As some of you may remember, Animated Meat first came to life in 2008 as a way to document some sights that managed to slip through the cracks of most popular travel websites. You may also remember that the original website was built on Apple's now defunct iWeb. From there, it migrated over to WordPress where it met an untimely demise at the hands of Russian hackers. Many of those old, pre-2012 entries have found a new home here in the Before the Now section. I would consider these posts as my starting place as a writer, probably comparable to a musician's first demo tapes. They are very rough, but I took them all seriously and wrote each one with passion. While I would like to believe that I have matured in my abilities as a writer, it is my hope that I carry this same blind passion into all of my new efforts.

Yaquina Lighthouse Cafe - Originally Published 2008

May 4, 2019

Travel tip #1: Don’t eat at McDonald’s. Ray Kroc figured something out about the human animal. The only person that likes change is an infant with a wet diaper. He introduced the idea of standardization to the world. It’s the concept that the food at McDonald’s is going to taste the same wherever you eat.

If Mai and I played it safe, we would have had an Egg McMuffin for breakfast. We would have driven past the Yaquina Lighthouse Café. We would have never had razor clams, eggs, and potatoes for breakfast. Yup. You heard me right. We had razor clams for breakfast.

Now I’m going to preach the Animated Meat Gospel. Try something new when you’re on the road. Do not stick to the familiar. It cuts you off from new experiences and opportunities to expand yourself. Trust me.