Slightly Crabby in Port Angeles

Not only is there a lot of legit Asian food in the area but there's a lot of fun weird fusion happening as well.

Our mission today was driving.. up to Port Angeles for the Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival.

Puget Sound dictates that if you want to drive west you have to drive a lot south first, so that's what we did. There are ferries but they're pretty unreliable in my opinion, and you have no guarantee what time you'll be able to board.

"MV Kalakala

This mural sponsored by the Rotary Nor'wester Club of Port Angeles captures the famous MV Kalakala ferry leaving Port Angeles Harbor.

The Kalakala - a Native American word meaning "flying bird" - carried cars and passengers across the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Port Angeles and Victoria, B.C., in 1946 and 1947, and again from 1955 through 1959, after years of service in Seattle beginning in 1935.

With her unique streamlined superstructure, art deco styling and luxurious amenities, the MV (Motor Vessel) Kalakala was a popular attraction for locals and tourists.

After being taken out of service in 1967, the 276-foot vessel was used as a fish processor in Alaska. It was towed back to Seattle in 1998, but plans to restore it as a restaurant or museum never came up with enough money. It was scrapped in 2015.

Painted in 1995-1996 by artist Cory Ench, this mural is a favorite with photographers because of its amusing three-dimensional-like children and a dog. They look as if they are sitting in front of the mural instead of being part of it."

There was a lot of good advice on hand for Lydias.

Oddly they were sold out of crab dinners for anyone who didn't prepurchase. Sad!

There were a lot of crazy crab hats in attendance though which helped me deal with my disappointment.

A local supermarket even had crab apples on hand. So on-brand of them.

Do crabs think that we walk sideways?

We ended up at a little seafood joint called Smuggler's Landing. The guy serving seemed to be a long time local. I guess due to vaccine requirements the state has been experiencing a shortage of ferry captains, and so has reduced a lot of service, and that has hurt communities like Port Angeles. Lydia had some clam chowder. 

I was determined to have some crab on this damn trip and so ordered a bowl of dungeness crab pasta.

We hit 7 Cedars Casino on the way home and I experienced an apocalyptic win on the Walking Dead slot machine they have. If the world is going to end I would like it to at least be with an apocalyptic win.

Central West End Cocktail Party

My CWE buddy Steve-O invited me to an outdoor festival thing. I love a good outdoor festival thing.

Mayor Lyda Krewson was pretty freaking happy to see me. I think I smiled so hard that my face changed colors. Attractive.

There was hookah. The end.

Collinsville's World's Largest Catsup Bottle Festival

Today we indulged my love of small town festivals at Collinsville, Illinois' 19th Annual Brooks® World's Largest Catsup Bottle Festival Birthday Party & Car Show. What a descriptive name you have there.

Collinsville used to have a Brooks ketchup (the catsup spelling is for heathens) factory that had a giant ketchup bottle shaped water tower. Well the factory moved to Canada (they took our jobs!) but America got to keep the sweet, sweet water tower. The festival honoring said water tower took place at Woodland Park which was also the location of the International Horseradish Festival. Collinsville truly is a city of wonders.

One the most unique things they had going on was a ketchup tasting booth. If you could guess which one was Brooks brand you got a prize. Having never had it before I failed.

Mom pulled out a win though and got this sweet button/ribbon combo.

Fun ketchup fact: ketchup is a descendent of the Chinese fish sauce kôe-chiap or kê-chiap. It being a loan word that can't really be perfectly converted is the reason there are a few spelling variations.

A couple of ketchup-haired ladies caught my eye. Gonna need a picture with them!

Hurray ketchup!

El Eskimo, Then Buen Viaje!

Today was our last full day in Nicaragua, and it was made completely free of any sort of productivity. We ate lunch at Restaurante El Eskimo, of Eskimo brand ice cream fame. The food was honestly pretty bad, but we were really there for the ice cream. Lydia ordered a giant banana split, and I had to fight to get even one tiny bite of it.

We had to stop our bus in Nejapa and wait for a procession to pass. I assume it had to do with the Santo Domingo festival. We had been hearing fireworks and loud music pretty much every single night while at our compound.

Our last official group outing was to the market. It wasn't as scary as the one we visited earlier thankfully. This one had a section devoted to tourist trinkets as well as food and lots more. I didn't end up buying anything, but the people watching and the scenery made the visit well worth it. It was here that I think I was the most threatened I'd been during my whole visit. There was a group of teenagers in fake looking "security" uniforms that approached me and demanded a donation. It was pretty clear what they wanted but I stuck to my "I don't speak Spanish" routine and kept walking, and thankfully the little Hitler Youth eventually gave up.

The next morning we flew from Augusto Sandino International to George Bush Intercontinental. That felt pretty funny.

Ebisuko Festival: Colorful!

Last Thursday I was treated to a festival that I hadn't ever heard of before. Ebisuko. It was enough of a departure from previous festivals I've been to that I made a little video about it. Enjoy.

Festilicious.

These plastic masks are a mainstay of the Japanese festival. They cost like 8 dollars a piece, which is a bit ambitious for something that probably cost a nickel to make.

These were pretty good. Just a grilled salted fish on a stick. Can't go wrong with that.

Here's another shot of the fishing guys. I wanted to be sure to show the cool little masks that they were wearing.

Another shot of the otakara.

I'm pretty sure that people tie bad fortunes here to make them go away.

This woman making jewelry was very mysterious.

Chrysanthemums.

I explained a bit about the god Ebisu in the video. Well, he is what the beer brand Yebisu is named after. I went to the Yebisu Beer Museum not too long ago, if you recall.