Back in March, B and I took a day to go up to Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton.

We learned the history of the observatory, which I’m happily planning a whole blog on, and raided their vending machine for snacks on the long winding drive home. After a last minute bathroom run and one last look, we headed back to civilization snacks in hand.

We were able to secure two bags of chips and some drinks which seemed like a whole meal then. I was really drawn to the limited edition Gatorade cans they had in the vending machine as they remind me of my Dad, but alas I went with water and soda.

After starting our drive we dug into our chips and felt on the fence about them the whole way home. They are fragrant of garlic just like garlic fries, and they give you that oily goodness smell that begs you to stuff yourself…so we did. We ate the whole bag, and finally decided the Parmesan part of the Parmesan Garlic chips was missing. Once you consistently eat the chips the burn and spice of the garlic starts to overwhelm the mouth and ultimately they became hard to enjoy and eat.

Lucky for me I only needed the one bag to get back home for dinner, unlucky for me I got stuck with the second bag. Which is when I noticed something.

On the full bag in my lap staring back at me was an expiration date printed in standard black font… “best if used by Feb 28”. We had eaten stale/labeled stale chips at full blast. Due to the fact that they were ultimately terrible and stale I opted to toss the extra chips. I will remember them though for the adventure, nothing more.