To the Gates of Hell and back....all for a bunch of beans

Another Hanford friday off meant another weekend road trip for us. We've been having bad luck with our camping trips lately, after leaving a KOA earlier than planned and asking for some money back after it turned into Animal House a few weeks ago, and then having to skip a church camp out because it is very uncomfortable sleeping in a tent when it's over 100 degrees out. But we gave it another try this past weekend with great success.
So we packed up friday morning and headed east. Eastern Washington is full of these rolling hills of hay, wheat and barley. Since it's late in the season they are all brown but still look like this:

Ally wanted to stop and smell the flowers along the way, so we made a stop in "Historic" Pomeroy.

About four hours after starting the trip we were finally at our destination, or at least where we were staying for the weekend.














But we would get to our real destination the next day when we drove about 45 minutes north to Pullman,WA, the home of Washington State University and more importantly, home to:

That's right, not just some local namby pamby lentil fesitval, but the NATIONAL lentil festival. I know, jealous,right? Well get over it, it wasn't all that great. But they did have a big parade. And just like Santa brings up the rear at all the Thanksgiving/Christmas parades, the lentil parade was finished off with a visit from the one and only Tase T. Lentil. Karen and Ally were lucky enough to get their picture taken with him after the parade.


Unfortunately they were all out of lentil festival merchandise which means all my family will have to wait until next year for their lentil fest tote bags and note cards. And that also means that I wasn't able to get my commemorative poster, which I think would have looked great framed and hanging on a wall in our new house, but we still had a fun weekend and look forward to going back to Hell's Gate (a great campground, by the way) next year when all the rolling hills are green.

Ghetto Circus and the County Fair

Last weekend, since it was 103-plus degrees out, we decided to trade in our 3-person camping tent for the joys of the big top. We thought the circus would be a cooler option, but a large, 3-ring tent becomes just as sweltering when you add a few thousand people without the benefit of adequate circulation or air conditioning. Thank goodness for overpriced snow cones!

This is a behind-the-scenes picture of some entertainers. You'd think a clown would be a little happier; of course, he's probably working illegally and making less than minimum wage. The only performer who was truly identifiable as being American was the ringmaster. This was no Barnum and Bailey. This was the great and venerable Carson and Barnes Circus, being presented live in our local mall parking lot. Luckily, we didn't have super-high expectations when we walked in, because we found plenty of things to make fun of. Although we probably won't attend a parking lot circus again, we did enjoy our evening foray into ghettolandia.

Ally loved the flashing lights and watching the different acts, especially the people flying high on the "Weeeeee!" They also had goats, miniature horses, a miniature zebra, a miniature hippo, 2 llamas, 2 one-humped camels, a big python, and "36,000 pounds of elephant" (somehow that translated into 3 small pachyderms; either they were very dense, or that advertising math is wrong). We are both cheap and a little germaphobic when it comes to low-budget animal displays, so Ally wasn't allowed to ride or touch any of them. Thank goodness she's still small enough to be content with just observing. I sure do miss being near a zoo.

On Tuesday night we went to the Benton-Franklin County Fair. It was a definite improvement over the Moore County Fair, but not as grand as the North Carolina State Fair. Unfortunately, they don't sell deep-fried
candy bars or cheeseburgers here, but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. We saw more animals, a lot of 4-H exhibits, and some fair rides that got Ally pretty excited.

We also sat on a blanket and listened to the band Chicago play their new stuff. In some ways, Ally was more entertaining than the band. As Chris' coworker pointed out, we should charge admission for people to watch her. Click on the videos and have a look . . .



Shake your moneymaker and dance to the music!

Everything Comes Down To Poo

Honestly, my intention was to sit down today and blog about what we've been up to this past week, but some stories are too good to pass up. You'll probably find this a lot more interesting than my planned ramblings about last weekend's camping trip to Ellensburg/Cle Elum/Roslyn/Ronald. As always, you can check out our slew of pictures on our picasa site (type in the address or JUST CLICK HERE). If you are needing a good laugh, read the following article. I copied this one from the www.nationalpost.com website, but I found the exact wording on multiple sites. Enjoy!

U.S. artist Paul McCarthy's inflatable poop may not be recovered, museum says

Agence France-Presse Published: Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A giant inflatable dog turd by contemporary U. S. artist Paul McCarthy blew away from an exhibition in the garden of a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a greenhouse window before it landed again, the museum said Monday. The artwork, titled Complex S---, is the size of a house. The wind carried it 200 metres from the Paul Klee Centre in Berne before it fell back to Earth in the grounds of a children's home, said museum director Juri Steiner. The inflatable turd broke the window at the children's home when it blew away on the night of July 31, Steiner said. The artwork has a safety system that normally makes it deflate when there is a storm, but this did not work when it blew away. Steiner said McCarthy had not yet been contacted and the museum was not sure if the piece would be put back on display. The Los Angeles-born McCarthy is infamous for his graphic, provocative sculptures and installations, many of which feature allusions to bodily fluids.

And, while we're on the topic . . . This article reminds me of a catchy tune I once heard on a sitcom. Thanks to the Internet, it can now be stuck in your head, too. All you have to do is click here, turn up the volume, wait patiently through the commercial, and let your brain absorb the lyrics.

Ally's Sweet Sixteen (months)

While Ally is peacefully napping on the couch, I have snuck upstairs to try a new blogging skill-- posting a video (or 2 or 3). If all goes well, you should be able to click on the boxes and see our precious little one in action. You can even turn on the volume and hear my lame commentary, but please refrain from doing so in a public place. No one else really needs to hear me talk, including probably you. Anyway, cross your fingers and here we go with Ally's internet movie star debut. . .



First up: Ally will sit patiently on the stairs until she has your undivided attention, and then she'll give you some sweet lovin'.



Next: Ally's newest addiction. Ally was very much sold on raisins and goldfish, but she recently discovered a substance that trumps all other things she's ever tasted. She'll beg us to open the fridge so she can get to it. She knows exactly where it's kept in the door, and she knows to open her mouth WIDE and let the sweet deliciousness squirt in. . .



In case you missed it, here's another video of Ally trying to get the sweet fix all on her own. (Sorry it's sideways; I don't know how to correct that.)



P.S.- Ally is also prone to begging and screaming for TUMs. I wonder if she has a tummy ache from all that cream. Am I a bad mother?