Alaska Chat II (hotels, mall, assess)

[HighlandLady]

That is sad. I was on Mt. Saint Helens long before she blew...I remember when she did blow and we were coated with ash and the sky was dark. I can remember all of that, but I cannot remember to pick up that ONE item I needed when I was at the hell-hole...GADS.

You can meet some interesting characters here...and many of the 'old-timers' are all too willing to tell you stories. I love listening to them.

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by HighlandLady

I detest shopping (I am a genetic anomaly)...but I am taking the dogs to my in-laws tomorrow. They are going to watch them for me whilst I am away and they are camping just an hour's drive from here. They needed their food as did the cat...then I had to find a helium tank. We have two Super Walmarts here - the mind boggles - but I think people live there. The parking lots are nightmares, the people are rude...and the checkout lines are ridiculous. I don't know what I was thinking...it wouldn't have bothered me to visit Pet-Co and spend a little more for food and treats.

I don't like to shop either....not even for groceries. I detest any sort of shopping...I don't have a closet full of shoes or clothes....If I didn't HAVE to eat, I wouldn't shop. I mean, really. SO I get you there too. I can't stand rude people: standing in front of a shelf or in the middle of the aisle, as if no one else existed, totally without purpose, but God forbid you infringe on whatever imagined area they think is their territory. I was walking out of the Fred Meyer a few months ago and I said "Hello" to a woman as I passed her by. Just eye contact and a friendly greeting, no different than you would someone on the street or whatever. You know what she did? She said at the top of her lungs "I don't KNOW you!" I mean..WTF???? You can't even say hello to people anymore? I see it alot here. Very sad.

[HighlandLady]

Originally Posted by cobolt

You know what she did? She said at the top of her lungs "I don't KNOW you!" I mean..WTF???? You can't even say hello to people anymore? I see it alot here. Very sad.

Seriously?!?! That is bloody rude. I love it in the smaller towns - people still flip you that two finger salute as you pass them on the road or drive on by...people wave at you from their yards. I get the oddest looks from people when I travel out of state and give a wave as I meet them on the road.

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by HighlandLady

Seriously?!?! That is bloody rude. I love it in the smaller towns - people still flip you that two finger salute as you pass them on the road or drive on by...people wave at you from their yards. I get the oddest looks from people when I travel out of state and give a wave as I meet them on the road.

Let me tell you...my first experience with what you speak of was when I first moved to small town Texas from California after I separated from the Navy. I was born and raised in Chicago and then traveled alot with the military so Texas was the first taste I got of this. People would wave at you as they passed by, while you were walking down the street, on the sidewalk, in your yard. At first I was floored. I was walking with my neighbor and I said when someone waved at us "Do you know him?" and she said "No. That's just the way it is here." At first I had a hard time adjusting, but looking back on it, those were really fond times....taking summer walks with the full moon slung low on the horizon, all yellow like the color of butter, the sky a periwinkle, you know the way it looks around dusk. And the long farm road would stretch out with fields to either side, seceda bugs chirping, the warm wind....that place took so much of the Chicago smart a$$ out of me and made me into such a better person, someone who could appreciate Alaska and so many of the small parts of the world that others would see as "out of touch" or "hicksville."

[warptman]

I noticed in the boondocks of Montana everyone waved at me, and of course I waved back. Pull up to a gas station there, people sit there and talk to you, I was surprised. Alaska plates help with conversations, too.

[Xa'at]

Originally Posted by cobolt

And the long farm road would stretch out with fields to either side, seceda bugs chirping, the warm wind....

Random Xa'at anecdote here...
When I was in Kentucky last summer I saw a cicada for the first time. It was just sitting there on the pavement, this massive evil-looking insect. I screamed my head off... and let me tell you I am not one of those scared of everything, "eek a mouse" girls. But this damn cicada scared the crap out of me.

[cobolt]

Last spring around this time, I flew out to Texas to visit some friends and then drove to Oklahoma to visit more friends. I flew into Dallas, picked up the rental car, and started on my way. About an hour out of Dallas, not even that long, there were wildflowers all along the sides of the interstate. I pulled over to take pictures, and I kid you not, within that time span, 4 different cars pulled over and asked if I needed any help, thinking that perhaps I was having car trouble. One was even a young teenage boy, clean cut with his shirt tucked into his pants. Imagine that. I was thinking "Had I been in Western WA on the interstate, that would have never happened. People would just drive right past, even if it were clear I was having car trouble."

I stopped at a store on the way to N Texas to pick up some road snacks, and people would greet you "Hi Y'all" and you would have these little conversations. Just nice, small talk conversations. I remember first moving to Texas and having the grocery store manager approach me as I was shopping to ask if I was finding everything alright. I thought that was weird. Fast forward years later I visit the folks in Chicago, and I can't find a store employee in the grocery store to save my life. WHen I do and I ask here where something is, she acts as though I am imposing on her time. Man....I longed for that friendly way again.

THAT's why I am going to the Bluegrass state in a few weeks for a visit and getaway. I need to get out of the insular, aloof, clannish entitled mode of operation which is W WA, Puget Sound in particuar. Maybe it's all the transplants, although I don't think so. You don't realize how unfriendly people are until you get out. It helps you keep your sanity and from becoming like them.

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Random Xa'at anecdote here...
When I was in Kentucky last summer I saw a cicada for the first time. It was just sitting there on the pavement, this massive evil-looking insect. I screamed my head off... and let me tell you I am not one of those scared of everything, "eek a mouse" girls. But this damn cicada scared the crap out of me.

Yeah...they're not the prettiest things. When they molt out of their shell and you come up the old shell, it's pretty scary. I had been doing yard work and apparantly brushed my head on a branch or something, and later felt something crunchy in my hair. WHen I went to pick it out, it was a cicada shell. Scared the crap out of me too....but man... I love to hear them chirp in unison in the summer. Their song gets really aggitated sounding as a storm is approaching. They are great weather "forecasters"

[Barkingowl]

We have cicadias & palmetto bugs down here. While you're in BG country Cobolt, take a drive down to Bowling Green & visit the National Corvette Museum.

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

We have cicadias & palmetto bugs down here. While you're in BG country Cobolt, take a drive down to Bowling Green & visit the National Corvette Museum.

Ha ha...yeah that's what my landlord told me to do too (he collects cars). My priority is Mamouth Cave National Park, The Land Between the Lakes Park, and there are two more...can't think of the names off the top of my head. And....maybe a visit to the Southern Comfort distillery. I loves me some Southern Comfort.