Carrots And Cousins

What do these two things have in common? Absolutely nothing except they were 'happenings' on our trip home from Idaho that I shared with you yesterday.

Carrots

We had been in the car for many hours, had left the snow-y mountain roads behind and arrived back in Oregon when my sweetheart said, "There are carrots on the road." "Carrots?" I asked. "Yes, every once in awhile there are carrots on the road - some have been run over and some are whole." I wondered if he had been driving too long and thought perhaps he was imagining things. (He really loves carrots and eats them often!) I asked how long he had been seeing carrots on the road. He laughed and said, "For at least 15 miles." Soon he said, "There's one!" and he pointed to an orange spot on the road. Sure enough - it was a carrot. Now I was intrigued and began to watch for carrots, too. Every time one of us saw a carrot on the road ahead we would say, "Carrot!" and we would laugh. Sometimes it was just one carrot and at times there were several carrots. He thought they must have fallen off a truckload of carrots. I wondered if we were following a big rabbit. We wondered if we would ever know where the carrots came from. Many more miles down the road my sweetheart said, "Look ahead - there's the carrot truck!" He was right - it was a big truckload of carrots. The tarp over the load had come loose on the back and as we watched carrots would 'fly' out and hit the pavement below. I grabbed my camera as we approached the truck. I was sure no one would believe my story unless I had a picture. (See the orange - it's carrots!)

Cousins

Not far ahead of the carrot truck we came to The Dalles, a community on the banks of the Columbia River, about 2 hours from Portland. When my sweetheart and I were first married we lived in a small, rural community near there and we did our shopping and business in The Dalles. That's where our son was born. Whenever we travel we hope we are close to the area around mealtime. Our favorite place to eat there is at Cousins - good food, friendly staff and great atmosphere.

Farm animals 'talk' to you when you open the front doors. Everything around and about the restaurant is done in a farm theme. As soon as you enter the hostess greets you with "Good afternoon, cousins." The interior is so interesting that it's hard to follow her to your table or booth. The counter and stools area is special. It's usually full of people but I just happened to 'catch' it between occupants.

The stools are milk cans!

Everywhere you look around the restaurant you will find farm and country items. Water is served in pint-sized canning jars. Reading material that includes a cute little recipe book and farm and cowboy stories is provided at every table for your enjoyment while you wait for the food to arrive. My sweetheart grew up on a farm and he loves tractors. Imagine his delight when we were seated next to this one.

If you are in or around The Dalles, Oregon near mealtime you might want to check out Cousins Restaurant and Saloon on the west end of town, just off of I-84. You won't be disappointed, I'm sure!