WTF Washington?!

I've decided to change the name of my Washington posts simply for the reason that the title above is way funnier than "Washington Weirdness," and I aim to entertain. Anyways, the subject of today's post concerns my impression that WA hasn't entirely left the 1960's. Evidence to support this claim includes:

1. Washington has a "bug" problem.

It's amazing the things you notice while driving. No, I'm not talking about a large quantity of bugs that splatter across my windshield; rather, the large quantity of "Love Bugs" I pass on my way to and from work. I am amazed at the number of people who possess Volkswagen Beetles. They're everywhere! And a lot of them are decked out with racing stripes (a tribute to "Herby" I'm guessing), daisies, bubbles, and God knows what else. Volkswagen has made a mint off these people.


I swear to God: one day I tried to count all the Beetles I saw that day, and the number was between 10-15 (I lost count after awhile due to my great audio book). It's just crazy.

2. The prevalence of 60's attire and paraphernalia.

I don't interact with a ton of folks outside of work, but from what I've seen, retro attire is still pretty popular, and people decorate their possessions with daisies, peace signs, and other symbols of the late 60's. Take this mailbox for example:


I pass by this mailbox everyday, and the first time I saw it, I almost sprayed Diet Coke all over my dashboard. I told Jeff about it later, and he said it must be kind of funny when the people who live there give someone directions to their house: "Just look for the mailbox with the butterfly and peace sign. You can't miss it!"

Not all or even most of Washingtonians (try pronouncing that correctly) dress or decorate this way, but I've seen it more here than in the Midwest.

3. Popularity of organically-grown food.

This probably doesn't have anything to do with the 60's, but I think it has the same sort of "aura" nonetheless. A few weeks ago I asked a colleague about this place called "Trader Joe's" that appeared to be a grocery store, but I wasn't exactly sure. She said my suspicions were correct, so I headed over there during my lunch hour in search of some much-needed deodorant.


Come to find out, the store actually sells almost all organic food. Now, I'm used to seeing an aisle or two dedicated to organic/health/environmentally-friendly items at the grocery store, but this entire store is there for that purpose, and it was huge!


People were buying entire cart-fulls of the stuff, which I found completely unusual as I don't know many (if any) people who buy almost all organic. The store was super busy too and has prime real estate, right smack dab in the middle of a mid-size strip mall on a major Bellingham street. As usual, my curiosity kicked in enough to ask a store employee what this place's story was. As I was paying for my organic chicken caesar wrap and organic pomegranate blueberry juice (there was no Diet Coke to be found), I asked the cashier "What the heck?" He told me that the store is based out of California and is quite the big thing there. Not recognizing many brand names, I asked if all the food was locally-grown, but apparently that's something they're still working towards. He also said that the store itself is built with the environment in mind, having limited but tasteful decor and energy efficient lighting. They are also trying to sell more fresh produce and less pre-packaged items since they want to create less waste with packaging, something the cashier said was very important to him. Anyways, this guy was all about the Trader Joe's, and even though there were like 4 people behind me in line, he went on and on about how great it was, and eventually I moved further and further towards the door in an effort to make him stop talking and pay attention to those poor people behind me in line.

Oh yeah, in case you were wondering--I never did get my deodorant. They didn't have many health and beauty products except stuff like toilet paper made from recycled paper that came from paper produced from organically-grown trees.


All and all, Washington consists of some pretty interesting people. When chatting with some co-workers, I eventually realized that for once I am working in a state that's truly "blue," and not a state that could go red at any minute (MI), a state that goes red because their voting system is flawed (OH), or a state that's so red that it turned color about an hour and a half before any other state changed color at all in the last election (KY; I got some angry texts after that one..."Gail, Kentucky just went RED!" as if it was my fault or something). I can't really draw a clear connection between this and WA being stuck in the 60's, but I guess their liberal attitude is still pretty prevalent as it was back then, and that is wonderfully refreshing. Washington: I like you--even though you're weird.