Review: Airpark Cafe

Review: If you want to eat delicious food in a diner just before you take flying lessons, Airpark Cafe is the place to go. It's also a good place to go if you just want to eat good food! It's a local business and family-run, and it's tucked away above the hangar of Benton Airpark, a small airstrip in Redding. They get a lot of pilots here, but also locals. The owners are friendly, and when they're not cooking, they're always happy to say hello. They almost always have food projects going, usually trying out a weekly or daily special of some sort. It's under new management as of now, but it doesn't make the food any less tasty.

Geography: This is transportation cuisine of a different sort. It's different from the Coast Starlight Diner because it always stays in the same place. It caters to people in the transportation industry as well as locals, which results in hearty and generous servings of food. It's not a fusion cuisine per se, but more of a “generalistic cuisine”. It generalizes American diner cuisine, without giving thought to regional variation. This can be a good thing: it still is good food, and catering to the common factors of regional diner food helps bring in pilots from all over the country. It also makes it very true to American cuisine; a rare quality in food in general because it can be hard to sum up the regional differences in American cuisine due to its diversity.

Car-less Travel: Redding to Arcata

Traveling Highway 299 west from Redding to Arcata by car can be frustrating.  The sharp curves, construction work, and often bumpy sections of the road can be challenging for cars.  If you don't own a motor vehicle, then you may think you're out of luck unless you take Greyhound via San Francisco.

But you don't have to do that.  There is a route you can take using a series of regional buses that goes only on the 299.  The advantages over Greyhound are: 

• It costs a lot less.  The regional bus route costs $24.35 one way from Arcata to Redding, while Greyhound costs over $100.

• You meet more locals than tourists.  Since the area of coverage for these buses are small, you often see commuters from the small towns in the area.  I've ridden the route more times than I can count, and I've never once gone without meeting a friendly local along the way.

• The other passengers will not randomly try and stab you.  There have been no combative or hostile passengers when I've ridden the regional buses.  However, every single time I've ridden Greyhound to Portland, fistfights (and more than once, stabbings) have broken out.

Here's a link to transit directions from Redding to Arcata and back:

Redding to Arcata

Arcata to Redding

Future Travel Plans: December 2014

December 2014

San Diego

Tijuana

First off, I'm going to San Diego in December.  It's easy to figure out why I would go there.  Diverse cultures, cheap eats, not Los Angeles... what more could a budget traveler ask for?  Well, I could always go to Tijuana, right across the border.

If you now are wondering whether I have officially lost my mind by going into a place that's reportedly filled with drug dealers, human trafficking, and all sorts of things which (if you're a big fan of the slippery slope fallacy) could land me in a Mexican prison, then I'd like to take a minute to tell you about my hometown (and where I currently live), Redding.

Redding is home to all of the things Tijuana is known for, at least to the same degree if not more.  Drug dealers?  Redding just to happens to be (alongside Eureka) one of the crystal meth capitals of the North State.  Human trafficking is a serious issue here, along with domestic abuse.  Another problem is a broken county mental health system, which I myself have been affected by.

With this in mind, Tijuana begins to sound like a picnic to me about now.  Unfortunately, it isn't; drug cartels do have a lot of power there.  However, I am going with a friend who grew up there, and therefore knows the ins and outs of the place.

There is also a draw for culinary travelers in and around Tijuana.  Fearmongering in the media may have hurt the economy, but it also has brought a sharp decline in stereotypical tourists who seek only places in their comfort zone.  Therefore, more travelers seeking a more authentic, realistic experience there have increased slightly.  Restaurants and food stalls are responding to this, and now Tijuana is undergoing a return to more traditional cuisine.

Launch of Car-less Travel

Hey everybody!  A lot of people, including me, don't have a car or a driver's license.  This new section will deal with traveling without one, and catalog my journeys as it relates to transportation.  Enjoy!

Catching Up...

A lot has happened since I last posted here.  The day after I wrote about the first day in Seattle, I signed up for Matador University, an online travel writing school.  Since then, I've been working on being a travel writer.  Since I started reading travelogues by Bill Bryson at the age of 6, it's always been my dream job to go out and travel, and also get paid for it.

Of course, the reality is that travel writing is a lot of work, and most writers don't make too much money.  That's why I've been thinking of things like antiquing, coding, and also making a bit on this blog by monetizing it.  This means that you may see ads in the near future on here.  I'll try and make them as non-intrusive as possible, don't worry!

I leave for Arcata tomorrow, which also happens to be my birthday.  I'm okay with that, as Arcata is my favorite place I've been to.  I'm also thinking of renting a room there, and having Arcata as my base for travel instead of Redding.

Goodbye Redding...

... and hello Arcata!

Seattle, Day 1: Hostels Trying to be Hotels, The Dock Bar, and More

Today, I said goodbye to Vancouver and hello to Seattle.  It was very strange; I was beginning to feel like Vancouver was my home city after two weeks there.  But it was time to move on.

I said goodbye to Alex and Maria as they left for work.  I finished packing, and headed out.

At 9:30 AM, I arrived at the station whee the Amtrak bus would take me back to the United States, and ultimately to Seattle.  At 11:30, the bus arrived and I hopped on.

After filling out the customs form, we started moving.  We passed Richmond, Surrey, and Delta (the southern suburbs of Vancouver), and finally we arrived at the United States border.

I hadn't done any land border crossings before.  I was a bit nervous, but I made it through all right.  The delay at the border was maybe 30-40 minutes.  Not bad.

We eventually arrived in Seattle.  I hadn't realized how spread out the Seattle metro area was before.  We got in the Seattle city limits about 25 miles from the actual exit that we took to the station.

Upon arrival, I went to a coffee shop I had looked up at the Vancouver station.  It was called Zeitgeist Cafe. The baristas were snooty and the espresso was terrible, so I'm definitely not going back there.

I took bus 5 to Fremont N and 27th.  I got lost on the way, so I called the hostel and asked for directions.

Once I stepped in the Hotel Hotel Hostel, something was off.  It wasn't subtle, either, with the decor akin to a large nightclub.  The staff was friendly, though.  It had more amenities than most motels I've been in.  I guess the "hotel hotel" at the beginning of the name of the hostel should have tipped me off.

This is an example of a hostel not only losing a sense of community, but actively trying to.  I guess some people don't like hostels due to lack of privacy, but come on.  This hostel does not have privacy, as it's technically still a hostel (shared bathrooms, dorms, and common areas).  It just tries to look fancy.  My advice for them: be a hostel or don't.  Most people who usually stay in hostels (including myself) do not want fancy accommodation.  They want to be focused on the area surrounding them and meeting the people in it, not distracted by amenities which they don't need nor necessarily want.  I understand having a few might be nice, but it I felt like I accidentally walked into a rave club owned by Tony Stark.  Not cool.

Anywho, I had to do laundry after a bit, so I went to a laundromat nearby.  I then looked for a place to eat while I waited for the wash to be done.  Right next to the laundromat was a bar called The Dock Bar and Restaurant.  Those of you who know me know I don't drink, but there was a sign advertising two tacos for $3.  I went in.

I ordered the tacos, and chatted with the bartendress about hot sauce and food trucks.  I liked the place, so I ended up getting a crab and shrimp macaroni and cheese.

It was delicious.  The Bechamel-cheese sauce had clam juice in it to thin it a bit, which went well with the seafood.  There was plenty of seafood, and it was real crab (no imitation crap crab here!)  The best part: it was only $13, and had as much crab and bay shrimp as what you would order in an expensive seafood restaurant.  I'll definitely have to come back.

I then went back to the hostel, and went to bed.

Vancouver, Day 14: Pizza, Storm Crow Tavern, and More

When I got up, I decided to go to Caffe Rustico again.  They weren't open for another hour, so I went to Slickity Jim's.

I had the "I See Food", a crab cake and avocado benedict.  Usually I don't like crab cakes, but these were good.  After my meal, I went to Caffe Rustico.

I spent a lot of time there (I think from 9 AM to 2 PM).  Over that time, I got two shots of espresso, a Sprite, a slice of Paesano pizza (pesto, olives, feta, and artichoke), two slices of the veggie pizza, and a Napoli (like a biscotti, but filled with chocolate and topped with sliced almonds).  Some would say this is too much, but for this place, I beg to differ.

Eventually, I went to the area around Maria's work, where we were going to meet.  I got there early, and hung out in the Davie Community Gardens.  It was a really nice place; I ended up meditating there for half an hour.

After meeting with Maria, we walked to a nearby JJ Bean.  Alex met us there after a bit, and we took public transit to Commercial Drive.

Commercial Drive has a lot of nice, cheap places to eat, but it can also be pretty sketchy.  Our destination was the Storm Crow Tavern, basically a pub for geeks.  Sounds just right!

We walked in, and ordered our food.  We pondered playing a few board games, but we just wanted to eat.  (Also, the games were a bit complex).  I ordered the Mexican Vampire Bordello Mac n' Cheese of Cthulhu.

That name alone would lead any sane person to run out of there, so I stayed to eat.  It was definitely worth it.  The toppings (black beans, tomato salsa, cilantro, onion) made it even better.  At one point, I looked up over my table and noticed a sort of altar with a statue of my macaroni and cheese' namesake, Cthulhu.

Imagine sitting down and having this guy watch you eat his macaroni and cheese.  Trust me, it's even more awkward than you think.

Afterwards, we went home.  I prepared a bit for the trip to Seattle the next day, and went to bed for the last time in Vancouver.