Alien invasion, part 1
I've found the c-store equivalent to Bass Pro Shops at the Power Market in Lathrop, CA, over near the I-5 interchange with Lathrop Road. The little green men cavorting are all there: the reason they appear dramatically lit is that the building was designed to dramatically light them.
There's a UFO crashing into the front of the building, but the sun behind it meant I couldn't get a decent pic.
Power Market is a California c-store chain, based in Orange, that brags on its ability to provide more than snacks and on its extreme cleanliness. (The Central Valley has a lot of tiny c-stores look like they haven't been thoroughly mopped since their owner graduated from the local high school in 1978.) This one did seem to be a pleasant place with varied stuff.
Lathrop had lured us in with an city arch that promised "Historic Lathrop." Lathrop does have a history -- Leland Stanford founded it as a railroad town in a fit of pique over Stockton's leadership not licking his boots clean enough -- but most of that burned down eons ago. The town's boom came with World War II manufacturing, then again with commuters moving there for cheaper housing.
