Spokane, WA

Every year our family goes out to pick huckleberries. The Native American name for them is Olallie. I have been picking them since I was about age three. My grandmother and great grandma and dad all picked them. My children picked them every year when they were growing up. We canned some, froze some, dried some, made some into pies or put them in muffins or pancakes.

August 18th we bundled our grandkids up and set out for Metalaine Falls about a two hour drive from Spokane headed North west. With us were my daughter and her husband, my son and his two kids and my son in laws sister and nephew and seven grandkids.

One of the beautiful attractions of Spokane, Washington can be found on the South hill at Manitou Park and Gardens. Take 25th Avenue or Grand Avenue to find the park and gardens for almost any family event or outing.

Spokane Interstate fair is held in the second or third week of September. The fair offers just about anything you would like to see. It has the 4-H displays ranging from photography and art to baking and sewing. There are wood working crafts as well and many other displays some which include garden produce and canning.

If you are looking for a vintage bookstore with a lot of pizazz, Auntie’s Bookstore comes highly recommended. Located in the Liberty Building at 402 W. Main Street downtown Spokane, there is a cozy couch waiting. The friendly staff is readily available and posted around the store to help you find a new favorite to add to your bookshelf.

The only bad thing about good beer is that it’s not always accompanied by good food. Have no fear. I have found an establishment that has solved the good beer + good food = happy customer equation.

On the western edge of downtown Spokane, green awnings covering an outdoor seating area boast the name Rocket Bakery. This charming café looks to be the type that would charge $5.00 for a tall mocha from the outside, but once you enter the glass door of the attractive brick building you realize you are far away from yuppie-dom. The tattooed teenagers employed there ignore you as you walk into the brightly painted café.

Located across from Riverfront Park, on the corner of Spokane Falls Boulevard and Howard Street, there sits Boo Radley’s at 232 N. Howard Street. This unique shop is not the typical Fisher and Price toy store and it is open from 10am to 7pm Monday through Saturday and 12pm to 5pm on Sunday.