Things change and food memories
Well, I’m really into the new job. I’m currently doing training in Anaheim this week. I got in earlyish on Sunday and decided to drive down to San Diego and check out the old neighborhoods. The drive down I-5 from LAX was a shock to say the least.
I know things can’t stay the same forever but I was amazed at the changes in Orange County since I was last through here nearly 15 years ago. My grandparents lived in Orange County while I was growing up and we visited them very often. I remember the drives up from San Diego as a kid in the 70’s. You’d clear Oceanside and there’d be the nothingness of Camp Pendelton. If you were lucky the Marines were doing amphibious assaults and you’d get to see boats, tanks, helicopters, and Marines all over the place. After Pendelton you had the sleepy town of San Clemente, then San Juan Capistrano. After that it was miles and miles of orange groves all the way to Santa Ana with a small break in them near Irvine.
My drive down I-5 was so disconcerting because I couldn’t tell where one city stopped and another began. There used to be clear lines between towns. Orange groves and farms. Now it’s one big megalopolis all the way down to Camp Pendelton. It’s the only reason that it isn’t one giant strip mall from San Diego to Santa Barbara. I didn’t see a single orange grove, just seas of Best Buys, Old Navys, and Bed Bath and Beyonds. It’s nice to know you’re never more than 3 miles from a Marshalls or Linens and Things I guess.
Now the good parts. In-n-Out and Yoshinoya. I also hit a Rally’s in San Diego. All of these were places I knew I’d have to eat while here. When I heard I was coming out they were the first things I thought. Why is that? Why, when you think of places, is a lot of the time the first thing that comes to mind is the food? Mention our trip to New England a couple years ago and I’ll bring up the clam chowder we had in a little place dockside in Maine. Mention going to Disneyworld and it’s the Sweet Potato Pancakes at the Boatwright Restaurant or the former buffet at Akershus(now ruined by becoming a ‘Character restaurant’). It always happens when talking with people and their trips. They mention the food. I guess good food is tied deeply to our memories.
I did gorge myself on a large Beef Bowl with extra beef from Yoshinoya this evening and am paying the price for that. It was worth every bite. 🙂