Spokane Memories Surface on Sibling Day

Traveling to Spokane with my siblings always brings to mind memories of the many times we spent at Grandma Woolum's house when we were growing up in the Silver Valley. Grandma lived in Spokane, and we visited her home quite often, and I was very fortunate to have such a sweet and loving grandma who lived so close.

On Friday, Raymond Pert, Inland Empire Girl and myself got together in Spokane to spend the day together.

The Silver Valley Siblings on Easter Sunday in the early 1960's in their Silver Valley home.

And here we are today.

Part of our Spokane adventure included driving down Bridgeport, the street Grandma lived on when we were growing up. The area grandma lived has gone through some changes, and for a while was pretty run down. But it was nice to see a nice picket fence in front of her old house, and a swing on the porch. It looks like the residents are giving the house some TLC.

Here we are at Grandma's house in Spokane.

Here I am, Silver Valley Girl, posing with a peony in Grandma's backyard.

I kind of look like a flower stem in the groovy green outfit.

Here is Grandma Woolum with her three children on the porch at the house on Bridgeport. Pictured are Aunt Ruth, Grandma, Uncle Harry and Dad.

Uncle Harry is the only one still with us.And here they are all, one of the last times all four of them were together. I miss them all.

We took a trip to Fairmont, the cemetery where Grandma is buried. It is a beautiful place.

Here is her marker. I can't believe she has been gone for almost 17 years.

The marker next to Grandma's is my Great Aunt Esta and Great Uncle Tom.

Esta and Grandma were sisters.

Here is a picture of Aunt Esta, Grandma and Aunt Ethel in Grandma's backyard in Spokane. Esta and Ethel were twins. Esta also lived in Spokane, and Ethel lived in Salem, Oregon.

Here is the marker for the controversial plot next to Grandma's.

But that is another story for another time.Inland Empire Girl knew right where to find Grandma's plot because it is right by this beautiful praying hands monument. What a comforting message to watch over Grandma.

Here is the view over the hillside behind where Grandma is buried. It is very beautiful. Spokane is a beautiful city.

Here is another beautiful view of the Spokane area, high atop the Greenbluff area northeast of Spokane. This is an area where you can visit various farms and stands and buy from their bountiful harvest.We arrived at the beginning of the Peach Festival, and I just couldn't resist bringing home a box of Flaming Fury peaches I purchased from Harvest House. Yum! Yum!

I also picked up a unique squash called Lebanese squash sold here at the Strawberry Hills Farm, as well as some garlic.It is a real blessing to have two such wonderful siblings to go away with for a day and simply enjoy each other's company, get to know one another better, and discuss current events, blogging news, recall Spokane memories, and laugh with one another.

Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.

~Susan Scarf Merrell

Lilac City Memories

Inland Empire Girl gave us this sibling assignment...

Taking in the strong fragrance of lilacs today reminded me of Spokane " The Lilac City". Write about a memorable time from childhood that was spent in Spokane.

Raymond Pert's is here, and Inland Empire Girls will be here.

This is probably one of my earliest memories of being in Spokane. I can't believe I remember so much about this, because I was only four years old.

It was the time I got my tonsils removed.

The proceedure was done at the Paulsen Building in downtown Spokane. Apparently my pediatrician had access to a small hospital facility in the building.

Inland Empire Girl was also having surgery at the same time to remove a tumor in her mouth.

I still remember the black mask coming down over my face, and asking to count back from five.

I remember getting out of bed at some point to try and find my sister in another room.

I remember receiving a stuffed animal, a tiger, from Mom and Dad.

I went to Grandma Woolum's house to recover. I got to eat ice cream because it felt good on my throat.

And, because I was at Grandma's house, I also felt safe, secure and loved.

Sibling Sojourn

Today Raymond Pert, Inland Empire Girl and myself hit the road to revisit some childhood memories and experience some new ones.

The morning began as we gathered at my house and grabbed our digital cameras, our computers and got in Inland Empire Girl's car and headed down Interstate 90 for Coeur d'Alene.

First stop:

We visited this coffee shop because the owner is Terry Patano and his wife Rebecca. Terry is from Kellogg and went to high school with both my brother and sister. His parents owned a clothing store in uptown Kellogg while I was growing up called "Patanos" (imagine that). An important fact regarding this clothing store was the fact that every Christmas Dad took my sister, or, once she was gone, myself to go and help Dad purchase a Christmas present for Mom. This happened every year without fail. I remember many visits to "Patano's" growing up and playing in between the clothing racks.

Here is what Raymond Pert treated his sisters to this morning:

I had a mocha and a pecan roll. Inland Empire Girl had a Espresso Hazelnut Chocolate Chip scone with a Caramel Vanilla Latte, and Raymond Pert had a cup of the house coffee and a croissant. It was a beautful day in Coeur d' Alene, and I had a prime seat for people watching on Sherman Avenue.

We decided to take the "old road" from Post Falls to State Line. There was some familiar looking sights, but it was evident there have been many changes since I-90 changed course in the Idaho Panhandle.

The Slab Inn in Post Falls hasn't changed hardly at all, at least on the outside.

In State Line, the Kon Tiki was there, but El Patio was gone.

As we headed into Washington state, I remembered the many trips we took to Spokane growing up to see my Grandma.

For many years, we always took the Argonne exit. I knew we were there because of the watertower.

I hadn't been on this route to Grandma's old house for many years. Probably over 20 years. I was amazed how many things looked the same after all this time. As we head up Argonne we turned left on Trent, then went until we veered off to the right onto Mission Ave. Spokane Community College was always a landmark on the way to Grandma's house. It looks better these days, now that it is a pastel color as opposed to the green color I remember as a child.

There is a city park on the left past the college, and, as we drove past, I felt like I was in a time warp because it hadn't changed much as all.

When we reached Hamilton St., we made a left and headed down to have lunch at one of our dad's favorite Spokane hang outs where he would often stop to have a "cold one".



















I have traveled past this establishment for over 40 years, and today was the first time I ever passed through the doors.

We took a few moments to peruse the menu.


























I had the corned beef sandwich from the "Jack and Danwiches" section of the menu. Raymond Pert had hot wings, and Inland Empire Girl had a tuna sandwich. Our waitress got a kick out of all the picture we took during our meal. She recently purchased a digital camera herself and knew how fun they could be.




Then it was back up Hamilton which turns into Nevada and we took a left at Bridgeport Ave. Then we drove past Grandma Woolum's house. It was familiar, but also different. It was strange seeing a car parked in the yard, and a boat in the back yard where Grandma used to have her vegetable garden. We drove down the alley behind the house, but there was a six foot fence in back, so we couldn't see in from the back.


We also traveled down Boone to see if we could find out Great Aunt Esta's old house. We couldn't tell which one was hers, but we did remember a particular day we all spent at that house when Esta's daughter had recently had a baby and she was breast feeding right out in front of everyone (this was probably in about 1970, before breastfeeding in front of people was common) and Dad voiced his discomfort quite loudly. There were also two older kids in this family, but we are still trying to remember the girl's name. Mike was the son, but we can't remember the daughter. All Mom could remember when we asked her was that this nameless cousin received Grandma's cookoo clock when Grandma died.


Oh, I just remembered...her name was Patty.


Then we ran some errands, and headed back my house in Kellogg for a wonderful dinner prepared by Inland Empire Girl. We had hot crab dip, salad, and a delicious pasta dish, followed by Idaho Spud Fondue for dessert. We also fixed Mojitos. Yum-m-m-m.

I did learn a few new things today while on this adventure with my siblings. Here they are:

1. I never knew Smelterville had a roller skating rink in the early 1960's.
2. I didn't know Raymond Pert had no idea there was a Fun Center in Smelterville in the late 1970's and early 1980's and that it also had a roller rink, not to mention a bowling alley, video games and Pappy's Pizza.
3. Raymond Pert said he remembered sitting in the car in front of the Stromboli place when Dad would go in and have a "cold one" at Jack and Dan's after they attended some sporting event together.
4. That there is a big truck with part of a bridge headed for Tacoma that is too heavy to travel on Washington roads. Inland Empire Girl pointed the truck out as we passed the weigh station.
5. That certain employees at Huckleberries on Monroe Street frown upon college professors in their early 50's taking pictures inside their store.




Well, the adventure continues tomorrow, but we add another, our mother, and we are touring the Silver Valley. Stayed tuned tomorrow for the next installment of "The Adventures of the "Bloggin' Family Woolum".

Interstate 90

Tonight I am going to share some thoughts about Interstate 90. It may seem odd to write about a road, but this highway has played a very important role in my life and has taken me to some very interesting places.

I-90 has been in the local news lately. I think there is a type of "Bermuda Triangle" between the two exits signs in Wallace. Two times during the last two weeks, there have been semi truck accidents that caused that stretch of highway to be closed down. Both times we were having play performances in Wallace, and knew something was up because of the backlog of semi trucks around Wallace.

Here is a funny story my husband shared regarding some of his students last week. On Friday, Kellogg students were put in lockdown because an armed robber was on the run after holding up the Wells Fargo Bank uptown. It had been explained to my husband that the schools were in lockdown because the robber could be fleeing on Interstate 90, and most of the schools were close to the Interstate.

So he tells his students, "You know, I-90 goes all the way from Seattle to Boston, and he could be anywhere along the way, so this may take a while."

"Really?"

Yes, some actually believed they were going to check all along the highway from Seattle to Boston!!!

The Idaho State Patrol have sure been out in force this past week, at least between Kellogg and Wallace. Almost every time I travel east toward Wallace, I see someone pulled over for speeding. I make sure the cruise is right at 75 mph.

I have no memory of there being something other than I-90 traveling through Kellogg. I do remember when it wound its way through Wallace, and you had to stop at the stop light.

We traveled to Spokane a lot growing up, because my Grandma Woolum lived in Spokane. I remember when the Fourth of July Pass was a lot closer to the lake, and you traveled right by Tony's, not above it. You also went by an old run down A-Frame building, but I'm not sure what it was. Then there two different motels. One was pink and set back on the right as you traveled west, if my memory serves me right. Then there was the place with the little cottages. Now it is called the Bennet Bay Inn, or something like that. Oh, what was it called before. Can anyone help me with that one? I do remember hearing a wierd rumor in high school that they hid movie cameras in the cottages and taped the guests. So my senior year, when I was in pep band and we were traveling to either Coeur d'Alene or Post Falls for either the district or state basketball tournament (with them both in North Idaho that year, we traveled I-90 a lot that winter) and as we headed up the pass, I REALLY had to go to the bathroom. I believe Mr. Taylor, our band instructor, sensed the panic in my voice as I told him I NEEDED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. So we stopped at this little motel with the cottages, and I ran out of the bus, and asked the first person I saw if I could use their bathroom. But, of course, all the time, running through my mind, as I was in one of those cottages using the bathroom was, am I being taped? But I really didn't care at that point.

Remember when I-90 took you through State Line, not past it. You would travel right by "The Slab Inn". The outside really hasn't changed that much in 30 years.

Traveling to Spokane to Grandma's house changed over the years. I remember when I was really young, we would always take the Argonne exit to go the her house. As soon as I saw the water tower, I knew we were close.

Then the route changed, and we took the Freya exit. Then we took the Hamilton exit, which turned into Nevada, which intersected with Bridgeport, the street where Grandma lived.

I traveled I-90 to get to my first job interview after I graduated from college, and I-90 got me part way to my first job in Glendive, Montana before I veered north on I-94 by Billings.

I-90 also brought me back to my safe, secure, closed-in little valley when I lived in the "Big Sky Country". I think it was when I got to Frenchtown, Montana, and the valley would begin to form that I knew I was almost home. It was a very comforting feeling for me.

I walked over I-90 almost every day when I attended Kellogg Junior High school, because that was the way to and from school. One game my friend April and I liked to play was waiting for the semi trucks to go under the bridge. There was a certain excitement while you stood there on the bridge and they would speed below you.

While growing up in Kellogg, I never thought of I-90 as a menacing presence, one that would bring all kinds of scary people into my little community.

But, I hear that a lot now. People referring to I-90 as a way for undesirables and criminals and heaven knows what else to pull off the highway and invade our small town and violate our peace and quiet.

I guess that attitude comes with the times, maybe, or with growth, or the way the world is changing around us.

It is too bad.