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- Denny's #7414
- Danville, California
- 28 May 2005
- 10:00am PDT
- 807 Camino Ramon
- (925) 820-8240
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- Attendees: P7A77, Adder, Sonya
- Wait-person(s): Connie
- What we ate: P7A77: Ultimate Omelette, Wheat Toast; Adder: Country Scramble; Sonya: Moons Over My Hammy, Hashbrowns, Orange Juice
- I knew there was a Denny's here. Danville's not that big (not that I had been there before), and with a street name like "Camino Ramon", I figured it had to be a significant thoroughfare. Easy as keylime pie.
- Faithful readers will know the problems I've had with keylime pie. Turns out there are three Danville exits from the freeway. Whoops! We picked the second one. Drove around town. Drove around some more. Flagged down some random dude who quickly said he wasn't from around here and ran away. Kept on drivin' and after a while realized Danville was no longer the surroundings. Turned around, stopped at a gas station. The guy gave wonderfully clear and specific directions. How many lights, what lane to be in, other buildings in the vicinity, road conditions, weather reports, the whole works. As it turns out, all he really had to say was, "it's just over that bridge". We were, apparently, on the side of the tracks not favorable to Denny's.
- After a fair amount of civil disobedience we headed in. While we were waiting in the lobby, Sonya mentioned she needed to piddle. Restrooms are right there. "How will I find you?" Um, we'll be the very tall people that you recognize in this two-room Denny's. Off she went to urinate.
- There was good and bad about this Denny's visit. It's the same layout as the very first Denny's visited for the Project: good. They no longer offer Adder's favorite meal, the Southern Slam: bad. Sonya spilled catsup on herself: bad. Sonya loves catsup (really, you have no idea how much) and sucked on her shirt for hours afterwards: good. We were mere moments late to take advantage of the morning discount prices: bad. WE MET BATMAN: GOOD!
- Batman was making the streets safe in our general dining area throughout our meal. For the most part he seemed to be fighting Catwoman. Hard to tell, she was out of uniform. It could have been his sister. They were sparring pretty well. I certainly felt a lot safer with him around. When I asked to take his photo, he removed his mask! His father... er, I mean, "Alfred" had a slip of the tongue and told us that he was Bruce Wayne now. Secret identity, revealed! Thankfully I'm not a bad guy, otherwise I'd have to either die or go insane to protect this information. So don't tell anyone or I could get in trouble.
- As is usually the case with daytime shifts, they're slow as hell up front until I get up and want to scam 'em for free stuff. Then they get slammed and I feel like an ass pestering them. After a while of standing around waiting for a free moment, I decided my brush with the Caped Crusader was enough for me for that visit.
- WAY: Undetermined
- Free Stuff: Action Hero Sighting
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- Denny's #7415
- Pleasanton, California
- 28 May 2005
- 11:15am PDT
- 6455 Owens Dr.
- (925) 463-0720
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- Attendees: P7A77, Adder
- Wait-person(s): Laura
- What we ate: nothing
- More lie UNpleasanton. Am I right? Am I right? Work with me here, people.
- They wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. One guy, as I was attempting conversation, simply walked away without a word. Maybe I should stop wearing my Denny's shirts when I visit Denny's. It could make me seem like a crazy obsessed drooling fanboi type. And that's just silly. Heh. Heh. Urm.
- I'm sure by now you've put the pieces together. You know I live in O-Town, and you can see I went from Danville to Pleasanton. You're probably jumping up and down with excitement at what's coming next. Well, stop jumping because you're scaring the cat. Yes, that's right, we were off to visit the Centennial Bulb in Livermore.
- For the few of you who maybe haven't been paying attention for the past one hundred four years, I'll fill you in. The Centennial Bulb is a light bulb first put to use by the fire department in 1901. It now burning as brightly as a single-digit watt bulb can burn in Fire Station #6 in Livermore. Yes, it still works. Don't believe me? Check for yourself you negative nellies.
- Now that you've been effectively humbled, I'll relay a bit of our adventure. Ready? Here it comes. We walked in, asked if we could look at the light bulb, and took photos. I get a tingle just thinking about it. Fireman Rod was kind enough to tell us a bit about the bulb and answer the same questions he hears all the time. Such as, "Do you get worried it will spike and burst after a power outage?" "We're a fire station and protected on the grid." "Oh yeah." Seems they like to play basketball in there sometimes. Basketball. In a room with very bouncy walls and floors. Next to an extremely fragile piece of modern history and the biggest draw to Livermore since whatever the hell it was they had there before 1901. The biggest draw to Livermore since they were sitting the dark waiting for electricity, that's what it is. And they casually throw things at it. Next month they're having shotgun target practice in there.
- WAY: undetermined
- Free Stuff: nothing
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- Denny's #6919
- San Leandro, California
- 28 May 2005
- 1:40pm PDT
- 15015 Freedom Ave.
- (510) 278-9826
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- Attendees: P7A77, Adder, Sonya
- Wait-person(s): Manuela
- What we ate: P7A77: Coke Float; Adder: Vanilla Shake; Sonya: Root Bear Float
- Full of energy and excitement after viewing the oldest functioning light bulb in the world, we stopped by something we saw off the highway on the way over... MINI GOLF. Denny's, Batman, landmarks, and now this. The day couldn't possibly get better. We briefly got lost trying to find the gigantic fun palace immediately off the highway, but we're aimless like that. Fairly decent course considering they don't like to design fun mini golf courses in California. They probably figure the ocean, mountains, rivers, and parks are enough outdoor entertainment for us. Well, not those of us from Ohio, damnit! We want decent mini golf! This one had the requisite windmill as well as an opportunity for us to pretend like we're twelve years old with our humor. Not like we need much excuse to do that.
- Oh yeah, Denny's. Sonya had the bright idea to get an ice cream float, which was much preferred to the milkshake I had been planning on. Yes, I sometimes plan what I'm going to eat at which Denny's. Listen, you spend a fair portion of your life hopping from Denny's to Denny's and then tell me that pacing yourself isn't a good idea.
- At first I had a good feeling about this place. We were at the end of a satisfying day, we were sitting at the counter, and the waitress seemed friendly. But when I tried to do the usual bit at the end, she got all confused on us. Well, back up a second. She's the one who did the confusing. We didn't get a meal ticket, just her telling us how much it was. I asked for a ticket, and she didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. Maybe she wanted to pocket $15. So that threw me off, and I wasn't too good in describing what I was doing.
- What's really distressing about this entire run is that nobody I talked to knew who Weird Al Yankovic was. This has been a trend lately. Not even, "oh, wait, that one guy, right?" No hint of name recognition. Its a sad state of affairs in this nation's second-rate chain diner network, I tell you what.
- WAY: No
- Free Stuff: nothing
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