. The businesses below it don’t seem to fit in with the hat theme so I’m glad they have let it live on.

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Another sign just below it — it seemed to be working:

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I have witnessed a lot of these corner human advertisements lately. Morrison Homes has people dancing with giant arrows. I think all the Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shops have them. This guy was really getting into it despite the 100+ degree weather (plus uniform). I asked him, as he was dancing, how he does it. He said he just likes it. Drinks a lot of water. Sometimes listens to rap music. Here’s a bit more about these dancing Mr. P mascots:
http://media.www.theorion.com/media/storage/paper889/news/2007/02/28/Features/Whats.The.Dill.With.Mr.Pickle-2746607.shtml

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Here’s a modern sign from Grass Valley:

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I finally managed to find the Lincoln Highway marker that I had wanted to see on the previous trip through Reno. This used to be a bridge but is now just sort of a display. It is relegated to a highway pull-off on eastbound I-80 just past mile marker 6. You’d never know it was there from the cryptic “historic marker” mention on the interstate.

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Let’s end with a couple signs from Reno. This one seems strange to me because they seem to have repainted the guy’s face but left the rest of the sign faded. Personally, I find that a good compromise as too often old signs are spruced up pretty poorly. I’d rather have the patina look:

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This one seems unique to me. I’ve never seen an Arby’s sign with neon and chasing bulbs before:

It’s great to be back in the Central Valley — not. 9pm here and it’s 91 degrees. Sparkle’s A/C seemed suspiciously weak today in S.F. so I turned it off in hopes of saving it for when I really need it. Like tomorrow — where it’s expected to be over 100 degrees for at least a couple days. Sheesh — it’s September already and I had hoped things would start to cool for us by now on our return trip. I doubt I’ll be able to find Nik and Grem anywhere to swim tomorrow either.

I felt very sad to be leaving the coast today — not just because of the nice weather but also because I don’t have any clear idea when I’ll be back in California. One week to get back home and start paying for this trip. The reality of closure is starting to set in — but I’m anxious to settle down and straighten out my life. Six weeks is WAY too long to be away but I really wanted to cover the West Coast in a serious way since it’s a long drive out here.

On with the photos! There probably won’t be as many per posting from here on out as I’ll be stuck in the driver’s seat more than usual.

The seagulls at Fisherman’s Wharf seem to have the good life. This guy seemed exceptionally clean and self-confident as he assessed whether I might have snacks for him.

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The Palace of Fine Arts has always been one of my favorite S.F. buildings. Unfortunately, the main rotunda was covered with scaffolding for restoration. So you’ll have to settle for a couple shots of the other part of the building and a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Fine_Arts

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Just north of the Presidio, there was a breast cancer installation with hundreds of pink tents. I wish I had had the time to find a better vantage point as it was visually stunning.
http://cms.komen.org/komen/NewsEvents/BreastCancer3-Day/index.htm

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At least Haight-Ashbury hasn’t changed all that much in 25+ years:

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While I was there in the Haight, there were some people working the crowds promoting and demonstrating this Polaroid Pogo printer that hooks up to your digital camera or camera phone. I can’t think of any use for it myself — but other people seemed into the concept:
http://globetrottingv.blogspot.com/2008/08/tech-travel-polaroid-pogo.html
http://www.polaroid.com/pogo/us/

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I saw a couple of these neat little tour buses around town. They have a really neat ooo-ga horn:
http://www.mrtoadstours.com/

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No one’s gonna miss the Pacific more than my little boy, Nik. He really, really wanted to get out on this stretch of beach this afternoon — but he’d already been swimming twice today and his poopie is getting loose again. I’ll miss his squealing and whimpering fondly in retrospect once this trip is over.

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On the other hand, Fixie is dead tired at this point. Her reaction when we pull over for beach time is more like “do we have to?” She really likes when I put the armrest down so she can use it as a pillow. She will be SO happy to be home.

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A cute bunch of houses on the same block — shot just minutes before leaving town:

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And about an hour later, we had arrived in hot, hot Pleasanton. A nicely painted mural shows what the local landscape looks like:

A very hot and exhausting day in San Francisco. The weather was not at all like I remembered it — maybe I was never here in August before. So much for fog and needing to put on a sweater every 15 minutes. It must’ve been near 90 today. I love the city but I driving up and down steep hills stresses me out. And Grip clearly doesn’t care for cable cars — those crammed vehicles with people hanging off the sides gave her something new to bark at.

The look of the place is not how I remembered it either (25 years later). The neighborhoods I knew well (Columbus, the Marina area, downtown) are not even recognizable to me now (new businesses, new development). The gritty areas are no longer gritty. I covered a lot of ground despite the one-way streets and traffic. I just might be able to pull off finishing S.F. tomorrow and getting some other nearby cities in. Since tomorrow’s Saturday, I should get off to a light-traffic start at 8am (usually when I start shooting).

The dogs got to play at two legit dog parks in town. Mid-day, we went to check out McLaren Park. There’s a small pond (reservoir) for the dogs to play in which helped cool them off. There were some ducks that Grem thought she might catch but they paddled along just out of her reach for about five minutes til she got too cold and had to come back to shore.

At the end of the day, we went to Crissy Field which is right at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. Incredible views and it seems the whole waterfront is off-leash. There were way too many people so we went further down across a bridge. There were a lot of windsurfers and photographers set up to shoot the sunset behind the bridge but we stayed out of their way. Everything was great til Grem disappeared into the fenced off protected area. So I had to have someone hold my dogs while I climbed the fence and went looking for her. When I finally got her after about 5 long minutes, she got put back on leash for the rest of the time there. She is such a hunter — everything’s fine as long as I work like a maniac to keep her busy with ball/treat/ball/treat.

I was relieved that Nik was so focused on his Dinosaur Cuz (squeaky dog toy) that he didn’t notice the sea lions swimming and barking when they cruised by only about 30 feet from shore. He surely would have gone after them had it not been for his toy. There were also pelicans flying around. What an incredible place!

On with today’s photos. The painted wall advertisement for Shasta. I love this little guy!

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This has to be one of the most dramatic arrow signs that I’ve ever seen – complete with martini:

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A lot of sad used-ta-be movie theatres on Mission. Some will make it to my website but these won’t:

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Some streetscapes. This one is rather scary:

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A couple doggie shots from my lap while stuck in traffic. I don’t think Grem had ever heard the violin before. I think she kind of liked it. This performer was in front of Neiman Marcus:

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Grip is the only dog that I know of that recognizes 2-D representations of animals and people. She barked at this guy on the bus advertisement next to us.

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An artpiece on an abandoned building on Howard Street entitled “Defenestration”. It features the illusion of furniture & stuff being thrown from the windows.
http://www.metaphorm.org/pages/portfolio/defenestration/defen.html

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A couple nice plastic signs:

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A more realistic turn-around cleaning time. I’m told that no one really does it in one hour anyway:

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It seems so disrespectful to see these modern logos slapped right on these great Art Deco buildings:

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And lastly, an iconic photo of San Francisco. Ah, yes, the sailboats on the water and the Bay Bridge — with a homeless person’s shopping cart in the foreground. I’ve sure seen a lot of economic disparity on this trip. I won’t get into politics in this blog, but hopefully the next President can bring some positive change to America.

Finished up stuff in Santa Cruz in the morning and stumbled upon a legal doggie area on the beach north of where all the surfers are. Huge waves and Nik got thrashed around a bit but it didn’t stop his enjoyment. He’s got diarrhea though which I assume is from swallowing way too much salt water during the past couple days. But he’s a good boy and pokes my ear repeatedly when he needs me to pull over.

Working northward from Santa Cruz, I got to the El Camino Real cities early afternoon. Other than the things that were on my list, not much else is left. Very sad since when I left California about 25 years ago, there were still tons of neon signs, old motels, cafes, etc. left there. Now, it’s just like everywhere else — all the chains, new big developments, and much more wealthy now. Sometimes as I sat at stoplights (way too many of them, and the sequences are incredibly long in CA), I’d do car inventory from the light. BMW, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Prius, BMW, Sparkle…

According to my schedule, I’ve got two more days left for CA which is going to be a hustle as I am just outside the San Francisco city limits now & have obviously much to shoot there. I’ll do what I can but I have a feeling Iowa plans might be getting the cut.

The Peter Pan Motel sign in Santa Cruz is a bit faded but still fun:

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Still wet and sandy, Nik decides the best place to doze is with his head resting on the “magic box” that contains his assorted favorite toys. I’m sure he can smell them through the plastic.

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Redwood City has been claiming its “climate best by government test” since the 1920s:
http://www.ci.redwood-city.ca.us/about/local_history/exhibits/climate_best/climate_best.html

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I went to Malibu Castle Golf & Games in Redwood City to check out the mini golf — which was nothing all that special. The mini golfs at these places always require a walk through the arcade and snack bar area so I take a quick look around. I haven’t seen this Percussion Master game before (not that I’m an expert). These girls were having a great but serious time.

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I had to chop off the title of this game in order to get more of the game itself in — and of course now I’ve forgotten the name. But anyway, the concept is earthquake-related. That’s San Francisco’s Transamerica Building (or whatever they’re calling it these days) at the back, etc.

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As I was saying earlier in this post, there’s not a lot of old stuff left on El Camino Real now. I did find several fun mid-century buildings in San Carlos. This one appears to have been a former car showroom. There was nowhere to safely park Sparkle on this now superhighway so I left her here for scale. The glass walls were removed and the interior linoleum is visible. I don’t know how long the remains have been like this but I’d imagine it won’t be long before there are more bland stores like all the others at this spot.

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I don’t know what this building used to be but it seems to have been subdivided and reused by new businesses now:

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And, lastly, I don’t know if this has always been a tire store but it has a nify V-shaped roof and complementary signage.

There was a lot of driving but not a lot of picture-taking today. From Salinas, I went down to shoot some things further south to Paso Robles and then decided to take the coastal route back up. I knew it would take more time — but it would be cooler and prettier. I took that route up to S.F. from L.A. many times a couple decades ago when I lived here in CA. It was even prettier, twistier, and more time-consuming than I remembered.

The dogs, of course, got many beach romps out of the route. Nik would start Irish dancing every couple hours and making me nuts. The smell and sight of the ocean were driving him (and consequently) Grem mad. I remember stopping at least in San Simeon and Monterey — finding little pockets of beach there where no one was around. I had heard that Carmel’s beaches were all off-leash. So I toughed out the traffic and snootiness of the place to have a look-see. Sure enough, many dogs there were off-leash but they all seemed to be the laid-back types. Not like my monsters running, jumping, yapping, crashing in the surf. We were a spectacle I guess to the mucky-mucks and tourists on the beach I suppose.

Grem bullied some a couple Lab puppies a bit (twice her size), Nik retrieved his ballie in BIG waves, Fix got loving from the crowds who always find her adorable and ask “what breed is she?”, and Grip stuck close by me for ballie/cheese sequencing (from about 3pm on all she thinks about is her next meal). One of their favorite parts of the Carmel experience was a gigantic dead sea lion — at least that’s what I think it was. It must’ve been 7 feet long and dead for awhile (pee-uuu). The dogs sniffed and I think licked at it (ick!) — I prayed they didn’t roll on/against it. I couldn’t figure out how people could just set up their towels and umbrellas about 20 feet away like it wasn’t there. I went way down the beach from it but had to keep going back to get one of the dogs who couldn’t resist the fragrance.

There aren’t many photos for this posting of Flickr tonight since most of the day was spent either behind the wheel or in the sand. But the next few days should make up for it as I have a huge list & stack of maps for the S.F. area.

Perhaps I’ve been on the road too long — or been admiring too many neon signs on this trip. But at this point, any bit of neon catches my eye. This arrow sign is from the roof of the Wagon Wheel Motel in Salinas:

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I’ve seen a couple old (1960s/70s?) Mobil station signs like this with separate letters but I don’t recall seeing any Shell stations:

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Lots and lots of beautful coastline, Big Sur type trees, fog, bridges, etc. but no photos of them. I saw tons of people at vistas shooting with their digital cameras — even passengers with their video cameras stuck out windows as they were driving the California Coast. I always find that sort of thing too boring to look at in itty bitty photos. You had to be there.

In Castroville, I decided to get a local “delicacy” (probably just tourists like myself that eat them): deep-fried artichoke hearts. This was just a half order but was enough for a $6 dinner. There were about a dozen of them — not bad! Not too greasy and the batter was pretty thin and not overwhelming.

San Jose took up most of the day. I had quite a lot of stuff there and it’s a bigger town than I thought (spread out). The weather got pretty hot — mid 90s and by the time I moved south, I saw bank clocks at 100 degrees. I’m hoping by noon tomorrow to be back on the coast for a few days. I won’t be in any rush to leave San Francisco for Nevada and Utah! Though stops will be much fewer by then as I’ll be pretty much hustling home. 12 more days to go.

The dogs were back in stickery fields today though I did find some skanky rivers to play in a couple times. Temperature extremes (the heat or the AC) seem to wipe them out — esp. in the afternoons. There’s usually a couple hours then when I can get in and out for photo-taking and nobody moves a muscle. The mornings (pre-finding that first place to romp) and evenings (pre-dinner) are the worst (barking and other forms of insanity).

All of today’s photos are from San Jose unless indicated. One of my favorite discoveries was this terrific piñata shop:

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95% of the time when I go to re-enter the van after taking a photo, this is what I see. Grem moves into the driver’s seat and pretends to have been there for hours (even though it’s been seconds). She has her back to me and doesn’t make eye contact when I open the door. Denial that I will really boot her out? Sometimes she even softly growls at me as I nudge her over. Sheesh! The huge van, plenty of sun elsewhere, but no — she wants MY seat! P.S. That’s Fixie in the passenger seat looking miserably exhausted.

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The 10th Street Pharmacy has this neat giant mortar & pestle:

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I love this lotsa glass building:

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A nice old cleaners — but what really gets me is “Miss Careful”:

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A pay toilet — unfortunately, I wasn’t “in need” enough to pay & take photos inside. We have these in NYC and they are just as ridiculously huge and forbidding. Why can’t the city/cities just have fancy porta potties — and more of them. On this trip, I have gone right by a number of construction sites and if nobody’s around and I have to go, I just use the porta potty. Can they arrest me for that? Trespassing, private property?

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An incredible, nicely preserved Squirt sign. The two sides were different so I include them both. Just looking at that bottle makes me thirsty.

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Just one more sign before I go. This one for an exterminator company — kind of a clever, euphemistic name: