Back in the Old Stompin' Ground

My home for tonight is in Airway Heights, a city West of Spokane airport. Lots of wide open spaces here. The car trip here was full of mixed weather, and threats of cold descending. Good timing I was thinking.

I hung out at the shops (Target, Best Buy, a hair salon - gotta keep up to date on the new products and Huckleberry's), and wound my way to the hotel. As I was finding a parking spot, I noticed a sizeable number of vehicles from - British Columbia! When I read the licence plates, there were many from Castlegar, Nelson, Trail. Of course, they are not all in the hotel; they have parked their vehicles here and jetting away to the sun.

For dinner, I decided to check out Rose's recommendation - Scratch. What a great place to eat! I decided on the New York steak; it was au poivre, a marinade that was very tasty. There also was roasted garlic Yukon mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus and all topped with a brandy mushroom cream sauce. What a taste feast! At the beginning, they serve a bread that one would want the recipe for... The name of the restaurant I understand is because all the food is made from.... well, you can probably guess.

So here I am back in Airway Heights, watching the clock closely because I have a 4 am wake-up call. Thanks to Huckleberry's, I have breakfast. And the suitcase has been repacked.

It was a trip down memory lane today, thinking of all the places I have hung out in Spokane over the years. Some places (like Huckleberry's), are wonderfully the same. I think it has almost been a year since I was here (Easter 2009); and I am still finding treasures!

A Long Weekend in Spokane

Because I worked Saturday of the previous week, I took off Monday as a lieu day, and that gave me four days off in a row. I followed my second year tradition of spending this weekend starting my Christmas shopping in Spokane. Aimee, who is a very smart shopper (and very smart in many other areas as well) advises that there are many problems with starting Christmas shopping in December. #1 is that many other people are doing that too so there are crowds. #2 is that this is not when the sales are. And it is always crazy busy enough already.

All in all, my shopping was not as successful as last year. Though I spent over $200, I wasn't really inspired. You know that kind of inspired - where you can hardly wait until you get to see their faces when they open their gift. I did find one inspiring gift but it appears that it might need to be returned.

As in the rich tradition of Christmas shopping, I bought myself a gift. A book that I had misplaced, and so I decided it was time to replace it. Now there is an interesting addition to this story because when I was having my dinner this evening, I tipped my glass and it spilled on the bookshelf (all have been rescued, I am relieved to say), and then I noticed that the misplaced book was indeed on the bookshelf. Right where I looked for it before.

There were a lot of sales in Spokane so I went through the papers on Sunday morning, and cut out coupons for my next two days. At JC Penney, I had not bought a $50 item so thought I could not use the $10 coupon. When I got to the cashier, she totalled my purchases and they came to $45 - she said I could have used the coupon if it added up to $50. *sigh* When I went to Michael's today, they told me that my item was on sale so I could not use their 50% off coupon. And when I looked at the Borders coupon today, it expired yesterday.

So, I bought a gift that needs to be returned, a book that I have already, and couldn't use any of the coupons that I diligently cut out.

I hope your weekend was more productive.

Beauty in Spokane

At the risk of sounding like I was hired by Tourism Spokane, this post is a tribute to the beauty of Spokane. I am not sure how many people think of Spokane if they are imagining beautiful places to visit on the planet. It's all about where you look.

At the T-Rex exhibit, there was a captivating display on one of the walls:

This display is entirely done with railway spikes!

After we saw the dinosaur display, we went to Manitou Park. We first of all had a picnic and then watched people feed the catfish extraordinary amounts of white bread. I am imagining them swimming around later, and one saying, "I don't know about you, Fred, but I've got that bloated feeling again."

At the park is a Japanese garden:

With some beautiful (and big!!) goldfish:

And a rose garden....

Spokane Firsts

I spent my Canada Day weekend in the US. I have excellent adventures (thanks for the organizing, Al).

And lots of firsts, for me.

Saturday morning we went to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture and saw:

Sue, the Tyrannosaurus Rex that was found in South Dakota, the most complete and preserved t-rex fossil yet discovered.

Saturday evening, we stopped in at Flamin' Joes, because I had read an ad in the paper, that they served:

Yep, it is deep fried pickles. Trivia feature: This was one of Elvis' favourite foods.

Sunday, after a leisurely morning and having my green smoothie (ask me about it sometime - better still ask me to make it for you), and then we were off to Cat Tales, where I met Ali....

Ali is a Bengal Tiger, and yes, I did get to feed her.

Remember the line about doing one thing a day that scares you? Eating deep fried pickles would be it.

Anne Lamott in Spokane

Last week, when I was in Spokane for Bloomsday, I saw an announcement in the Spokesman Review saying that Anne Lamott was coming to Spokane to read the following Saturday. Anne Lamott is one of the authors of books that accompanied me across the Prairies, who gave me so much food for thought about writing - in her book, Bird by Bird. She was a regular columnist for Salon, an on-line publication. And she wrote about mothering in a way that captured the joys and struggles - in her book, Operating Instructions.

So, when I woke up Friday morning with a diminished ability to talk (at that point not uttering it out loud that I may have a cold), I figured it was perfect - I may not be able to talk but I sure could listen!

So Saturday morning, I dug out my passport, again, and set off to Spokane. "Didn't I see you recently?" said the border guard. I shrugged my shoulders. With limited capacity to talk, I needed to be selective about when to talk. Border guards, though, are not into mysterious people. No matter how cute they are. Or coy. "Please open your trunk, ma'am." All in all, I would say, I went through the questioning fairly quickly.

When I arrived at Al's house, he wasn't home. This could mean two things: he wasn't expecting me and was out doing his Saturday stuff in Spokane, or he wasn't expecting me and he left town for the weekend. I guess that is actually only one thing - he wasn't expecting me. It made sense to me. I hadn't telephoned to tell him I was coming because as I mentioned before, I was conserving my talking.

I laid down for a nap.

A couple hours later Al came home, a little surprised because a red Honda was parked in his parking spot.

Here's what I learned this weekend: If you get laryngitis and you decide to go away for the weekend, (Understand this is all hypothetical - just friendly advice), and you have limited capacity to talk - perhaps it is best not to hang out with someone who may be (just MAY be) starting to lose their hearing. The result is that one may end up speaking more because everything has to be said at LEAST twice. Thankfully, Anne Lamott filled in the talking on Saturday evening.

I woke up this morning with less ability to talk. And a headache. I had 2 naps before I headed out on the road. And several pain killers.

Now this may be quite the picture of a weekend... Let me give you the real highlights - Anne Lamott was incredible - funny, witty, poignant - the best thing for a cold (that is, if you had one!).

Where are the photos? None. Zero. We sat in the 17th row. I can't prove that I stood in line for 40 minutes to get Anne to sign the book. I have no proof of my conversation with her. I actually have no proof that I went to Spokane. Except may be a border guard may vouch for me. Maybe.

Lilac Bloomsday

Spectator Numero Uno. This is the new title I have given to myself for my participation in Bloomsday. Sunday was the second year running that I hauled myself down to Spokane, got up at some crazy hour for a Sunday morning, and arrived at downtown Spokane to see many people very eager to run together.

This year marks the 31st running of Bloomsday. The caption on the website says, "It's fun for every body." And indeed, the participants range from elite runners (who vie for a $7,000 top prize - one each for men and women), wheelchair athletes, children, walkers, and baby strollers. This year I saw a dog at the start line, sitting in a pouch tied around the owner's waist. One of the year's I did the route, there was Elvis.

For the 31st Bloomsday, I decided to capture some of the grand traditions of Bloomsday. This picture is the start of the Elite Men:



People are organized in groups with the names of colours; each of the groups has a specific start time so it does not get too crazy. The Elite Men start at 9:00 and the last group to start is an hour and 10 minutes later. This year, 40,323 people participated.

As everyone lines up early in the day when the weather is cool, it is necessary to wear warm outer clothing. Once the race begins, people fling off this layer and throw it into the sidelines, usually aiming for a tree. Later, crews from local used clothing stores come to the streets and pick up the items to sell. Participants, I understand, often go to the used clothing stores ahead of time, buy an article of clothing for Bloomsday, and then donate it back.

The streets of Spokane, as the race commences:











In addition to this donation, each year, funds from the race are donated to a specific charity.

After I watched the Elite Men start, I hung around the start line and then walked to the finish line. By that time, there were already people finishing. The fastest man completed the course this year in 34 minutes and 18 seconds; the fastest woman finished in 38 minutes and 52 seconds.



Each person who finishes Bloomsday gets a t-shirt. It is a best-kept secret what will be the colour of the t-shirt; each year there is a new logo that, too, is kept hushed.

This year's surprise:












And the image:















Another Bloomsday tradition is the handling of the crowds. Smooth. One of the problems with over 40,000 people coming downtown is parking, so Spokane City Transit has their fleet at 4 outlying locations and the buses express their way to downtown. The cost is $1.00 (return).

By the time, I reached the finish line, there were many people already finishing the course. I decided to walk up the sidewalk for a better view to where there were less onlookers. As I walked, I faced the crowds coming towards the finish line - the runners were excited, exhausted and some were pained. After walking for a while, I came upon this:


The Mile 7 marker. The race is actually in kilometers; the equivalent in miles is 7.46. For some reason, the miles are marked - kilometers are not.

Along the way, there is plenty of entertainment for the racers. This year, over 30 bands, vocalists and performing troupes participated. I saw two - one band had 5 members, all dressed up in animal costumes.

Then, there is Doomsday Hill. Very scarey.

After a while, I decided to go back to the finish line and found these two cheerleaders:


The Bloomsday route winds through neighbourhood streets where people have taken out their lawn chairs, planted themselves along the sidewalk edge. Some bring out hoses to cool off the perspiring runners. Some turn up their stereos inside the house for the street party. Indeed, as one of the onlookers told me, "the greatest thing about Bloomsday is the community involvement." Many people donate their time, not only at the event, but also beforehand to train people how to run 12 kilometers.

Bloomsday was named after the lilacs that bloom so spectacularly for such a brief season. Bloomsday is always on the first Sunday in May - but the weather doesn't always cooperate so the lilacs may not be in their glory.

This year, they were: