The Old Barn and on to Colorado

On the way to Gorham from Russell, we passed this old barn along the side of the road. I wish I'd had black & white film at the time, but I did the best I could with the colour film.

The next day, we got up pretty early so that we could hit the road and get to Denver. This is the sunrise behind our hotel in Kansas.

Oddly, I found Eastern Colorado to be much flatter than Kansas.

Denver is known as the Mile High City. Brian was under the impression that we would be able to see "the lights of Denver" from the Kansas prairie. The night before we left, we took another drive out into the pitch dark night. We got eaten alive by mosquitos, but alas, we didn't see "the lights of Denver" way in the distance. Nevermind the fact that we were about 450 miles away and the earth is round.....

But anyways, what we didn't realize is that, yes, the elevation of Denver is 1 mile above sea level, but it's such a gradual incline that you don't really notice it. It's not like Denver is located one mile in the sky above the plains. The Rockies were still quite far to the west of the city and because the weather was so crappy, we couldn't even see the mountains once we got to Denver.

We stayed in Colorado for a couple of days. Laundry needed to be done and we were pretty tired. And I was sick. Back when I was much younger and didn't eat the high fibre diet I do now, my, erm, "plumbing" would get a bit stopped up every time I traveled. I was in agony by the time we got to the midwest. So, at a truck stop, I bought some Feenamint, which was supposed to be a "gentle" laxative. Maybe it is....but not when you cram your mouth full of them in the hopes of blasting things loose. And blast loose they did in Denver. It's not often that I'm 100% confined to bed, but that was one of the few times I stayed in bed, unless I was dashing to the can.

Denver is not that impressive of a city, so we did absolutely no sightseeing there, other than driving past Mile High Stadium. The following day I was much better so we bopped on down to Colorado Springs. Of course the weather couldn't cooperate. I was not a happy camper. It was damn hot though, in the high 90's, but completely overcast.

First thing we did was find our way to the Pike's Peak Auto Road and start heading up. I was driving. Remember, we were able to offload the car so of course we didn't take the UHaul up the mountain!!!

Once you get to a certain elevation, they actually have a place where they check your brakes to make sure they aren't burning up. At that point, the road becomes gravel all the way to the summit. I am not sure if it was a blessing or a curse that the clouds were so low on the mountain. On the one hand, I was really pissed off that we had no view from the summit whatsoever. On the other hand, had it been a clear day, and since the road has no guardrails, I might have completely freaked out if there had been a view. As it was, I couldn't see 5' in front of the car and I was terrified I was going to miss a curve and drive off the edge.

So we FINALLY get to the summit after a long, arduous drive, and get out of the car. Imagine our shock to find it 36 degrees and sleeting, when it was extremely hot down below. Luckily I had clothes in the trunk of the car and I was able to change out of my shorts.

Note to Julie: Does it count as bagging a 14'er if you drive to the summit instead of climb?

Of course we brought Mooey with us for a Kodak Moment.

My poor car was just trashed from the trip up, and vapor locked on the summit. We were stuck up there nearly 2 hours. I was extremely uncomfortable in that altitude. I thought I was either going to be crushed alive or pass out. The only place we could keep warm was the gift shop, so we hung around in there for a long time, and attempted to eat some lunch. We finally walked over to the ranger's building and asked for help but all they could do was suggest we pour water on the engine and hope that the car came back to life. Luckily it did and we headed back down to see more of Colorado Springs.

See the train trestle?

Then we went to this place called Garden of the Gods, which had all these cool red rock formations. Colorado has a lot of red stone. There's an amphitheatre in Morrison, near Boulder, called "Red Rocks" too.

There's Mooey in a little cave.

After we were done in Colorado Springs, we decided to drive to Cripple Creek, since it's one of our fave songs by The Band. It's not the same Cripple Creek in the song, of course, as that song takes place in Louisiana, but still, we liked the name so we decided to drive down there. It was "only 30 miles". We figured it'd take 30 minutes. Wrong. We forgot that we were still in the mountains, so that 30 miles took us about 90 minutes, one way. By the time we got to town at around 5:00 pm, everything was closing for the evening.

I call this picture "A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one", which is a line from the song.

Downtown Cripple Creek, your quintessential Rocky Mountain mining town. Too bad all the shops were closed. Because it is, after all, all about the shopping.

Next: Wyoming, or, Crossing the Continental Divide with Not a Mountain In Sight

Kansas

One of the reasons we blew through Ohio and Indiana was because there were stops I definitely wanted to make on the way out west, one of them being in central Kansas.

We left Columbia, MO fairly early and drove through the rest of Missouri and halfway across Kansas before stopping early in Russell. Here's our toy cow, "Mooey Bien" (Good Cow), on a fence post next to a Kansas cornfield. Mooey accompanied us on Grateful Dead Summer Tour earlier that summer as our official mascot, so we took him with us and shot pics of him coming across the country. Sort of like that "garden gnome goes on the road" travel gag that is really popular these days.

Russell, Kansas ain't known for much, other than the place that spawned former Presidential candidate and Viagra pitchman, Bob Dole. I suspect he conducted a lot of business in the Boot Hill Cafe. We had kind of a hairy experience at the Boot Hill. For one thing, that part of the USA was clearly not used to hippies. We got a lot of stares, and in fact, when I was out driving around, I was followed by a carload of redneck locals who were "whoo hooing" and "yee hawing" at the sight of a hippie chick in tie dye, driving a car plastered with Dead stickers and with Massachusetts plates. Anyway, we had dinner at the Boot Hill. Brian was wearing a purple tie dyed shirt, that had a peace sign American flag on it, which I painted. Brian likes to sit facing the door of restaurants, so I was facing the restaurant. There was a table of rather large, blue collar men who were looking at us (probably the owners of the 2 pick ups in the parking lot), then you'd see them lean in and whisper to each other, then look back at us. I wasn't sure if we should get our food to go and eat at the hotel or stick it out and hope that they didn't confront us. Fortunately, they didn't bother us. We ate quickly and left!!!

This is the cornfield and oil well behind the hotel we stayed at. There's Mooey in the corn field.

Brian and our old car on the Kansas plains. One of the benefits of towing our car was that it could be offloaded from the transport and we could drive around. I got really good at climbing through the drivers side window and getting the car on and off the car transport.
Kansas be flat!!!

So the reason we stopped early that day was so that I could make a side trip to the small town of Gorham, along I-70.

In 1973, my mom and grandmother took me to see "Paper Moon". It was the first PG rated movie I ever saw and I was not only captivated by Tatum O'Neal's performance as Addie, I thought her dad Ryan was one fine lookin' man. "Paper Moon" is my all time fave movie...tied for first place with "To Kill a Mockingbird". The credits of "PM" gave a thank you to the people "in and around Hays, Kansas and St. Joseph, Missouri". The only town I knew for sure in which the film was shot was Gorham, because of the scene when they are at the depot. Turns out, Gorham stood in for many of the different towns visited by Moze and Addie in the movie.

"Paper Moon" is set in depression era Kansas, and Peter Bogdanovich shot it in black & white to give it a real 1930's feel. The music used is all depression-era as well. Moze is a con man who attends the funeral of an old flame and the town floozy, Essie May Loggins. Addie is Essie's only daughter and her parentage is in question, but it's clear that Moze is her biological father. Moze agrees to bring Addie to her aunt's in St. Joe, Missouri. Turns out, Addie is just as slick as Moze!! It's a brilliant movie. And you just have to love Madeline Kahn as Miz Trixie Delight in her tight dresses and bouncing boobs. If you've never seen this movie, I recommend it highly.

My mom wouldn't let me get overalls....but I did bug my Uncle Yimmy for one of his cigar boxes, just like Addie had, for her special trinkets. To this day, Tatum O'Neal is still the youngest Oscar winner ever, for her portrayal of Addie. Unfortunately, her dad was so angry at being passed over for a nomination for Best Actor and so jealous that his daughter upstaged him, that he slugged Tatum in the face when she found out she was nominated. She was all of 9. Neither of her parents escorted her to the award ceremony, which I found very sad.

There's a scene in the movie where Moze and Addie are arguing in a small cafe. Through the window and across the street, is a Dream Cinema. I don't know if this is the same one or not, but this one is in Russell. I've seen this movie so many times that Brian and I can do the whole dialogue from the scene in the cafe....also known as the "I want my two hun'erd dollahs!" argument. I've heard modern interviews w/ Tatum and she said that her own kids drove her crazy when they were growing up, mimicking their mom in that scene, yelling at each other, "I WANT MY TWO HUN'ERD DOLLAHS!!"

This is what Gorham looked like in 1973 when the movie was shot.

The old depot was torn down by the time I visited in 1989.

Gorham Co-Op.

This kind gentleman is Harry Goetz. I often wonder if he's still alive, although it's been nearly 19 years since I passed through town. He was the proprietor of the Gorham Second Hand shop, which used to be the only hotel in town. Obviously not used to outsiders, especially from New England, he was eager to talk to me and was pleased that I came to his town because of the movie. He shared his memories of the filming, actors and even though most of the hotel was closed off, he allowed me to explore it a little bit on the first floor.

After we got to San Francisco, I dug my copy of "PM" out of one of the boxes and watched it. There is a scene where Addie and Miz Trixie's black maid, Imogene, are sitting on the steps of a building waiting for Moze to drive up....imagine my surprise when I discovered it was here!!!

Next up: Colorado

Illinois to St. Lou Mizzou

We had to park with all the big-rigs, at every rest stop, because we couldn't fit into regular parking spaces. Because we had the car transport, and because Brian had no experience backing up trucks with trailers attached, we had to make sure that wherever we stopped, he could pull forward. This included all rest areas, hotel and restaurant parking lots. I took this because we look so silly next to the 18-wheelers. This was taken just over the Indiana/Illinois state line. We'd just crossed into the Central Time Zone, it was around supper time, we were exhausted and we needed a referral to a hotel nearby. So the kind folks at the rest area suggested The Lincoln Motel, just down the highway apiece, in Marshall, IL. The room was like $25.00 a night, but it was a clean, homey place. There was this restaurant across the road that served the most unbelievably delicious and inexpensive supper and breakfast buffets. We ate well that night and the next morning!

A slice of small-town America, near the hotel in Illinois.

The next day we left early again, because we wanted to stop in St. Louis for a little while. The highways going into St. Louis are a bit of a clusterfuck.....somehow we ended up crossing into Missouri and then back into Illinois. Had to get off I-70 east in an industrial area and get back on I-70 west. We stopped first at Anheuser Busch to take the tour.

Budweiser Clydesdales' barn and the dalmation doggie that rides on the wagon.

The tour was really interesting. Brian's eyes were glazed over when we were in the bottle room, looking at all those beer bottle zooming around on conveyor belts being filled and capped. By the way, if none of you have ever taken a tour of a commercial brewery, the sound of the bottles clinking together on the belts is deafening. The brewery employees have to wear protective ear-wear. Then at the end of the tour, we were taken into a tap room to enjoy free samples for 20 minutes. Brian was pretty stoked because the cups were so generously sized!! No dixie cups at Anheuser Busch!! Because I am not a beer drinker, I gave him mine. (the t-shirt reads: Man Belongs to the Earth, Earth Does Not Belong to Man)When we left the brewery, I shot this funny photo of Brian bowing down before the front doors. Check out the AB employee standing there with her hands on her hips, looking at him. I remember when I shot the photo, she said that guys do that all the time.

We got a bit lost after we left AB, and ended up driving through the middle of downtown St. Louis at lunchtime in the U-haul, towing the car. That was a bit hairy. We finally found a large parking lot that could accomodate large vehicles, so we parked and walked to see the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

First, we were hungry, so we had lunch on this riverboat called The Robert E. Lee, in the Mississippi River. It's a stationary restaurant and all the waitstaff were dressed up in period clothing - the women in showgirl dresses, boas, fishnet stockings and feathers in their hair, and the men like riverboat casino workers w/ the red & white striped shirt, dark vest, arm band and hat. The music was Dixieland Jazz. The lunch buffet, $4.95, was catfish, hush puppies, gravy and other southern staples. After we ate lunch, we dipped our hands in the Mississippi River.

I loved the McDonalds riverboat motif. Right next to this was a Burger King riverboat.

After lunch we walked around the Arch and I took a bunch of artsy fartsy pics looking up the side and straight on and so forth. You can take an elevator-type tram to the top, but when I went inside, the trams were on a schedule and the next one wasn't leaving for several hours and we had to get back on the road, so we headed west and stayed overnight in Columbia, MO. I've already posted the one photo from Columbia, of the Liquor Guns & Ammo store.

When the pioneers were making their way west in the mid-1800's, St. Louis was the last major city before kicking off the trip west. The Gateway Arch was built to commemorate the spirit and courage of those brave souls who were blazing their way west, in search of the promised land, gold in California, silver in Nevada, and a new and better life.

When we left Columbia, MO the next morning on our way to Kansas, Brian got to talking with a guy in the hotel parking lot. His name was Gill. He, too, had a U-haul, and was moving his family west, to the gold fields of Eastern Oregon. We were going to San Francisco. And to show you what a small world it is, the man's sister was a teacher at Brian's high school in McMurray, Pennsylvania. We wished each other good luck, shook hands and set off west again. We think about Gill every now and then, and wonder how he and his family made out in Oregon.

As we pulled back out onto the highway, it occurred to me that we were like modern day pioneers. The U-haul was our wagon which contained all of our worldly possessions. The car transport was like the horse or cow we were bringing with us. We were headed west, like so many others before us, hopeful that we could make a new life in California. Sometimes as we were driving on the highway, you'd see wagon wheel ruts come out from under the asphalt on the side of the road and shoot off in another direction. Then later on down the highway, more wagon wheel ruts would join back up. Except we covered the same ground in 10 days that took the pioneers months and months to do.

Next up: Visiting the Kansas location of my all time fave rave movie.

I've just had reprints made of all the photos I shot in July, 1989, when Brian and I moved to San Francisco. I'm planning to re-do that photoalbum, using all the nifty state and travel related doodads that are in the craft stores. Looking at the photos has been an amazing trip down memory lane. Many of them were shot through the window of our U-Haul, as we crossed state lines. It took about 10 days to make our way across the country. I didn't take many photos of the first leg of the journey, which was between Brian's parents' house in New Jersey to Indiana. There are some of Brian's old neighborhood and house near Pittsburgh, but that was about all.

This is probably one of my favourite photos ever.

We were about halfway between Indianapolis and Terre Haute when we stopped to get some gas at Koger's Kountry Mart. As we approached the cities, we'd turn on the radio in the truck to listen to music or the news, and as we were passing through Indianapolis, we heard that there were several tornados in the area. I remember how black the sky looked north of the city, but the weather had settled down by the time we stopped. That was a long day. We'd left western PA at about 7:00 a.m. and we pushed through a sliver of West Virginia, all of Ohio and Indiana, before stopping just over the line in Illinois at around 5:00 p.m. I toyed with taking a quick detour up to Fairmount, IN so that I could pay my respects at James Dean's grave, but when I checked the map, it would not have been a "quick detour" and would have taken us several miles and hours out of our way, so we pushed through to Illinois. Someday we'll get back up there.

By the way, if you ever find yourself in the Ohio/Indiana area, do stop at a restaurant called Bob Evans. The food is amazing!

I'd wanted so much to take a picture of a barn with "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco" on the roof, but apparently those don't exist anymore. I think I saw only one barn in Ohio with an ad painted on the roof. Not to knock the heartland, but there isn't much to see when you are on the highway slogging through farm country. So, virtually no photos exist from most of that first day, other than "Welcome to Ohio" or "Welcome to Indiana" signs, shot from the cab of the truck.

When I look at the photos now, I can't help but think of the lyrics to one of my fave songs, called "On the Road":

Today may be a never ending highway

And yesterday a half-forgotten smile

But I can hear tomorrow singing from around the bend

It's just another dusty mile

And I've got dreams to spare and time to spend

Time to spend

So I'm the road

Travelin' free and easy (travelin' on)

Gotta get on (well I gotta get on)

Gotta fill my life with livin'

Just tell everyone I've gone

On the road

The morning whispers follow me, come my way

By noon I'm on the far side of the sun

And I can't keep these wheels from rollin' into one more town

There's so much to be seen and done

To settle up before I settle down

Settle down

(Chorus)

See the countryside unreeling

Watch it all unwind

Nothing I know beats this feeling

Of not knowin' where you're goin'

Or what you're gonna find

(Chorus)

Happy Birthday Sharon!

A very happy birthday to my cousin Sharon!!! There she is in about 1967 with her kid sister Diane at my parents' house. By the way, my mom's house still has that same knotty pine wainscoat and the same kitchen table and chairs you see in the background (my mom always said she wanted to have a home filled with antiques.....I told her, "look around, everything you own are antiques now").

I've posted this before; it is my favourite picture of the three of us, from approximately 1968 or early 1969, taken at my aunt & uncle's house (their grandparents). In 2007, Sharon & her fiance bought this house from her grandfather. It's a short walk down the road from my mom's house.

And us on Christmas Day, 1988. This would be our last Christmas together, because I moved to San Francisco the following year.

We gotta get us some of these!Congratulations to the Packers.......

.....and now I owe Sha dinner at the restaurant of her choice on the Cape because I lost the bet.

Have a fantabulific birthday Sharon!!! I love ya heaps-n-bunches and I can't wait to see you and Paul in May!!! 1-4-3.

Because I just can't let the little things go

Every Friday, our local paper, The News Tribune, has a column called "The Nose", which is fairly humorous, but people outside the area wouldn't understand half of the references. I don't even get them a lot of the time. But still, it's a column I enjoy.

When the second Narrows Bridge was being constructed, workers had to put LED lights on the cables to do night work. The effect was striking, and the workers started to change the colours depending on the seasons, or the Seahawks. Now that the Bridge is open, many of the people who have homes facing the bridges want the lights on the cables to stay lit.

A week or so ago, The Nose did a column where he was comparing T-Town (Tacoma) with other places, done tongue-in-cheek, of course, because of Tacoma's reputation as being, um, gritty. One of his comparisons was of the new Narrows Bridge to "The Golden Gate Bridge" with it's "beautifully lit cable spans". I sat there stewing on it for awhile, then decided that I couldn't let it go without emailing The Nose to tell him that no, the Golden Gate Bridge is NOT lit on the cables, but the Bay Bridge is. I attached photos of each bridge to illustrate the difference:

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

I never heard back from The Nose, and I forgot I'd even sent him the email, until the 1/8 column appeared on Friday:

So I was one of 2 people who emailed him. Me and Phil Miller. But The Nose is still wrong. His original column discussed lighting the cables, not the bridge deck. I am right and he is wrong. As it should be.

"The Way Back Room": Before and After

After working for a total of about 5 hours over the course of 2 days, I finally got this room cleaned, dusted and reorganized. This is what the room looked like right after the holidays. If you click the pictures, they will get bigger so you can see the detailed mess. Couldn't even get to the photo albums under that hanging blanket.

But now, at last, it's all clean.

I wish we could cover up the furnace with a custom made cabinet or something.

My next thorough cleaning project will be the den.

On another note: The Seahawks lost to the Packers today, so I owe my cousin Sharon dinner, at the restaurant of her choice, when I visit the Cape in May. I've always loved the Packers, however, so I am, of course, rooting for them for their next playoff. I would be a very happy camper if it was New England and Green Bay in the Superbowl.

Pet Peeve #722: "It sounded like a train"

OK people, I have to confess, one of my major league pet peeves is when someone describes the sound of a natural disaster, ANY natural disaster, as sounding "like a train". Obviously these people have never actually heard a train.

We had a small tornado down in Vancouver yesterday. Did a lot of property damage, but no one was hurt. It was small, F0/F1, but still, while even I have seen a funnel cloud in Washington, it's exceedingly rare for there to be actual touchdown.

Today, I was listening to the Morning Show on KZOK (http://www.bobrivers.com/), and they interviewed a woman who was near enough to the action that she could describe it for them. They asked her what it was like:

Her: "Well, it...it...."

Me: DON'T SAY IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T SAY IT SOUNDED LIKE A TRAIN!

Her: ".....it sounded like a train!"

Me: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Seriously!!!! Natural disasters do not sound like trains! And I should know, I've been through enough of them! I'm sorry, but tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes, mudslides, wind storms, heavy rain, flooding, locusts, frogs.....DON'T FUCKING SOUND LIKE TRAINS!

I grew up across the street from railroad tracks. The only way my family ever traveled was by train b/c my mom won't get on an airplane. I've been around trains my entire life. And in all of my 43 years of hurricanes, earthquakes, rain, blizzards, Nor'easters and west coast wind storms, I never, EVER would describe any of them as sounding like trains. For one thing, storms don't clickety-clack. There are no bells. No whistles. The 1989 SF quake sounded like a pile-driver. Wind - be it from a tornado, hurricane or Nor'easter - makes a "whooshing" sound. Sometimes if you have drafty windows, the wind will sound like a high pitched scream, like it did in the house in which I grew up. I will concede that when you stand near the tracks and a train passes by, there is a contant humming vibration, but it doesn't sound like an earthquake or wind.

Maybe next time I see a train, I'll tell people, "Wow! I was in Puyallup when the Amtrak train went by and WOW! It sounded just like a mudslide!"

"Slow down, you're movin' too fast"

Well I met with the personal trainer last night at my gym. She is a really nice young lady and she showed me what I should be doing instead of what I used to do. It's amazing how many machines I had used that were of little to no benefit to me, and which only managed to exacerbate my low back and hip problems!!! My body mechanics were all wrong, and above all else, I was whipping through the machines waaaay too fast. When I told Brian that she said I was going too fast with the weights and I had to slow down and breathe, he said, sarcastically, "Shocking!" This from the man who has considered getting me a t-shirt with matching bumpersticker that says, "GET THE HELL OUTTA MY WAY!" What can I say? I am from the east coast. We talk fast, we drive fast, we walk fast......it's a way of life.

Oh, and if you heard a loud noise last night that sounded like a "HA! YEAH RIGHT!" that was Brian's loud guffaw when I told him that the PT suggested I try yoga. I believe "ha yeah right" was also my response to that suggestion. I have zero flexibility. I just don't see myself trying to bend into a pretzel. The PT told me not to be afraid to join any of the classes, even as a beginner, b/c all I have to do is talk to the instructor beforehand and they don't push you into doing things you simply can't do. The PT assured me it would be great as a stress reliever too. I just can't see myself trying yoga....I really don't have the patience for it. I would, however, prefer to join a step class or something that moves quickly. I'm just afraid of looking like a total idiot b/c I don't know any of the routines and I fear that I will be going to the left when everyone else is going to the right, because I'm 43 and I still have to stop and think which way is left and which way is right. Sometimes I wonder if I'd do better if people said "Port" or "Starboard" instead. Even back in high school when I was driving my friends, whoever was in the car would say, "take a driver" or "take a passenger" if they were giving me directions. I even joined the high school colour guard in 11th grade, with the hope that the constant commands would help me with my left/right problem, but it really didn't. But I digress.....

Anyway, I'll boogie on back to the gym tomorrow night after work, and probably at least once over the weekend, and go from there.

So far I am still meeting my goals. I got the back room 95% cleaned/organized on Sunday....all I have left are the knick knacks to wash and stick to the shelves. Then I can start cleaning the den.

On a separate note, if you can, please visit Bryde's and Madi's blogs, which can be found on my blog roll. They are both going through some really tough times, and need all the encouragement and support they can get. Thanks!!

Headin' East

Well, I bit the bullet and made reservations for my trip to Crap Cod. I mean Cape Cod. The only airline that flies direct, Alaska Air, has added a red-eye to Boston, so that's what I booked. Anyone who has traveled from the west coast to the east coast knows that it absolutely sucks to have to fly during the day, because of the time difference. At least on a red-eye, you can sleep. And since I wasn't about to suffer with the plebes in coach, I am flying to Boston in first class. I got a good deal on the one-way, first class ticket - only $599. The flight leaves Seattle at 10:30 pm on 4/30 and arrives in Boston on 5/1 at 6:30 am. Then I can take an early bus from Logan Airport to the Cape and traffic won't be near as bad as it is when I fly to Boston during the afternoon and have to take the bus during rush hour.


I am, however, flying home coach, since it's an early evening flight from Boston, on Wed. 5/7, at 6:30 pm. I will get into Seattle at about 9:30 pm. Believe me, if I could have, I would have booked the 7:30 am flight to Seattle instead, but there's no way I could possibly get from the Cape to Boston by 5:30 am, so alas, I am stuck going home at night. Oh well. At least I was able to choose an aisle seat, in the front of the plane. Sure, I have to board last, but I get to deplane before the rest of the rows so it's a trade-off I willingly make.


What to do on the Cape though, that's the problem. I've beachcombed all the beaches a hundred times, and how many more photographs of Sandwich and the Canal can I possibly shoot??? I've already told my mom that I will not go to Hyannis under any circumstances, unless it's to go out to eat. Traffic in Hyannis is unbelievably bad, and I hate how it's grown too. At least the towns set up the "Historic District" along the Rte. 6A corridor, so the old parts of Cape towns haven't changed much. There are strict rules about what you can and can't do to your existing property, or if you want to build something new, even down to the colours you can or can't paint your buildings and/or fences.


I will go to the Edward Gorey House, on Rte. 6A in Yarmouthport; mom is interested in that as well. I wouldn't mind going to P-Town to hit the shops on Commercial Street. I'm sure mom will have a laundry list of chores and projects for me to do as well. I'd love to get that barn cleaned out once and for all. Other than that, I'm completely at a loss for things to do. And of course the obligatory trips to the cemetery, which I hate doing. My dad is in my heart and I'm just not comfortable going to that cold, wind-swept, silent cemetery, you know? But that's the difference in our generations, I guess.


My mom wishes I could stay longer than 6 days. Believe me, 6 days is long enough. There is absolutely NOTHING to do. I get really bored, really quickly. Am hoping that Sharon can take some time off so I can pal around with her. And I have a friend in Orleans, Sheila, who I have known since kindergarten and I'd like to swing up to see her as well.

One thing I always do that makes my travel a bit easier, is I ship most of my clothes to my mom a few days before I leave home. Then I ship my clothes, any anything I've bought, back to myself before I leave Sandwich. That way all I have to do is take a light carry-on bag on board and I don't have to worry about lost or late luggage.


I would like to go beachcombing somewhere though. I'm addicted to beachcombing. I dream about beachcombing, although the stuff I find in my dreams is way better than the stuff I actually find on the beach!! I usually end up gathering rocks that look beautiful in the water, but when they dry off, not so much. The Cape is great for large clam shells too. I used to find a lot of beach glass in the 1970's, but now that there is glass recycling, it's not often I find a good piece (unless I go to Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, California!).

A few years ago when I visited my mom, I went to the post office with my box to mail back to myself. The people at the E. Sandwich PO remember me from when I lived there, and used to trade copious quantities of Dead tapes. I got and sent more packages than anyone else. Additionally, the people that work there have also known my parents forever. So anyway, I get to the counter and say to Paula, "It's heavy!" She picks it up, groans and says, "My god Joanne, what are you mailing? Rocks?" I chuckled and said, "Well, as a matter of fact, yes, there are rocks in there." Paula says, "Why in the world are you mailing yourself rocks?" and I answered, "Because I went beachcombing!" She goes, "You don't have rocks in Washington??"

So, here's hoping that my trip goes well. I hate to fly so much, which is why I will only take direct flights to my destination. About 11 years ago I went back for my parents' 50th anniversary and they insisted I fly to Greene Airport in Providence because it was easier to get there than Logan in Boston. That meant I had to change flights in Baltimore both ways. I nearly missed my connection to San Francisco in Baltimore because of a problem in Providence. I vowed never again. If I can't go direct to a destination, I just won't go. Thankfully, in 2003, Alaska Air began to offer the only nonstop flight to Boston from Seattle. All I can say is thank god for Xanax.

What is it?

A young girl took this picture in Winthrop, which is in the north-central Cascades. The story is below. Allegedly she was just experimenting with her new digital camera and caught this image. For once, I don't think it's Sasquatch. To tell you the truth, and maybe this is because of my Catholic roots or because my brain wants to make a recognizable pattern, it really looks like the Virgin Mary, or some shrouded woman. Personally, I think it's the girl's friend. What do you think?
"SEATTLE -- A picture taken by a 12-year-old Kirkland girl during the holiday week in December surprised her family by capturing a mysterious object.

The girl, her family and her 15-year-old friend were staying at cabins overlooking a river in Winthrop when the incident occurred.

At sunset, the girl was experimenting with a new digital camera she had received as a gift.

The girl and her 15-year-old friend took pictures of each other, snow on the trees and snowflakes at night. At one point, they saw an object moving and tried to capture it on camera.
When they saw the picture on the camera's screen -- a mysterious object depicted in the photo, surrounded by darkness -- they ran inside to the cabin. The 12-year-old girl showed the picture to her father, who then passed the image on to KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Gary Horcher. "

Story & photo courtesy of kirotv.com

Day 3 and so far so good

It's so early to be patting myself on the back, but so far I've managed to keep my middle finger in it's holster whilst driving to and from work. We'll see how long that lasts. I predict till tomorrow. lol Of course I haven't stopped running my mouth, out loud in the car, swearing like a stevedore about the morons who cannot drive, but at least I haven't been flipping people off. Yet. Give it time.

Which reminds me, I've been seeing a commercial for a new car that has voice activated controls. You can say, "Play artist Grateful Dead" or "Call home" and the car will do it. OK, I do not need my car responding to verbal commands. I didn't even watch "Knight Rider". But Brian and I were in hysterics last night b/c we saw the commercial and I said, "The way I talk to myself, the last thing I need is a car that responds to what I say!" Then Brian started saying, "Yeah, you yell out 'you stupid fucking asshole' and the windshield wipers fly off, windows start going up and down, antifreeze is spurting out of the hood, doors are opening and closing, smoke's pouring out of the radio..." Oh well, guess you had to be there. But we were laughing.

I had a dentist appointment today....I need a goddamn filling in one of my molars. There's no cavity, but he wants to nip it in the bud and seal it before it becomes a cavity. And I was gently chastised for not going to see the periodontist to whom I was referred for a receding gum on one tooth. This recession has looked exactly the same since high school....it hasn't changed one bit. My childhood dentist pointed it out and told me to always keep an eye on it. But as I've mentioned before, my dentist is really into being a dentist to the point of practically stalking you till you make an appointment, so of course he wants me to go ASAP. Nevermind the fact that my teeth are rock solid thanks to the well water I grew up drinking, nevermind the fact that I've only had 2 fillings in my entire life....I swear no matter how religious you are about dentifrice, it's never good enough for Dr. Rhodes! So the filling will be done on St. Patricks Day. I guess I better call the periodontist before he has a freakin coronary too.


On the way home, I stopped at the gym and made an appt. w/ a personal trainer for Tuesday at 5 pm. Thankfully, the young lady who made the appt. is also the person with whom I will be working and she seems like a nice girl. I took Pepper for a walk on New Years Day and my foot, although a bit painful, was pretty good overall, so I think I'll be able to work out w/o too much trouble.

I was a bit crestfallen when I attempted to make reservations at The Anchorage Cottages in Long Beach for President's Day weekend, because they are totally full. We stayed there in 2005 and it was such a cozy place, so I was disappointed. I started to look around and ended up finding this place http://www.discoverycoastonline.com/ (can anyone tell me how to do a hyperlink?) instead. I love their play on words, "Where Lewis & Clark Schlepped". hahaha Get it? Instead of "slept" they put "schlepped"? If only L&C could see the fun filled vacation resort that southwestern Washington and northwestern Oregon have become. A far cry from that miserable, wind swept, cold, wet winter they spent on the banks of the Columbia River in 1807'ish.


Discovery Coast Cottage Inn is right in downtown Long Beach, unlike the Anchorage. I'm sure it's noisy in the summertime, being right on the main drag, but this time of year it'll be dead. I was able to book the super delux "Atlantis" cottage which has a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a private covered back porch, fireplace, cable TV w/ VCR/DVD, WiFi, in-suite massages if you want, AND A PRIVATE HOT TUB!!! Could I be more stoked? It's also pet-friendly, as most Washington lodging is, so Pepper can come along. And how much cashola is this super delux cottage? A steal at $129 a night ($119 for us plus $10 for Da Beandog). Don't care how bad the weather is either. That's what Gore-Tex & boots are for.

Now, my next goal for this weekend, after I get back from doing errands at the hell that is Costco on South Hill, Puyallup, is to attack that "way back room". It's so bad right now that I took photos of it, to do a before and after thing. It'll still be cluttered with bric-a-brac when I'm done and all....I mean, that will never change. We have a million knick-knacks, what can I say?! But at least it'll be dusted and tidy. I can finally use that sticky stuff that adheres breakables to shelves, which is something you have to think about living in earthquake country. I'll get some large storage tubs and put the scrapbooks in it and move those to the garage for now, and I need to get plastic cases for all of the autographed baseballs too.

It's only January 3 and I'm already sick and tired of hearing about the Iowa caucus and politics. It's only gonna get worse between now and November. Thank god for the mute button.

So, I think I've gotten the first 3 days of the year off to a good start. Keeping it up for the next 11 months? Well, one day at a time, eh?