hamley's for dinner

this is hamley, where we ate last night after the meeting. or part of it, rather. it takes up half a city block in downtown, between the tack shop, bar and steakhouse. the sign says, 'purveyors of fine saddles, fine food and fine whisky.'

following the meeting's conclusion i had about an hour extra, so i drove downtown and walked around a little bit. the street bands were setting up, about one for each block on a main street running through downtown. i went into hamley's to browse and a few other shops, but didn't find anything terribly irresistible. at least not yet. there was some really nice artwork in hamley's, some special for the 100th roundup, but it was pretty pricey.

after my wandering around i headed back up to the 'slickfork saloon,' a large space in the upstairs of hamley, which was reserved for the plc gathering. there was an elaborate bar, a pretty red tin ceiling and advertisements from days past hanging on the walls. i once again met up with the wyoming group, and we visited and ate together. we had a buffet for dinner, with delicious beef, as well as the basic green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy.

i left shortly after i finished eating, as i needed to make it up to my room in walla walla - and find the hotel! - and try to get a little work done. turns out, by the time i made it back up to washington and found the place, i just went to bed instead of trying to write. writing when my brain is tired and worn out just doesn't work.

this morning i awoke bright and early, ironed another shirt and headed back to pendleton, where i found the starbucks and got a couple articles hammered out before coming back to the meeting, where i'm at now. they're talking about the most newsworthy part of the whole meeting, but it's a closed discussion and i'm not allowed to report. at least they trust the roundup enough to still let me listen in.

this afternoon i probably won't come back to the meeting, but rather find a place to finish up writing a few more articles - some large holes recently opened up in the paper this week - and i need to figure out still what the feature will be on the cover this week. i also need to find the rodeo press office and make sure i've got that all squared away.