I needed some time off from eighteen-hour revision days, so my writing partner said, "Lacey. Let's go to Lacey." What the hell is in Lacey, you ask? LOTS OF STUFF.
For example, there's Shipwreck Beads. A warehouse. Of beads and beading supplies. Lest you think, well, that's not so amazing, let me just reiterate: a WAREHOUSE. Bigger than my own domicile. In fact, multiple domiciles stacked on top of each other, because there were two floors. (We did not head upstairs, the bottom floor was more than enough for multiple hours of browsing.) I'm glad we made a circuit once, looking over everything, and then decided on purchases, because if we'd taken a cart (yes, they have CARTS, for BEADS) neither of us would have gotten out with any money left at all.
I sent that picture to the kids, and the Little Prince responded with, "You're hitting the right...beads!"
Punning is apparently in his genetic code.
Anyway, once our endurance was exhausted there we broke for lunch and found the continent's sketchiest Mexican restaurant right next to a biker garage. (The number of Harleys in the shared parking lot was approaching critical mass.) We also found a much less sketchy restaurant, and if I could ever drink tequila that would have been the place for it.
*sigh* I can't drink at all anymore, but it's nice to contemplate, I guess.
Then it was time for the big flagship Cabela's.
"I just wanted to see your eyes out on sticks," my writing partner said, and they were. That particular Cabela's is warehouse-sized too, but an order of magnitude larger than Shipwreck. And it was packed, both with goods and with people. You could do a lot worse than settle on one of the benches there and people-watch, listening for dialogue snippets. (All things feed the work.)
In the middle of the vast space was a two-story fake hill covered with taxidermy animals. Yes, you read that right.
What I didn't take a picture of, though I should have, is the hollowed-out interior of the hill, where the aquariums are. Sturgeon, trout both rainbow and speckled, pike--and big fish, too, just swimming around. Oh, and catfish. Boy howdy, were there ever catfish. I'm pretty sure that when the poor things get large enough they're hauled out and consumed by the employees. There was even a polar bear (shot in 1970, according to the placard) and--are you ready?--a whole zebra, which was not on the fake hill but on a platform jutting out from the mezzanine.
We did not see a huge chunk of pink camo, which my writing partner assures me is otherwise a staple of the place. (She was a bit put out by this, to tell the truth.) But I scored some good hoodies for a fair price, which is what I wanted out of the place. Now, along with new jeans, I'm totally ready for winter. Which is good, because today began with grey skies and glorious rain, finally.
The weirdest thing about Cabela's was in the loo. There was a biohazard sharps container on the wall, and it was pretty full. We figured there's probably a lot of diabetes in their customer base, because it had a bunch of blood sugar testing strips among the insulin needles.
Cabela's is also where my writing partner found a stuffed wolverine while I was writing Weasel Boy. I had to go by and say hello.
We returned home with plenty of crafting materials, a squeaky rabbit toy for Sir Boxnoggin, a smoked rawhide bone for Miss B (which she is guarding assiduously while I type this) and various other odds and ends. It was good to get out of the bloody revisions for a little bit, all the characters were starting to blur together and I needed something other than chewing the bones of an epic fantasy for a few hours. And now, of course, along with proper hoodies I'll live in come winter I have enough earring material for MONTHS.
Today, of course, it's back to the grind of revision--taking each sentence, turning it upside down, shaking it, using a scalpel to pare it down to bone. I'll work better for having had a brief break, and I might even get this bloody revision done. I'm so far in the weeds I can't even think about what it will feel like to have this book off my plate, and it irks me every time I look at my task list.
So that was my weekend, my hoopy froods. I hope yours was similarly enchanting and terrifying.
*wanders off to go back to work*