Rubber Duckies, Pasties and Arts in the Park

Rubber Duckie, you're the one,

You make bathtime lots of fun,

Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you!

Hi Blog! You just never know what you will find when you go RVing.  As soon as we get up, we like to make coffee and go on a "coffee walk" before breakfast.  Today, when we returned from our walk, we found that our campground had been invaded.  All these cars came wizzing in and pulling up in front of the stream.  Folks were jumping out with nets and laundry baskets.  Dave ran over with the camera to document this strange occurrence.

As we chatted with the invaders, we learned that today was the DAY.  (The day for what, you might ask?)  The day for the Deer Lodge Annual Duck Race to benefit Close Up, of course.  We didn't know there was an Annual Duck Race, nor did we know what Close Up was until we Googled it. So, folks buy a duck with a number on it and the money goes to help send high school kids to Washington, D.C. to learn how our government works.  Sounds like a great idea.  So, we asked, "How many ducks did you sell?"  Answer: "Over 600."  Three people - 600 ducks - they are going to need bigger nets.

The first, second and third place ducks were duly noted and recorded for posterity.  Then the onslaught began.  Ducks by the hundreds came streaming down river.  The current was swift.  More volunteers jumped in.  This guy waded ahead of the line to try and cut some duckies off at the pass.

The lady in red slipped and went for an unintentional swim.  Hilarity ensued.

It was over as quickly as it began with the rear guard arriving from upstream with a raft full of the recalcitrant duckies that managed to beach themselves along the way.  Baskets, buckets and tubs of soggy duckies were loaded into pickup trucks and off them went.  I'm sure when we go out to fish tonight that we'll find one or two duckies that escaped detection.

After breakfast, we decided to visit the town of Anaconda for their Art in Washoe Park Festival.  Sponsored by The Copper Village Museum and Arts Center, the event boasts over 80 local venders selling craft items like wood carvings, metal works, jewelry, clothing and mead. There are also numerous food venders.  Two things tickled our taste buds - cajun crawfish gumbo (just because we miss New Orleans so much) and meat pasties.  (No, not pasties like the porn stars wear, but meat pies.)  We've seen signs around town for pasties (pronounced like paste with an added "e" at the end) and were just curious as to what they were.  Think pie crust filled with beef, potatoes, onions and carrots and you get the picture.  The travel channel did an episode on them on Montana Style Meat and Potatoes.  All I can say is we shared one, and it was more carbs than we eat in a whole week all covered in brown gravy.  Yum!

We sat in the shade and digested our feast to the sounds of Ken Rich and his band.  They played all your favorite sing-a-long rock-n-roll songs.

Back at camp, we are enjoying the antics of two teenage boys as they race their radio controlled cars around camp causing chaos and stirring up lots of dust.  Baxter was curious at first, but once one of the cars wiped out and tumbled past him, we retreated to the RV to watch from the safety of the kitchen table.

Just waiting for the sun to go down a little more before we try our hand at some more fishing.

Chat at you later.