Quiet consumption

Golata, CA.

The sun shines down on the mountains behind this extension of Santa Barbara. The mountains stand brown and dry, dulled by a hazy veil of "marine layer". The locals keep insisting any sort of smog or hazy layer is actually from the sea. It must enhance the real estate values.

The hotel is a Best Western. There is a continental breakfast served every morning. The patrons sit in reserved, awkward silence, not wishing to disturb anyone else. Personal space has a three foot radius. Each person sits quietly with a Danish or bowl of cereal. The selection is quite nice: Golden Grahams, Cheerios, Danishes, donuts, toast, etc. The only noticeable noise, from the air conditioning, in enhanced when two older women begin talking about grandmothers with belly rings. They do not appreciate the six foot diameter of privacy each patron has.

I eat my oatmeal. No one else is eating oatmeal. A large man with a stomach that is two sizes two large for his own good loads up on glucose encrusted donuts. A skater chews Lucky Charms. All the food here seems to be sugar in different shapes. I finish my oatmeal and have a donut. I am on vacation after all. Accompany that with some cranberry juice, and top it all off with another bowl of oatmeal. Ah, whoever said Wheaties was the breakfast of champions didn't work for the Quaker Oats company.