How can you not go visit a town named Igo, surrounded by mountains named Shasta Bally, Bully Choop, Little Bally, Bluenose Peak, and Shoemaker Bally, then resist a burger at the International Cafe in the town of Ono?
Well, the day was warm, I was craving a burger, and we had nothing to do, so we jumped in the truck for a mini-road trip. Winding up and down, over creeks and past barns until we got to Igo.
We spent about five minutes wandering and sightseeing in downtown Igo, vowed that someday we would return to try the Igo Inn Cafe, then zoomed off the five short miles to Ono.
When we got to downtown Ono, much to our relief the International Cafe was easy to find. We managed a parking spot outside and wandered in. We had our pick of the comfortable brown padded bar stools or a table in front of the roaring fire, so Gail chose the fireside table. I ordered onion rings, the famous Ono (bacon-cheese) Burger on homemade bun, and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. After a little confusion, Gail ordered an egg sandwich and Bud.
*A note on the confusion:
"What kind of toast? Wheat, plain, english muffin, sourdough..."
"Sourdough."
"How do you want your eggs?
Silence.
More silence.
"Most people have them scrambled..."
"Scrambled."
The beer was iced cold, the burger good, onion rings crisp. But the ambiance made it a great meal.
This is the kind of quirky place you could drive all over America to find, and here it is, in Northern California. We listened in on the locals' conversations, admired the rattlesnake skin, turkey feathers and boar's head mounted above the huge fireplace. The fire roared and kept Gail warm, and by its light we could see the metal M still embedded high above the mantle, the obsidian, fossils and quartz? gemstones? pretty shiny things used with the rock to decorate it.
The Ono Store and International Cafe is owned by the sister of the drummer for The Police, Stewart Copeland. They have bottles of autographed wine for sale for $12, a huge selection of VHS tapes for rent (What is a VHS?) and books on a shelf with a sign, "Books $1 to $5, not all are for sale." There are scattered guns, saws, and snake skins on the walls, and the mounted deer head wears a Police cap.
Oh, we are so far from home.