Ok, it's still Saturday, but now its a little past 10 pm and we have made it to Ventura, California where we will crash for the night at a Holiday Inn Express at the Ventura Harbor. What a day it has been, we had three bad starts....we went to pick up the rental car but the computers were down so we had to be processed manually, we finally got on the road at 11am and about a hour into the trip, we tried to switch the to radio Satellite radio, that was a no go, there was no Satellite Radio, which we requested when we made the reservation, we called the rental company, they asked us to go to the nearest airport, so we had to backtrack for thirty minutes to the San Jose Airport.....we finally ended up with a 2007 Lincoln Town Car with a satellite Radio system and satellite navigation and 100 dollars off the weekly rental price for the inconvenience, not a bad deal, by the time we finally got on the road, it was 1pm. From San Jose Airport we drove to Splash Bakery in San Luis Obispo, the sister restaurant to the Splash Cafe in Pismo beach who makes some of the best clam chowder on the West Coast! I sat down to talk to the ownerm Joanne who gave me a brief lesson on the history of the Splash Cafe and, she also spilled the beans about a possible new location on the California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo and a possible Costco connection I'll tell you more about our conversation in a future Stanley's corner....... oh, and one more thing after leaving San Luis Obispo, we hit the highway only to realize we had entered the northbound lanes, basically heading in the wrong direction I realized this about 10 miles into the trip, I read a sign that said, "Salinas 102 miles" and for a minute I was wondering why there was two cities named Salinas, then it hit me, duh.... you're going the wrong way!!

Captains log Saturday July 8th 6am PST, it's time to begin our annual Road Trip, first on the list is to pick up the Rental from the San Francisco International Airport ..... Our actual estimated time of departure is 9am, with one stop in Gilroy California at the factory outlet. To pick up a few last minute items .... Our first real food stop will be at the Spalsh Cafe in San Luis Obispo which is know for its Clam Chowder, we have been to the shop in Pismo Beach, California which usually has customers standing in line around the corner waiting to order, but this will be our first visit to the San Luis Obispo store..... After which we will head to Santa Barbara, we were invited to visit the Eagle Inn Bed and Breakfast so we have added that to our list.... we plan on picking a ramdon hotel somewhere in the Los Angeles basin to bed down for the night... On this Trip is Carmen Jones our VP, Miss Brooke Taylor Roberts and Rebekah T Roberts our children's food expert. We are actually heading for Baja California where we plan to cross the border around 2:30 pm on Sunday our check in is for 3pm on Sunday and barring any problems we should be on time. Here's the crazy part, apparently you cannot rent a car from San Francisco and then drive it into Mexico, not the same for Canada, so we have to drive to the San Diego Airport, get into a different rental car (something about the high rate of stolen carsin Mexico) pay 35 dollars a day (mandatory) for Mexican auto insurance.... That is above the price of the second rental.....Is it worth it or should I have just used a personal auto? We shall soon find out. After Mexico we will be heading straight to Legoland amusment park in Carlsbad California along with some of the restaurants in that area then Disneyland and we will be blogging along the way....if you want to keep up just log in to this blog everyday or send us an email at info@we8there.com to say hello!


We will report in as soon as we reach another Wifi area.
Stanley Roberts /CEO

Illegal immigration has been a topic in heavy rotation in the news lately, some are asking for amnesty for illegal immigrants and some of us are yelling ?throw the bums out?. Now, there is a new volley in the anti-immigration buzz. In Philadelphia, my home town, Geno?s Steaks, a very popular cheesesteak restaurant located in south Philly has erected a sign that simply says ?This is AMERICA, WHEN ORDERING SPEAK ENGLISH!? So this begs the question has Geno?s gone too far?
I personally don?t have a problem with immigrants simply because America was built on the backs of immigrants. I do, however, have a problem with illegal immigration, the key word here is ?illegal?, no one should be allowed to sneak into a another country without proper documentation. For example, I can?t sneak into a bank one night and stay there until morning, then when the bank employees arrive they see me counting the money in the vault and when they call the police, I argue that since I?ve been in the bank all night, I am entitled to most of the money and even some employee benefits. You and I both know that I would get hauled off to jail, so fast that it would make your head spin.
Is a sign like the one at Geno?s fair to our non-English speaking residents, let?s look to France for the answer. In Paris, to be honest, you don?t need to speak French to get around. All the museums and other tourist attractions will have either guided tours or written guides in English. Where you might have more of a language problem is in the countryside. But even there, you still will be able to get around and have a great time. Most B & B owners at least have a limited English vocabulary, enough for them to understand that you want a room. So the urban legend that you have to speak French to get around in France is just that an urban legend.
I think restaurants should do what they can, within reason, to offer services to every person, even if they have a language barrier. Not catering to an individual because they are different is a step backwards in race relations. I will be visiting Mexico in July which will take me to Puerto Nuevo, Tijuana and Rosarita Beach, the truth be told, even if I don?t have a little knowledge of Spanish language, I can?t expect the residents to learn English, just so I can order food and they don?t expect me to learn Spanish. The truth is if you own a business, you never want to alienate any of your customers, every dollar counts. I know, I know, you?re probably wondering why we8there.com is only written in English, why don?t I have this site in every language? It?s very simple, I can?t afford to yet, but when I can afford to, you can bet we8there.com will be in every language available.

Road Trip 2006

Every year for the past four years we8there.com conducts a road trip to various locations on the west coast, our first was to Canada, where we had tea at the Empress Hotel ... This year we are heading south of the border to Puerto Nuevo http://puertonuevo.baja.com/ the lobster capital of the world.......and you thought that was Boston..... we will be staying at the http://www.newportbeachhotel.com/ We will be blogging up and down the west coast, as we hit different cities including Carlsbad by the Sea California, if you have a place you think we should visit, send us an email at info@we8there.com and we might add it to our itentiary.