Road Trip! Bakersfield - Saturday 1/3/2008

Whew, the fog was thick between Tehachapi and Bakersfield! It actually got worse than this, but by then Hydra stopped taking photos and was digging his nails into the dashboard.



Hydra alive and well inside The Pyrenees Cafe. It's located on a rather desolate and industrial feeling street, but it's pretty interesting inside. The bar, which is visible over Hydra's shoulder in the next room, seems very friendly and lively. The dining area has rows of long tables and you eat family style.

The cabbage soup was really good. The rest of it, frankly, was just okay. We loved this place the first time we came here, and it still earns points for being a throw-back to another style of eating place. There was a lot of garlic on the chops and chicken we ordered. I like a lot of garlic, but I like it cooked a bit more than this was.



I'm on a photo scavenger hunt for a list of 43 pirate- and surfer-related items. This counts as a treasure chest, I believe!



My entry into this week's themed photo contest (RED) on Facebook : the little red wagon outside an antiques mall in Bakersfield.


This is here just because I thought it was interesting. It's like an electric chair for soup!

Pretty elaborate set up, here: a single metal mug with prongs on the back of it that plug into this machine. This booth had a lot of very old vending machines. Like pre-Mad Men old.

We went to several antiques stores and malls up there, and didn't end up buying anything. What makes it interesting is when you come across a booth like the one with all the old vending machines in it, and you feel like you've learned something about the (obsessions of the) person who finds this stuff and salvages it.

It's like they're curating their booths rather than merely stocking them.