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Clarkston Hospitality

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4:30 pm 4:30 pm

Me, LBZA, and Annajo rallied up Friday and headed east, 3-wide in the front of LBZA’s truck (Puddle too). Road trip to the middle of no-where. It was a relaxing weekend in which I joined Annajo to her family reunion. Good food, lots of good food was ate. Jumped into the Snake River which ran along Hells Gate Park where the festivities were being held. Some of us were lucky enough to break away and cool down at the water park for a bit. I actually lucked out on the weather, I don’t think it got much higher than the mid 80s… perfect!

Sunday LB was in charge of my entertainment. We shot some arrows before gearing up to head up river. We rode a drift boat down some ‘rapids’. Okay, the water was tame this day… but time on the water is always time well spent. I didn’t realize the craftiness behind these boats until this trip. Kinda fun little tug.

The trips there and back were long but entertaining. Both directions different routes were taken, different than I think most people go. Short cuts? Hum, well, that’s up for discussion still. But the alternative routes were definitely worth taking for the scenic views. Besides, how often do you really get to travel on dirt roads for miles? I’ll post of them in a bit, just a quick note to keep up on the blog for the moment.

Huntington Beach – Surf City, USA

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9:28 am 9:28 am

I had the luck of having to go to Huntington Beach, Cali for a work thing. I padded some time in my travel arrangements to play a bit as well. If I had to be there Saturday night, why not get there Saturday morning and play on the beach? So I did.


Huntington Beach is labeled – Surf City, USA; thanks to the Beach Boys of course. And what a nice beach they have down there. I rented a beach cruiser pedal bike and hit the boardwalk. One thing about Cali that seems to always be true, is that everybody is doing something. The weather permits people to play year round and it appears as if they do. There was sooo many people out enjoying the beach and surf. They have it rough.


Near the peir, a concert was going on. Looking at the banner schedule, it appeared as if something was going to be happening every weekend through the end of summer. Another large stage setup of some sort was being set up on the beach, but I didn’t know what exactly it was at that point. I did find out later… but you gotta read on to find out!

Attached to the hotel was an art gallery; advertising local artists. Well, maybe it’s the NW local in me, but ‘local art’ isn’t always worth taking a look at. But I stopped in anyways. Two main artists were featured, Cornice Harting and Tom White. Both focused in portraits, but in very different ways. Harting style was more ‘unfinished’ and heavy brush strokes – mostly of kids playing. White’s work were smooth caricatures of up scale socialites. Although these were not realistic in nature like the Dutch masters – they both were refined and talented, not just abstract scribbles that some ‘local artists’ use as a ploy for lack of real talent. Harting also had some bronze sculptures that were playful. Same rough surfaces were present like her paintings. White’s work, being caricatures were fun to look at. The ’sales lady’ shared some insight. She mentioned White’s recent accomplishments. She listed several, one of which was ‘designer for the 2007 Grammys’ but I was still clueless to who he was… until she simply said, ‘Sponge Bob.’ Oh yes, I can see that!

Played some golf while down there too.

Oh yeah, the large setup on the beach was for Red Bull Illume. A tribute traveling show to honor the photographers that work their adventure sports in which they promote. The website is nice, but seeing these in person at such a large scale and light up – awesome.

I had some time to kill before I had to head to the airport on my last day. I sat by the pool with my laptop and got caught up on some emails and started work on some other little projects. My laptop has a limited battery life of roughly 45 mins. I had to find power by the pool. Sure enough, I did. I plugged into an outlet they had installed for lights… attached to a palm tree.