Oh, Olympia!

The Procession of the Species is held every year in Olympia, WA to commemorate Earth Day. David and Heather Shackelford invited us up to enjoy the sight that Reader's Digest named in 2009 as the best of the "can't resist" parades and processions in the U.S.

What makes this parade fun is that it is an entirely community-based event. People of all ages participate in groups with different themes; the sun, the sea, the jungle. Watching a 65 year-old man perform the same dance routine alongside a 16 year-old girl is pure entertainment.

Go ahead and call this woman "Little Miss Sunshine." I dare you.

That was fun, Mairead!

Whenever we take a trip to Olympia, it seems like a really great place to live. But between the way Heather feeds us when we visit (she baked an improvised rhubarb-cherry crumble on a pie crust base that was so, so very good) and the irresistible Bread Peddler, it's probably a good thing for my waistline that we're over 100 miles away.