In which a Swamplandic girl is ready for a Dry Sider's school year

My eldest niece is fledged and ready to fly!

Lexi and box #34

So the whole family loaded up rigs with boxes and bags  (and more boxes, and more boxes)

Cassidy and Randy hoist a bookshelf up three flights of stairs

and ferried the kid and all her worldly goods across the mountains 

Keys!

to the Dry Side of our Glorious State.

The only casualty during the transport eastbound:  a burnt boot!!!
Apparently the angle on the rearview mirror in Lexi's car was exactly right
to shoot a hot sunbeam onto a cardboard box, making a pinhole fire and
filling the car with smoke.  Exciting, but minimal damage.

Lexi will be a student at Spokane Community College, beginning in a week or so. 

Comforts of home

 The school doesn't have on-campus dorms; instead, most of the local students (including a lot students attending other local colleges) live in one gigantic apartment complex.

beach volleyball court in the central area of the complex

 The building staff were very friendly

Luna would like a cookie, please?

and Lexi's unit is very nice--a lot nicer than my first dorm rooms and apartments were!

common room - she will have two suite-mates

large private bedroom/private bathroom

 The clubhouse has plenty to occupy students on study breaks, including a rec room

I'm pretty sure the kayak is decorative, since it's bolted to the wall

and a fitness center

Going to trot off a few cookies, Luna?

Finally, with the kid moved in and boxes unpacked

The adults scampered away to visit friends.

We've known these folks since I was about two years old

It's not unfair or unkind to say that Carolyn and Dave's house is museum-like

and crammed to the corners with beautiful paintings, sculptures, and objets d'art.

The pileated woodpecker at photo right is made from a licence plate and bits of cutlery;
the feathered piece at photo left is ceramic and owl feathers.

I could spend months exploring the "exhibits" in each room, gathered from around the world.  But instead, we all gathered for a few games of laser tag

Cassidy, Lexi and Randy

and the next morning, headed back over the mountains for home.

But not without a cultural stop at Dawn of the Donut!

As I got back into the truck after a gas stop, it looked like Luna was bleeding--did she cut her gums on something?  That happens to her sometimes, because she has very few teeth left in her old mouth.

That isn't blood in her beard.

But no.

Jelly donut filling!

Guess which inattentive person left the little dog in the truck with the zombie donuts?

Sigh.

She was pretty happy about the whole thing, and then an hour later she fell asleep.

Sugar crash

The first public art you see after crossing the Columbia River is the Wild Horses Monument near Vantage.

Although the final horse in the piece "Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies"
was bolted into place in 1989, the sculpture is only half-finished
according to the artist's vision.  Details HERE.

So there:  a little bit of horsey-ness in an otherwise non-horsey post.

I'll return to horse gossip soon.