Because the name is fun to say...

Most of the time, if we are going to make a road trip on my Friday's off, we try to include something educational in it, to justify it as a home schooling field trip.  We don't get tax credit for it or anything that, so don't get all offended, but it's extra stuff for my wife to include on her lesson plans.

Today, my wife wanted to run to Walla Walla to look at a few antique and second hand stores, so we decided to visit the Fort Walla Walla Museum while we were there. 

It was a good time...plenty of military history for me, and plenty of hands on stuff for the kids to play with, like this basic covered wagon you got to include pack full of all your belongings, picking and choosing what you wanted to take.
It took some convincing on my part to get them to leave the 'fine china' behind so they could make room for the barrel of whiskey and the bacon.

The exhibit that the girls enjoyed the best was the mock-up of the old prison.  My wife made it quite clear that they weren't allowed to sit on the bunks, OR touch the sheets. 

The display that impressed me the most was a full-size set-up of a Harris Combine with a 33-Mule team.  I had no idea they drug things that size around the hills of South-Eastern Washington.  That's a tough way to scratch out a living.



After the museum, we had some lunch at a place called Tommy's Dutch Lunch.  I'm glad I found it on yelp, because it is not the kind of place I would have stopped at on my own.  Kind of tired looking, inside and out.  But, at 12:45 it was PACKED with working class folks wrapping up their lunch.  My wife had the special: fish sandwich and bowl of chowder, with coffee.  Her lunch was $7.  Hell yeah.  I had the chicken fried steak, because along with a Reuben, it's how I judge a place.

My wife was happy with her lunch.  Her fish-sandwich was actually two hand-dipped pieces of cod, fried nice and crisp.  Her roll was toasted, which was a nice touch, and the chowder was good, even though it lacked bacon like some Northwest chowders have.  

I put Chicken Fried steak in 3 categories: Bad, Good, and Great.  This chicken-fried steak was squarely in the good category, with a nice thick gravy.  Plenty of gravy that I got to finish up with the crust from my daughters grilled cheese sandwich.

Best of all, we made it through the day without buying anything from any of the antique or 2nd Hand stores!