I have been planning to come to this thing for months – I am actively making time this year, to seek/enjoy fun times.
Several times, I saw a banner announcing the Winlock Egg Festival when I passed through Winlock.
I read about it in a Travel brochure.
I didn’t expect very much with Winlock being a very small, back road community.
Boy, was I in for a surprise!
This festival is a very big deal.
I also planned to stop at Cowlitz Prairie Grange to have breakfast: they were having their Pancake & Biscuit Breakfast this morning, so I went. I’ve been wanting to try it for years – Bob didn’t.
But, Bob isn’t here anymore … so, I went.
I was curious; and I was hungry.
On my way through Castle Rock, I nipped into the Espresso Shack to grab a medium coffee (it’s spendy: $5.25/medium, but I had my Bingo! Winnings with me 😉). I drank Almond Milk today (I can’t drink cow’s milk; it makes me throw up), but I think I’ll try the Oat Milk next time – it sounds interesting, and though I hate the taste of oatmeal, and won’t eat it … I do know that oats are good for my body.
Sipping on my expensive coffee, I drove through Toledo and out Jackson Highway to the Grange.
The Grange is very nice inside – clean, and well maintained. There was no musty odor, and it appeared to be used regularly … sadly, many Granges are not, anymore. The people were friendly, as most country people generally are. The blueberry pancakes were tough (too much stirring), but the biscuit and gravy, was excellent – the gravy was the real deal: not that crappy, tasteless paste, passed off as gravy in restaurants.
I was glad I was curious 😊
I was happy I had stopped in.
It was time and $$ well spent.
And I hope they have their Threshing Bee this year: I’ve always been curious about that, too.
But that seems up in the air at the moment … we’ll see what August brings with it, when it rolls around.
(https://www.chronline.com/stories/future-uncertain-for-annual-threshing-bee-in-toledo,7897)
When I reached Winlock, I was not prepared for how busy it was.
There wasn’t a piece of ground that wasn’t jam-packed with people; parking was tight, too. I finally found a space large enough for the Highlander, next to a Flea Market area – parked the car, and left it there for about an hour, while I walked “up town” to Main Street, and meandered around up there.
There was a lot happening up there.
First, I had to walk through throngs of people before I even made the railroad tracks that had to be crossed to get to Main Street.
I walked through the lower end street to look at all the Car Show cars being displayed for view – this was extensive: the cars were packed as tight as they could safely be packed. And they covered one and half streets.
They were all very nice; and some were tricked out.
I liked the older models; the 1950’s.
Camaro’s aren’t my thing … though I did think Bob’s was pretty sharp looking when I saw it that one time it accidently crossed our path in Longview (he had sold it before I met him, but he talked about it nonstop, so I knew it when I saw it).
I like older cars: they were so colorful I the 1950’s – yellows, turquoises, pinks, and blues: but I did like the pretty corvette bronze colored ‘Cuda we had in 1980 … that baby was smokin’ H.O.T. I also liked the burgundy hatchback Horizon Bob bought me in the later 1980’s, and the burgundy Caravan I bought in the 1990’s, and the purple plum Toyota KIA Bob bought me in 2005. And, of course, I like the Shoreline Blue Pearl Highlander he bought me in 2017.
Still … nothing beats those bold and bright 1950’s colors, with white interiors and white side-wall tires.
But, I’m getting off topic, so I’ll rein my thoughts in; and get back to today’s topic 😉
The festivities started with the National Anthem: EVERYONE pledged to America, and there wasn’t a single dry eye as ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was sung.
Winlock has hometown Pride – they celebrate everything, and everyone: High School Marching Band, Emergency Vehicles (old and new), County Commissioner, Winlock Kid’s Baseball/Football Teams, Foreign Wars Veterans Train, and just community in general.
It didn’t appear to me, that anyone – or anything – had been left out of the festivities.
That’s why I like small towns 😊
The Winlock Egg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winlock,_Washington
Toledo’s float has me curious … I may have to check this thing out 😉
2021 may be year I check out WA’s small towns: these I found out about today – Toledo Cheese Days (coming up – July 8-11th), McCleary Bear Festival (2nd weekend in July), Morton’s Logger’s Jubilee (2nd weekend in August), and Hoquiam’s Logger’s Playday (coming up in September) – but, I know Naselle and Packwood have shindig’s happening sometime this Summer too. And there’s probably more I don’t know about. I want to check them all out 😉
It was 82-degrees, but no one cared.
People stood in the heat; packed the length of Main Street.
Kids scampered after candies thrown, to grab them up before they melted.
Throngs of people lined the continuous loop route from Main Street to the far backstreet – to watch the parade as it made its looping route.
Food vendors and flea market hawkers pitched their tents in the thick of things, too.
And after the parade, I bought a mouthful of burger to eat in the car before leaving Winlock.
As I was driving to Winlock, earlier in the morning, I noted a few Yard sale signs, so I took the time to enter them into the Highlander’s GPS app (and learned, today, how to punch in multiple addresses at one time 😊) … and then headed out of town to see what the sales had to offer me.
I was looking primarily for books: I already have everything I need home-wise – all I need, at the moment, is a variety of books to entertain me.
I’m rarely home now that Bob is no longer present … and I don’t have grandkids running in one door and out the other anymore; so, there is no real reason to sit at home. When I do touch down at home, I’m too tired to hunt YouTube for a movie to watch. And I am thinking I need to leave the radio off for the next 4 years: what I hear coming from the radio is starting to work my nerves and piss me off.
That pissed off trigger is interfering with my peaceful vibes.
This afternoon’s trigger was tripped when I heard a rabid obamanite racist say on the radio … concerning this asinine {holiday} that obama’s lapdog, biden, recently passed into ‘law’ … that America is “an experiment” ... and that muslims founded America, I was righteously angered – that is nonsensical BS.
And I was seeing red: serious red.
America is not an experiment; experiments are hypothesis. America is FACT, and obamanites can’t change facts – though they are trying mightily to rewrite the HISTORY of America to suit their own twisted outlook on their miserable lives.
junteenth is as aimless and as meaningless as kwanza: made-up nonsense is just plain nonsense.
Both are designed by racists to separate society, and undermine unity.
So, seeking any calmness that can be found in this era of obamanite insanity, I jetted from one Yard Sale to another (there were 6 of them), and came home with a few more books to add to my dwindling stash.
When I drove to one sale, I was thankful I had the 4-wheel feature: that particular driveway had been laid with large, bulky, chipped rocks used on logging landings! After I had bumped my way up the lumpy driveway, all I could see that interested me was a resin turquoise planter pot – for 25 cents.
It came home with me.
Along with a couple other things, gathered later.
The ducks caught my eye, and I can set them out in my garden area. I’ll have to find a way to weight them down so the river winds don’t blow them into another Lot … and I think I have an idea on how to do that 😉
The pink basket I really don’t need, but I’ll find a use for it.
The rick-a-rack trims I can use on the crochet book covers I’m designing.
I can always put a casserole dish to use.
And the toe wedges I plan to utilize soon: when I paint my toenails.
The books will keep me company, at home … and on the road.
I did okay, chasing after calmness 😉
