Happy autumn! I just got home from a long drive with my sister Bonnie to Port Angeles, Wash. The leaves on the trees up there were already beginning to turn a beautiful bright red and golden yellow. It was time to visit our wonderful Aunt Ruthie and celebrate her 89th birthday. She is the last still living of her nine brothers and sisters, and she is also my surrogate mother. I say that because she took care of me for several weeks when Bonnie was born and I was only one-year-old.
My mom had her hands full with three children already so I stayed with my Aunt Ruthie at her house. Problem was, when it was time for me to go home, I thought Ruthie was my mother. What a predicament. I cried and didn't want to leave her. That must have been very hard on my own mother. Bonnie and I had a great visit in Port Angeles but it was still hard to say good-bye to our dear aunt. Eighty-nine is pretty old...
Since we were in the area (kind of), we decided to go to the world famous Puyallup Fair. Wow-it was bigger and better than any county fair that I've ever been to. The first thing I saw was the giant old wooden roller coaster. I closed my eyes to hear the chug-a-lug sound as it climbed up the first tall loop. The brave kids riding on it raised both of their arms up in the air and started screaming. It brought back memories of my childhood when the carnivals came to town.
We took the "Sky Ride" that carried us up above and all around the fair grounds so we could see where the rides and exhibits were located. On a clear day you could see Mt. Rainier, but it was kind of hazy that day. When we heard lots of people talking about the old-time famous "scones", we knew we had to have them for breakfast. They were like big, soft, delicious biscuits. I watched as they were being made. A big chunk of dough was hand-rolled into a circle and then pat down and cut into four pieces and baked for ten minutes. When the biscuits were hot out of the oven, whipped butter and tart raspberry jam was smeared on them. Oh, to die for.
There were lots of other tempting specialty foods, like the "elephant ears". That was a hand-rolled, honey-wheat dough that was deep fried and then the "big as an elephant's ear" was sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and raspberry jam. You know the rest in the Food Fair: Caramel apples, strawberries on waffles with ice cream, cotton candy, Seattle fudge, funnel cakes, cow chip cookies, Krusty Pups, colossal cones, pulled taffy, onion burgers and garlic fries, etc, etc. The list goes on in this very tempting place. Oh, the sounds and smells and feel of the Fair; it was very exciting.
We spent a couple hours walking through the hundreds of exhibits and we could have stayed there all day, but it was time to start heading home. We spent one night on the drive home at our childhood girlfriend's house in Centralia, Wash. before crossing Oregon where we picked delicious blackberries along the Rogue River. This was certainly a most memorable road trip for my sister and me.
