Push Me, Pullman

Washing down a plate of crab and prawn stuffed mushrooms in garlic wine sauce with a swig of Chimay we sat back in our chairs contempt with our decision not to go home for the holidays. We had found a small wine bar and restaurant a few blocks from our hotel oh so originally named the Wine Cellar. It was actually quite similar to an establishment in Columbia with the same name although this Wine Cellar boasted a three piece jazz ensemble playing Christmas tunes. The rest of the meal was as wonderful as the precursor; spinach salad with raspberry vinaigrette and candied almonds followed by baked mustard ginger salmon with saffron rice. With bellies full we headed back to our resort hoping that next year we would be able to convince the rest of our family to join us somewhere other than South East Missouri for the holidays.

The next morning we got up around ten or so which was just enough time for Amanda to make it to her spa treatment and message. Afterwards we again took a stroll downtown for a bite to eat. I forget the name of the place but it was considerably less exciting than the atmosphere of the previous evening although I did have the best turkey sandwich ever; smoked turkey with avocado mayo on focaccia bread (mmmm focaccia). After lunch we figured we had just enough time to go see King Kong before our cruise. The movie phone line said two but when we arrived at the scheduled show time we were a bit put off to discover that it was actually two-thirty and much more put off to find that the price for a matinee was seven bucks a person. The cinema was an interesting departure from the standard grandiose sprawl of most newer theaters. I suppose the purpose is more screens for more show times since the room was small seating maybe a hundred patrons if that. Since we were now thirty minutes early we had plenty of time to enjoy the pre-previews advertisements. Instead of static screenshot slide shows accompanied by muzak we were subjected to full motion video commercials presented in an entertainment tonight format so that they could take breaks from their commercial-like insights for the latest DVD releases for even more commercials. If this is the direction all theaters are headed towards all the more reason to invest in personal home theaters.

We got out of the movie with all of fifteen minutes to make it back to our hotel and down to the dock. We rushed back to find all of the handicap parking spots taken by illegally parked vehicles. Every time I am faced with this inconvenience I get this over whelming urge to ram my scooter into the side of the vehicle. I have contemplated carrying a knife for the sole purpose of slashing the tires of vehicles found in such a position both for the expense and inconvenience. If caught I would present them with the option of calling the cops on me at which time they would have to pay a five hundred dollar fine or they could simply buy new tires themselves as penance. Despite the inconsiderate bastards we did make the boat.

The cruise was a bit chilly, but offered a great view of the thousands of Christmas lights reflecting off the lake. In a short while we arrived at our destination, Santa’s workshop, which strangely smelled like fish. He began reading off the common first names of all the good boys and girls supposedly in attendance while oddly omitting Christopher or even Chris. After leading the crowd in a chorus of Jingle Bells the “elves” made it snow soapy foam. By the time we got back we were cold and hungry so we headed to the closest sushi restaurant for some meso soup and hot tea. It wasn’t the best sushi we’ve had, but better than that which is available in Pullman which is none. I haven’t had a single sushi dish I disliked until I tried the sea urchin which looked like something Cringer could have coughed up. Tired and full we decided to turn in early, so we returned to our hotel and fell asleep watching 24 hours of A Christmas Story on TBS.

On our way home on Sunday we stopped off at the Cour d’Alene Casino. We wanted to go in and lay a single bet on red 25 (“Come on baby Jesus!”) but disappointingly there were no roulette tables. In fact there were no tables of any kind only electronic change consumers with old people attached to them, lots and lots of old people. We pumped in 10 dollars between the two of us in about 30 minutes before deciding we had had enough of that experience and left. That evening we went to one of Amanda’s coworker’s house for a White Elephant party and traditional Christmas feast. Maybe it was all the good food we had had that weekend already, but I had a considerable amount of trouble getting most of it down. It was horrible. I don’t know what our host had done, but some how she managed to make even sweet potatoes bitter and toxic tasting.