Sunday, January 22, 2012

THE THINGS YOU SEE ON ROCHE HARBOR ROAD…


Doctor Seuss would have liked Roche Harbor Road.
Anyone living on San Juan Island knows what I mean. RHR is home to some strange sights. Probably the most famous, and the only one alive, is Mona the Camel… just past San Juan Vinyards on the way out of town. Or maybe ‘Mona the Mooch’… she does like a treat, but don’t tease her. I don’t know how long Mona has been standing sentry on RHR, looking for a handout or maybe just some company. If you pull off the road and go over to the fence, Mona will come over to say hello… if she’s feeling like it. She usually is. She has to be more photographed than the Lighthouse at Lime Kiln State Park. My friend Catherine of Sacramento visited, and of course I gave them the Grand Tour. Her husband Anthony is an artist and is photographing Mona… he has just given her some grass, and she is posing. We had just been to the Lighthouse… instead of taking a pic, he painted a watercolor.mona and anthony.jpgMona and Anthony

Roche Harbor Road runs from Friday Harbor to Roche Harbor, after 10 miles it ends up at the Resort, once the home to Roche Harbor Lime and Cement Company… the largest lime works west of the Mississippi… a major force on the island, a century ago.
In Second Place, has to be The Cow & The Pig. The Cow & The Pig celebrate all major holidays and have been known to make political and social comments, as Laurie sees fit to let them. I have taken a lot of photos of The Cow & The Pig.
cow:pig fall.jpgcow:pig halloween.jpgcow:pig xmas.jpg
The Cow & Pig in Autumn…  The Cow & Pig at Halloween…  The Cow & Pig at Christmas
RHR starts at the High School, and barely 100 feet along RHR, a guy had parked his riding lawn mower collection on his lawn for awhile… alas, I missed that photo op, I think there were six of them. I wish he would do it again sometime… there’s only one there now.
A little past The Cow & The Pig is an interesting garden, and in good weather a mannequin stands watch. She would have her outfit changed every other day or so, but I don’t think they did that as much last year. Maybe this year. I’ve taken a few pics of her.
                                                 Gardens, waiting for Spring
At about the 9 mile mark, a local artist has started to mount his sculptures, a display of his talents… kind of a visual business card.  
Nicholson Studio   


Just before Roche Harbor Resort is the Sculpture park, but that’s a whole different story. It’s much more mainstream… and this isn’t about mainstream.
                                                                   

 
                                             
So, I guess what started this, was while driving back to town yesterday, I spotted a new display along the side of the road. As I zipped past (45mph of course), I was struck with how amazing the minds of our RHR islanders are. I had to wait a bit for a drive to turn around in to go back to see what kind of statement was being made there. Maybe none, at least I can’t think of one, but fun to see, and quite colorful to say the least. My friend Ken Serratt warned me to "beware a gang of three year olds”.


You might enjoy this... http://youtu.be/pje29kT8H0k

Saw this bumper sticker today... thought I'd add it to the story...  

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