On the 4th day of July, and my 4th day without an iPhone, the family and I embarked on an epic journey. It would be fun. It would be fate. And we would meet many, many interesting characters along the way.
Like a founding father on a tiny, tiny motorcycle.
And the world’s largest dog, aptly named Maximus.
But what brought us there in the first place? Why did we venture far out of the big city and wind up in the tiniest of towns?
Because I wasn’t carrying my iPhone.
Tolt, Washington. Population: 1,814. Home to….well, something, probably. We had no intention of landing here when the day began. We had instead embarked in search of a berry farm from which to pick juicy, succulent red morsels for pie.
We took one quick glance at the directions on the farm’s website and then set off to stain our fingers red. Close to the farm, or what we figured was close to the farm, we were detoured. The road was blocked for an event, and by the time we finally reached the berry farm, we found it was closed for the day. We should have predicted this. We should have known that nary a berry farm (I rhymed!) would be open for our picking pleasure on this day. Our goal hopelessly out of reach, miles between us and home, and no digital device to help decide our next move, we parked and puttered into town in search of lunch.
What we found instead was the kind of small town parade you only see in the movies. We were in love. It was red, white and blue bliss. And we stayed all afternoon.
There was dancing and twirling…
…and shiny red tractors. I tried to convince the man in the Mt. Si jacket to let me take it for a spin. He didn’t succumb to my womanly wiles.
There was also a man on a horse holding a puppy. Why he was holding a puppy while riding a horse, I have no idea. But it was the cutest damn thing I’ve seen in a while.
And our favorite animal of all—Maximus. Lucy is about the size of his head, and yet she wasn’t afraid in the least.
She was as overjoyed to be in Tolt as we were.
A day without GPS, without the help of the internet, without Urban Spoon, and without a clue what we were doing placed us in the most amazing place of all. Husband and I talked all day, introduced our daughter to the joys of strawberry shortcake and horse poop. We went where the wild wind blew us, and weren’t once looking for someplace better to be.
-RDG
love them all… esp the guy on the horse with the puppy and little lucy dancing in the streets at the end- so cute! glad your experiment is going well so far
How fantastic! We should all ditch our phones every once in a while and wind up somewhere unknown
Very cool. Does it feel like you’ve just emerged from a locked room & suddenly discovered a whole new world?!!I’m in love with Maximus! And that you landed in this place of fun & spontaneity!!!
mayr,
M
I am so happy for you, I got a little teary eyed at the end of that, all because I am just so happy that you spent a wonderful day with your family and made some lasting memories. I don’t know you but I am glad you are sharing your experiment with all of us. I hope more people follow in your footsteps. I can’t wait to see what else you do.
Thank you, everyone, for keeping up with my weird, wonderful experiment!
Mary, yes it does!
Chenoa, your comment was the first thing I read this morning and it completely made my day. Thank you so much!
Sounds like so much fun, Jenny! Chenoa, are you from Santa Fe? I grew up there, with several girls with that name. It’s unusual, so I’m just curious.
Welcome to Carnation (long ago known as Tolt)! Dave normally calls that area Spokane since it’s so far for you city folk.
This looks like so much fun!!
Though I feel compelled to tell you, I’m pretty sure that guy is on a mule, not a horse.