This summer I
went on a road trip to Idaho for the first time (other than a drive through
Coeur D’Alene as a kid). Our destination
was Moscow, Idaho, home to the University of Idaho and a fun disc golf course,
and located on the border with Washington in the heart of the Palouse (kind of a
fun word no?). It’s also home to Katie and JB – good friends
of Rod and JS – who got married over the August long weekend.
It was
interesting to cross over from relatively liberal Washington and Oregon (where
I normally visit in the US) into conservative, rural Idaho. Being a university town Moscow is probably as
progressive and diverse as they get and it’s still 92% white (2000 census), has
Smith&Wesson gun demo trailers similar to food carts, and you are greeted
on the highways by signs such as “Be cautious of drunk drivers” (with sad pictures of victims) rather than
signs saying “Don’t drink and drive”. The picture above is the view from our hotel
room; I loved that it captures the US flag, the university, and the rural
setting.
Also fun is
the name itself, which probably wasn’t too popular at the height of the cold
war although they pronounce it Mos-co rather than Mos-cow. I find the
name-your-town-after-a-famous-international-city-but-pronounce-it-different
phenomenon fascinating. Did you know
there are no less than 16 Oxfords, 16 Florences, and 12 Athens’ in the US? My favourite creative pronounciation is
Versailles (“Ver-sails”). I think Louis
XIV would turn in his grave.
But enough
tangents and onto the festivities and the Idaho visit itself. This was probably the most relaxed, well-organized
and down-to-earth wedding I’ve ever been to.
They got their flowers from a U-pick, transported guests to and from the
ceremony in charter buses, invited everyone to the rehearsal dinner and Sunday
morning bagels-n’-coffee breakfast at their place, and there was even a
Thriller flash-mob (led by the bride herself) at the reception. This couple also has a great sense of
humour, where the opening line at the ceremony by the officiant was “Ma-widge
is wat bwings us togeder too-day” (from the movie the Princess Bride in case
you didn’t recognize it).
I didn’t want
to get into the bride and groom’s faces (there are professional photographers
for that), but here is what I (and handing my camera off to others) did manage
to snap:
Our trio
looking sharp at the ceremony before wilting in the heat.
Selfie. As a result of taking this picture the happy
couple behind us struck up a conversation.
The bride
spent several years in Japan and I think she wanted to touch of the Orient for
the wedding décor. She and her friends spent
hours folding ~800 paper cranes (their goal was a 1000, but hey who’s
counting).
Loved the
light and dark cake and fresh blueberries.
Moscow has a vibrant main street with a charming farmer’s market and great brunch
places.
Brunch! Monster
omelettes, bottomless coffee, and delicious huckleberry zucchini bread. JS prepares to attack his chicken-fried-steak
and gravy.
On our way back
to Vancouver we stopped at Ginkgo
Petrified Forest State Park. Very
dry but extremely hot (close to 40 degrees) we hopped out of our
air-conditioned car for a quick tour. The park features over 40 species of
petrified wood created when trees were buried in volcanic ash ~16 million years
ago and the organic matter in the trunks was gradually replaced by minerals in
the groundwater. I loved the mix of
bleached wood and multi-coloured stone.
The park also has over 300 petroglyphs created by the Wanapum tribe.
Another
highlight of the trip was our last night spent at a campground just outside of
Leavenworth, Washington. This town is
modelled on a Bavarian village and having experienced the real thing I was
pretty darn impressed! Unfortunately we
got there a little late in the day and the bakery and beer gardens were shutting
down, but I still enjoyed it and felt like I could pretend I was back in the
Alps. Incorporated in 1906, its
transformation to Bavarian-theme-town wasn’t carried out until 1962 as an
attempt at revitalization.
