Welcome to Walla Walla!

We've lived here in Walla Walla for 5 days now.  We continue to be amazed at the different topography.  When we drove up 8 hours from Jacksonville, we came via Bend, OR with Mt. Hood, a still-covered in white snow mountain on July 1 at 11,250 feet, looming in the distance.   And THEN we'd round a crook in the road and we'd see a second behemoth in the distance:  Mt. Rainier at 14,411 feet-- two mountains in one frame. But then we'd dip down into a valley of waves of amber grain, the driest, yellow looking fields for as far as you could see, punctuated by windmills.

Mt. Hood and Mt. Rainier noted for you below

We left Walla Walla for a week to visit family and friends in Maine, driving 4 hours to Portland, OR so we could fly to Portland, ME and rent a car. (See those two mountains again?)

<-----Malindi, being abducted by an alien invasion on Pleasant Pond in Caratunk.






















  (below)
My Maine men "enjoying" ice cream at Back's.

Now we live out of a Hampton Inn "suite" and a post office box in Walla Walla. Suite is such a strong word.  It is a bigger than average hotel room with a couch and extended desk where we can fit two computer stations. The mini-fridge barely holds yesterday's leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. We can microwave tiny foods but cannot really cook for ourselves so we eat out every evening.  (sigh!) This helps us familiarize ourselves with the local eateries. Soi 71 had excellent Thai food and last night we had amazing Mediterranean food at Saffron.

And Saturday, How about a yeti dog at Caledonian games? The entire town of Athena (20min south in Oregon) seems to be Scot-o-philes. The school mascots are the Tigerscots. At the Scottish heritage festival, the vendors were many but the food trucks were meager. We postponed the haggis meat pies and went straight for the Yeti Dogs. Being out of baked potatoes, the veggie sandwich hurt my eyes (looking for the veggies.) We were regaled by bag pipers across the city park and we watched little lassies and lads dancing away jigs despite the intense heat--the miles of desolate-looking wheat fields in the background. Intrigued, we went to see what Skweez the Weezle was, imaging some bizarre children's contest.  It was a Celtic band which played quite toe-tapping songs including a cleaned up version of 'What do you do with a drunken sailor' (or is it always clean and only Judd's version is the dirty version?) The local antique car club had their treasures on display and as we walked the loop to look, a guy asked if we wanted to vote on our favorite.  I chose the 1950's turquoise Chevrolet; Judd preferred the El Camino.  The games made the front page news today, but we don't know who's car was selected as victorious for the $300 prize. We spent less time watch men in kilts throwing logs or women in kilts chucking boulders 30 feet over their heads.  It looked like an accident or heat stroke waiting to happen and I wanted to remain an off-duty doctor.

  Several vineyards dotted the scenery on our way back to Washington and we chose Basel Estate to visit. It was also billed as a resort with a massive outdoor venue, and at that moment, was being fitted out for a wedding. We stayed for one expensive tasting and some wine facts. So much more exploring and fact-checking to do!