Minor travel Inconveniences.

So there's Olivia on my Facebook traipsing through the U.S. with nothing but a backpack, and I'm about to complain about a bunch of minor inconveniences.

Linda and I went to Crescent City for the weekend.  This is NOT a tourist trap.  In fact, it's a pretty poor town.  You walk into the grocery stores here and they are one half beer/wine/booze aisles and one half groceries.

But they have great beaches.  Really.  Some of the nicest beaches around.  And at least the weather was decent.  About 60 degrees, but low wind and that's about the best you can expect.  I realized suddenly that I know more about Crescent City than any other town beside Bend (which is why I set part of my Vampire Trilogy here.)

Anyway, the motel we have stayed in for about 15 years is really getting run down.  The refrigerator was stuck on high, the air conditioner makes weird noises, the doors don't close properly and squeak, and so on and so on.

Plus they're doing construction RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR ROOM with bulldozers actually shaking the entire building.  I mean, I guess they had no reason to warn us, but try writing with that going on.

So Linda and I went to the X-Men movie.  Actually, we went to the Dragon movie, but missed the beginning because the stupid theater has the ticket and commission line combined.  So even though there were only about 15 people ahead of us, it took us 15 minutes to get our tickets because every one of those people wanted popcorn.

So we walk into the Dragon movie and it's well underway.

Well, I get all wound up about these things, but usually manage not to say anything.  I excused myself to go the bathroom when we approached the tickets because I knew I'd say something rude.  But I always forget that I get Linda wound up too, and then she goes and says something...

So we exchange our tickets for the X-Men, which was fine because I really wanted to see that.

But then...they keep the lights on during the entire trailers sequence.  Bright lights.  The movie starts and the lights go down slightly.  The seats sag.  The screen is tiny.   I get up and kick the door closed and that helps.

It's just Linda and me in the theater so we talk all through the movie.  So rude of us.

As we're getting ready to leave, I realize the name of the theater owner is Catheaters. (California Theaters?)

"Yeah, because it's about as pleasant as a needle up your....."