A Night At The Iron Door

By Jim.

Today was mostly a work-and-catch-up-on-things day.  Neither showers nor clean clothes were involved.  Mid-afternoon, we went on a hike in the nearby Stanislaus Forest.  There were some beautiful vistas…

…but it was a tough hike because there wasn’t much of a trail, plus there were lots of burned trees on the ground where we were trying to walk.  Maybe those two factors are related.  We read that the forest was hit with severe fires two years ago.  Anyway, the dogs were troopers and we got ourselves a good hour-long workout from the experience.Then we decided this would be the night to fulfill our promise to our loyal readers to check out the Iron Door Saloon in Groveland (population of somewhere between 601 and 3,100, depending on whether you believe the Census Bureau or the roadside sign at the city limits), a couple of miles from our RV park.

It was SRO when we got there, because Tuesday is Open Mike Night.

The place really does have iron doors…

…and there’s corroboration for its claim to be the oldest saloon in California (however, the translation of the last line on the plaque, “Credo Quia Absurdum”, is “I believe because it is absurd.”).

Historical artifacts abound.

Open Mike Night included performances by the owner of the joint and a guy playing 90s rock songs on a ukulele.  And, at the risk of damning them by faint praise, every one of the brave souls on stage sang better than I can.

But they weren’t the only characters in the place, by far.

We hung at the bar for awhile with Get A Room Couple.  Then we met Chad The Cougar Chaser and his wingman, Chad Squared (who was way more interested in the Warriors game than in Chad’s charms).

We also met Hiker Dad, who explained that he’s trying to figure out how to get enough baby formula for his eight-month-old son to Europe so he can bring him on a 500-mile hike.

Our server, a dynamo who also was the de facto manager while her boss was on-stage singing into the open mike, had bright pink hair plus her husband and two kids (one of whom had blue hair) sitting in one of the booths.  Mom, wife, server and manager = work ethic!

The Iron Door exudes camaraderie, companionship  and good cheer.  It provided us with a delightful evening.