We knew the next day of our trip was going to be a long one--when we planned it out earlier in the year, we decided to drive as far up from Anaheim as we could get in one day, then save the last stretch of the drive for the next morning. Marcus and I came up with a rough estimate that, after eight to nine hours of driving, we'd end up in an area called Redding. I browsed some discount travel sites for a bit and booked us a night at a hotel in Red Bluff for $40, and we figured our day would end whenever we got there.
It was sort of sad to leave our "fun" part of the trip (and Disneyland!) behind, but we were both excited to get moving at the same time. After one more free breakfast, we headed out!
The driving part was indeed very long and involved a whole lot of nothing as far as scenery goes. I have to give Marcus his due credit--we had originally mapped out sort of a schedule for taking turns at the wheel, but he kept saying he wanted to go a little longer. Eventually, it turned out that he made the entire trip himself. Serious stamina. I felt bad, because I kept offering to take over, but he declined and requested that I just feed him snacks while he focused on the road. His current favorite thing to eat is those bags of Brookside dark chocolates with pomegranates and acai berries--stolen from me, of course!
When we finally got to Red Bluff around 6 PM, we were sort of surprised by how small of a town it was. I personally thought it was pretty cute--it reminded me a lot of Flagstaff, especially because it seemed to have one main road connecting to the highway surrounded by small businesses and chain restaurants. We found our hotel, and we were literally the only people staying there. The parking lot was empty except for our car, which was slightly creepy, but we figured we wouldn't jump to conclusions. Based on some of the reviews we'd seen for this particular hotel, we were admittedly a little concerned (one specifically said to "run far away") but upon entering the room, we realized there was nothing to worry about. Granted, the place was quite old, and the bathroom floor was a tiny bit questionable, but for what it was--a place to hang out for the night--I was fine with it. I've definitely stayed in worse! The beds were comfortable, the TV worked, and the swamp cooler was incredibly efficient.
After checking in and putting our things in the room, we remembered it was dinner time and that we were actually pretty hungry. We scoped out a Denny's nearby and enjoyed one of the best cheap dinners I've ever had. Did you know you can order their "value Grand Slam" thing with wheat pancakes, turkey bacon and egg whites? I found out that evening that you could, and it was delicious (I have a thing for fluffy wheat pancakes)! I think the two of us got to eat for a little over ten bucks, which I personally considered a victory.
Later, Marcus revealed that he'd been craving a trip to the movies. He'd spent the entire day driving, so it seemed fair to let him pick what we did with our evening. We found the one movie theater in town and made it to the 7:00 showing of X-Men. The theater was so little you could hear the other movies playing through the wall! I thought it was cute; Marcus, who grew up in a tiny town in Alaska, assured me that the novelty of a tiny theater wears off quickly. We agreed that the popcorn was delicious, and I enjoyed the show despite not having seen any of the other X-Men movies. Altogether, even though I suppose technically there wasn't a whole lot to it, it was one of the best nights I've had in awhile! Even now, about a week after the trip, I remember this part in particular pretty fondly.
Last up: our home stretch!
No comments:
Post a Comment