Breakfast was a much more pleasant affair than our previous two Rodeway Inn stays - actually having a breakfast room was a step back to civilisation... and there was a much better selection of hot and cold foods on offer. We saw people making waffles with the ease of knowledge gained through much experience... but, not knowing how it worked, we didn't try it out.
The drive north to Springfield (the home of the Simpsons cartoon family?) started with a filling station pump that refused to work either for us or for the attendant, but a switch of pumps soon got us filled up and underway. There was more beautiful coastline, and spectacular views, and scary sharp curves on mountain roads, and beautiful cooling drives through more Redwoods. This drive took us inland and we spent a fair amount of time on wider highways travelling at a comfortable 65 mph.
The accommodation at Springfield was a Comfort Suite - a further step up from Eureka's Comfort Inn... bedroom, lounge/office with corner spa bath and then a separate bathroom too. It seemed that the further north we were, the better the accommodation and the better the prices too. We took our customary walk to the nearest shopping mall, checking out the wide variety of eating places along the way. We finally settled on an iHop restaurant where the waitress immediately spotted that we were 'senior citizens' and therefore eligible for special discount (did we really look so travel worn and weary?)... Jimmy had spotted Hawaiian pancakes and was determined to giove it a go. So we ordered what we thought would be a relatively small main course (barbequed ribs for Jimmy and chicken salad for Val) and a couple of tropical twist coolers to gently wash it down. Well... the spare ribs were somewhat large, and Val's salad was a veritable mountain! So we took our time, were treated to free refills and ice water while making our way through it all (maybe not quite all, but a fair amount), and somehow found room for the pancake and a free ice cream too!
Then it was an easy stroll back and we just had to have a go at the corner spa bathtub in our room - so we luxuriated in a mass of bubbles - if we were the idle rich types we'd have had champagne and candles on the side, but we were absolutely fine without those additional trappings. More computer stuff and then a reasonably early night in readiness for the final driving stretch the following morning.
296 photos today
Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
The drive north to Springfield (the home of the Simpsons cartoon family?) started with a filling station pump that refused to work either for us or for the attendant, but a switch of pumps soon got us filled up and underway. There was more beautiful coastline, and spectacular views, and scary sharp curves on mountain roads, and beautiful cooling drives through more Redwoods. This drive took us inland and we spent a fair amount of time on wider highways travelling at a comfortable 65 mph.
The accommodation at Springfield was a Comfort Suite - a further step up from Eureka's Comfort Inn... bedroom, lounge/office with corner spa bath and then a separate bathroom too. It seemed that the further north we were, the better the accommodation and the better the prices too. We took our customary walk to the nearest shopping mall, checking out the wide variety of eating places along the way. We finally settled on an iHop restaurant where the waitress immediately spotted that we were 'senior citizens' and therefore eligible for special discount (did we really look so travel worn and weary?)... Jimmy had spotted Hawaiian pancakes and was determined to giove it a go. So we ordered what we thought would be a relatively small main course (barbequed ribs for Jimmy and chicken salad for Val) and a couple of tropical twist coolers to gently wash it down. Well... the spare ribs were somewhat large, and Val's salad was a veritable mountain! So we took our time, were treated to free refills and ice water while making our way through it all (maybe not quite all, but a fair amount), and somehow found room for the pancake and a free ice cream too!
Then it was an easy stroll back and we just had to have a go at the corner spa bathtub in our room - so we luxuriated in a mass of bubbles - if we were the idle rich types we'd have had champagne and candles on the side, but we were absolutely fine without those additional trappings. More computer stuff and then a reasonably early night in readiness for the final driving stretch the following morning.
296 photos today
Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
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