A Sarlacc pit, Mome Raths and Monsters...

Even though I've not been around on here lately...I still can't escape the 'Everything's a Potential Post' feelings. With it being a mentally stressful period at my day job, wandering around and staring at flowers has been my 'thing to do' lately. But this was taken to a whole new level!!

Starting with the Field of
Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Banana Men!

All I wanted to do was drive down some roads I'd never gone down before to check out some parks I'd seen advertised on signs. (By the way...brown is a hideous color to make park signs.) It's always kind of cool seeing the transition from urban development into a little less built up, more greenery, etc.

The Eco-Friendly Sarlacc Pit

Luckily they didn't make things too difficult...and after making my 7th left in a row things went straight past green, right on through (she's gone straight to) plaid and into orange!

I had to park and go check this out. Sure it was strange...but not exactly the creepy vibe. At least until this salesmen guy popped out of no where and just kept pressuring me to buy one from him.

After twenty minutes of saying 'NO' in every language I could think of the mood had been killed and it was time to go. In my rush to get out of there I must have missed a turn...because I ended up at the edge of huge, fenced off pit!

While I was driving by I was able to catch a glimpse of something strange looking down at the bottom of the limestone quarry. Generally, once you've seen one operation, you've seen them all...it's a pit...where they dig 'rocks'...how exciting.

But this one seemed to have a Sarlacc looking pit down there!! For those that have no idea what a Sarlacc [Pit] is, watch this short video (and add +1 to your Star Wars trivia skill.)

I eventually got around to the front entrance and wanted to get a closer look at this oddity I'd only seen in the movies. The gate guard hollered at me 'What'cha doin? Were closed today,' which broke me out of my 'shock and awe.' I spattered back that I was just amazed with that thing...what is it?

Bill's (of course the Guard wore a name tag, sheesh) face lit up, like he'd been waiting forever to tell somebody about it. He said it's called eco-mining. Instead of taking things out, this site now put's things back in!

I couldn't believe what I was hearing...put things back in?!?! Like the rocks you took out? What exactly makes that eco...since it still takes fuel, electricity and more to do that...right? He quickly told me, "Oh no...you've got the wrong idea. All that stuff going to landfills or incinerators now just come here and dump it. We've got something pretty special in Audrey down there. As long as we don't feed her anything radioactive...she's quite happy and lets us 'feed' her three square meals a day....at least when were open."

That's when I realized they must have been closed the last few days for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. I swallowed so hard realizing that this guy was actually considering making me a little snack...for this thing. With that I jumped right back in my car and sped down the road. I didn't care that I had no idea where I was...as long as I got away from there!

The Spaghetti Monster is Purple?!?!

So by this point all I really wanted was to either find a nice, calm park I could wander in without being pressured to buy something or be on the menu. I finally got back to the main road, starting back in the direction of home...only to follow one last sign for Blue Bell park. I'd been there...I knew it'd be what I was looking for today.

But right there...on the first hole of the disc golf course...was a Purple Flying Spaghetti Monster. I couldn't believe it! Can't I just find one spot to be left alone to wander and stare at the flowers?!?! Thank heavens that the floating ball of pasta was telepathic and telling me I had nothing to worry about here. It was just there to spend the holiday weekend with some of it's closest friends.

Without physically speaking a word, it introduced me to:

Durglglgl (nicknamed Doug)

Weeblo and Zeeblo

...and the little guy on this flower is Jack

Needless to say...I enjoyed the rest of my afternoon there. Finally able to have a little time alone with nature. The craziest thing though...was that once I got home and looked at all the picture I'd taken to memorialize this experience...this is what they looked like. It's amazing how differently we can remember things compared to what they really were. Oh well...