West Coast Roadtrip, Jul-22-2011

[ralphmelton]

We had time for one breakfast stop before we caught our plane: that classic of mimetic architecture, Randy's Donuts.


We shared a ham bun and an assortment of donuts. The ham bun was very good, with a soft, tender croissant enclosure.


I remember little about Lori's chocolate-coated donuts.


The plain glazed donut, though, was really splendid, far beyond my expectations. It was light and airy, but sturdy in a way that, say, Krispy Kreme donuts are not. After some debate, we decided that the best way to describe the texture was to say that it was the texture of a marshmallow. There's a wide range of variations in donuts that I do not notice, but this was really extraordinary.


I presume that every other tourist to Randy's takes this picture demonstrating the mimicry, but I can't always be novel:



We had one incident of note on the flight back: At our stop in Charlotte, we were told that if we were continuing on to Pittsburgh, we could leave our carryon luggage aboard the plane. So we left our things in our seats and had a nice dinner at a restaurant next to the gate. We returned from the dinner twenty minutes before takeoff, only to discover that USAirways had changed its mind–the flight to Pittsburgh was now leaving from another terminal. The airline staff had at least retrieved our things for us, but we still had to dash across the airport and get to the gate only after everyone else had boarded. There was probably some legitimate reason for the switch, but it still left me feeling mad at USAirways.


And so concludes my travelogue. I'd like to make one request: if you've enjoyed these trip reports, would you leave a comment here saying so? Many of my friends have told me that they like my reports, but I don't get a lot of comments on them. For the most part, I'm fine with that; I understand that most of my posts don't call for much comment, and I know that my posts are appreciated more than I see. But I am feeling a vainglorious yearning to see more of folks' enjoying my posts, so please indulge me.
(Also, if you're posting anonymously because you don't have a LiveJournal account, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know who you are in your comment.)

Comments

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

You are making me hungry. Always.

Gaaaaaah want to go have donuts with beef dip and mexican for dinner that is so wrong!

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

I think having those all at once would not work, I agree.

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

And thank you.

[eub.livejournal.com]

The key idea in Griffith’s hypothesis centered on this variable frequency aspect of echolocation. Griffith reasoned that the Myotis lucifugus employed variable frequency echolocations as do other bats, however the Myotis lucifugus applied variable frequency to its electromagnetic (rather than sonic) emissions. The key idea in the Griffith hypothesis was that as the Myotis lucifugus emission increased in frequency, the emission actually crossed the thresholds from the extreme ultraviolet into the X-ray, thereby allowing the bat to fly unharmed through solid objects.

Um. Yeah. I'll call the Ig Nobel physics committee.

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I always enjoy reading your food and travel posts, Ralph, and I've enjoyed this trip series.

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

The kindest thing you can say is that sonar was regarded as a wacky idea once upon a time, too.

Thank you for your kind words. When I visualize my audience specifically, you are one of the ones I think of.

[pineoga.livejournal.com]

Did you heard what Rob Matts said about that?

[bironitu.livejournal.com]

Plain and simple! I like your work!

[lyndontoo.livejournal.com]

Belatedly adding that I pass Randy's Donuts several times a week in commuting. Something I had noticed is that the giant donut is always clean, despite birds. So I wonder about giant donut cleaning technology.