Thursday 14 May: Falls City, WA. A charming modest working town and a Steller's Jay

You can enlarge all pictures by clicking on any one of them

We had arrived at Snoqualmie Falls later than planned and still in search of breakfast. A helpful person at the resort said we would do best to proceed four miles onwards to Falls City.

As cities go, you could pretty well fire a gun down the main street. But there could be repercussions. This photo, looking along past the gun shop (one of only a few shops we did not enter) is the way we walked when a young man setting up a flea market outside and beyond the store called 'Flea Market' advised us to go and eat at the Raging River Cafe and Club.

We took the local recommendation as one is wise to do.

and we found ourselves entirely among locals, entirely smiling locals, smiling and generous hosts... and enjoying a remarkable breakfast, of the kind you get when you are far from the latte world, you are looked after by people who have been looking after people for 25 years and the coffee is $2 and keeps coming. Alas we are not able to go back on Saturday for the live classic rock covers or the live blues on Sunday night.

The slow cooking of the prime rib had begun around 6am. It was astonishingly tender and tasty, thick as a thick steak. I had imagined grilled, but this is perfection-roasted. I scarcely needed the knife, the fork was about all necessary. With three fine poached eggs, the hash browns and substituting sliced tomato for toast, as optioned above.

Eventually staggering away, we knew we were in a country village where vehicles got dirty naturally while working, unlike the cars of visitors up at the Falls (and ourselves, in rental car).

Here is a sign back at the Falls.
Recreational marijuana is legal 
in the state of Washington.

Here are signs outside premises in Falls City

It was nice to be in a real and charming place.

noting though that truly grand premises seemed the preserve of dentists
 though fine teeth were far from universal

Liz kindly waiting around the corner from the gunshop to ensure that I knew Helen had gone into the Thrift Shop, though Liz knew that I would know that she knew that of course that would be so.

We shopped inside and outside the local farmers' market store

impressed by the poster which offered advice
on what would be genuine local and fresh from the Yakima Valley
 at particular times of the year.
We bought the asparagus and it was good.

 People seemed genuine and good humoured, though enough evidence that life is not easy...

and so we made our way back to the Falls City Flea Market. Where spent a little time. 

We had been intrigued by glimpses of back streets in this small town.

Their square grid also provided an excellent place for Helen to practice and get secure about making left turns from the right side of the road in a large car, a keystone to driving in America for the first time.

Around a left turn, we came upon what we identify as a Steller's Jay, or so it seems from the Audubon Society's page, by description and distribution. It's not a Blue Jay, wrong territory. It had reminded me of the look of a Cardinal, the startlingly red bird familiar in Washington DC in the past, but see here some cackle over the notion of a Blue Cardinal in the northwest.

Trees both grand and deceased offer homes for birds

Some modest front yards offer delightful statements of individual style

while another offered muscular artistry

Then we slipped down some quiet country lanes,

appreciative of time in a special place, before returning to the

formal refinements of Snoqualmie Falls