It was about this time of year Spring vaca
tion was approaching, but not fast enough
Midterms were pretty much finished, and
papers weren’t due for a couple of weeks
My goodwife and I were sitting in the dreary
little living room of our dreary little apartment
feeling well, dreary ‘‘We never do any
thing exciting anymore,’’ I remember one of
us saying "We used to do wonderfully crazy
things, remember?" At that moment, an Idea
was born; not a great, earth-shattering one, but
a small, wonderfully naughty one
"Hey," I said, "let's be totally irresponsible
and go off for the weekend! To San Fran
cisco. "
My goodwife squealed with delight as we
discussed the Idea We could make reserva
tions at the Eugene Heapy-Cheapy Inne for a
room somewhere near Frisco, take off right
after she got off work Saturday afternoon and
drive, drive, drive until we made the Heapy
Cheapy for the night We'd cruise to The Bay in
the morning, and spend five or six hours doing
delightfully silly and touristy things, then drive,
drive, drive back for classes the next morning,
said
"Watch for the exit. It says here, turn left on
Blossom Park Court after the Nut Tree inter
section and then follow Willigson Way It says
you can’t miss it."
We missed it. Several times Although we
could see it clearly from the freeway, we spent
15 minutes looping around the freeway inter
changes “You think maybe it's a mirage?” my
wife asked I glared
Fifteen minutes after that I was considering
the fine for driving over the median strip in
California. "Do we have any signal flares we
could send up?" my wife offered It was time for
drastic measures
I took a series of totally random lefts and
rights, and five minutes later we stood before
the night desk
We awoke the next morning to the piercing
tones of my digital watch 7:00 a m "Aren’t
digital watches wonderful?" exclaimed my
wife "Rise and shine! San Francisco awaits!"
We were soon back on the road, rested,
showered, breakfasted and eager to see the
taking turns sleeping
and Driving
The next day was wet
and gray "Perfect
weather for leaving
Eugene,'' I remarked
The car was all packed
and we left from my
wife's work on
schedule at 3:00 First
stop the Eugene
Heapy-Cheapy Inne
A middle-aged lady
who sounded like Emily
Latella with a pair of
Vise-Grips tightened
around her nose
helped us with our re
servation Nyess. I
can call fer yuh, but
aisle have tuh charge
FRISCO
OR BUST
Getting away
for the
weekend
by matt meyer
Golden Gate The
Sacramento stations
gave way to San Fran
cisco stations
We arrived at Fisher
man's Wharf without
much difficulty. The
sun shone brightly on
the blue bay, the
seagulls wailed cheer
fully at us A loaf of
sourdough bread and a
cup of shrimp cocktail
in our hands, we
strolled along the
wharf
We worked our way
through a number of
chic little art galleries,
and by a number of
jewlery vendors, por
trait artists, bad guitar
yuh fer the cawl whether yuh get a place er not
Understand'’ It s long distance, yuh know
We felt like big spenders, so we authorized
her to make the call Luckily, a room was
availaole in Vacaville, about two hours from
Frisco We were in business
Soon we were out in the car, rumbling along
1-5 My wife took the first shift driving With the
exception of a traffic cop who shook an ac
cusing finger at her as he pulled over the guy
who d |ust passed us, the trip was fairly dull
After an hour layover in Roseburg for some
soggy pizza and a huge pitcher of caffeine, we
were back on the road heading for the border
It was too dark for homework, so my wife dozed
for a while
Six hours later I was still driving The caffeine
had long since worn off, I'd listened to most of
the tapes I liked, and was starting to listen to
my wife's French tapes for diversion My wife
was still in dreamland, and I was starting to get
Sacramento stations on the radio There it was,
Vacaville, one more mile I pushed the little
button on my watch Aren't digital watches
wonderful7'' I observed quietly Only 2:00!
"Great shape!' I said aloud
Gray snakes7'' my wife said, waking in
stantly Her hair was tussled, her eyes only half
open, but she was definitely awake "Where
are we7"
"Just outside of Vacaville That's Spanish
for cow town." I replied Wonderful," she
ists, candle makers a juggler who juggled
small children (actually plastic dolls that ex
ploded on impact) and a bagpiper who sub
jected us to torture while we waited for our
cable car
It was late afternoon and time to start think
ing about our homeward journey 'Can we
have some seafood? Can we, can we can we?"
begged my wife We stopped at one of the
seafood stands along the Wharf This OK?" I
asked
"I meant inside." she snapped C'mon, it
won't be that expensive
We were seated at a linen-covered table
overlooking the bay Our waiter tried to look
terribly proper as we ordered My wife had the
Sicilian-style Squid I had the Turkey Salad
Sandwich
Soon the plates arrived, hers full of little
tentacles swimming in a watery brown sauce I
watched my wife's face carefully as she raised
the fork to her mouth I've had squid before."
she asssured me "It's just like chicken, only
sea-ier "
Suddenly the smile left her face She poked
at another tentacle She reached for a drink of
water ' Ummm, delicious," she said, "only a
little rich Want some7"
As it turned out, she ate half of my sandwich
and I nibbled at part of a tentacle The waiter
grinned as he took away the mostly-full plate,
continued on page 7B
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