Let's get it started

So this last weekend I took a road trip with Matthew (I'll just apologize now for the bad photos in this post) and his brother Shawn and Shawn's girlfriend Melody. We went to the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington (I am NOT making this up) to see the White Stripes. Turns out the Gorge Amphitheater is not in the Gorge (Columbia River) but way the hell out in Eastern Washington in the desert.

We drove out the Gorge Gorge and passed throughThe Dalles. Now I always thought it was strange to have a town named "The Anything", but as we passed through there was a freeway sign that said "West The Dalles". This is wrong. If you have a town that has "the" in front of it, anything you put in front of the "the" sounds like it ought to be a verb... If you doubt me, say it out loud. "West the Dalles". "Downtown the Dalles". (I took a photo of the sign and, of course, it didn't turn out) It's just not right. Anyway, The Dalles was depressing and rife with horrendous wind gusts that had me white-knuckling my way through.

So we drove out to Biggs, OR and took a bridge across the Columbia River and went to the Maryhill Museum. This place has an interesting history involving an eccentric rich guy and a very strange assortment of art. We're talking Rodin, chess sets, and Native American art. There's a parka made of seal intestines. And peacocks roaming the sculpture garden. The eccentric rich guy also built a Stonehenge replica nearby.





















Random, but with an amazing view.

From there it was on to George. Driving driving driving. We passed through Yakima, WA. Apparently it's "The Palm Springs of Washington", as evidenced by the sign as you drive by the sawmill. Again, terrible attempt at a photo. Take my word that's what it says. Ummm... Yeah. So we got to the Gorge Amphitheater, set up our tents, drank some beer. It's just kind of camping in a field, surrounded by lots of other people. Note my shadow in the photo. Not bad, but not great at this point. So, time to go to the show... Being my responsible (paranoid) self, I ignored the advice to put either my camera or booze or both in my pants and smuggle it in or I'd have some amazing pics of the White Stripes, the venue, and me drinking. Instead, see the links above for 2 out of 3. Suffice it to say the amphitheater is amazingly beautiful, like a mini-Grand Canyon. The White Stripes were amazing as well, and I'm not even really a big fan. The trip back was uneventful, so I guess I'll leave it there.



Oh right. My truck. This is a picture of where my engine should be if I had one :(