Memory Lane

We have been in three states today. We traveled from Nampa, through Oregon, and are now in Walla Walla, Washington. Tomorrow we head on to Seattle. As we pulled into town today, we stopped at Fort Walla Walla. (Notice Greg is pulling one of his famous tricks.) They have a lot of exhibits that tell about this community's past. The state prison is here, so the boys posed for pictures in a cell. (We seriously considered leaving them here!) They had a lot of farming exhibits. There were guns, wagons, cabins, and all sorts of other things to see. They were really intrigued by the chestnut trees (and throwing chestnuts at each other) and the huge leaves on some of the trees. They also have a cemetery that has graves of some of the people that lived in the fort. Afterward, we checked in to our hotel, and then took off for Greg to show us some of the sites he remembers from when he was growing up. The Liberty Theater that he has told us about visiting almost every Saturday as a child is now a Macy's Department Store. When we went inside, you could still see the ornate ceiling, the stage, and balcony areas. We found the K-2 school Greg attended, which we all agreed looks like the school in the movie "The Christmas Story". We also found the school that he attended for 3rd and part of his 4th grade years. We drove past the three homes he lived in while living here. We stopped by a candy/ice cream/popcorn shop. The kids loved that! While in the candy shop, some ladies asked us where we were from. When we replied "Utah", she asked if we were Mormon. We told her we were, so she suggested we go to Wallula Avenue to buy some sweet onions (since we are Mormons, and the only other great thing to do here is to go to all the wine tastings!). So, we stuck the name of the road into the GPS and stopped and bought some onions to take home with us. We might smell after a few days traveling with onions.....but you have to have onions from Walla Walla!