Spring Break: Workin' in Ashton

Let me tell ya, it was sure nice being in Ashton this last week for my week off in between semesters! My activities in Ashton have been somewhat limited but I was fine with that because I really wanted to unwind a little bit. But I wasn't just relaxing all the time; if you've been recently following along with my blog updates, you might recall my uncle Sam's furniture store. I also just want to reiterate that my uncle Sam DOES NOT have white hair or wear patriotic attire with a patriotic top hat and points at you! I've tried to make myself useful (because my dad taught me to be so!) and I've offered to watch over my uncle's furniture store while he was out doing field work (ie. laying carpet, tile and delivering furniture, etc.) and he said "You're hired!"

It's a little hard to tell, but he sells some really... "tasteful" furniture.

Carpet and tile samples.

Did I also mention a locksmith business is a part of the store???

If you're ever in eastern Idaho and stupidly lock yourself out of your car or need some spare house keys made, let me know; I've got connections!

Here's where I spent most of my "work hours."

This is worth sharing:

As you can see, the boss is always right!

My uncle's store houses something a lot of you probably never heard of. Let me ask you something: Have you ever heard of an 8-track player???

I don't know about you, but I think having something old school (not to mention short-lived) such as this in your own home would be pretty sweet!

As you can probably tell, there is also a record player on the left part of the machine.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive baby! Best Canadian rock group I've ever heard!

During one of my work days, I took a lunch break at a local place for a bite to eat known as the "Five 11 Main", a soda fountain and pizzeria. It used to be the City Drug Store simply called "City Drug." The place had good service in my opinion. As a kid, I always loved getting a milkshake from the soda fountain here and I'm glad the new management kept the soda fountain. Here are some pictures:

It's called Five 11 Main because it's on Main Street that goes through downtown Ashton and the mailing address is 511. But you probably figured that out, right?

I really like their sign!

Soda fountain

They cut holes in the walls to expose the original brick in shape of potatoes or the Teton mountains, as pictured here. Ashton may be a small town, but with the right connections, I believe adventures are around the corner!

Here's what I had for lunch one day:

Personal-size pizza. I think they taste really good.

Cherry-Chocolate milkshake. Slightly changed over time but still brings back memories!

Also during this week, I've fallen in love...

(Commence jaw drop in your initial reaction)

...with a pick up truck. A Ford F-150 my uncle nicknamed "The Black Mamba." If you've seen the movie Megamind, you'll know what the reference is. Actually, I never heard of the movie and when I told my uncle Sam that, he freaked. So we watched Megamind at one point during my week off! I really don't like Will Ferrell but I find this movie absolutely hilarious!

I've driven a few vehicles in my short life span thus far, but this has to be the most retro, beaten-up vehicle I've ever driven!

The speedometer doesn't work so that's what the GPS is for! But it still runs and drives like a champ!

Totally a beater-upper right?

Needless to say, I want one of these for my personal use! My uncle says this is a chick magnet!

And because I love my awesome relatives, I made gyoza for them:

To feed a family who loves gyoza, it takes a little over 7 pounds of ground beef, pork, cabbage , green onions, a few spices and a couple of hours of labor with your hands!

Usually, you dip your gyoza in sauce composed of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and hot sesame oil. But my late-uncle Paul preferred cayenne pepper over the hot sesame oil:

I've made gyoza several times now, but doing so this time with thoughts about my late-uncle Paul made it a little poignant...

Suddenly, my thoughts turned towards him; I still miss him. He would have loved to have been with us chowing down gyoza... In honor and remembrance of my uncle Paul, Sam and I dipped our gyoza the way he would, with cayenne pepper-laced gyoza sauce! It was a kicker to the tongue but tasted good nonetheless.

As expected, the gyoza feast was a success. There are a few things in my life that makes me happy. One is my passion for aviation. Other times, it's my ability to prepare and cook gyoza and feed it to people who really appreciate them. Oh, on the topic of flying, uncle Sam did take me flying. You can read about it here on my aviation blog.

Let's end this with a beautiful sunset photo: