Lava lamp, here we come!

How many people leave Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille country when it's in the 80s, when the Festival at Sandpoint is in full gear at Memorial Field and when mountaintop huckleberries beckon to be picked? Well, we don't very often, but we're headed out to the desert of Washington today to reconnect with the Brown side of the family. The gathering will be somewhere near Ephrata.

Ephrata's biggest news of note concerns its recent trial of a teenager for murdering another young boy. A few years ago Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love gave the town some notoriety for hosting her court appearance. I can't remember what Courtney's offense was, but because she had to answer for it in Ephrata, we heard about it on the news.

Ephrata is really close to Soap Lake. My uncle's mother Maggie Waltho used to be the mayor of Soap Lake. She was long before my time, so I don't really claim to know her, but I do know my aunt and uncle Rita and George are really nice people. They reared their family of seven in Ephrata; all have grown to wonderful adulthood and have reached the age where many are bragging---not about their children so much---as their grandchildren.

One of the George and Rita's granddaughters, Melissa, has spearheaded this family reunion. She's been working on it from her home in Bellevue since the first of the year and has put a lot of effort into seeing that we all have a good time----and get the Brown family reunion T-shirt. She's had some help from other cousins from Skelton lineage with the program tonight, which will probably be a neat power point of family photos.

Some folks are camping while others of us softies will enjoy a night's rest in a motel. There will probably be a lot of gabbing, picture taking, eating and a bit of sipping among this big Irish Catholic clan.

I'm hoping during our short stay that we get to see Soap Lake's claim to fame--the world's largest lava lamp. I don't know how it ranks with Courtney Love's visit to Ephrata, but for the Love family of Sandpoint, it will truly be a novelty. Maybe we'll even position ourselves, donned in our Brown Family reunion T-shirts, in front of the lamp and have our picture taken.

So, to all those staying in Sandpoint, you have nothing on us. Go ahead and enjoy your Festival. Head to the mountains and pick those huckleberries. You have my permission to go jump in Lake Pend Oreille---just make sure it's not near the milfoil nests. I hope you're all green with envy as you think of us in the desert at that reunion and getting to see that lava lamp.

Who knows, if Jack Nicklaus showed up in Sandpoint yesterday and had his picture taken at his new golf course, maybe Courtney will come and join some other Loves in Soap Lake for a photo shoot in front of the lava lamp! Watch those headlines!