What a wonderful little shop run by a fantastic woman and man. It has an eclectic mix of sundries: gifts, chains for your car, food, drinks, wine, etc.
I had just been kicked off 80 in order to put on chains. I own some but never installed them before. I am highly independent and decided to do it myself. 2 hours later, I had just finally got them on, and drove less than 100 yards before running into this place while on my way back toward 80W. I needed caffeine by then as I had been driving for 8 or 9 hours, and pulled in.
I LOVE unsweetened tea and they had something called Tea of a Kind (it's organic too) that she introduced me to. I drive 3000 miles a month, stop at a lot of places for drinks, and drink A LOT of different types of tea, but this was the most novel drink I've ever come across regarding tea. The tea infuses into the water when you open it. That was pretty nifty. I didn't think the tea looked dark enough after I cracked open mine, and in order to check I'd done it properly, she opened one herself, (it had been fine, but if you get one of these, just crack the top open instead of opening it fully) and I thought it was really cool of her to verify the quality of my purchase. I bought three of them, including the one she opened to check for me.
We were chatting during this time and I mentioned how it had taken me 2 hours to put the chains on my front tires, how I was soaked and feeling stupid for previously judging/making fun of, my brother, dad & (step)mom for paying people to put them on in the past, and how the chains themselves felt awful while driving the 100 yards here.
She looked out and immediately was like, "You have those on way too loose." She gave me a discount for having put them on myself already, but sold me an adjuster and went out and tightened my chains and put the adjusters on tightly. All in 5 minutes. She showed me what she was doing and gave me detailed instructions on how to take them off (so much easier to take them off!!!) Put me to shame in the best way possible, as by now I just wanted to get on with the rest of my 4 + hours of driving.
Her fellow co-owner joined us briefly and seemed to be the same type of charming, compassionate, funny, easy-going helpful soul as Karen, but he had to help a customer pretty immediately thereafter, so that was pretty much the limit of our interaction. These are great people. I felt less mentally stressed after meeting them, which was really needed, as I was about to lose it.
Oh, and that tea had me going all the way home to San Rafael, CA, after only chugging 1 of them, plus sipping at a half of another, which is pretty amazing since I was dead tired, and considering that I had been concerned about it's potency. read more