A visit to Juliet's Castle: another of life's little pilgrimages

I dont know if its a me thing [it likely could be] but I remember places that I wanted to visit when i was a kid... and get kinda excited now when/if I actually visit there. Im not talking about Stonehenge, or Paris, or even Texas [all of which i have been to now, thank you] but like gas stations on the side of the highway, or weird looking houses, or places with funny names. We would always drive by and i'd think "whoa. i want to eat/visit/ go pee there some day!".

Well, yesterday I knocked another one of those weird/odd/funny named places off my list: Juliet's Castle. Located along the Trans-Canada Highway, its this little dive-y restaurant with a big purple sign done up in script with the name of the restaurant and with hand painted signage on the windows citing "20 cent Wings!" and "Bar Steak Only 5.95!" [what, pray tell is "bar steak"?!?!]. And I always would wonder when we drove past it, usually on the road to Banff or Radium Hot Springs, if it was as cool inside as the name suggested-- i thought of paintings of medieval knights and ladies... people dressed as serving wenches... lords drinking out of copper mugs.

Hmmm. Not so much. More like loud ethnic peoples [both of asian and eastern european dialect] eating hamburgers, faded posters of Budweiser girls on the wall dressed not in gossamer gowns, but in daisy dukes and tube tops, and well, I guess you could say that the waitress was as close to a 'wench' as possible. Then just factor in a dozen VLTs, a Golden Tee and Buck Hunter game, and a horrible stale cigarette smell. I mean, I've been to Verona. Ive seen where Juliet Capulet supposedly lived-- and this aint it. Then again, I dont think that I woulda gotten such good chicken wings [mmm...chicken] and been able to sing kareoke at the original Juliet's Castle. [I sang Bif Naked's 'I love myself today' BTW... totally rocked it too. I may not be a good singer, but hot damn! I have stage presence.]

So another of my life's little pilgrimages has been completed. I have been to Juliet's Castle. I have eaten its chicken, drank its beer, and seranaded its patrons. And truly, in retrospect, its all i coulda dreamt of and more from when i was a kid sitting in the backseat of the parent's car.

Side note: Jer, who i usually do not write about directly any more [cuz i dont think its fair for me to talk about him without him knowing] would like me to mention that he has "glistening and shining thighs and calf muscles". I told him about how people are actually reading my blog now--and he asked if i had written that he has powerful legs that glisten. I said no, but promised that i would bring it up. 'Nuff Said.