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The Mighty Grand Coulee Dam. (Image source:
upload.wikimedia.org)
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But where's the Turkey; Dude! Oh, Yuhs don't mean
the one who "fowled" up the Jersey Turnpike all those years ago? Like
I think that Byrd's TOAST; Hya!
onwards with
another mushrooming story; did somebody say mushrooms - Hooah! Like what about
the Stuffing, Yams, Cranberry, Mash Potatoes, light or Dark, Wee-Wee!
Continuing on with another Award Winning yarn from
thy cellars 'O Nofendersville loosely crafted 'round Thanksgiving; Hey! Don't
forget the Vino, albeit NO idea if another of my long ago stories is still
up-to-date Vintner-wise, which Y'all can check out from another Nofendersville vintage, circa '08;
Alas, as many of Y'all may be traveling over this
Turkey-Lurkey weekend, what better time than to roll out the remaining portion 'O my long simmerin' recap. Roll out
the Barrel; Err, somebody toss me a Biscuit! As I haven't even dipped into the Shiraz
yet!
As this recap of our recent trek to Oregon's Sand
Dunes isn't racing related per sei, like Dude! think you've still got some sand
stuck You Know Where; Hooah!
nevertheless, I'm including I-T as the Deluxe Travel
Notes edition loosely recapping where we hung out during our glorious two-weeks
plus Holiday along the Pacific coast. Thus, if Y'all are looking for some "Hard Hittin'"
racing action; Hya! Then please come back to No Fenders shortly!
Happy
Thanksgiving Y'all!
Tomaso
Florence Travel Notes
After having been picked-up by Tacoma Bureau
Chief Mary Ellen the day prior, we finally departed from our Tacoma "lair"
sometime around noon, (Thurs, 9/4) making another stop, in the multiple errands
run upon our way southwards, with our final stop being at Cabella's in Olympia,
where I was (correctly) coerced into purchasing
a Mondo' "King-size" cot, which soon became a favourite with thy
FURR-rocious lap Hoonds' Mad Molly and thy Pixolator, albeit I felt sorry for
them; especially Mad Molly, since they couldn't quite clear the edge of the cot
when trying to clear I-T like a hurdler clearing the High Bar; KERR-LUNK; YEE-IKES!
Having spent the first night at our "top
Secret" "V2" Campsite upon the Columbia River, on the Warshington'
side of the Mighty Columbia! I mused how our campsite's number V2 should be
easy to remember, since after all the
Germans used a devastating rocket of the very same designation to reign down
terror upon the citizens of London during World War II!
As why can I still remember the man in charge of this weapon's development
name being Wernher Von Braun some 70yrs plus after its invention? Perhaps
because of his later involvement as the father of the Saturn 5 rocket; but I
digress...
 |
| The renown Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen and her
two almighty Assistants Molly & Pixie upon the mighty Florence (Oregon)
Sand Dunes. (The Tomaso Collection) |
Sitting in the miniscule boarding line Friday
afternoon for our non-descript 9-car "Ferryboat," which had zero Superstructure,
(upper decks) which I'm use to upon our
typical Ferries plying the Puget Sound waters; whilst Mary Ellen was
busy making me one of my countless meals, I was startled by what initially
sounded like a Billy-goat; BAHHHHHHHH?
Nope, that's
a Cow Mary Ellen replied... (Nothin'
WRONG with my "Super Hearing," Eh; HUH?) As the vehicle directly in front of us
was towing a trailer with said animal in I-T! Holy Lunch Milk Batman; Hooah!
As this is the first time I'd ever seen a Cow being
transported on a Washington State Ferry, although apparently this one wasn't
escaping like my favourite Bovine!
Yet like I said, this AIn'T NO typical
Ferryboat, since its only apparent super-structure was the pilot's wheelhouse,
and continuing on with this downright low-key affair, the relative calm was
broken by a loud "Wolf-whistle," proclaiming us to get a move-on!
C'mon Yuhs 'lil "Doggies," it's time to board for the once-an-hour
15min sailing across the Mighty Columbia
(River) as that'll be five-dollars please.
'Whale, actually,
I've now discovered that this ferry's run by Wahkiakum
County - named in honour
of Chief Wahkiakum, with the County being established in 1854, as I've got NO idea if the chief and his Chinook Indians had
the pleasure of meeting Lewis and Clark 'Wayback in 1805? Uhm, wasn't it Chris
Columbus bringing the Turkey? Or was it Peter Puget instead in 1792? Inquiring
Minds wanna Know; Hooah!
According to WICKEDpedia', (Wikipedia) Wahkiakum County
is the second least populated county in Washington State, with just barely over
4,000 occupants. (2013 estimate) And Cathlamet is
its largest town, some 530-plus residents strong; where Mary Ellen rejoiced
over its Grocery Store in the middle of NOWHERE having everythingy
under the Sun!
As the Julia Butler Hanson Bridge built in
1938 connects Cathlamet
to Puget Island on the Southern Washington side; which I'd never heard of, seen
or visited before this leisurely trip down the coast to Florence, Oregon via
the less traveled back-roads...
Previously, I learned about the late American
icon Woody Guthrie's song whilst watching some program on thy Telie' a longtime
ago, as perhaps it was some Modern Marvels
TV Show? Extolling the mammoth task of building the Grand Coulee Dam,
which saw water first cascade over its Gynormous 550-foot tall structure in
June, 1942 - ultimately being harnessed to generate power for the then ultra
Top Secret Manhattan Project...
Mr. Guthrie was commissioned in 1941 to write
a "Propaganda" theme song for the Bonneville Power Administration,
(BPA) the regional power administration seeking to popularize support for Federal
control of the regions eleven dams
sprouting up upon the mighty Columbia,
most notably the Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams. As I tend to believe
he earned the tidy sum of $200 for his 26-song ballad.
While another American icon, simply known as
JFK, nee John F. Kennedy stopped at the nearby Hanford Nuclear Reservation on
September 26, 1963 as part of his five state visit to inaugurate the construction
of N Reactor, another nuclear generator utilized for the ever growing Arms race
with the Soviet Union's groundbreaking.
Ironically, in what was probably his last public
appearance in Washington, while championing nuclear power, with N Reactor
building more Plutonium bombs, Kennedy's trip was to promote conservation...
Actually, there's lots of history regarding JFK's
visits to the Pacific Northwest, including his "Presidential Cold"
when he bailed out on attending the 1962 World's Fair closing at Seattle Center,
telephoning in instead, whilst intertwined in something called the Cuban Missile
Crisis...
For our second night's stay, we ended up at a
most unusual campground, after having been unable to find any State Park campgrounds to our
satisfaction, albeit, we did meet a very nice
Park Host lady at Manhattan Beach
(Oregon) who'd offered us some suggestions. As she and her husband lived in a Mondo' RV which
they rented out during winter before returning to Quartzsite, a place I've
never heard of somewheres in the Arizona Desert, which she claims swells to a 'Mega
population of one million during winter; CRIKEYS! And is supplied by a host of
various water trucks...
thus we ended up in Bay City; NO! Not the
home of the Bay City Rollers; Hooah! C'mon Lads, those Mates were from Scotland
when it was governed by Britain; OOPS, Oh Never Mind! Thus, instead, we'd
decided to Bed Down for the evening in Bay City, Oregon, at its City Park where one can camp
for the ridiculously low price of $12 per night; SOLD!
