Sunday, September 12, 2010

Three Beautiful Things 09/11/10: IHOP Mustard, Laughing with Mike, Beautiful Drive

1. Scott, Jimmie, and Ed drove to Yakima from the greater Kellogg area and I drove up from Eugene so we could surprise Mike with a visit while he recovers from surgery to remove his cancerous prostate. The boys and I met at IHOP near the Valley Mall of Union Gap (we didn't see Gary Puckett). We ordered our food and Ed, as he always does, asked for mustard for his fried eggs. One of the waitresses was stunned. She'd never heard of such a thing. Toward the end of our meal, I tried mustard on the last of my fried eggs (and enjoyed it). As were were leaving, Ed told the stunned waitress I had tried mustard on my eggs. IHOP's service came to standstill. She was doubly stunned. I explained to her that if I have a scrambled egg sandwich or a fried egg sandwich I put mustard on the sandwich. Putting mustard on my fried eggs isn't much different. She was astonished, stood speechless, service at the IHOP temporarily paralyzed, wished us well and we were on our way.

2. Our two hour visit with Mike was terrific. We told stories, made wise cracks, examined Mike's rigs, had a long talk about colonoscopies (which we were able to laugh about), cancer treatment (more laughs), and did all we could to save Mike a trip to the doctor to have his staples removed. We didn't quite succeed, the staples were still intact when we left, but it sure was good to Mike on the mend and to see with our own eyes that his recovery is going so well.

3. When I wasn't being pushed by other drivers, I thoroughly enjoyed the drive on Highway 97 from Biggs to Goldendale to the top of the Satus Pass and on to Toppenish and into Union Gap and Yakima. With so much driving to do (over ten hours total for the round trip) I didn't want to stop, but soaked in as much of the view of the Cascades, of Mt. Adams and St. Helen's as I could, and loved the variety of terrain, of farm land, orchards, and coniferous trees.

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