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Well, we finally did the great Kent Cornucopia with Riley and Jessica today. This event is much bigger than I remember and a bunch of fun.
We’re now down in Bonney Lake eating burgers with Steph’s family and then on the way home tomorrow…
Hung out at Riley and Jessica’s house last night and a couple of Riley’s childhood friends (Andrew and Ilya) dropped by along with Andrews mom Sheila. I’ve known these guys for more than twenty years. It was great to see them! I hope the photos aren’t too dark, it’s hard to tell on my netbook. :-)
Washington State has lost it’s mind! I went to the store today and picked up a bottle of vodka. The price was $16.99, two dollars more than I pay in Idaho. Oh well, I thought…
When the lady said $27.02 I thought she had simply pressed the wrong key. Nope! Put this at the top of your list of reasons to stay out of the state of Washington:
$16.99 plus $6.60 WA LIQUOR TAX plus $3.48 SALES TAX (20.50%) = $27.02.
I knew when flaming liberal Christine Gregoire became Governor in that corrupt race a few years back, that taxes were going up, but this is Insane!
The voters in Washington State passed Initiative 1183 which effectively ended the states monopoly on liquor. Beginning June 1 you could buy alcohol in a variety of stores and everyone was happy, until the state got it’s revenge…
I’m back in Kent, WA for the third time this summer. I dropped Steph off with her family in the south end and I’ve been driving around trying to figure out my encampment spot for the night.
The Green River is crazy with swimmers and there’s way more people in this town since I moved away seven years ago, and Cornucopia starts tomorrow in downtown, bringing in even more.
Then, I was struck with the brightest place to camp idea that I’ve had this summer! The city designates a cool stretch of shaded grass for the vendors to park their campers while they’re here for the four days of Cornucopia. Guess were I am? Parked right there with them, and I’ve got internet…:-)
I’m also right next to downtown. I’m heading there now to get some pictures of the streets before they setup tomorrow.
Update: Grabbed some photos and a cocktail at the Shindig Martini Bar which is right next to the sadly now defunct lesbian bar. Had a nice chat with the Shindig’s owner, Dave. Very nice place, recommended!
One final note about that bus stop shot, I used to supervise those two Dart bus routes…
It’s in the middle of the mountains and I can’t believe I have an internet connection, but I do. I’m also amazed that I inadvertently picked camping spot number 23. While I was uploading photos Steph mentioned that fact, knowing that is my lucky number. :-)
SlideShow (Exit 58)
Sitting around this evening without a Post, ready to embark on a new adventure tomorrow when suddenly Steph starts screeching from the deck! She comes running in to my office saying a large bat flew out from under our kitchen windowsill. Judging from the way she was holding her hands, it looked pretty big!
I’ve been wondering why Piper has been sitting underneath the kitchen window for the last couple of days, staring up at the underside of it.
We got the hi-pressure shooter out and blasted it good. The only thing that came out was bat poop. So, either the bat leaves now or it comes back to a nice clean home…
SlideShow (Bat Cave)
Drove up to the Targhee National Forest via S Leigh Canyon Rd out of Tetonia today. Took us about 30 minutes from the house to be deep in bear country.
Great scenery, found an old sawmill, then ran into a small community of campers that offered us food. If it was more than just cake and pastries I’d of taken them up on it.
Here’s a Map of the area. Actually, if you drag the map down a little there’s another road above that goes even deeper into the forest. Have to check that out one of these days…
I visited one of the worst slums in Idaho today, it’s a place called Newtonia. Truly an ugly depressing place, full of excrement, scraps of metal and leaky pipes.
The folks here are so poor they have to use dirt for their roofs and the unemployment level is tragic. There’s just not many jobs per acre in this barren, forsaken land!
SlideShow (Newtonia)
Steph is developing an Internet reputation for cloning stuffed entities.
Her sons girlfriend Jessica spotted some doll on Pinterest the other day and Junior said “My mom could make that”!
Presenting the Blue Robo Doll perching on an abandoned bird house…
SlideShow (Alternate)
Our cat Piper was amazingly sweet this morning. Normally at 0515 she comes into the bedroom and scratches on the rug to inform us that she wants to exit the house and go hunt small animals in the field as the Sun comes up.
I guess she wanted Steph to sleep in today because she stretched her long body up to the top of the foot of our bed, located my big toe, which she knows very well where it’s located having spent many nights together with me, and tapped it gently with her paw.
Happy 4th of July from Teton Valley, Idaho!
SlideShow (Parade 2012)
The Noise has been fixed! Turns out it was a thing called a carrier bearing, which hooks up to the front u-joint. Erin at Driggs Tire said it just fell apart as he removed it, with bearings flying everywhere.
I asked him whether it could have failed at any time (I’m thinking back to the middle of the Nevada desert last week) and he said “Oh yea!”
For those of you who think I just need a new truck (Sally?), I don’t. This little sweety is now in great shape and only has 89K miles on her. Considering she’s an ’88 that’s about 1000 miles per year. She could use new shocks but that’s something I can do with Riley when I see him in Seattle next week. Keep on rocking…
SlideShow (Hot Air)
Captured this guy and his horse yesterday at Huntsman. He also throws knives…
We left the Huntsman event well before the fireworks display started, beating the crowds and the traffic. It was a beautiful, clear and warm evening so we sat out on our lawn, facing downtown Driggs, as the fireworks began.
I set my camera on Fireworks mode and zoomed in. It’s more than three miles to Huntsman Springs and I think the photos turned out amazing! Run the SlideShow!
