A Trip to Wal-Mart Anyone?

---

The next morning – Tuesday – we headed on up to Pendleton, Oregon. Following a long 300+ mile route, we arrived late afternoon and checked in and schlepped all our gear into our room. We decided to continue our microbrewery adventures by stopping at Prodigal Son, a local place that is getting rave reviews. I can tell you why – fantastic beer! We will most likely need to cool it with the beer soon as our digestive tracts are in full rebellion and I am quickly realizing that I may not have work pants that fit me upon our return. But back to the beer – I started with the Stout, thick and chocolaty with nitrogen. Jim had the Sun-Ra, a phenomenal Belgian that I decided to try too. Rather than order dinner, we stuck with appetizers and ordered a scotch egg. So yummy! A hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage and served with spicy mustard – it sounds way weird but was so wonderful!

We made our annual trip to Wal-Mart – one of our favorite vacation past-times is to visit a local Wal-Mart for good people watching and to procure cheap products from China. It is usually a very entertaining activity, but this one was sterile, nearly empty and had none of the local flair that we have found in places like Bull Head City and El Paso. Really disappointing! We gathered a few items and headed back to the room. Overall, we enjoyed Pendleton a bit more than Astoria and wished we had a bit more time there – perhaps we should have cut our stay in Astoria and built in two days in Pendleton?

Next stop is Boise for two days and because today is Jim’s 36th birthday, he has selected a steakhouse known for amazing prime rib for a fancy birthday dinner. Happy Birthday to my sweet husband!

---