Pullman, WA

On September 13 I drove from Helena to Pullman, WA, the town where I spent the second 13 years of my life.  It was a nice day, and I managed to arrive in time to go train at my sensei's dojo.  That was fun, and it brought back a lot of memories.  Memories of blood.  And pain.

For those of you who don't know, Pullman is a farming community that is also the home of Washington State University, aka Wazzu.  This makes for an interesting juxtaposition of cultural identity, as the town consists of about 9,000 full-time residents and 21,000 students.  Consider the following two pictures:

The first picture is the Pullman-Moscow regional airport, and the second picture is Wazzu's 160,000-square-foot palatial recreation center.  Needless to say, the university dominates the town's identity.

The WSU campus is very pretty, full of green grass and trees, and beautiful brick buildings.  In addition, it is the home of this artistic monstrosity:

You are correct - that is a giant, pale blue heart covered with bits of something that remind me of gristle and body parts.  I don't know the story of this thing, but I hope it never goes away.

I tend to disparage life in Pullman, because there is very little to do there.  However, it is an excellent place to go to school and is the home of many fond memories.  In addition, I learned that at the Sports Page Tavern you can buy a can of Rainier Beer, a 20-oz. Alaskan Amber, and a gin and tonic for the grand total of $6.75.