Let 'er Buck!

Judd finally got his cowboy hat.  It took a big, long Saturday to make that happen.  We did our homework and domestic chores Saturday morning before noon. (WHA?  it's SO convenient to have the washer and dryer in the back room compared to going to the laundromat every Saturday last year.) The Pendleton Round Up --motto: "Let Er' Buck" -- since 1910.p
"The Pendleton Round-Up has won the prestigious PRCA Large Outdoor Rodeo of the Year award five times: 2003, 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2017."
We dodged much of the traffic by going to the Woolen Mill first and catching an impromptu tour. We were among the lucky elite to get a last minute hotel (for probably double the 

price of usual weekends.) But we were a quick jaunt downtown for our 3:00 Underground Tour.  The entire down town Main Street was a massive street fair with food trucks, vendors, different country music bands on every block, BBQ smoke filling the air. It was VERY distracting getting to our sold -out tour on time. We had a splendid, knowledgeable tour guide regale us of local history--how Pendleton was settled, sheriff -ed, bordello-ed and cleaned up. We toured in tunnels under the town and saw the Chinese laundry and the opium den and gaol.  We sashayed in the parlour where Madam Stella Darcy, the last madame of Pendleton, entertained.  Her statue embellishes the sidewalk of Main Street right across from some famous cowboy. She lived and worked in an upstairs apartment on Main Street. Down the hall from the parlour and chapel, were "the working rooms." Each of the 4 working girls had their own bedroom as well and a shared kitchen and laundry room. The entire apartment was decorated in 1920+ period furniture and clothes and literature.  There was even a box of Trojans in one of the working rooms, but it was a box the size of a slide rule. (about 3 x 9 inches) Guess their pockets were bigger back then.

After dinner we wove our way down to the Happy Canyon Arena.  We passed the tee-pee city where the authentic participants camp for the week.  We were not in appropriate regalia and it felt a little like we were wedding crashers or parents at a college tailgate party. We passed the horse corrals and where all the rodeo "doggies" were penned and then past the kilometers of Indian jewelry and leatherwork for sale. We made it to our reserved seats in the stadium in time for refreshing adult beverages.

We had been warned the Indian Pageant and Wild West Show was "a little hokey" and indeed it was. We enjoyed the authentic clothes and dances and real horsemanship but the skits of ambushes and gunfights were a little hard to take.  Spoiler alert:  the white guys take over the Happy Canyon.  Our pics don't do it justice but there's a good video on their website:  http://www.happycanyon.com/
There was a real lariat spinner, and precision horse acts, but the biggest surprise was when the show was over, the adult guests were invited to exit the stadium through the faux dance hall, which opened into an actual casino. We partook of the "Pendleton Whisky"  (don't they know that whisky without an e is reserved for Scotch Whisky?!?)  We did observe the gambling and a  guy gave us a mercy lesson on the roulette wheel with free chips. We immediately lost.

Watch a 14 second video of the disco that Judd took here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeNe6NpBcjo

It was AFTER the after-party that Judd was able to select his hat on our way back to the hotel.  What do you think, boots next?

"Where does wool come from ?"

 We've been hearing about the Pendleton Round UP since we arrived in Oregon last summer.  When we got an embroidered tea-towel as a memento of Oregon, (already having an embroidered Maine tea-towel pillow from Susan-Friend) the Pendleton Round Up was about the only thing we hadn't seen in ORegon.  We were committed to leave WA and get back to OR.

The Round Up is a 100+ year old Rodeo/Street Festival and worth the 58 min trip from Walla Walla. Although I was committed to wearing my Western boots and Judd was committed to finding a cowboy hat, we were not all that committed to the "standing room only" portion of the actual rodeo-- I know, rookie mistake.  We hadn't purchased our stadium seats months ago. We didn't want to stand and watch the bucking (or the bronco-ing either.)  But we DID purchase in time: tickets to the Pendleton Underground Tours (sold out by the time we got there) and the Happy Canyon Night Show (highly acclaimed) and the Hotel 6 accommodations (bed and hot water but no shampoo or coffee-maker-whatevah.)  A good time was had by us. To be continued......
https://www.pendletonroundup.com/about.aspx

We did some of our homework/housework Saturday morning and departed in time to have brunch at "Wee Bit O' Heather" cafe on our way south.  It is a cafe for only breakfast and lunch in what was previously a drive in restaurant (but no more car service.)  It is Scottish-themed with decor around the walls/menus. The waitresses know the regulars by name and we witnessed one devoted soul even digging through the trash to find a patron's pills which got disposed of accidentally in a folded napkin.  Now THAT's customer service. 

In Pendleton, since we were too early to check into our hotel, we stopped at the Pendleton Woolen Mill.  We thought we were just bargain shopping, but we got sucked into the video on the wall of "how machines work."  And then, while Judd was taking pictures of rodeo queens, we heard overhead, "If you would like a factory tour, form a line."  WoW!! An engineer's / knitters dream..... The tour guide explained the warping and wefting and who dyes what wool and how it gets here and how many pounds of sheep it takes to make a blanket. One lady asked, "where does wool come from?"   'Sheep' was the answer. (good to know for Trivial Pursuit or Wait-Wait-Don't Tell-Me games.)  Judd and I marveled over what engineering mind figured out how to make 300  threads come together. And the factory figured out how to get crafters to buy blanket-edge remnants to weave into rugs....(SUCKERS-- we fell for it.) More about that later.

 

Random musings on Bennington Lake

-Bennington Lake is a 6 min drive from our house with over 20 miles of trails.
-We had driven by the access road all summer and seen a dude who rents paddle boards-- we wondered why and for what.
-This time of year, it's not a very big lake.
-We saw some canoe fishermen.
-The website shows a fuller lake, a greener background.
-The gender neutral restrooms were super CLEAN .

-The area abounds with hikers, bikers, dog-runners, walkers (what's the difference between a hiker and a walker?)
-Why don't horses have to bag their poop out?

-Soil and Water Conservation District signs, JUST LIKE IN MAINE where Judd was on the board.
-Engineers R Us....... SO many big job machines:  some identifiable, some unidentifiable, some indefatigable -- my Maine man just stood and gawked, stymied by some of the big equipment and it's uses.

We picnicked on a breakfast of boiled eggs, boiled new potatoes and salsa. I hear Judd say hi to someone and remark that we don't know anyone in Washington.  It was his counterpart-robot-teacher at the other school in town. They were out for a  dog walk.  We commenced our hour long hike around the lake. Later the locals  told us: watch out for  ticks and rattlesnakes. Oops!


At the Fair this week, we spoke with an Army Corps of Engineers intern and she enlightened us about what the heavy equipment up by the lake was.  In the spring, water is diverted from Mill Creek into the lake to prevent flooding in Walla Walla (which used to be a thing until the reservoir was completed in 1942.) The lake is stocked with rainbow trout each spring and only paddling, rowing, wind or electric boats are allowed. The big contraptions keep indigenous fish out of the lake. And some of the big metal grates were to keep tree-size debris out of the creek. An engineer's paradise!








HEY ! We found out what those not-wheat crops that are all dry and shriveled this time 
of year (for miles and miles across the horizon. ) Garbanzo beans !!  On our walk through the neighborhood, we saw one of the pods exploded and then we read a confirmation! 
Who knew?

Frontier Days in Walla Walla

 We started Labor Day weekend with the Walla Walla Frontier Days parade: many horses, many politicians, many old cars and so many people throwing candy at kids in every direction. Judd pretty much spent the day with his jaw dropped: "My father had a horse just like that."  "We used to have a tractor just like that."  "My dad had a van just like that except white with a red stripe on it. "
Norm took out the middle seat out and converted the inside to a DIY Westfalia, the fore and aft bench seats made into a bed for those Thompson road trips with 3-4 boys to Florida every spring.

We beat the crowds leaving the parade and made it to the Country Fair before there were lines at every food vendor.  I was half way through my gyro by the time Judd was able to make a selection.  His French fries were disappointingly limp and greasy and the fried oysters were a bit suspicious.  That just ensured he'd have to go back for seconds somewhere. After a walk through the bunny and chicken house and looking for one of his students' pigs, he went back  for the turkey legs. It was delicious and too big to eat. We sat in the sun and listened to the mariachi band and watched kids running like hamsters in beach balls in a kiddie pool.  We couldn't figure out how they breathe in there.  Maybe that's the point: run them until they pass out then unzip them out of the balls and return them to their parents. 

This tractor is as old as I am, born in 1955. But the boots are only a year old from my move out west last summer! The other heavy machinery taken from Judd's phone pics:

How we humor ourselves in the smokescape

<----------Walla Walla is just east of Kennewick in a basin against the Blue Mountains-- yellow today/red a couple days ago
http://wasmoke.blogspot.com/

Just about like our arrival in Oregon last summer, all of Washington state has been suffering from wildefire smoke the last 2 weeks . Also, like last summer, locals tell us, "this is the worst we've ever seen it."  My work issued respirator masks to anyone who had to walk outside between buildings (mostly everyone .) The beautiful Blue Mountains, in fact the trees one block away, became invisible. The sun became a burning orange basketball.  Everyone had a headache, scratchy eyes and throat and grumpy disposition. So on the weekend, rather than a hike, we found a winery and other local festivities.

We had been given a bottle of  Canoe Ridge wine from a friend in Oregon -- it was her favorite and she was jealous we were moving to Walla Walla.  The winery is down town and they make the wine in the old trolley car barn.  We sat outside the tasting room under a brelli and watched kids and dogs come in and out.  Apparently dogs are welcome at tasting rooms (and some  live there) and we've seen several coffee table books of "vineyard dogs." We don't own a coffee table presently, so we don't have a book.  The Canoe Ridge logo is from a Lewis and Clark reference--in their travels, they came across a land mass that looked like an overturned canoe.  We find that a bottle of wine fits perfectly into the metal wine carafe that fits in our picnic backpack, given to me by my office mates in Oregon upon my departure.  We leave the pack in the car, ready to fill and fête at a moment's notice.  Our notice that day was seeing posters for the roller derby (Jammin' for J.U.G.S. ) vs. a sign that said Shakespeare would be in the park. We chose a picnic.  We stopped at the nearby Safeway and got some cheese, crackers, pistachios (already shelled) and chocolate and headed for Whitman College outdoor amphitheater.  

Whitman College is the small, liberal arts college in Walla Walla.  The Walla Walla Community College has the enology program  (and where we belong to the wine club) and College Place (12 minutes away has Walla Walla University. WW is quite the educational place. The Tempest performance was free (or by donation.)The cast included "the Rude Mechanicals, a premier Shakespeare theater company" although we couldn't tell the mechanicals from the local performers.  This Pe-Wa-oo-Yit monument dots the lawn where the performance was held.  WW is also a very historic place. ...a couple more  photos below...

https://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/we-such-stuff-dreams-made

Travel IS for the feint of heart! [sic]

I was on a recent work trip to Dallas (yes, Dallas in August; Minneapolis in February--it's the way work saves employee travel dollars for the taxpayers-- you're welcome.)  One can only fly one airline:  Air Alaska, and in only one direction from the Walla Walla:  Seattle.  For the 11 am departure, you can get to the WW airport at 9:00 but the ticket counter and TSA don't show up until 10am--no snack bar; no coffee. Not since viewing my last Indiana Jones reruns have I seen an airplane with a propeller! (Mt. Rainier in the background.) The trip was uneventful. The conference was illuminating.  The food choices were legion.  (I taught myself how to download an UBER EATS app and had Kenya food delivered to my hotel room !)  Sometimes technology works for me. 

On the return trip, I snapped a pic at the airport of what must have been employee appreciation day--a lunchtime BBQ was going on for all the outdoor airport crew.  How cute was that? And then sitting in Seattle airport (for a 3 hour layover to take the 10pm flight back to WW,) my work friend and I get texted by Alaskan Air that our flight is delayed 30 minutes.  We go to dinner and get another text that our flight is delayed 2 hours. And then my colleague gets texted by a friend at home in Walla Walla who asks if we're okay because of the hijacking in Seattle and all that she saw on Facebook.  We look up at the TV news flashing silently in the restaurant and see that an Air Alaskan Horizon jet (empty) plane had been stolen for a joy ride by a TSA worker. We both surmised that it was OUR PLANE TO WW.  (Not sure, but we're sticking to the story.)  And sure enough, next, we get a text from Alaskan Air that our flight has been cancelled.  We finish dinner and go stand in line for 45 minutes to reroute ourselves and get 2 hotel rooms so we can sleep for 5 hours. The next several flights to WW were already booked (until 10 pm THE NEXT DAY) so we routed ourselves to Pasco airport (an hour drive from Walla Walla) and Judd picks us up at 7am the next morning so we can recover some of our non-working weekend.  Quite a feint maneuver!!

If you haven't heard it, you can listen to the hijacker talking with air traffic control. Guess the TSA -employee appreciation in Seattle isn't as robust as in Dallas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeYVtVg6aGs

feint / faint | Common Errors in English Usage and More | Washington ...

https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/22/feint-faint/

feint : A feint—whether in chess, boxing, fencing, or on the battlefield—is a maneuver designed to divert the opponent's attention from the real center of attack. A feint is a daring move. Do not use this very specialized word in the expression “faint of heart” (or “faint at heart”), which implies timidity.May 22, 2016

and this:

Paul Larkin, studied at University of London

Answered Jun 19, 2017 · Author has 2.9k answers and 1m answer views

Hi,

Fascinating question. This saying originated from a Middle English saying, round about 1545 A.D. A coward verely neuer obteyned the loue of a faire lady. [1545 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus' Adages (ed. 2) 10]

In 1614 A.D., this was refined to become: Faint heart neuer wonne faire Lady. [1614 W. Camden Remains concerning Britain (ed. 2) 306]

And later in 1754A.D., it was phrased in today's recognizable English: Then, madam, we will not take your denial. ‥Have I not heard it said, that faint heart never won fair lady. [1754 Richardson Grandison I. xvi.]

Chief Joseph Days and BBQ

From rolling hills to snow capped mountains to dry canyons in a day!

One weekend from our Hampton Inn month, we went back to Oregon for Chief Joseph Days. It was a 2 hour trip and we arrived in Joseph just in time to park off Main Street—the entire town was blocked off for a parade.  And what a parade! We had never seen so many horses, piled high with floral arrangements and girls in glittery chaps.  They just kept coming.  We watched candy being thrown by politicians, musicians, kids on floats and Native Americans in blanket-covered cars. It was longer and better attended than any parade in recent memory, not that we’ve attended very many recently. We walked the length of town looking for a food truck billed as “BBQ” but surmised that it must be over at the fair grounds for the apres-the-parade festivities. We never really found it, so took our hummus and veggie picnic lunch another 20 min up the road to the Wallowa Lake park.  We had heard of it from a friend back in Jacksonville who called it the little Alps of Oregon.  We were stunned by the snow covered peaks in many layers behind the lake. The tiny town plays up the Alps theme and several hotels are in the Swiss village style.  All were sold out due to the Chief Joseph Days weekend. But we had a plan B and C up our sleeves.  Plan B: drive 2 more hours north to Lewiston or Clarkston and get a hotel, or Plan C: drive 4 more hours home via the Joseph Canyon.  We ended up home in our own hotel bed.On our way out of Wallowa Lake, we stopped at Chief Joseph’s tomb. Reading the history is very sobering.  The drive home was astounding, going from the tree filled valley and snow covered peaks past the canyon which seemed as big as the Grand Canyon…

The first Monday of the month is Food truck night at the airport.  Judd has been waiting patiently all month.  After work we drive out to the Walla Walla airport  (6 minutes from our house) and drove around not seeing any trucks.  Then we start to see a line of cars, all turning the same way.  We followed.  When we got past the 6 wine tasting rooms and brewery, we found a crowded parking lot with about a million cars.  Well, not a million, but a gosh-darn lot more than we thought resided in Walla Walla.  And then there were the lines of people, at nearly every food truck. It was like summer fair in Windsor. Judd found two trucks of BBQ and it was hard to choose which had better food as the lengthy lines were equal.  I offered to stand in one line  and have Judd stand in the other and see who got served first, but we declared Best of the Blues line-waiting worthy.  The three meats and three BBQ sauces were ok. The coleslaw was nothing but poorly shredded cabbage, a lot of it, with some watered down mayonnaise. Judd can do better. We sat on the grass and swatted bees and I thought about the much better time we’d just had on Friday at Recess Monkey.