Friday, July 14, 2006

The Cove Chronicles - Day 2: Back To Cove

Ever been mistaken for the UPS delivery man?

Neither had I, until today.

I woke up at a normal time, around 6:30 AM, which was a surprise, because the first day after I get back from Japan, I usually wake up around 3 AM, or some other ungodly hour. Not today. That massage really did the trick!

Andrea and Mark were going to be taking off for a week-long river rafting trip down the Salmon River, and Dad had some business stuff to attend to, so we were planning on getting out of there fairly early. Before I left, I figured I should swing by my Aunt Bonnie's house and say hello, as she lives just down the street from Andrea.

The last time I was home, I looked something like this.


Now I was buzzed and sporting a trim beard around my mouth only. I was also wearing a green shirt and some brown shorts. When I rang the doorbell and nobody answered, I turned around to head back to my sister's place. As I was leaving, Aunt Bonnie opened the door and peered out at me, as if she had no idea who I was. (At this point I was still unaware that I looked nothing like I had fifteen months prior.) So I said, "Mornin', Aunt Bonnie!" A look of recognition finally crossed her face. "Dustin? Wow, at first I thought you were the UPS guy."

And didn't all of my relatives find that to be oh so hilarious later on.

After talking with Aunt Bonnie for a bit, I headed back to And's and hopped in the car. After a brief stop in Meridian to get some Krispy Kremes (mmm, doughhhhnuttttss, aragaragagagahhhh), we hit the highway and headed for home.

Beautiful, scenic, rustic, out-of-the-way, tiny, population 600, Cove. Or as I call it, home.

One problem: Cove was about forty degrees hotter than Muroran had been. I'm used to hot weather. Heck, I grew up in Pasco. But this was just ridiculous.

So I just hung out indoors and waited for a phone call.

Around 3 PM, that call came.

"Dustin?"
"Czar? WASSSSSSSUP?"

Aah, yes. The one, the only, The Czar. He and his girlfriend Megan made the trip down from the greater Seattle area to come and visit little old me.

And as soon as he got to my house, you needed to break out the hip waders. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the BS was flying fast and furious.

Czar and Megan hooked me up with some goodies. A hula girl for my dashboard, a seat cover and steering wheel cover to accent that Hawaiian flavor, a Walk The Line DVD, a t-shirt that I couldn't wear at home, and Girl Scout cookies, including two boxes of Thin Mints. The Girl Scouts over in Japan are total slackers. I've never seen a box of Girl Scout cookies over there, ever. Anyway, I was a happy man.

We talked for a while, then decided to head into town for some dinner and a movie. Dinner was at New York Richie's. Philly Cheesesteaks in all their glory. Damn good. Then off to the center of entertainment for La Grande, Oregon...(cue fanfare)...the movie theater! Where a movie will last a whole TWO WEEKS if you're lucky. We went to see "Superman Returns", a "must-see" as put to me by Czar. Not much of a surprise there. He is a HUGE Superman fan. But hey, it was directed by Bryan Singer AND had Kevin Spacey in it. Plus, it was SUPERMAN! You can't go wrong with Superman!

Impressive flick. Beautifully shot, and Spacey's Lex Luthor was a good villain. Neat twist to the story too. I thought James Marsden was great, too. He never really got to be much more than a stick-in-the-mud as Cyclops in the X-Men movies, so it was good to see that he could do more than stand around and look angry at Hugh Jackman having a much cooler character. (If you want to see a good James Marsden film, check out "Interstate 60".)

After the film, we cruised back home, blew up the inflatable mattress for Czar and Megan, and after a bit more catching up on stuff, called it a day.

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